DressageArena.org

don’t count on working part-time until you have at least a few months experience, but you can ask if you can be a working student and earn lessons for a reduced fee in exchange for work. even if there are no positions available, ask if you’re allowed to come hang around the barn to learn more about working with horses. good for you for wanting to learn more about care and such, so many people just learn to ride and then think they know everything about horses!

you most likely will ride the same horse for lessons. for the first few months, you’ll probably ride different horses as you improve quickly, and the trainer assess your riding ability with the different horses, but you’ll usually find a suitable horse and stick with them for a while. after several months you might want to consider leasing a horse if you can, which is a great experience and then you’d have the same horse every time guaranteed.

there’s not much you should do to prepare, though reading books can help. i recommend "horses for dummies." i’ve heard its actually a really good book when helping learn about horses.

i also highly suggest you purchase your own riding boots, helmet, and gloves as soon as possible. don’t go out and get super expensive stuff yet, even if you’re taking dressage lessons, since you’ll just be starting with the basics for now and you don’t need $200 ariat field boots for that. get a sturdy pair of paddock boots, (this is the pair i have and i love them: http://www.amazon.com/Saxon-Equileather-Ladies-Lace-Paddock/dp/B0011UDQAO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1277672689&sr=8-2 ) and half-chaps (again, this is my pair and they’ve worked out really well for me: http://www.amazon.com/Dublin-Synthetic-Easy-Care-Adults-Half-Chaps/dp/B000F95L64/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1277672740&sr=1-1 ) and a schooling helmet. just make sure your helmet is ASTM/SEI approved. there’s lots of styles of helmet: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=horse%20riding%20schooling%20helmet&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi but you don’t have to spend a lot. around $30-$40 is appropriate for a schooling helmet; you can replace it in a few years, and get a nice show helmet later if you start showing.

dont listen to people who tell you to get fancy expensive stuff. you probably don’t even need breeches yet, unless you get a cheap pair of schooling breeches.
http://www.statelinetack.com/item/tuffrider-ladies-starter-pull-on-breeches/E000336/

gloves are a really important thing to have. stiff leather reins can cause terrible blisters on your fingers. you can get specialized horse gloves, you can get them for as low as $3, or even batting gloves meant for baseball work perfectly (those are what my sister uses, as well as lots of my friends at the barn. they’re cheap and easy to find.)

i recommend looking at StateLineTack.com for purchasing items online, only because they have great prices and fast shipping.

things to remember once you get to the barn:
- horses are big. you might not realize how big they are until you get up next to one. however, if you’re riding at a good stable, you won’t be encountering any dangerous horses, so don’t be nervous.
- like you said, you have no experience, so you’ll be working from the ground up. there’s a lot of fundamentals with riding horses that you have to master before you start the real dressage or jumping fences an such.
- don’t pretend like you know a lot. you sound like a bright and intelligent person, so i assume you already won’t do this, but there’s always that new rider who’s read a lot of books and therefore thinks they know everything about horses. books can help, but you’ll learn so, SO much more actually learning hands-on.
- ask questions! you’re there to learn, and your trainer will appreciate you asking things like, "why do we do this? what is that used for? can you tell me more about this?" they’ll see you as a good learner.

just relax, have fun, and learn a lot! if you have any more questions, feel free to message me. i hope this helped!

Being a trainer is a treasured job

Just riding boots and pants that are comfortable preferably breeches and paddock boots if you dont have those just wear some stretch pants and boots. Dont try to prepare for anything or you will make yourself too nervous or too excited. Just stay relaxed and keep an open mind to learn!!

You should have properly fitting boots, long pants that are comfortable to ride in and possibly a riding helmet. I say possibly because some trainers require them and some don’t, even if your trainer/barn doesn’t require them you may decide that you want to wear one anyway.

You may also want to do some studying to learn all the terminology. Terms that may come in handy are parts of the saddle and bridle, natural and artificial aids, direct rein, indirect rein, diagonals, leads, gaits etc. All of these terms are ones that your instructor will be able to tell you and many of them may not come up during your lessons until you are more advanced but if you know them ahead of time you will understand more about what is going on and be able to ask more intelligent questions. Oh and parts of the horse will come in handy as well.

When I got my first horse as a kid, my parents couldn’t afford lessons for me. Though it was not ideal, I learned a lot by reading every book and magazine article and watching every video I could get my hands on and know that I am an adult and a riding instructor my self I wish my students would take a little more ownership for learning things on there own and practicing outside of lessons. The students who do move up in levels much faster than those who don’t.

Good luck and have fun!