Riding Instructors who do not ride

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Sharon88

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Hi, I would like your feedback on whether or not you would be happy to have lessons from a qualified riding instructor who no longer rides (due to health reasons). Would this stop you from booking with that instructor. Personally I think that coaching from the ground is a separate issue from riding, as you can see and read a lot more from ground position. Sometimes the best riders do not make the best instructors, as it is about communication and being able to see what is needed, sometimes the most talented riders cannot put into words what they are doing.

Sorry its a bit of a waffle, but I would appreciate your opinions very much.
 
If the person was a good instructor then yes. I don't have a complicated horse so instruction from the ground is more than sufficient for me.
I have had lessons from a couple that don't ride and found them to be excellent.
 
I used to have lessons from Joyce Benson, List 1 dressage judge, and a wheelchair user. She worked me very hard!

There are a number of trainers who don't or can't ride for various reasons, and as trainers get older, they are less likely to risk themselves by riding clients horses.

It needn't be a drawback. It may be helpful, though, to have a tie in with a jockey who rides the way you teach, if a client ever wants their horse 'sat on'.
 
I have to say I would prefer an instructor who was also willing and able to get on my horse and ride it. Occasionally I have found it useful to see something done first. Also when my horse was ill my instructor was so helpful as we were trying to sort him out. However I would not rule it out, esp if that person had been teaching me for a while. A new instructor I would think hard about, however if recommended I certainly would not rule it out. I really prefer my instructors to be taking lessons themselves as well as being qualified.
 
One of the best instructors I had never rode apart from an occasional hack out due to a bad back. She could pick a fault at ninety paces and trained classically, so it was all about feel and softness.

There are times when it's good for an instructor to be able to demonstrate something or to school a horse for you, but I'd rather have someone who didn't ride than one of those gun ho young instructors that think they have to show off and square up every horse that they get the opportunity to sit on while the owner is waiting like a wet lettuce.
 
Absolutely, my instructor is taught by someone who for health reasons can no longer ride and it doesn't make a jot of difference because she's brilliant and has ridden extensively (and professionally) but I would feel different if it was just an A.I I think and wouldn't use exclusively in that circumstance.
 
Would not bother me and like others here I know of several people who teach and know more than enough to do a better job than some of the younger ones who do not have the years of experience to fall back on. it will also mean that you need to give more feedback so the instructor knows what you are feeling which in turn makes you more aware of what the horse is doing
 
Yes. I had a lesson from the late Pat Manning towards the end of her life. She sat in a chair on the edge of the arena wrapped blanket and used a microphone and small amp. It was incredibly informative and useful and I still repeat the things she told me in my head when I'm riding.
 
Don't think it would worry me though it's nice to have someone who will get on if necessary.

Personally I think that a lot can be seen on the ground which can't be felt, even from an inexperienced rider, never mind a qualified instructor. I take a lot of advice from my mum who can barely canter but after years of watching can certainly tell if your leg yield isnt at the right angle or the horse needs to engage more through the hindquarters far better than me
 
Wouldn't bother me in fact my instructor injured her back quite badly so rarely rides but is fantastic. Had I been introduced to her at the point she wasn't riding I would have still had lessons with her.
 
In the circumstances you describe, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. It's not like they can't be bothered to ride!

I also think that people need to appreciate that a lot of instructors are self employed - if they can't work due to injury then they are not earning anything. It is one thing to expect your instructor to get on and demonstrate or try something out, another to ask them to square it up if there is a serious issue.

What I cannot get on board with though, is people who want to teach but (for no physical reason) will not do the Stage 2 jumping (2'6'' short course) to enable them to enter the PTT....yet want to offer jumping tuition!
 
I used to have lessons off international dressage judge and trainer jo graham who gave up riding due to a bad back she's brilliant and now I've moved out of the area Proving very hard to replace.
 
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I'm an instructor and I don't ride clients horses. I genuinely can't afford to take a fall and not work as I'm single so all the bills are mine.
I also personally think instructors need to be careful they don't demoralise clients. I have one who's horse won't canter for her and actually she benefits far more from me talking her through it and getting the huge confidence boost from doing it correctly then I think she would from watching me ride her horse.
Also with regards the thinking that I could show you how to do something well actually my job is to explain myself clearly and in such a way that it makes sense to the client. If I'm not then I need to think of another way to word it.
Rightly or wrongly my thinking is if I can't describe something as subtle as an aid then it's unlikely you'll be able to see it.
 
I like to know my instructor can get better out of a horse than I can, ride better than me if you like. If they have done and are no longer able to, that would be fine for me but i'd like to know they've achieved something more than I have, to be imparting that knowledge and experience to me.

The jumping intructor who couldn't watch me jump (very forward pony!) and panicked the only time we got her on it didn't last long. The para instructor i use for dressage who would probably need to retrain my horse to respond to her specific aids following injury but who competes internationally, i learn a lot from.
 
Wouldn't bother me having them from someone who used to ride but now doesn't for whatever reason. Would be cautious about having lessons to specifically improve my riding skills from someone who has never ridden though as it's hard enough to explain how something should feel nvm trying to describe a feeling that has never been experienced
 
If it were my instructor then no, it wouldn't bother me at all. But I would perhaps want to do a bit of digging into the standard of riding the instructor used to be doing if it were one I didn't know. It wouldn't necessarily stop me from wanting them to teach me, but I would just want to make sure that they are what they make out they are standard wise.
 
Wouldn't bother me if I was seeing improvements in myself and subsequently the horse.

I had more of a problem when I didn't feel any improvement, asked instructor to sit on my horse and she couldn't get her to sing a tune either! She promptly got off and told me that horse had a physical problem and I should get it looked into... ;)))
 
Pretty sure my riding instructor doesn't ride (much if at all) anymore. She is brilliant and I wouldn't swap her for the world.

Nothing escapes her notice and she has a wonderful way of explaining things.
 
Surely it depends on the instructor and the person being taught? For me as an older beginner it was a disaster. I was taught by an RI who had just given up riding due to a fall which had injured her arm. I believe that she must secretly have resented it that I had turned up aspiring to do late in life something that she was now deprived of. She was a skilled rider, for she taught me at a level way beyond what I was capable of and could comprehend.

Picture an elderly beginner instructed to steer their horse only by looking in the direction you want to go. I looked across the diagonal and prayed. I was reminded of this misery at the recent Dressage Convention when one of the trainers said to a student, Dont pray, Ride!
Having set me up for failure, she mocked me both in public and in my lessons, deploring my ignorance.

There is another reason I would have done better if my RI had ridden - I needed to watch adults ride. It was going to demos and watching videos that taught me to mimic good riders - and ground work too.

Strangely it is only recently that I have been taught by younger instructors who will jump on the horse I am riding to see what it is like. It adds something to what I know and they know about the horse - but I am not sure that this extra knowledge is always helpful. Yes it can be startling and reassuring to have an RI experience the same things one has been struggling with oneself - but the remedy is not always obvious. The view and capabilities of a professional may not coincide with mine. And that is why some good trainers dont ride the client's horse - but deal with rider and horse as a couple - together.

My first RI (having herself retired from hacking) told me I would kill myself if I hacked - And yes it is always a possibility. So that prediction hangs over one and casts a shadow. To teach a rider to hack, one must ride oneself and no instructor who has hacked with me over the last 12 years has ever warned me off it -
 
I have a wonderful instructor and she rarely rides nowadays, but on the rare occasions when she does the horse suddenly becomes Valegro!

In general though I am not a fan of instructors getting on my horse - I love riding and if I am paying for a lesson I want it to be me that is riding! I have never actually found it helpful to watch someone rather than do it myself, either. Just my opinion.

Skib I am sorry you seem to have been very unlucky with riding instructors! Hope you have found some better ones now.
 
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