Dappled light comes through the canopy of trees that dot the rolling hills of Lisa Erickson's Silver Oaks Ranch. Despite the tranquil setting on Ballard Canyon Road, the ranch is anything but quiet; most afternoons and all day Saturday, the barn rings with the sound of children's voices. Erickson's after-school riding classes bring a total of 30 children ages six to 16 to Silver Oaks each week, and many attend an all day session on Saturday.

ìI call it a program, rather than classes,î says Erickson. It's more than just learning to ride. It's similar to Pony Club, in that we learn all about horses, from equine medicine, to the whole discipline of horse care. Kids pair off to groom horses and clean stables, the older children help the younger ones, and no one has an attitude problem. It's a way for children to really understand what it takes to care for a horse and it's wonderful for their self esteem and self discipline when they're able to do it by themselves.

Erickson's family moved to Silver Oaks from Los Angeles when she was seven. She'd started Pony Club in Woodland Hills at age six, with Olympic medallist Hilda Gurney and in the Valley she began taking lessons with Nancy and Wolcott Schley, whose holistic approach to riding helped shape hear own teaching philosophy. My father was sick and Nancy and Wolcott were wonderful with me during a very difficult time in my life. Some trainers are more severe, but they were gentle with children. I not only learned to ride and show English and Western but I also learned about total horse-care. And that's what I try to teach, without stress. I think people should learn different kinds of riding, and adapt to other horses.

From age six to twenty-three, Erickson lined up an impressive array of trophies and ribbons on the horse show circuit, but her career as a hunter-jumper was cut short by her foray into racehorse training. She worked with Belmont Race winner Go and Go, the six million dollar earner Twilight Agenda and Light Lite at racing legend D.Wayne Lucas' Westerly Stud ranch in Santa Ynez.

She and former husband Cliff Naretto specialized in racehorse rehab, and worked with winners like Petionville and Thisnearlywasmine, among others. Silver Oaks became the training grounds for a new generation of young riders when Erickson, following a divorce, moved back to her family home two years ago with her young son Nico.

I'm a firm believer that what children learn in the beginning helps shape them into whatever they become later on. Now I'm helping children enjoy and love horses the same way I did,îsays Erickson. When parents can't afford lessons, she arranges an exchange, where children over age nine help out. I want to help make it possible for all kids who love horses to have the kind of experience that I had.

Children with working parents aren't excluded from Erickson's after school lessons; her afterschool program includes pickup service from local schools, then children ride, have snacks, and play until 6, when parents pick them up. Many of Erickson's students, most of whom are girls in the 11-12 year old bracket, and who come from a variety of Valley schools, have become close friends. When I was growing up here, the children from Solvang School didn't play with children from Santa Ynez School. But I've got kids from every school in the Valley. This is their own little club.

In addition to riding, Silver Oaks students make equine-related crafts, attend horse shows, rodeos and horse races, build their own jumps, paint fences, take field trips to equine vets, administer horse medicine, learn horse anatomy and feed and groom their mounts. And Erickson's students have an opportunity to watch Erickson work with her prize filly, Kitty in a Storm, sired by top California stallion Illinois Storm. They can't ride Kitty, of course, says Erickson, but they have a chance to see what goes in to grooming a horse for racing.

Parents of Silver Oaks riders were thrilled when Erickson began her riding camp last summer. The camp, which also runs during school vacations, costs $150 a week (the cost of a daily private lesson, but camp lasts from 9-5 and includes lunch and snacks). Carla Mortensen, mother of nine-year-old Janelle Carney, says that her daughter was a shy, beginning rider when she began lessons with Erickson a year ago; now she's confident, she's pushing herself, and she's going to be jumping this summer.

Jennifer Kelleher, whose six-year-old daughter Kylie is Erickson's student, found Erickson's ad in the local paper, and has since bought her daughter a pony. It doesn't bother Kylie that she's the youngest,î says Kelleher, because the older girls are very supportive. It's a friendly atmosphere and Lisa has a lot of patience.

Mike Lynch, stand-in father to eight-year-old Sammy Hefley and designer of the Silver Oaks website,(www.silver-oaks-stables.com) notes that Sammy has learned so much more than riding skills; Lisa's program has given her an enhanced sense of responsibility and self confidence. C.C. Beaudette-Wellman, whose seven-year-old daughter Alexandra is an enthusiastic rider, says Lisa is a wonderful role model. She's a loyal, girl-scout kind of gal. And because there are other animals on the ranch besides horses, the children get a lesson in zoology as well.

Erickson keeps her students active and attentive during lessons by giving them little gymnastic exercises, poles to go through, or simple courses to complete. ìI had a problem with attention when I was a child, and these things really clicked with me. Kids love to do something right. If I can set it up so they end on a good note, and they feel they've learned something, they'll excel. She adds that if her students want to do dressage or cross country, I'll send them to a specialist. My lessons are for general riding and horsemanship.

Expensive riding habits are not required at Silver Oaks; ìI only insist on boots,î says Erickson, or the new riding tennis shoes, and I supply helmets, for safety. When her riders begin to show, they'll need to be suited up, but right now, my riders are pretty green and nobody's showing yet. My western riders aren't quite ready yet and when they are, they'll go into something like a gymkhana. I could have them show earlier, but I'd rather wait until they're ready.

Silver Oaks riders have their own show at the end of each camp session; the kids learn to fill out an entry blank, they learn what Pleasure and Equitation classes are. They have a neutral judge (not me) and everyone gets a ribbon.

A quarter-mile track around Erickson's arena functions as a riding trail, because I can't take a group of kids trail riding, when some of them don't really know how to ride. But it has the feeling of being out in the open, and the kids have fun. She's also teaching her jumpers to jump out in the open, rather than in an enclosed ring. It's harder to jump outside, so I turned it around.

The most rewarding part of Erickson's work comes when a parent tells her how riding lessons have helped a child blossom and grow. One mother told me that her daughter's teacher had told her that the girl was more confident and self assured since she began the riding program. That's a big honor for me, to be such a good influence.

At the end of riding camp, Erickson makes video ìmovies of each rider and edits them like little MTV videos, to the child's favorite music, which in the case of most little girls is the latest Brittney Spears song. They love it, and their parents love it. It's something they can look back on and remember. I want to make this the best time of their lives.