Touchstone Farm Riding and Driving Lessons
Riding Lessons:
Come ride with us!! We offer year-round riding lessons at our facility. Our indoor arena allows for riding even on rainy days or cold, winter days! Of course, when it’s warm enough, we have a riding ring outdoors as well.
Riding lessons are catered toward horses and people of varying abilities, ages, and backgrounds. Whether you ride regularly, haven’t ridden in years, or haven’t ridden ever at all – you are welcome here! We accept riders age 3 and up and offer both individual or group lessons.
In general, we focus on progressing our students’ horsemanship and riding skills. Our students arrive and tack up their lesson horse themselves (with the supervision & assistance of their instructor), participate in their riding lesson, and untack themselves as well. During the riding portion, and depending on skill level, instructors will work with their students on the basics of horseback riding like seat, position, balance, advancing into faster gaits, flat work, and course work. We even offer bareback riding and trail riding as part of our lesson program.
See our payment page for more information on rates & lesson options!
All riders, and drivers, must wear an ASTM approved riding helmet for every ride. We have some helmets available for our beginning riders. Once a rider is committed, we strongly encourage purchasing one’s own helmet to insure individual correct fit.
Riders should dress in loosely fitting pants and a shoe or boot with a heel for beginner lessons. As our students progress through the ranks, we encourage correct attire for riding.
Carriage Driving:
By taking lessons with us, you can enjoy a consistent time to practice your harnessing, putting to, driving skills, and unhitching abilities so that YOU can independently drive with a friend or spouse safely and successfully. You will learn:
- Harnessing basics (hitching and unhitching) and the function of harness parts
- “Putting to” a vehicle and driving different types of vehicles
- Vehicle safety
- Driving safety
- Correct entry into a vehicle
- Emergency procedures
Depending on students’ interests and skills, lessons may also include dressage, cones, obstacles and driving for pleasure down the road. An optional goal for all lessons is to gear up for participating in clinics and driving events offered at the farm throughout the year.
Students in our driving program have come to us if:
- Love to carriage drive and can’t get enough!
- Want to improve your carriage driving skills.
- Want to be more comfortable with harnessing.
- Want to experience driving a variety of horses and vehicles.
- Want to take the level I or II CAA Driver Proficiency Program.
- Want some help prepping for your first Arena Driving Trial.
- Want to know more about the National driving world.
- Want to be “literate” about carriages and harnesses.
Please call or E-mail Kris Young for scheduling a lesson: 603.654.6308 or lessons@touchstone-farm.org
Driving Lesson Rates: CALL FOR PRICING
Lessons are with Touchstone Farm vehicles and with Touchstone horses or ponies, and the cost of these are included in the lesson rate.
Lessons are offered in pairs of two with a maximum of two horse and four students.
Harnessing Lesson – Rein Board/Ground Driving Only – 1 hour
- Private Lessons
- Semi-Private Lessons
Driving Lesson with Our Horse – 1 hour
- Private lessons
- Semi-Private lessons (by permission only to ensure the safe driving of two turnouts in one lesson)
Safety Support Person to drive with a student driver to practice either in the ring or down the road (when the student is proficient in driving without the instructor)
- One hour
- Half hour
