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learn more about

Challenges: Stuff Happens

learn more about

Challenges:
Stuff Happens

Stuff Happens Cards use real-life stories to make lessons unforgettable! These small-but-mighty discussion scenarios help your students remember and apply safety rules and procedures to common horsey problems.

Scroll down to learn more about our Stuff Happens Card sets, then use this button to quickly find the resources you need.

Find Stuff Happens Cards in the Resource Center
lesson horse give us the raspberry

If you've spent enough time
around horses, you get it.

You know there are good reasons for doing all the horsey things correctly.

You also know a few horror stories: somebody didn’t understand an underlying risk and the result was not good.

Maybe downright dangerous.

Stufff Happens Tscat

YOU KNOW WHAT STUFF CAN HAPPEN!

So you teach the importance of safety rules to every student. And you pray that they remember them, because at the end of the day, you want everyone to go home safe and happy — including your hard-working school horses!

That's why we created Stuff Happens cards: memorable little scenarios that can help you teach safety rules, critical thinking, and ... well, horse sense!

Each card has a situation to discuss with students:

  • What is the problem here?
  • How should we fix it?
  • How could we avoid it?
  • What is the concept or rule we should remember?

And yes, most of these scenarios are based on real-life experiences.

(Not entirely our own, thankfully!)
You can see how we use Stuff Happens cards in these Boss Mares blog posts.

Flip a card to see how they work!

hover/tap each card to see the reverse side

You’re almost finished tacking up for your lesson when you realize you’d better hit the bathroom before you ride. You’ve already put on your pony’s bridle, so you just loop the reins around the fence post before you run into the tack room. After all, that’s how they do it in the movies.
You and your horse Boo are trail riding when Boo spooks at a stray dog. Your girth is loose, so you find yourself doing an unscheduled emergency dismount, landing on a nest of yellow jackets. You sprain your wrist trying to escape the enraged wasps - and the wasps take their revenge on poor Boo.
You have a 3-horse Exiss bumper pull trailer with a GVW of 3200 lbs. Your three horses weigh 1020 lbs, 954 lbs, and 1196 lbs, respectively. You want to haul with your mid-sized SUV, which has a tow package that is rated up to 7000 lbs.
You had 4 chili dogs with extra onions, a pretzel, a basket of greasy fries, a Coke, and two Milky Way bars for lunch. As you’re tacking up for your next class, you suddenly don’t feel so hot.

Each Learning Level has several sets of Stuff Happens Cards, with 12-20 cards per set. Use them in discussions that prepare students for life with horses — both in and out of the saddle.

Get the Stuff Happens Cards sample set

And because life with students also has its moments... download our free Stuff Happens While Instructing cards and have those fun discussions with your assistant instructors!

Get the Stuff Happens While Instructing set
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We’ve been blessed with many talented photographers over the years: students who voluntarily stood in sweltering/ freezing arenas, capturing lifelong memories of lessons, camps and shows. We’re grateful to all of them!

One former student, Delaney Witbrod, is now a professional photographer with a gift for animal portraits – see more of her fine work here. We’re also grateful for photos of Western riding donated by LLPro instructors – particularly Bit of Pleasure Horse School and Joyful Hearts Photography!

You’ll find illustrations throughout our online courses and printed materials graciously donated by our friend Rhonda Hagy. Evan Surrusco contributes additional illustrations and handles most of our photo processing. Contact us for information about their work.

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