PaddyMonty
Well-Known Member
or do they mask the riders weak areas to make the client feel good about their progress.
Before I go any futher can I just clarify that I'm not taliking about the names you have to book weeks in advance with, more the average riding club level instructor.
I ask this as I teach a small group of riders (friends). I dont charge them and I do what I think is necessary to improve their riding. Every session is about exposing the issues and working on the root cause and dealing with it. This can result in spending entire time on flat even if it was supposed to be a jumping lesson, can also on occasions leave pupil a liitle surprised /deflated at the amount of work required.
Now if I was having to earn a living teaching I probably wouldn't teach in the same way. I would want the pupil to always leave my lesson feeling good about their riding so they keep comming back.
I know I can engineer a jumping lesson that would get a rider jumping considerably bigger fences than they normally would but I also know if they then tried to do this at home it would turn to a pile of poop.
I remember one session I had with a top showjumper. We spent 95% of the lesson just working on the canter as he fel this was the issue which I agreed with. Sadly the owner was not impressed that she had paid a lot of money for a jumping lesson and hardly popped a fence. We never went back and I stopped riding for her not long after.
I've watched a lot of lessons and often come away feeling the instructor was playing it far too safe and not really dealing with the root issue, rather skirting around the weakness to avoid a potential problem for fear of the pupil going away less than smiling.
I'm lucky in that I know my pupils well and they know I will always say what I see but also that I have lots of time after a session to discuss in detail any issues the lesson may have highlighted and develop a plan on how we will tackle them. A luxury a lot of instructors dont have.
So I guess what I'm really asking is do some instructors play it too safe/compromise on what the rider really needs to do versus what the rider thinks they need to do and is this really the best way to teach?
Before I go any futher can I just clarify that I'm not taliking about the names you have to book weeks in advance with, more the average riding club level instructor.
I ask this as I teach a small group of riders (friends). I dont charge them and I do what I think is necessary to improve their riding. Every session is about exposing the issues and working on the root cause and dealing with it. This can result in spending entire time on flat even if it was supposed to be a jumping lesson, can also on occasions leave pupil a liitle surprised /deflated at the amount of work required.
Now if I was having to earn a living teaching I probably wouldn't teach in the same way. I would want the pupil to always leave my lesson feeling good about their riding so they keep comming back.
I know I can engineer a jumping lesson that would get a rider jumping considerably bigger fences than they normally would but I also know if they then tried to do this at home it would turn to a pile of poop.
I remember one session I had with a top showjumper. We spent 95% of the lesson just working on the canter as he fel this was the issue which I agreed with. Sadly the owner was not impressed that she had paid a lot of money for a jumping lesson and hardly popped a fence. We never went back and I stopped riding for her not long after.
I've watched a lot of lessons and often come away feeling the instructor was playing it far too safe and not really dealing with the root issue, rather skirting around the weakness to avoid a potential problem for fear of the pupil going away less than smiling.
I'm lucky in that I know my pupils well and they know I will always say what I see but also that I have lots of time after a session to discuss in detail any issues the lesson may have highlighted and develop a plan on how we will tackle them. A luxury a lot of instructors dont have.
So I guess what I'm really asking is do some instructors play it too safe/compromise on what the rider really needs to do versus what the rider thinks they need to do and is this really the best way to teach?