How do you know if your instructor is any good?

[LEC]

Was at RC watching some lessons watched a well known local AI teaching and frankly she was incompetant.

It has just made me wonder how do you know if your instructor is any good? All these novices were looking to her and she gave them no help, no decent feedback and did not make critical changes (one horse did its sj round on wrong leg and kept having poles and she said good?!?) yet this is a AI and well thought of instructor who does dressage at an ok level (medium).

 

[Tiffany]

I know a local instructor who teaches lots of novices because anyone more advanced knows she's talking rubbish

I know I've got a good instructor because my horse is going better, my position feels more secure and we are getting better results whe we compete.

 

[kick_On]

mmm your gut feeling..............

i think with novice riders it's somes instructors work on confidence instead of picking every detail up, but i want whole package worked on.

So i want everything picked up and i find it very annoying if i know what's going wrong and instructor NOT!!!!! at this point i get cross cos i'm paying them my money

and switch off and never book them again

you have too, as rider vote with your feet

 

[ISHmad]

When you see positive changes in your riding and the way your horse is going.

 

[LEC]

But a novice does not know these things and if they trust an instructor because they feel happy with them it could be really detrimental to their riding. This instructor was taking them xc and though they were only jumping small its dangerous.

 

[WeeBrown]

I think you can only compare them to other people you have had or seen teach. I knew when they were rubbish (or rather I didn't at first but gradually it dawned on me) because they would tell me to do something, I didn't alter at all (or in fact did the action worse) and they'd say "much better". I now have instructors who tell me what I need to do and WHY I need to do it. And they're quite happy telling me I'm rubbish

(but also praise when I'm getting better).

 

[kerilli]

sometimes you don't realise till later that your instructor was doing you more harm than good... i used to go to someone i idolised, but i realise now that he was really not a good instructor at all. he was such a natural that he couldn't understand some of the problems i was having, for instance, and he didn't have the patience to go back to the basics, which was what i needed.
trial and error, unfortunately. sometimes you don't know until you find someone better later...
then the big indications are that you feel challenged but retain your confidence, and see and feel a real improvement. oh, and that you never end up bursting into tears in the middle of a lesson, that's always quite telling!

 

[Oldred]

I can see the point you are making - how do people who really don't know anything or very little, make a judgment on the training they are being given. One thing I have noticed is that riders generally do not make huge efforts to educate themselves alongside their lessons. Riding well and learning to control your own body and influence the horse for the better is very complex.

I once read somewhere a famous equestrian (Nuno, Klimke,??) that you should read as much as you ride. There are other opportunities to educate yourself - watching clinics, watching other people's lessons, the internet, going to competitions and shows, writing for dressage judges - but most very novice riders don't do any of this because they may not realise they have to. When you don't know how much there is to know, you don't know how much effort, time and dedication needs to be put in.

I wish somebody had informed me about how much I could educate myself when I was first learning to ride/ride better. I too thought because I had lessons I was getting all the info there was. And I had some cr*p trainers who took my money and gave me very little in return!

 

[dieseldog]

Lec i know what you are talking about. A RC used to hire our arena for lessons and the 'head' instructor was useless. Really really awful. The stuff she used to make them do and the advice she gave them

no one should have paid her money, but they all kept coming back week after week.

I ususally go off personal recommendation, try them and if they are any good have them back. I've also found, on the dressage side especially, that an instructor will only last me so long. I sort of 'outgrow' them as I improve - but I also can't see the point of paying megabucks for a dressage lesson when I'm not very good at it. I've never found that with the show jumping lady though - still use the same one 10 years on.

 

[rss07]

I know what you mean. I suppose maybe part the trouble is that an AI only really needs stage 2 to get where they are...

 

[LeneHorse]

We knew ours was pretty good but when she won Scottish instructor of the year that confirmed it!!

 

[richjpeckham]

Mmm, not a straight forward question. As mentioned by some others, it depends on the level of the student. As somebody who has never had a lesson (too tight to pay for it!), I feel that one must give the AI a little slack, especially if she is trying to instill confidence.

No novice wants a barrage of criticism all in one hit, perhaps she is letting their confidence on the beasties build up first and only picking up on silly mistakes?

Lest you forget, by all accounts you are an extremely well experienced rider and you know what to look for, but your level and expectation from an instructor would be way higher than that of a novice would it not?

Or,

Maybe the AI is genuinely NAFF! Perhaps they have had so many years teaching novices that she relly isn't interested any more! Which would be a pity, I'd have a quiet word and ask if they still enjoy teaching. Perhaps try and push them in the right direction for the students sake!!!!

 

[ibot]

i am an AI and i have read all your posts with great intrest. I have been doing some filling in at a yard where there is a lady who runs the yard but she does not seem to bring anyone on so everyone is stuck on the lead rope and the lady spends most of the lessons doing quizes and doing windmills with the hands!!!
i have come in and i teach very differently but it has been picked up on and they all are dreading the other person coming back. Now i think that if you teach at the same yard with the same horses you tend to get complacent and stuck in a rut.
but i do think there is an instructor that suits everyone its just trying to find us but we are out there.............Good luck.