Instructors/approaches

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eahotson

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Just a thought sparked by lwtters/articles about and by Pammy Hutton. She says Cut the Crap when teaching and other people agree with her. From what I gather (and I have absolutely NO personal experience of Pammy Hutton) she has a ROBUST approach to her pupils and there is nothing necessarily wrong with that. However, like many people I can be easily overawed by someone I feel (many people in my instance) has far greater knowledge and skills than me.I think there is no one size fits all approach to teaching, some people need a more empathic approach, some a more robust one and sometimes we all benefit a bit from both. The one thing though, and I have leared this from hard personal experience is, not to let a robust approach slide over to the merely bullying. SOME instructors are not merely robust they are bullies who do it because they enjoy bullying, NOT for you or your horses benefit.In fact I feel there is a fair amount of bullying in the horse world.
 
I agree that different people need a different approach - it completely depends on the persons personality. However, I don't think anyone responds well to 'bullying' - I've seen instructors do this and it's not nice. Personally I like a straight talking approach and I want to be critisised when I'm doing something wrong. I don't see the point in being told everything is wonderful if you've got it all wrong - however, it needs to be tailored to the persons ability. There is no point telling a novice their working trot isn't perfect and their position isn't perfect. As long as the pupil is making an improvement and listening to the instructor its' all good IMO ....
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When i had horses i had 2 instructors!
My s/j lessons were with a 'robust' type- but that worked for me. My flatwork instructor was more empathetic- she seemed to get a lot from my horse at that time!
I think its personal preference- although the 'robust' one was defo not a bully!
 
I have had a ROBUST instructor who was not a bully (actally with me he was not a bully but he COULD be with some people). I had one that was a bully though.
 
Agree with you that there can be a lot of bullying by instructors. I also have a deep, deep hatred for dressage trainers (picked them because I dont jump!) who like to blind people with terminology; Not just equine terminology but also the biological names for every single muscle in the human body.

So you get some poor poor person trying to get to grips with dressage, choosing often a well known name and being told to travers here, renvers there, collect more, extend more, tighten their <insert muscle name here>, push down with their <another hideously long muscle name here> and some poor student not wanting to ASK what on earth they are talking about!

Some people respond to a more sympathetic approach (as do horses!), some people need someone who will be tougher. It's upto us as riders to find out what works well for us (and sometimes that also means admitting that we can and do need a severe kick up the arse to get the best out of our horses).

Personally, i have to know the ins and outs of everything. Ive primarily been classically trained and ive always found those teachers explain things much better, particularly in regard to how the way i sit, move, hold myself, hold my hands all effect the horse's way of going. I dont like being told to do something that the person on the ground cant justify.

Im probably not the easiest person to teach though precisely because i do question everything and theres a lot of methods that i just wont entertain as i dont agree with them.
 
The art of a good trainer is to be able to interact with a variety of different personalities and change their teaching style accordingly to be able to get the best from their pupil.
IMO this is quite rare to see and I am lucky that my dressage trainer does just this, it is amazing to see how she teaches differently depending on who is sat in front of her!
 
i like my instructor to tell me what im doing wrong - how else will i learn? but as soon as they start shouting at me and saying im crap etc then i cant put up with that - itll make me worse! xxx
 
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Im probably not the easiest person to teach though precisely because i do question everything and theres a lot of methods that i just wont entertain as i dont agree with them

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I'm the same, I want to know 'why' I'm doing something, the purpose behind it and the mechanics of it.
 
IMO there is a very small line between bullying and pushing, But with instructors if IMO they don't not explain themselves or give advice to resolve an issue, then i'm not happy bunny. Yes, i want to be pushed but not at expense of confidence and that's why there are some many folks teaching
 
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I like someone who really pressurises me and bullies me

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Me too. Except I'm not lazy
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Having said that, I did use to have an instructor who just yelled alot and didn't make herself clear. Perhaps she didn't really know her stuff?
 
I have had both types; the robust who i currently have and i learn so much from him! If i don't want to do something he will push me into doing it opposed to wimping out at say riding a difficult horse (uni riding club) My instructor at home does the same as they both know that afterwards i will thank them for pushing me!
I have also had a very laid back instructor who unfortunatly made my confidence go down! This was because if she tried to push me i'd wimp out and she would let me! My confidence has come from being pushed into doing things!
 
I'm personally with Tierra.

For me there is zero point in being "robust" without a good background explanation to something.

If a trainer explains how and why and says do it, then I do it! And if I they think I can do it better and become forceful, I try harder!

If however I don't feel I have been given a valid enough explanation and don't feel the instructor is looking at whatever I'm doing from an overall, holistic type approach, then I simply will not do as they ask and shouting at me is more inclined to make me dismount and leave the arena!

I have never once done that I may add but I would if I felt the need to.

Too many instructors IMO wing their way through their career with a lot of charisma/personality and in the majority of cases very little DEEP understanding of how and why a horse/rider does what they do. They perpetuate confusion and misunderstanding with jargon and "rules" because basically they don't actually understand what they are teaching.

In my working/studying life I have always believed the true test of how well someone understands a subject is how well they can explain the principles to a lay person.

I have a friend who is totally none horsey who sometimes mixes with my horsey friends/comes to events. This person is very inquisitive and is renowned for asking lots of questions. It's fascinating to see how people react to her "silly" questions!!!
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I would just add, I read a snippet of Pammy Hutton's years ago that I always keep in my head to judge instructor's by.

She said that she never works on a rider at the beginning of a session and has them work on the horse first. She said that she finds focusing too soon on rider faults causes tension in the rider and thus the horse. By not stressing the rider too soon the horse can then get swinging and so any rider tension later will have less of an effect.

Made perfect sense to me! Now if I see and instructor start barking rider corrections at the beginning of a session, I have less respect for their approach.
 
I came across this thread a little late! but still thought i would add my thoughts.
After numerous lessons on my youngster with 'names' I was at a bit of a loss, they were exceptionally good at massaging my ego, but when I was back at home I just didn't feel I was progressing.
Enter Pammy Hutton!
I can only speak from my own experience, Pammy has been a fantastic coach, straight talking at times (when needed) but also extremely understanding and patient (and boy does she need patience with me!)
Pammy is an exceptional coach, with an ongoing love of the sport, who genuinly cares about your progress.
If you have the opportunity to train with her (or Brian, Justine, etc) I would recommend you take it!
Bec
 
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