Have you ever been taught by someone famous??

Many years ago (and I mean 'many') I studied and took my AI at The Fulmer School of Equitation when Robert Hall owned it. All the students used to have a lesson with him each week, and I used to watch him and his wife riding. It was inspirational stuff for me and all the students - because at that time dressage was not a popular equine sport. I even got to ride Conversano Caprice - Doreen his groom, although I don't think she was supposed to, used to let some of the students have a quick ride on him. So I can honestly say I have had the privilege to ride a piaffe on an Olympic dressage horse. Although I never pursued a career in teaching I have always remebered what I was taught at Fulmer with Robert Hall.
Most of you younger riders will probably not know who I am talking about !!!!! Robert Hall was the Carl Hester of the 1960's. A student of the Spanish School of Equitation.
 
kerilli said:
Andrew Nicholson - very very good, scathing when I managed to fall off in front of him when mare left a leg (only time I ever came off the flipping thing, ever!), but excellent instruction.
Not sure i'd be able to concentrate on the riding tbh....phwoooarrrr! :D

I haven't had a lesson with anyone famous. :(

Marji Armstrong was loud and scary and trained by nuno olivera....but not famous....i don't think :D
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I had a few lessons when I was very young with Daniel & Gerard Naprous (the people that supply the spanish horses for films etc) was the best experience of my life learning to do all the tricks with the horses & dressage moves at such a young age :)
 
I've had lessons over a few years with Spencer Wilton, he was great. Very friendly, supportive and helpful...such a shame he doesn't do clinics in the south of France!

Also had lessons with Trish Gardner as I bought my horse from her and she was very helpful showing me his 'buttons'. I don't know if many people know her now but she rode at the Olympics at her time.

I had one lesson with Isobel Wessels which was also great but in the end the venue was too far away for regular visits.
 
I've been really fortunate to have lessons with a range of people over the years...
I was a guinea pig at a George Morris 3 day clinic when I was a little un.
Working Pupil for Stuart Tinney then when riding in Holland
Albert voorn, Sydney SJ ind silver

Jeroen Dubledam, Sydney ind
gold

Leida Strijk, Dutch Olympic DR rider

Tim Collins, Bermudian Olympic event rider

Tina Fletcher- whom I really rate

All these Olympic riders and I still suck!!!!! Lol
 
Yogi Breisner when I was 11 and on a 23 year old welsh pony. no surprise to say he was brilliant, even to someone as young and clueless as me.

Phoebe Buckley helped me get my young horse cantering this time last year when I was having a block on teaching him, liked her a lot, just got on with it with no fuss.

Gerard Naprous - told me I was crap but that he could do something with me once he had torn my riding apart.

Lessons in stable management from Mark Todd (lesson was to always check water buckets for holes in case some sod has drilled small holes in the bottom to entertain himself when new staff start!0
 
I've had group clinics with Paul Tapner, Matt Ryan and Pammy Hutton and all have been very good and I took something home from each.

But the most memorable was showjumping lessons with Lionel Dunning many years ago when I was jumping ponies. One girl was having trouble with a reluctant pony and he gave her a second whip and told her to 'make like a lady gorilla' which had us all falling around laughing. It worked though and we all jumped far bigger tracks than ever before. Would love another lesson with him.
 
My daughter and her mare once had a lesson with Mark Todd, he could clock straight away we weren't big comp people but he was very nice to us and very helpful, even reversed my trailer for me :D
 
bounce said:
But the most memorable was showjumping lessons with Lionel Dunning many years ago when I was jumping ponies. One girl was having trouble with a reluctant pony and he gave her a second whip and told her to 'make like a lady gorilla' which had us all falling around laughing. It worked though and we all jumped far bigger tracks than ever before. Would love another lesson with him.
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Lionel comes to my place and does clinics, he's still ace. Still uses the same tricks too! He gets great results. Unbelievably I really struggle to get a few extra people to come and fill up the afternoon, seems nobody around here wants to spend anything on lessons! He's an absolute gem.
 
kerilli said:
Lionel comes to my place and does clinics, he's still ace. Still uses the same tricks too! He gets great results. Unbelievably I really struggle to get a few extra people to come and fill up the afternoon, seems nobody around here wants to spend anything on lessons! He's an absolute gem.
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Wish I was closer. I'd pay for Lionel lessons.
 
Tempi said:
I forgot to add James on my list!! I trained with him for 4 months at Wellington when he worked there, brilliant experiences. Then had some BYRDs training with him aswell, now hoping to have lessons on his schoolmaster once Bloss is too pregnant to ride :)
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Ooo when was that? I worked at Welly about 10 yrs ago as a working pupil and had regular lessons with James, learnt most of what i know now from him :)
 
Blyth - inspirational, a great motivator and very good at understanding what makes people tick
Lucinda - very encouraging and positive
Steve Hadley - Great! Very precise. If he takes his cap off and rubs his head you're doing badly!!He just says 'And again'!
Adam Kemp - alawys got the horses going brilliantly but I was never quite sure how we achieved it!

One GP dressage rider who played with her dog for the entire lesson - not to be repeated
Second GP dressage rider who sat in a corner in his aviators while I stayed on the same 20m circle with both of my horses. I watched 2 other lessons which were the same. He was interested in taking the extortionate amount of money for the clinic but not really in the training so it seemed

Won a lesson with Yogi - he was fab and picked up what I was doing wrong in the first 30 seconds. Really helped my horse.
 
mbequest said:
I've been really fortunate to have lessons with a range of people over the years...
I was a guinea pig at a George Morris 3 day clinic when I was a little un.
Working Pupil for Stuart Tinney then when riding in Holland
Albert voorn, Sydney SJ ind silver

Jeroen Dubledam, Sydney ind
gold

Leida Strijk, Dutch Olympic DR rider

Tim Collins, Bermudian Olympic event rider

Tina Fletcher- whom I really rate

All these Olympic riders and I still suck!!!!! Lol
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Not sure if you have heard of him but I had a few lessons from Jamie Coman when i was in Oz in 2000, also Janelle Waters - I worked for her for 6 months, she is based near Mendooran NSW.
 
Ummmm...

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to have regular training from Lars Sederholm (also Yogi and Richard Walker as they were based there at the time) Matt Ryan, Jennie L-C, Kenneth Clawson, Peter Murphy, Charlotte Dujardin.

I have had irregular lessons and/or one off clinics with: Clayton Fredericks, WFP, Mary King, Emile Faurie, Graham Fletcher, Lucinda Green, Pippa Funnell, JP Sheffield, Tracey Robinson, Peter Storr, Cindy Rawson.

My assessments would be: Lars superb trainer and has left an amazing legacy in the world of eventing AND sj, however extremely tough, in fact totally ruthless, and a first-rate destroyer of confidence/self-worth :o I think this may be where Yogi learned some of his less attractive habits. Personally I think Yogi is truly inspirational but he can be moody, he doesn't suffer fools gladly, human or equine, and he expects total concentration and instant obedience from his pupils, again human and equine. Love Kenneth but occasionally feel that he is "going through the motions"/teaching by numbers. It's a bit like a BB King gig I went to a few years ago - it wasn't that he didn't do it very well, just that you didn't feel he was putting heart and soul into it... I find Peter M better and better every time, I think you need to get to know him as he can be a bit taciturn at first...Matt was great but I almost got to know him too well, knew what he was going to say before he said it kind of thing - I think in the end you get to the end of the road with a trainer... He can be very hard on horses too :( I adored Jennie, find her fab, but a bit too far away - Charlotte works you and the horse very hard but she's a lovely person and I really get a lot out of my lessons :)

Of the one-off people, I really rated WFP, nicked exercises off Clayton and JP (his was Kenneth's anyway :D) love Mary even though I did fall off in the water jump in oned of my lessons with her and had 2 more horses to school afterwards :eek: found Tracey much better than I expected and brilliant at improving what she saw in front of her at a clinic situation. I really rate Cindy Rawson, and will often have a XC lesson with her if I think I have a problem, she has a great eye and is very analytical.

Can't think of anyone I really disliked, I love lessons and tend to find you can get something out of most trainers even if you don't agree with a lot of what they say :) :)

Great thread, btw, couldn't resist :D
 
Emily Gilruth - had a few lessons off her, knows her stuff.
Polly Stockton - we went over a course of jumps, got them put up and went round again. To be fair to her, it was a very mixed group, but there was no real focus on me as horses jumped all clear and so therefore was 'fine.'
Louise Lyons - had a 3 day eventing clinic with her, absolutely fab. New horse who was stopping at everything, had her flying over Novice and Intermediate schooling at Somerford XC, best experience of my life. Great confidence builder, can't rate her enough! Good for flatwork too.
Oli Townend - hmmmmmmmm well...

Had a few dressage names too but no idea how big they are!
 
Hollywood said:
Many years ago (and I mean 'many') I studied and took my AI at The Fulmer School of Equitation when Robert Hall owned it. All the students used to have a lesson with him each week, and I used to watch him and his wife riding. It was inspirational stuff for me and all the students - because at that time dressage was not a popular equine sport. I even got to ride Conversano Caprice - Doreen his groom, although I don't think she was supposed to, used to let some of the students have a quick ride on him. So I can honestly say I have had the privilege to ride a piaffe on an Olympic dressage horse. Although I never pursued a career in teaching I have always remebered what I was taught at Fulmer with Robert Hall.
Most of you younger riders will probably not know who I am talking about !!!!! Robert Hall was the Carl Hester of the 1960's. A student of the Spanish School of Equitation.
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I would love to have trained with Robert Hall, he went to the USA I think. The last I heard was he wrote a letter to H&H a few years ago saying that he was upset by the riding and training he saw in the warm up arena at a competition. Sadly instead of an educated debate on the subject, he was absolutely vilified. Really feel sad to see a great trainer like him treated like this.
 
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Sam Griffiths is excellent - at first i thought he wasnt putting in much input but it turns out he was watching us (group of 4) to give some of the best advice i have ever had
Jonquil Hemming - she was good
Mary King - semi lesson on one of hers
Pammy Hutton - not so great with my pony at the time - but poor chap wasnt great at the time!
 
I won a lesson with Richard Waygood once and enjoyed it although did find that one horse in the lesson that was a little 'stickier' than the other two took up a lot of the time. Have been to occasional clinics with him since and enjoy but don't necessarily rush to book when see advertised which I guess reflects slight indifference on my part.
Also had an Andrew Gould lesson, can't say got much from it but again a paired lesson for 45 mins as a one off and would be hard I think to pass on a lot in that time when he didn't know me or the horse.
Nigel Taylor - been twice, do enjoy but was lucky my boys were very good, friend had a much trickier mare in same lesson and didn't get anything positive at all.
Jonathan Chapman - great with one of my horses, deconstructed the way I ride the other and we had a serious knock in confidence and performance it took ages to recover from!
I totally agree with IHW and a couple of others who have said that in many ways one local trainer who you can access regularly and is happy to answer queries etc between lessons I think is probably more useful - I have stopped going to random one off clinics now.
I train regularly with Ernest dillon now - who is absolute 'marmite' and freely admits it but has worked almost miracles with me and too over last 6 months. I also train on the flat with a local BYRDS selector who rides at PSG and they have very similar styles and approaches and it has really brought us on over recent weeks.
I must say tho there is mention of a Lucinda Fredericks clinic locally and I would be tempted :)
 
Lyndsay said:
I have had lessons with Caroline Powell, Ian Stark, Frances Hay-Smith, Les Smith and Andrew Hamilton. All are fantastic
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IAN STARK!!!! im am sooo jealous.

Ive got one with Oliver Townend 2 weeks on sat and apparently hes really good and everyone raves about him :)

Mary King is up to open our new equine vets and doing demos Dec 19th so although i'll not be getting a lesson personally it'll be great to watch as she is my idol
 
The closest I've ever been was sitting next to Jennie Loriston-Clarke as a teenager, watching my instructor having a lesson, pooing my pants because I was so scared of her! I thought my instructor was a scary woman but Jennie was something else! :D

I've watched a fair few "famous people" teaching lessons and giving lectures. Had a lecture at uni from Yogi once, he was fab - would love to see him with horses rather than a whiteboard. I've watched some good Mark Phillips lessons, too. Lucinda Green was also very educational.

To be honest, other than really wanting to have lessons with Carl Hester and Kyra Kyrkland, the one trainer whose lessons I covet most I don't actually know who he is - some Portuguese guy who comes over to teach my current instructor. Not had a lesson with him in a couple of years, but in the few lessons I have had with him I have learnt more than with anyone else. You don't need to be a "big name", by any means :) I don't know, maybe he is famous or something, but I've never heard of him / know his name! hahaha...
 
Many Years ago as a child with Richard Meade. :)
Eric Smiley, not my cup of tea just didnt click with his way at all:(
David Gatherer, fantastic, he just got us, i learned a huge amount, can highly recommend him.:D:D:D
Groundwork lesson with Richard Maxwell, he's worth his weight in gold that one.:D
I would love to have a lesson from shane Breen, ive seen him on horse hero and he is fantastic
 
I've never had a proper riding lesson with anyone famous but I do work with Peter Scudamore who generally asks you questions then walks away before he hears the answer :D
 
mbequest said:
Articfox - yes, I know both Jamie and Janelle 
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How cool, here is a pic of me riding at janelle's, its been so long since I heard from them, do you know how they are doing?

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Cool!
Jamie and Janelle still going strong. Jamie has some really nice young horse and his daughter Hayley is doing really well. Jamie has moved from hunter region to somewhere down near down closer to Melbourne, doing a lot of training... Google him, im sure he has a website!
 
I have been pretty lucky went and spent a week working for JOHNNY HARRIS ex international sj and was told that i could work for my keep and lessons all the horses lived out bar 1 and they dont poo pick fields so basically no work and had the most amazing week of jumping ex international horses filled me wth confidence and just changed the way i ride. he does intensive training camps now and am looking to return for full time work.

Also TINA COOK we know her through her brother and was talking to her about my ex racer when i first met her. she invited me over to theirs to have a jump as i said we had none and was struggling with control ended up having lessons nearly every week as she feel in love with my boy. she was just amazing went and worked at her yard last week for 1 week and although i didnt have lessons i rode lots and watched her ride every night whie she explained what she was doing and why. Gained so much from her shame she doesnt really have time to teach she is second to none!!!!
 
Oooh! I don't know how I could forgotten this, but I came down the centre line once to find...Jennie Lorriston Clarke at C!!!!! She never smiled back after my final halt which I thought was a bit mean regardless of the rubbishness of my riding!
 
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