About Us
General Philosophy:
People and horses have lived with each other for thousands of years, often to the detriment of the horse. At Heads Up! we want our riders to put the best interest of the horse first at all times. Horsemen are different from riders, and we want to produce horsemen. Lessons are structured to educate about horse behaviour, biology, health, care, psychology, and anything else that will impact the relationship of the horse and rider. We feel that if you focus on what your horse is trying to tell you, and you learn how to talk properly to the horse, you will have a horse and rider team.
About Lara Ulan:
Lara is a NCCP (National Coaching Certification Program) Level 1 English Coach. The program is meant to certify instructors and standardize the skills that they have. As a certified coach Lara has completed the required Rider Level examinations, First Aid courses, written exam, riding exam, and coaching exam. Lara has been teaching riding for about 15 years.
Lara’s focus is in the Hunter/Jumper disciplines with a strong focus on accurate and correct basic skills. Dressage maneuvers are a large part of teaching both horse and rider about jumping. There is no pressure to jump – if a rider is not interested in jumping or competing, then it is simply not required. Horsemanship is important to Lara – knowing why horses do what they do, how we care for them, the biology of the horses systems, and how to use that knowledge to make horse and rider work together better – is really the goal of any good riding program.
Lara feels that all horses are individuals with their own unique set of talents and skills, with their own set of likes and dislikes, and certainly their own personalities. Our job as horsemen is to figure all of those out, and then provide what the horse wants to be able to perform its best.