Does your instructor ride your horse?

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minkymoo

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So as to not hijack the other thread.

Does your instructor ride your horse? Mine does. It is normally to teach horse something that he will then teach me. My horse isn't very well schooled, neither am I for that matter and it seems to make it less stressful for the pair of us. Also, it helps my instructor understand my horse and see how we are progressing as I only see him every 3 weeks.

This suits me and my horse, just curious as to whether your instructor does, why and if not why not?
 
I have had various trainers & all of them have at least sat in the horse & sometimes they have schooled it for a complete lesson. One of them competed my horse for me whilst i was preganant. To my mind it helps them understand what the horse is doing & then help me correct whatever it is i am doing wrong.
Plus the one who competed realised what a change came over my horse at a competition :D
 
On my very first lesson i asked her to - i was nervous, he was ignoring me, nappy and spooking and i wanted to see how she dealt with it - if he could behave really.
Once Id seen him behave for her, and how she dealt with him i was much happier knowing he could be controlled and could actually do what she asked x
 
As an instructor.... unless I am asked to school the horse, I hardly ever ride them.

IMO, an instructor should be able to see from the ground what is going on. Only if I can see that my pupil is doing everything that I say and it is still not happening do I get on. Then it will only be briefly, work out what is happening, then get off again and tell my pupil how to recreate it.

My pupils want to school their horses for themselves, they ride without me the rest of the week (or however long) therefore need to know how to correct things for themselves without me doing it for them.
 
Brego gets ridden quite often by my trainer - I'm old and passed it, and never had riding lessons as a kid, so it's often the only way I can understand what she wants me to do! Also, as I've had Brego since he was three, broke him myself etc, if God forbid, I one day have to sell him, I want him to be used to other people too
 
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Mine does. If the horse is being very naughty and not listening, and if i have tried everything i can to try and sort it, then she will jump on him. I never ask and probably never will as i feel like its giving up, she usually just says 'let me get on him.'
I love it after she rides my horse as he is so responsive, its great. However it is a bit disheartening that she can make him do that and i can't.
 
Mine rode my horse a couple of weeks ago when I was away. My sis tacked up for her and she just came and rode at the time when she normally would have been teaching me. Sis took a video, he looked fantastic, I was very proud, as she said she'd been starting him at shoulder in (never done it before) and some collection, but also a bit jealous that he had gone so well :p :D But then I reminded myself that she is a professional, lol.
She's riding him again when I go away again in a few weeks. I think it does make a difference to him as he can be a bit babyish so I think it's good for him to be reminded of the 'perfect' way to do things, as i'm sure that, being amateur, I let him get away with things without meaning to :)
It was also helpful as she now finds it easier to explain how to ride a certain movement on him as she knows his tiny habits and quirks.
 
I like it when instructors are happy to get on and have a go as I often think a horse can feel very different to how it looks. For example Aniseed is a lazy little madam but for some reason looks really easy to ride from the ground. If my instructor never sat on her she wouldn't know how hard I was working!

Its also nice to see your horse being ridden by someone else. Last time my instructor rode Annie all I was stood in the middle of the arena mesmerised because she looked amazing.
 
One of my instructors has never so much as sat on my mare. He's sat on my gelding to show me how to do something, half-pass I think, and then jumped off again.

My other instructor has ridden my mare a couple of times - once a couple of years ago when she was on schooling livery and then about 6 months ago because she hadn't seen her for a while and wanted to feel how she'd changed.

I know both instructors would hop on if I needed something explained in a different way but they like to see how I tackle things first and then advise me on how to improve.....or maybe they just like a laugh :)
 
Most instructors refuse to ride mine, once they know him. :(

Under normal circumstances I think it is very good for your horse to occasionally have another professional rider school them. With my previous horses I'd have lessons every week, with my instructor riding them once a month.

My current boy is different. Buying him, I now admit was a huge mistake. I've been on the floor more times in the last 18 months than in the whole of my 30 years of riding. I think people must look at me and think I live with a wife beater :o
 
My instructor hardly ever rides other people's horses, she will if you want her to but she is there to teach me ride my horse so what's the point of her getting on him?
She is a classical instructor and by getting you to sit correctly can influence the way the horse goes for you.
I would love to see her ride as I have never seen her on a horse, we were winding her up once that she couldn't ride, she just laughed!! Then a girl that worked for her said she's like the spanish riding school - amazing!
I really would love to see her on Axel :)
 
I like the instructor to hve sit on Star, to see how she goes, and also, how she feels. What you see from the ground is not always how things feel, nd like the earlier poster, I have to work very hard to get he where I want her because she is tense, clever and crafty.
I had an instructor who would not ride her, and we stopped making progress because she couldn't understand what I was feeling.
 
I like a new trainer to sit on my horse the first time we meet. And as a general rule that's it. I did have a trainer once who used to get on for about 2 minutes to physically show me what he meant when I just wasn't getting something which I found quite useful... but this was when I was trying to teach a horse how to do passage when I'd never sat on a horse that could do passage... Not the easiest thing in the world.

Blitz
 
Mine doesn't but thats normally because I have very dainty ponies or small horses and she is too big for them.

I think I would rather do it then seeing my instructor do it though as if she could do it and I couldn't I would feel useless, but thats cause I have little self esteem :p
 
Yes. I agree with Narkymare. Instructor does it more to show me it can be done, whatever it is we are trying to do. I learn quickest by watching, rather than trying to understand the technicalities my instructor is trying to talk me through.
 
My instructor sat on my girl when first got her and started lessons on her so that she had an idea what she was capable of etc and what made her tick and then worked on me to help her, if I am away and put her on competition livery then my instructor will school her whilst I am away but that is really about it. Definitely not a regular occurance although if I was having a major problem with something and just wasn't progressing then I would ask my instructor to sit on her to find out where the problem lay (usually my door) and what I can do to progress past the blockage.
 
My instructor rides Mason, sometimes she schools him for me when I'm on holiday, sometimes she has a sit on when he's being evasive and trying it on. he's only 5, still learning lots, and I think it's good for him to have different people ride him in preparation for ridden showing (if he learns to canter on the right leg!) but I will admit that I am gutted when she gets on him when he's been naughty with me and he behaves perfectly, and looks stunning! I know that I need to make him go like that myself, but by her knowing what he's actually doing to evade me, makes both our lives easier.
She always used to ride Splish when he was being a sod, happily though, he was always a sod with her for a few minutes as well! made me feel not such a muppet after all!
 
I love it when my instructor rides M! It makes me realise how well he can go but crucially after she's been on him, I have a five minute window where he goes just as well for me too - an amazing feeling plus I get to 'feel' what it should be like (just wish I was as talented as either he or she is!) :D
 
I quite often hop onto horses of people I'm teaching, not because I want to show them how it's done :D but because regardless of what I can see from the ground, many people find it very difficult to describe what they are feeling from the horse when they are riding. A classic one would be the person who says their horse is strong or pulling, when in fact it is leaning. Other times a rider can get very frustrated with a horse and claim that they are doing what you tell them but the horse is not listening, and then it can be helpful to hop on it and give them a quick demo :) Sometimes people believe you more if you have ridden their horse for yourself.

As to the schoolers, I tell clients there is no point in me being able to ride their horses and them not, so they have to come and have lessons on their horses alongside me schooling them:D.
 
As an instructor, only occasionally, when really needed. It really depends on the circumstances, horse and rider. I liked to take my schoolmaster for riders having a problem, to try and let them find the feel they needed.
If it is a discipline problem, I will clearly get on if the rider wants me to.
If I can't see the root of a problem I will pop up. Sometime the horse rides so different from the way it looks.
In general I prefer to teach rider and naggy as a team, and get them to come together, the horse needs to go for his rider, not me.
 
Mine does very rarely, usually when my back hurts too much to ride. This is not very often thankfully. I like her to ride him occasionally so she can feel how he is going. I would rather ride him myself and learn the movements etc than someone else do it anyway!!
 
I would love him to, but Fleur is 14.2 & Paul is about 6'2, so sadly I have to struggle on alone when my legs run out of power!!
 
I have had various instructors as I find that different styles of instructor work better with different horses, I have had trainers and teachers, the teachers I find don't tend to get on whereas the trainers do, but they do a different job really, I personally prefer the trainers that come out and get on as then I can have help when I am having a problem as they will get on and show me how to deal with it/see what is going on for themselves. I find trainers tend to be more expensive though. But the downside is that sometimes you miss out as the trainers spend loads of time on the horse and you don't get to ride much!
 
My instructor has ridden Toby a few times, when I was ill and couldn't ride for a few weeks she kept him ticking over and taught him some new stuff . She also jumped on him when we had a few problems (I'm a novice rider) - she knows him well and immediately felt the problem.

I love watching him ridden by her, it shows me how great he goes and what I can strive for. She usually only pops on for a few minutes and doesn't usually bother adjusting the strirrup leathers - she has lovely long legs and looks like a jockey on my 14.1hh pony :D
 
QR - If I want my instructor to ride my horse, I pay for her to come and school her.

On a lesson, I would only expect her to hop on if we just weren't achieving what we should be. She has never offered to get on, she has only got on if I've asked and at times, she has said she doesn't need to get on.
 
None of my instructors have ever got on my horses and imo they should never need to get on except in exceptional circumstances. If someone asks them to get on the horse then that is a different situation. There is no way that it can not be demoralising for the rider when an instructor gets on a horse, even people who have commented earlier have said they wish they were as good as their instructor... If an instructor can not see from the ground what is going on then there is a flaw in there teaching, IME the worse the instructor the more often they get on. It is one of the things that I really hate as I have seen so many people deflated by it although even I will admit that in very extreme situations it is necessary (but I have only ever seen one situation when it was..)
 
Mine has schooled her a fair bit, but when we are struggling he hops on!! The other week he has tried everything and I was being really thick and didnt get it, so he got on and showed me, then when I got back on it clicked!!! It depends how you learn sometimes I benefit from being shown!
 
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