lec/demo I'd like to see

carthorse

carthorse

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I'd love to see a demo where an average rider rides their horse then a trainer gets on the horse and shows how they would be working it.I think it would stop us blaming things on our horse so much and would show us that our riding influences the horse a great deal. I would not expect to see the horse improve immediately but there are riders that have worked so hard on their fluency with the horse that any horse would improve quite remarkably.
It would take a brave owner and trainer to do this but it would interest me and I think I would learn a lot.
I have been to a lot of demos and love to see very talented riders and horses explaining their training but you only appreciate how much we cause the problems when you see a really good rider get on your horse
 
Have experience it first hand, although the guy who got on my horse is no longer in this country he went back to New Zealand. Basically I had an ex-racehorse and wanted to get it to play polocrosse. This horse was as stiff as a board and didn't like stopping. He watched me ride it round the small paddock and then he got on it. No joking within him riding it for 5-10 minutes he had it doing sliding stops, 180's, 360's all nicely controlled and balanced. He then told me to get back on and talked me through what I needed to do. It worked the horse had turned into a push button horse in the space of 5-10 minutes. I cannot explain the difference and I know this horse had never been asked to do these manouvers before.. It was just amazing how he managed to tune into the horse in such a short lenght of time and know what buttons to press and when.
 
I know exactly who you are talking about!
Shane Borland has that same magical effect... though had alot of trouble persuading him that he couldn't play around with Rage forever! He even managed to get my nightmare 5yo to work like a pro (though she behaved like a normal horse back then!)
In awe!
 
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Yes ,it is so easy to blame our horses and some are more difficult than others but it is ultimately the rider at fault and it is hard to think about yourself and the way you influence the horse
 
They used to do a class at Sheepgate unaff dressage like this - you rode test, then pro got on and rode test and combined highest score won. Not a demo/lecture as such but it was suprising how many horses the pro#s didn't improve and the difference in marks when they did!
 
I had that in a lesson with Maggie Doel once. She had me ride as normal, explained the faults with my position, then got on rode as I did and it all looked uninspiring but okish. Then she changed how she rode to correct my faults (and they were to do with potision and balance) and Sienna was absolutely transformed. It was inspiring but galling.
 
I had my trainer sit on my horse once, trainer being an ex-international BE rider. I must admit that I don`t do too bad a job with her, but when he sat on her, she looked like a PSG horse. It was lovely to watch. He also sat on a friends horse who was a stroppy mare, and whose rider would always ride round with neck straight out in front and if you asked for any nice `work`, the mare would kick out and buck. Well within about 5 minutes, the said mare was doing medium trot in a lovely outline and was so light and forward without any arguments whatsoever. The look on my friends face was a picture.
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I will agree that it just points out the obvious, that it is the rider. But also, `familiarity breeds comtempt` and by this I mean that the horses know their owners, and know exactly what they can get away with and they are so clever. Since I saw trainer on my horse and showed me what she can do, well now I work harder to get it, and it is coming. My trainer has a saying, `always expect better and ask for more.`
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So I do.
 
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