Welcome to my series on Equestrian Canada’s Learn to Ride Rider Levels, and more specifically in this article – Level 3. If you are interested in the other levels, please check out our website at canadianequestrian.ca. As always, everyone’s experiences are different and mine relate to English riding levels. I have recently completed levels 1-6, and I am providing my experiences on the written parts. So, let’s get started.

Level 3 includes information from the Equestrian Canada Manual (the book is for levels 3, 4, and 5) and you can purchase it from your local PTSO (the link is here), plus the stable management book. Level 3 gets into a bit more detail with the questions, so, unlike levels 1 and 2, you have to know WHY something is done, rather than just the answer. 

For example, the examiner might ask different ways that a horse can be watered So, you might say things like through a water bucket or an automatic waterer, or a trough. While these are all correct, you might also want to think about advantages and disadvantages of these three approaches. This could include monitoring water intake of your horse (for a water bucket), which is a disadvantage of an automatic waterer. A water trough allows a lot of water availability (assuming it is not frozen!) but it can get pretty gross in the summer if left uncleaned (eww. Algae!).

For this test you are probably also going to need to know about stable vices. This could include things like cribbing, weaving, nipping or tail rubbing. Review your knowledge on stable vices and you will ace this part.

There are also likely to be some questions on feet (again!) – but we all know how important horse’s feet are. So make sure you know that a horse should be seen by a farrier every 4-8 weeks and that a newly shod hoof should be level, should be appropriate with well set mails, should be the correct size, and should not have excessive damage to the hoof when it is put on.

Finally, I’d encourage you to think about the 5 phases of horse jumping effort. This includes the approach, take off, flight, landing and recovery. If you can get these points down you should be set for Level 3. Make sure to read the books thoroughly, but if you have been around horses for a while, level 3 should be a breeze. Good Luck.