Volunteered today - I actually just got home. I jotted down observations while I was there, but I'll put them in an organized fashion here.

I simply observed the 11 o'clock lesson:
*3 riders, 1 certified instructor, 1 un-certified instructor, and 8 volunteers
*1 mentally handicapped rider, 2 mental and physically handicapped riders
*In general, the lessons consisted mostly on riding form, however one rider (Garrett) worked on other stuff: (Garrett is severely mentally and physically handicapped, he's 14 years old but is at a beginning reading level)
-He started out with warmup stretches - hands over the head, "airplane arms," reaching forward, backward, ect (physical therapy stuff)
-Sarah (the certified instructor) and the three volunteers working with him (using the horse, Fritz) then began work on spelling exercises. He began by spelling out his name with the letters on the wall, and naming three words that started with each letter. They then played categories while walking around (to keep the movement strengthening his hips). Categories is exactly what it sounds; they did "sports" so for each letter, Garrett and the volunteers had to come up with a word. They took a break after that to play horse basketball and do some trotting, but then got right back to school work. Garrett was given a mini version of a few of the pictures on the wall, and had to find them. Once he had directed the horse to the picture, he had to stop, back up, name the animal on the photo and spell it. This all pretty much took up the whole lesson.
-I've worked with Garrett personally for a few years, (longer than the instructor even!) so it's safe to say that this lesson was incredibly productive for him. Most lessons with Garrett are a lot of giggling. Sarah, (the instructor), thought part of the reason today went so well was the change in the horse used (from Renny to Fritz), as well as having the requried 3 volunteers to help (instead of being short handed). Volunteers kept him on task.

I sidewalked and taught the 12 o'clock lesson:
*Kerry, a mildly learning disabled 10 year old girl, on Fritz with 2 experienced volunteers and myself
*The lesson consisted of:
-Initial warm up stretches (the same as those done for Garrett)
-We then worked on steering for awhile - weaving cones, turning circles, stopping, backing up. This primarily worked on her direction following skills - she was very responsive and seemed to enjoy it.
-Then we got into some spelling and english stuff. First, we worked through a set of flashcards that has a picture on the front of an object, and a word on the back. We asked Kerry to name the object on the front (horse, envelope, cup, ect). Depending on the object, we then asked follow up questions. (Name the colors of the socks, where is the animal from, what are two other words that start with that letter, ect). We did this activity for 20 minutes, and then played basketball for a bit as a break. We then spelled out her name, naming off 3 other things that start with each letter. She was required to steer to each letter as well as back up and stop at each letter (more direction following). We finished off with quite a bit of trotting, since that's what she's really been working on.
*Reflections: I asked Sarah about the lesson when it concluded. She said that Kerry is usually very easy, and responsive to instructions. She has a hard time understanding directions sometimes, so working on that was key. Spelling and language is something she needs help with, so her lessons are directed mostly at direction following and linguistic skills. Sarah said that the lesson today was very focused for her, although she seemed a little "down". (Weather related?) Overall, Sarah said that it was a good lesson (yay me! haha)