Skill-Building: A Stitch at a Time

Using a scribe during the test ride allows Janice to focus on the rider, while the scribe notes down Janice's comments.

Have you ever watched riders work patterns at dressage shows, reining competitions, or jumping events? Done well, the performances look effortless. And while those patterns may seem like strictly a competitive pursuit, guess what? Riding patterns offers each of us a way to improve how we communicate with our horses-and how they respond to us-even if we never set hoof in a show ring.

Lifelong horsewoman Janice Green has developed pattern riding as a way to help her students stitch together an even closer bond with their equine buddies. She is the owner of J Bar 4 Ranch in Watkins, Colorado, a teaching, training, and boarding facility east of Denver. For more than 20 years, she has worked to give students and horses the tools they need to learn and grow together.

Janice has always enjoyed creating and riding patterns, a trait no doubt left over from her early days riding on drill teams. This extensive experience also helped her realize what a great skill-builder pattern riding can be.

Many of her students are highly motivated beginner-level to novice-level adult riders. Janice wanted to cater to their needs. She envisioned a progressive program that would help them set goals and feel good about their accomplishments.

"While we all like going for trail rides, I've noticed that when many riders head into the arena, they're a bit lost," Janice says.

As she developed her program, Janice found it was easy to break patterns down into fun, learnable segments. Starting with the basics, each new pattern requires different skills that build on the previous one, so there's great potential for growth. Established patterns allow riders to practice on their own; and knowing that they'll be tested provides incentive to work through the various elements.

"My students seem to find the most success when they work in a system that's both flexible and accountable," Janice explains.

Creating a Process
Janice's program currently consists of seven levels. She starts with simple patterns first, just walk/trot exercises, and builds from there.

"At the beginning, riders have so much to learn. They need to learn to read the pattern, remember the pattern, and practice working the elements of the pattern. This early skill-building is the cornerstone for long-term, continued improvement," she explains.

Janice schedules once-a-month testing dates for anyone who feels ready to be evaluated. She judges each rider using her own scoring system. It is similar to the scoring system used in reining, trail, and dressage competitions, but with her own priorities added to the mix.

"I use 70 as a base score, just like in reining and trail competitions," Janice explains. "So each rider starts with a 70. Plus and minus points accumulate throughout the ride and are then tallied into the score."