Christine Olsen and friend. Photo courtesy of the author.
Revisiting Enrichment By Christine Olsen
I’m confident we can all agree this has been one heck of a year. Burnout is real, and this is not unique for
visit the topic of enrichment, but this time
stricted, and our budgets have been hit hard
riding instructors. We are all subject to it,
with the emphasis on students.
for life’s ‘extras’. The removal of these en-
including our students. When lessons re-
richments will eventually affect our mental
was easy to see their initial excitement, but
What Types of Enrichment Can You Provide for Your Students?
over time this excitement may have seemed
As covered before, enrichment is the im-
where are discovering ways to continue to
to fade. This left me scratching my head.
provement of something. We enrich our
connect and enrich our lives in a safe way.
What I came to discover was even though
lives by social interactions, such as decorat-
they were happy to be back in the saddle,
ing our house, going out to dinner for a nice
Guidelines and restrictions vary state to
there was still so much they were missing.
meal, going to concerts, and taking vaca-
state. Some stables may have little to no re-
tions. The Covid pandemic has put many of
strictions while others may still be on total
I took a look back at what I wrote last
us on lock down (or maybe we like the term
shutdown to students as I write this. Keep
year for the Fall issue of Riding Instructor
‘stall rest’) which prevents us from many
in mind the core needs of your students ha-
magazine, Avoiding Burnout with Equine
enrichment opportunities. Our social inter-
ven’t changed, just because the times have.
Enrichment. I thought it would be fun to re-
actions have been limited, traveling is re-
While it may have been unavoidable to take
sumed and riders returned to the barn, it
32
Winter 2020/21 | Riding Instructor
and physical health. Luckily we have found ways to connect virtually, and people every-
