Like all domesticated animals, horses require human guidance to keep from brushing against barbed wire, eating poisonous rocks, and galloping triumphantly into the ocean. Take the reins with today's Groupon to Avian Acres in Rockwood. Choose between the following options:

• For $25, you get one private horseback riding lesson on a school horse (a $55 value), with helmet included (a $15 value; a $70 total value). Riders must be at least 5 years old.
• For $225, you get a three-month group horseback riding course on a school horse (a $450 value). Lessons take place one evening per week and must be taken in consecutive weeks. Riders must be at least 8 years old, have at least two years of riding experience, and must supply their own riding helmet.

Avian Acres strives to develop confident, well-rounded riders, boasting pupils who consistently place at competitions in categories including hunter, jumper, dressage, and eventing. The 200-acre farm's year-round training facilities span a 215'x70' indoor arena, a 4-acre grass jumping ring with XC jumps, and a sand ring for building sand stables. Atop one of the school's horses, students may learn such equine mastery as mounting, walking, steering, trotting, halting, cantering, jumping, and dismounting, as well as grooming, tacking up, and tack cleaning. Avian Acres structures its lessons to encourage students to learn at their own pace, readying them to continue on into any English riding discipline or Medieval Times training program.

All riders must weigh less than 200 pounds, and buyers opting for the three-month course must be able to control a horse in a group setting. For those interested in pursuing riding long term, Avian Acres happily supplies students with guidance on purchasing a horse and saving for horse college.