can 'feel' be taught

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Ibblebibble

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friend and i were having a discussion last night about being able to 'feel/read' the horse when you're riding and therefore being aware of what it's doing/about to do. I'm more of the opinion that you've either got it there to be developed or you haven't, i don't think any complete novice just gets on and can read a horse, so it is something that is developed with experience but i'm not sure it can be taught to someone who just doesn't seem to have any. (if that makes sense lol :o )
Discussion came about because a girl who was riding my TB just couldn't seem to read him at all, he would start running in trot and then pee off in canter every time and no matter how much i tried to point out the signs from the ground she never seemed to be able to feel it happening until he was peeing off! i got friends daughter to ride him and she sussed him straight away. imho friends daughter has got 'feel' while the other girl just didn't.
So can it be taught? or are there some riders that just never seem to find it:confused:
 
Yes, it can be taught, but it's like everything else I guess, some people are naturally better at it than others, and it depends how much the less talented want it, as it does require a lot of persistence, often quite a bit of money invested in the right instructor, and riding plenty of different horses. Also physical condition makes a difference - someone I knew with lupus had such trouble with her joints and muscles that it made developing a real connection very difficult, although I think she would have been very good had that not intervened.
 
Without a doubt. I changed my trainer 8 weeks ago and I have learnt more about riding/my mare/me as a rider/feel in the last 8 weeks than I have in the last 8 years. In my first lesson with her she kept saying 'what does that feel like?' 'how does that feel?' I couldn't tell her because I didn't know. That lesson, every time my mare softened, she told me and now I know what that 'feels' like. I could 'feel' it before but I didn't know what it was. Putting those two ideas together has meant absolute leaps and bounds!
 
Billie1007 said:
Without a doubt. I changed my trainer 8 weeks ago and I have learnt more about riding/my mare/me as a rider/feel in the last 8 weeks than I have in the last 8 years. In my first lesson with her she kept saying 'what does that feel like?' 'how does that feel?' I couldn't tell her because I didn't know. That lesson, every time my mare softened, she told me and now I know what that 'feels' like. I could 'feel' it before but I didn't know what it was. Putting those two ideas together has meant absolute leaps and bounds!
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that's good, you already had it there it just needed recognising, i still think there are some who just don't have it and no amount of teaching would help, you are obviously not one of those though:)
 
I believe that it can be taught to some people. I am really of the opinion that there are many riders out there that just do not have any feel for a horse (I know a couple :( )

Horses give people such a 'feel good' factor making them very addictive and hence I believe many will just carry on regardless with their riding and horse involvement, never really facing up to the reality of how they ride or seeking to improve. That's my opinion for what it's worth.
 
I agree too. Some do have it naturally, some it comes easy to, some it is waiting to be developed with the right training. But some just don't have it at all.
 
Ibblebibble said:
your opinion is worth a lot as it's very similar to mine:D
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Good that pleases me - at least there are 2 of us :D My McTimoney lady was saying that horses are so therapeutic - they just take all our woes from us and many do not realise that :) I laughed because the reverse happened when a shiatsu therapist touched my WB and she burst into tears as he offloaded his pain to her.
 
Hmm, this is a very interesting question and one which I have often asked myself. I was never taught 'feel' despite having a large number of instructors over the years. Most of the teaching was to get the horse going forward and then hold the contact really firmly and ride the horse into it. I absolutely HATE this all too common approach, with a passion. It produces horses that lean on the hand, and riders that have no hope of ever achieving feel.

Strangely, I only developed real 'feel' around ten years ago, despite having competed to a reasonably high level in both dressage and show jumping. I was getting there, but it was only during a long break of several years without instruction, that I developed 'feel' all by myself. The things I learnt through riding lots of horses, mainly retraining racehorses was far greater than I had ever learnt from instructors. Maybe it was having the peace to really think about things and how the horse is working, that did it. But it was as if all those things that instructors used to say to me, that meant so very little at the time, were suddenly something I understood.

Now, I am an instructor myself. And teaching 'feel' is my number one priority. Knowing what helped me understand it myself, as something which came from within, has made me able to teach it pretty successfully to MOST people within a relatively short time. However, one person has evaded me. And I have made very little difference to her riding in four years. So in answer to your question, can 'feel' be taught, I say 'yes' but it is a very difficult thing for an instructor to get across, and there will be some people that will never, 'get it'.
 
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I don't think that "feel" itself can be taught, but I do think you can learn "feel" if it doesn't coe naturally to you. For me this means that a good trainer will help to give you windows to experience that "feel" and at that point you have to recognise it and then actively seek it.

Maybe lessons on a schoolmaster would help to teach feel?
 
that's interesting wagtail, thank you, i don't think i got 'feel' at all during any of the years i spent having lessons or gong to college, we were taught to ride correctly but there was no feeling to it at all! It took what i call real horses to teach me, ones that didn't know the BHS way lol:).
 
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