Have you ever been taught by someone famous??

LHS said:
A friend of mine was bought a course of lessons with Andy Austin and likewise it was a never to be repeated experience. She saw it as a fabulous opportunity to for her and it wasn't. It was money wasted.
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Really? Andy trained my former boss occasionally and he raved about him, he was jumping area/international trial level at the time.
 
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only_me said:
I would love to get a lesson with Mr Micklem :)
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I did once - it was awesome :) also Eric Smiley, Gisela Holstein and the amazing Iris Kellett (for the golden oldies amongst you!)

K had a couple of lessons with Ernest Dillon, the results of which we are still trying to get over, lets just say we WON'T be going back for more :( She now goes to Nigel Taylor who is amazing
 
I've had lessons with a fair few 'names' either as parts of clinics / individual one-offs / schoolmaster training. I have usually come away with something positive out of every one. The only real disaster, never to repeat experience, was Graham Fletcher.

To be brutally honest, I find it far more constructive to find a really good local trainer who you can afford to go to on a regular basis and who 'gets' you and your horse and helps you to develop. Finding one of those is far more difficult than it might first seem, especially when you are looking to move forwards from the basics.
 
Galisgirl10 said:
Really? Andy trained my former boss occasionally and he raved about him, he was jumping area/international trial level at the time.
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The problems were not his expertise but more the way she was treated.

Andy has two sides to him, if he thinks you are someone who can benefit him in some way and are ' on the scene ' he will make an effort. If you are mr and mrs average who just want to learn he thinks you are beneath him and not worth the trouble. The feedback from her was awful.
 
I have had lessons with Dan Sherif, Andrew Gould,Damian Hallam, Richard Waygood, Spencer Wilton, Nicola Mcgivern, Gareth Hughes, James Burtwell.

James and Andrew were brilliant!
 
The two best ones:

Nicola Wilson (then tweddle) was my instructor for pony club camp - she was great but i do remember us all causing lots of trouble as we doubled up with the lads group so lots of ony swapping ;)


and thanks to Mistatiger a lesson with Mark Todd!! :)
 
I've had lessons with Andrew Gould, Robert Pickles and Mary Wanless... 1st two would highly recommend :D

Had a kind of lesson on how to put on a fly collar thing from William Funnel in one of the trade stands at Hickstead a few years ago - I was asking one of the staff what it was and he showed me! Very nice man :D
 
I have had lessons with Caroline Moore for a few years now and she is fantstic I cant recommend her enough to people. She has changed my riding and has unlocked so much potential in my horse.
I have also had lessons with Richard Carruthers, Nigel Taylor and Nick Turner through event horse owners association. All of them have been lovely and really helpful.
 
I have had lessons with a few best was Matt Ryan. In one lesson I jumped a fence and he clapped, I nearly burst into tears. Also he chucked my horse on the lorry and taught me at an event, so he could see how different he was there.
Also Rob Hoekstra always got the best out of me even if I sometimes went away wanting to make a voodoo doll! Jumped my biggest and best with him. Have seen him through people out of lessons though. He once told a girl to come back when she had learnt to ride - ouch
 
NiknKia said:
David Gatherer and Andrew Hamilton.
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Now see, I would call those two "top riders" rather than famous, as you don't see them in magazines/interviewed at events for tv etc? Had lessons with both and as everyone on here knows, really rate DG training.
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;)

Was lucky enough to win a lesson with Ian Stark thanks to Horse mag and that was really good. Would like to have another with him, but can't really afford him at £65-ish per lesson when there have been clinics advertised. :( He taught me all about kicking on after fences so have him to thank for our intros at the start of the year with no time faults! ;)

Also had a lesson with Jeanette Brakewell at the start of this year and thought she was brilliant. Would love a flatwork lesson with her as she had some really good pointers that made a big difference in only a small time. :)

Had a lesson with Caroline Powell this year also who was good and was kind enough to bring along a jump saddle to her next set of lessons (which I wasn't at! :o ) that she wanted me to try to prove something she'd told me about my GP saddle (at the time) affecting my jump position, I thought that was really thoughtful and I totally didn't expect it! Feel bad not being on the next lesson...!

Would love lessons with Mark Todd, Matt Ryan, Ollie Townend, Lucinda Green, Yogi Breisner if there were ever any near me/affordable! :)
 
Had a jumping lesson with Clare Hadley (wife of Steve, and selector etc for BSJA) who is an old mate of my former YM . Only problem was that I was riding an American Quarter Horse side saddle ( a former reining horse, LOOONG, story!), and when Clare asked us to stop immediately after jumping a fence as the mare was a little strong, she produced a sliding stop! Think I frightened Clare to death, and she didn't ask us to do that again!

Have also had lots of western lessons with Bob Mayhew, who is my complete guru but always cripples me by trying to improve my rubbish position in the saddle :D
 
i won a lesson with Andrew Gould and used to have lessons with Sam Griffiths (altho maybe not 'famous' he is a top rider these days!)

i am hoping to get in on a Lucinda Green clinic next year as some of my friends have been on one and really enjoyed it!
 
LHS said:
The problems were not his expertise but more the way she was treated.

Andy has two sides to him, if he thinks you are someone who can benefit him in some way and are ' on the scene ' he will make an effort. If you are mr and mrs average who just want to learn he thinks you are beneath him and not worth the trouble. The feedback from her was awful.
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Ahhh i see. we did have several of his horses on the yard, for free i might add so i guess he would have been nice then
 
FigJam said:
Now see, I would call those two "top riders" rather than famous, as you don't see them in magazines/interviewed at events for tv etc? Had lessons with both and as everyone on here knows, really rate DG training.
notworthy.gif
;)

Was lucky enough to win a lesson with Ian Stark thanks to Horse mag and that was really good. Would like to have another with him, but can't really afford him at £65-ish per lesson when there have been clinics advertised. :( He taught me all about kicking on after fences so have him to thank for our intros at the start of the year with no time faults! ;)

Also had a lesson with Jeanette Brakewell at the start of this year and thought she was brilliant. Would love a flatwork lesson with her as she had some really good pointers that made a big difference in only a small time. :)

Had a lesson with Caroline Powell this year also who was good and was kind enough to bring along a jump saddle to her next set of lessons (which I wasn't at! :o ) that she wanted me to try to prove something she'd told me about my GP saddle (at the time) affecting my jump position, I thought that was really thoughtful and I totally didn't expect it! Feel bad not being on the next lesson...!

Would love lessons with Mark Todd, Matt Ryan, Ollie Townend, Lucinda Green, Yogi Breisner if there were ever any near me/affordable! :)
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Oh missed Jannette how silly of me lol!!!

Nikki xxxx:D
 
Louise Skelton instructed my PC SJ rally earlier this year, I'd say she's pretty well known (especially in Herefordshire =P) now and she was really nice and instantly 'got' each of our combinations and taught us accordingly. Fab lesson, although I may be biased coz she said nice things about my fat horse!

Dream lessons... would love a lesson with Pheobe Buckley as I've been following her video diaries on YT and she seems really down to earth as well as knowing how to get the best out of her horses. Also Francis Whittington (maybe some of his style could rub off on me) aaaand Geoff Billington for sheer entertainment value!
 
Have won lessons with 'Oli Townend and Geoff Luckett and train weekly with the guy that won the pussiance at the open
 
Another one for the older posters - did a course with Dick Stilwell back in the 80s which was fabulous. Absolutely lovely (despite me being unknown with a horse only just starting unaffliated) and he spoke to us at shows a few times after.

In jumping days one lesson with Andy Austin which actually I found good as it gave me some schooling techniques I wasn't aware of.

Worked for Rodney Powell for a while and had some fairly interesting amazing lessons whilst working along side and also again in the past from Melanie Duff.

Have more recently done a couple of Patrick Print clinics and learnt some useful things from him.

But some of the best lessons I ever had was from a young BHSAI who had worked for a Swiss dressage rider.
 
charlie76 said:
I have had lessons with Dan Sherif, Andrew Gould,Damian Hallam, Richard Waygood, Spencer Wilton, Nicola Mcgivern, Gareth Hughes, James Burtwell.

James and Andrew were brilliant!
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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 :)
 
I had a fab clinic with Lucinda Green - her teaching was really interesting, although I might have got more out of it from a green horse.

I have lessons occasionally with Mark Kyle and he is superb.
 
ihatework said:
To be brutally honest, I find it far more constructive to find a really good local trainer who you can afford to go to on a regular basis and who 'gets' you and your horse and helps you to develop. Finding one of those is far more difficult than it might first seem, especially when you are looking to move forwards from the basics.
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Would agree with this - am still searching for a SJ trainer!!

I've had lessons with Mary Wanless (blah - wouldn't go back); Nick Gauntlett (incredibly good, will def use him again - and Emily King was in the same clinic session as me so other pros think he's ok too!); Georgie Spence (good, nice girl); Yogi Breisner (excellent for a one-off, great at putting the finishing touches on things); Caroline Moore (excellent, wish she were closer); Matt Ryan (really good - had me jumping a barrel on end with no wings!). I train regularly on the flat with the guy who used to run Mary Wanless' yard and he is excellent, and if Andrew Lovell (who is not famous!) were closer I would train with him a lot too as he was also superb.

OP, it isn't terribly hard to get lessons with 'famous' people - you just have to splash the cash and spot the clinics!
 
I've had two lessons with Oliver Townsend before. I'd love to have one with Ben Mayer in the future as I've heard good things about him. Don't know if anyone here has had experience with lessons taught by him?

I've been regularly taught by two local event riders to me too but they aren't massive names as far as I'm aware.
 
onlyme, I've also been taught by Eric Smiley, he's brilliant! Also had one lesson from John Micklem (couldn't pay me to go back for another!) and lessons from William Micklem and also rode a horse for William.
Don't really know if she's famous but Gillian Kyle (Mark Kyles mother) used to teach me at Pony Club, she was a really good instructor. Have also been taught by Tommy Brennan, he was an amazing instructor, although he's very blunt- I was lucky he seemed to like me and loved my horse but he was brutally honest with some people!
 
I replied on the NL thread, but also add Vicky Thompson to that before she was 'famous' and living at Sedgewick in a caravan with Rocky, she was very nice then!
And also Vicky Collins, who has been round Badminton and owned and bred Welton Molecule and Welton Romance. She was good for jumping but chased my poor baby horse around with a lunge whip in our first lesson!
 
frazzled said:
Stephen Hadley (lovely and very encouraging) Richard Waygood (great fun and excellent for x country) Ernest Dillon (terrifying but effective!)
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Missed out on Richard Waygood but can agree on the other two, plus Karen Dixon, Lucinda Green, Richard Davidson before anyone had heard of him and in the 1970's in a muddy field in Yorshire Andrew Fielder who was riding by and decided we were useless and needed some help.
 
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