A good rider vs a good trainer- the same thing or different?

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maya2008

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Can all the people who can get on ‘anything’ and make it look good, train horses well, or train humans well? Are some people great trainers but not such good riders?

What are people’s experiences?
 
No, I don't think that all people who "can get on anything" are necessarily good horse trainers, and certainly not necessarily good people trainers. A good horse trainer needs to be able to adapt their methods to the horse underneath them to work with them mentally and physically, and while some riders are good at this, others really aren't. A good human trainer needs to have excellent communication skills, self-awareness and a good deal of horsemanship too. Those aren't necessarily linked to skill in the saddle, although it's unusual to have a very good human trainer with no riding skill of their own.
 
Very different skills! Often the extremely talented riders with excellent 'feel' struggle to teach average people as they didn't have to learn a lot of the skills, they picked it up naturally and quickly and so they struggle to relate and explain how they learnt those skills.
 
I'm definitely a better trainer than I am a rider. I can get on anything and get it going nicely, and I can bodge my way through most of the GP moves - but I am neither poised, nor elegant. My former trainer once called me Wobble and Flop, and I have tirelessly strived to ensure that I live up to that nickname ever since.
I can get other people riding much better than me!
 
I've a much better eye as a trainer than a rider. I'm far too short for poise and elegance, I can get a tune out of most things but I can teach well above what I'd be happy riding at these days. I think some of it comes down to having an eye for the root of an issue like rounding shoulders coming from the pelvis etc
 
I'm a better trainer than a rider. I find I can work with different riders at different levels and with them we can achieve results.

As riding goes, I'm pretty effective but not pretty, as has been imparted on much more than one occasion.....

I have a very talented friend who was in national teams, she can still ride just about anything and really pull out the goods. Her teaching is binned now as she cannot impart the information.

It's a rare one to be skilled at both, rare but they are out there :)
 
No, being good at one does not necessarily translate to being good at the other!
Years ago I had a few lessons with a top sj. Brilliant rider but couldn’t teach at all, and didn’t seem to really enjoy it either
 
Many really good riders are just instinctive and can't understand why other people find things difficult. "Ride better!" but can't put it across. Not all of course, some top riders are great trainers.
 
People who can do things instinctively find it nearly impossible to explain to another person what they should do, be this riding, sailing, tennis or any sport. I knew an Olympic clay pigeon shooter, he tried to set up a shooting school but found he was quite unable to explain to any one how he could get 100/100 hits!! I think you have to have learnt the hard way to be able to put this across to some one else.
 
I’m a better rider than trainer, I do teach but I know it’s not my strength.
Generally I find riding instinctive (not talking Charlotte D level here, more starting and retraining for behavioural or physical issues) and so when I’m helping others sometimes I do find myself unable to understand why the rider doesn’t just sort it, hence why I focus my work on riding over teaching!
 
Very different, one of the fundamentals is that if you found riding and training a horse super easy you may not be able to explain it to others, if you really had to work at it you MAY be better at explaining it, certainly to people who have the same learning style as you. A good trainer understands learning styles whether by instinct or training.
 
Agree with the consensus. In my eventing days, I had some lessons with a pro showjumper who is a lovely person but she just didn't seem to understand why I couldn't "get" it and it was about the worst time I've ever had on a horse. I think she was a natural whereas I really had to work at showjumping.
Later I had some lessons with someone else who understood how my nerves got in my way and helped me on a more technical level, he was really good at explaining why I needed to do different things and exactly what I should be aiming for. The difference was huge and I started to enjoy the SJ phase. Doubtless in that discipline she was the better rider but he was the better trainer.
 
Good riders are not necessarily good trainers .
not all trainers good at teaching you how to feel and train a horse are good at teaching the mechanics of physically learning to ride and that’s where I think we have a gap in provision at the moment in trainer who will invest time in developing people position .
 
I trained for 6 months on a very talented horse with a guy who was a beautiful rider - he had legs that were long and thin and would wrap around the horse and quite literally draw its back up under him. I am little, with short dumpy legs and the horse barely recognised I was on board. He really struggled to teach me because he couldn't translate what he was doing into how to get me to ride better. It was very frustrating and I think we'd both finish a lesson feeling like we hadn't got anywhere. It was actually worse when he got on the horse to show me because I knew he could do, I knew the horse could do it - shame about the rider!!
 
I have two semi-regular instructors - one is a great rider who does up to CCI***, but his teaching is REALLY bare-bones ('Stop being shit! TURN! Just do it! Get him over the fence!') and the other is GREAT at explaining things in depth and understanding the ins and outs of the way the horse thinks, but not the best rider. I like them both for different reasons. The guy pushed and improved everything more in our first session than anyone's ever done simply because he's so brash and no-nonsense, and the other makes me think about thinks and try new things. I don't think I've met someone who's been great at both teaching AND riding.
 
The best flatwork trainer I've ever had didn't ride much herself anymore. The best jump trainer I've ever had, didn't jump to any major levels herself either.
Current trainer can do it all but I think they're few and far between. I'm not sure if its easier, or more difficult now I do a more niche sport.
 
yeah I had a fab test riding lesson with a judge who doesn't ride any more. it was one of those sessions filled with lightbulb moments, I really hope I can have another with her when Kira is back on the road.
I think being able to teach well is a pretty specific skill.
 
Teaching is a skill in itself. I think you can be an amazing trainer without necessarily having the same equivalent rising skill. Carl Hester does an amazing job of being able to ride brilliantly and yet also teach amazingly for all levels. He has a nack of being able to break it down into simple terms that people get. That's the key to being a good instructor, being able to say what they are seeing in a way that the rider gets. Also having a toolkit of different excersises and techniques for when one size doesn't fit all. Not all Great riders have that skill
 
I'm not an amazing rider but find I'm a fairly good trainer at teaching kids low level stuff and building confidence. I'm crap at teaching adults!

Maybe I owe this to the 4 years spent at a riding school teaching under the supervision of my instructor (with initial hopes of becoming an instructor myself) and the many hours spent baby sitting learning what kids like and how they learn.
 
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