In praise of trainers: what have you learned?

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sheep

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I thought it might be a good time to post in praise of those absolute saints that are trainers / instructors / whatever terminology you prefer.

My OH owns a lovely coloured mare who, to be quite honest, I could not ride one side of. She's a lovely horse, but quirky and sensitive. In the past two years he has been unable to ride, mostly through work. For the first year, the big girl and I muddled along but it became apparent that things were not as they should be, and I was basically creating a monster ;) if I asked something of her, and she backed off, I would absolutely relent. The horse ruled the roost and she learned very quickly that if she napped, I would back off and that was that.
With hindsight, I was very close to creating a horse dangerous to ride and handle. The reason? A lack of skill, absolutely, but also a lack of confidence (my own horse is a saint!).
Cue the wonderful instructor, C, who came to us in December and who has been out twice a month since. Our mare has been utterly transformed (and so have I!). The mare is an absolute joy to ride and I have gained confidence in being firm with her on the ground. She is a quick learner and is now lovely to handle in all aspects (her stable manners have always been fabulous). For so long, I made excuses for the horse: she's sensitive, she's quirky, etc (which she is)... But, now I am learning that this doesn't mean that I should be ineffective as a rider. In fact, our new regime has given us a horse who is generally so much happier in all aspects of life.
Our instructor is a lovely girl, great fun and who just seems to click with our mare's thought processes. She has transformed the horse without ever sitting on her back and is slowly giving me back confidence in my own abilities.
So, how have your trainers helped you? Would you be where you are now without that special instructor? I know I wouldn't - this time last year I could not ride one side of the mare. Now I nearly can ;) and improving week by week!!
 
Lazy horse = leg off, do NOT nag, ask once and get a reaction!

My nine year old could be an absolute monster without that! She would love to totally ignore you and slob around. Instead she is pretty quick and sharp off my leg!
 
Yesterday reminded when I ask for slow to really mean it, don't keep pulling, if need be if knees and seat fail to slow along with normal rein aid then give clear over emphasised definitate rein aid then release.
 
Good idea for a thread. Rather than individual tips, I think what my trainer has given me is confidence that you can improve any (sound!) horse with a bit of time, patience and good practice :) plus that you *really* don't need a big fancy horse to succeed.

I've been told by past trainers that I had the wrong horse.. that was with Millie so god only knows what they would have made of Kira! But look at her go :D Definitely wouldn't be setting out at advanced medium with her without the support and vision that my trainer had... to be able to see past the short stature and big attitude and see the positives that we could work with. I need that kind of thing, it makes me feel energised.

I also had a MASSIVE lightbulb moment, like stadium floodlights coming on in my brain, during a single lesson with CDJ that I won through a magazine - she taught with such positivity and purpose, it was like 'don't ride for a 7, go for the 10' - again, and again and again! not putting a limit on yourself just cos you don't have the megabucks horse. That absolutely changed my riding, in 2 hours I was a different person.
 
My true inspiration was a showjumping producer I was lucky enough to work for many moons ago. He taught me how to back horses and generally how to train anything. He was always calm and deliberate in everything he asked of them....it's his influence that sticks with me through every young horse I've started ever since, and whenever I'm not getting what I want from a horse it's his voice in my head to set me straight.
I've also never known a yard of horses before or since who were so calm and easy, in spite of the fact that they had no turnout and were all under the age of 7
 
Mine is similar to yours OP. I asked my instructor to help with my horse as I was starting to hate him and he rode him once and asked if he could ride him every day for a week to basically put him through boot camp as I had created the monster. He had learnt while I was getting my confidence back that any slight spook meant I got off and he didn't have to work. Being a lazy horse at heart, this spooking got worse as I gained confidence so it always set me back and even once I got my confidence back for the most part he'll have tantrums if he doesn't want to do something. He's a big horse with a lot of power so that feels terrifying when he gets himself worked up. But I know now he does it for a reaction, he does everything for a reaction. Like the other day my mum and me brought him in from the rain to dry him off and put him under the heat lamps. My mum fussed over him and he started working himself up as "he wanted out". Told her to ignore him, couple of mins later he's back to resting one leg and eating his hay as he's not getting his attention. He is a big drama queen but there's no follow through on the threat but that is where I struggle to be confident in when on him. But my instructor has done wonders with him in just a week, he is listening better and behaving better. I just need to continue with that and I did tonight. We did need led past the scary lorry on our little hack at the end of schooling as my horse decided he wanted his dinner so he couldn't possibly go past the lorry but my instructor helped get us past it and once the horse realised he couldn't get his own way he relaxed and became lazy again.

He's a "dangerous" horse if allowed to think. Just can't allow him to think for himself haha.
 
I was having regular lessons with a known dressage rider. We had stagnated and I was frustrated, I knew it wasn't working but not sure why, nothing wrong with trainer, but it was too expensive to not be progressing. I was recommended my new trainer by a friend, she not a known name, not even well known in the local area, she brings on young horses and doesn't teach a lot. After watching me ride her first question was how much patience did I have as she wanted to start him again. So we did and the difference is amazing. If things aren't working we go back a step, if he's tense and we are struggling, we go back to doing something he finds easy and enjoys. The last dressage test we did we had our best % ever, we are improving slowly and are getting 5% more marks than last year, my instructor texts me for updates when I'm competing, I send her photos of my sheets, so she analysis them before the next lesson, she is interested in our progress, before I felt my trainer couldn't even remember if I had been competing between lessons. I have learn't that the most important thing is not whether you have a well known trainer and how much you pay, but to find someone you are happily working together with to achieve your very best. I feel lucky to have found her, she's a gem.
 
I know mine may be a bit deep but growing up our yard manager was a total tyrant of a woman, I could never please her no matter what, I never thought I would be considered any good by her.
That was nearly 30 years ago I was there and now I thank those days being with her as I learnt more valuable lessons with her that will last my lifetime than I will ever learn again. She is a truly classical instructor and has vehemently fought for the welfare of horses especially dressage horses and always pushed for the proper and correct training of the horse and the rider, never blaming the horse and always looking at the rider/handler for the pitfalls in training and results.
I will forever be grateful for that early experience as I truly feel when I see people getting annoyed with their horses and its clearly down to them or I hear, 'whack it - its playing up', or god forbid strapped down with harsh bits and gadgets, anything like that and I genuinely feel grateful that I was so determinedly taught to always look to what I am doing wrong first.
 
I've had quite a few trainers over the last 54 years but two really stood out for me. One is Richard Baldwin who took me and Spring from numpty combination to regional placing in 4 months. The other was Gareth Hughes for one bit of advice that has stuck with me - "If when riding around I feel I can do something with the horse (increase stride, bend, lateral etc) then I don't need to. If I feel I can't do something then I really do need to do it!"
 
PaddyMonty said:
The other was Gareth Hughes for one bit of advice that has stuck with me - "If when riding around I feel I can do something with the horse (increase stride, bend, lateral etc) then I don't need to. If I feel I can't do something then I really do need to do it!"
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that's a great bit of advice :)
I really liked his approach when he did the demo at the BD convention last year, clear, lighthearted, easy to understand, horses seemed to 'get it'. I've booked onto a yard visit with my BD region, I really wish I was closer as I'd be queuing up for lessons.
 
I could sing my instructors praises all day. She owns/runs my yard, is my PC chief instructor and teaches liveries and a few clients, so she's well respected in our area but not a "fancy" instructor, but for me she's amazing. I had my first lesson with her 4.5 years ago, moved horse to her yard about 2 months later and have never looked back. Completely transformed me, Rosie and my riding. I was 16 and didn't have a lot of confidence, R bucked and I could barely get her over a pole on the floor. Went from that to competing with double clears at BE90s and unaff 100s, jumping huge hedges out hunting, representing my PC at area level eventing and dressage, completely confident and happy. She's spent the last year since Rosie's accident building me back up again, she's a master at pushing you just enough that you improve but not so much that you lose your confidence, and I 100% trust her not to ask me to do anything me/my horse can't do. She's so committed to her clients, and always goes above and beyond. She's also a fan of teaching you why you do things, not just how. So I feel like I've learnt so much theory behind riding, about biomechanics and scales of training and just horses/riding in general. Every lesson she asks questions about what I think I need to do, why we do things, how everything links together... I find it helps me to know these things because then I can expand it to different situations and different horses.
 
Great thread! I have so much to thank my trainers for, not so much single lightbulb moments, more attitudes and confidence. The trainer who got me into dressage is just amazing, she took me so far, and she really instilled in me how patient, systematic training will work on every horse. The first time she said "in your career as a dressage rider" to me, went home and burst into tears. I am, and always have been very happy on a horse, but I really struggle with self belief, so when she said that, and showed her belief in me, it meant so much to me.

I still train with this amazing woman, but I also have a second trainer now as well, and he is incredible, and he gave me another defining moment in self belief when he said my horse and I showed great potential, and he enjoyed working with us, and he wanted to train us. Another moment when I went home and cried!

(I'm really not a cryer, despite how this post reads!)
 
PaddyMonty said:
It was a light bulb moment for me. It's amazing how often when schooling you think all is going sweetly and you start to accept what is rather than what could be.
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Funny, I had a similar moment earlier. The mare mentioned in the OP came out today a little sharp and fizzy so I thought, oh well I might not do any canter work today, because it is still a bit mad, so I'll not rock the boat further. My initial plan was to do a nice, sweet walk/trot session. But then I thought, if I always wait for the setting to be perfect, I'll never achieve anything, because I can't control everything! And the canter work today was actually very good (by our usual standards haha).

Some really good insights here folks, thanks for your replies!
 
I've learnt too much from my new (well she's been teaching me six months now) one, but the biggest thing is probably faith in my own ability, or at least beginning to develop a faith in my own ability. The last six months have been a steep learning curve having not had lessons in ten years, and she's done wonders for every aspect of my riding.
 
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