Trainers (again!) - Your best ever experiences.

kerilli

kerilli

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Just wondering who people have had their best ever sessions with, and why, if you want to elaborate...
mine: Dr - my trainer, Herr Eberhard Weiss, absolutely brilliant, so patient, calm, horse-centric, has a totally secure system and can explain the whys and wherefores of everything, never annoyed by my questions, concentrates on my riding improving, to then improve the horse. :) :) :) just wish i'd met him when i was a teen!
Sj - Arno Nessen, clinic years ago, he was absolutely brilliant, very exacting, got a lot out of both of us. I think he's Belgian (team trainer or sth back then?)
Xc - Ian Stark clinic years ago, the way he taught was just what I needed at that particular moment on that particular horse.
 
For dressage, probably my current trainer Simon Battram. Everything is explained so BBs can understand :p
My horse and I both come away relaxed and inspired and cant wait to have our next session.
In addition training with Amanda Brewer was of a similar fashion and I owe her a lot for starting me off on the right track.

For SJing and XC I would say Jonna Willis.
He isnt everyones cup of tea, but for me he gave me the confidence to jump and event again.
He made me see it wasnt a big deal if things didnt always go to plan, and that horses arent as complex as I made them out to be.
I would have literally jumped the moon for him whilst riding a donkey, because he made me see I could do it :D
 
Dressage- Serena Pincus- very simple and pure dressage and always gets the best from me without seeming to make any big changes.

SJ- Steve Hadley- he understands that i need to see a stride.
i really don't understand, or go along with, the get a good canter and the jumping will be perfect theory. The possibility of getting there on a half stride doesn't work in my logical brain!
Steve really helps me improve my canter AND my strides to fences. also, we tend to work 99% on courses- I hate going up and down a grid for an hour as feel i compete over a course so want to practice over a course.

XC- never really had any XC lessons apart from with Dag Albert when i first bought Pilfer (the sessions were good though).
i AM planning on changing that this year though and finding a proper XC trainer.
 
Dressage: Emile Faurie, because he is quick to see and solve problems, has a logical system and explains why he wants me to do things, and is good looking and funny LOL ;)

Jumping: Francis Connors, for pretty much the same reasons! :cool:
 
Amanda Brewer love her she invests in her pupils so you become one of her clients not just some bod who turns up and hands over cash.

I would like her to adopt me so that I can go and live with her and pick her brains all day and basically follow her about and do everythign she says, and have lessons for free, but I think at 26 I might be just past the adoption cut off age :(

I like to be educated not instructed
 
My daughter is hoping to event this season and she is having lessons with a few people

Dressage - Ian Woodhead - in 2 lessons she has learnt loads- thankfully for my pocket they are only monthly.

Jumping - a local yard to us has Geoff Glazzard and Derek Morton several times a year for clinics and we find they both see different things so work well as a team.

XC - we have had several good sessions with a local trainer who my daughter gets a lot from.
 
My old trainer was fantastic :) She took me from being scared of jumping a pole on the floor to jumping 2ft9 in just 6 months!! Before she left :( She was always incredibly enthusiastic about my horse and wasnt afraid to get on him to demonstrate what she meant :)
She still pops back occasionally (sp!) and it's always noce to see her as she always gives me a kick up the a*** that i generally need! :P
Luckily I know she will take him for me if I ever needed a break from horses due to exams or anything :) bit of a trek down there though...
 
all round was a guy called Les Evans who must have died about 10+ years ago now but in my eyes a legend. No fluff but told you when you were good and told you what you were doing wrong when it was bad. And if he said you were good you knew it was a real compliment.

I learnt so much from him as a kid and although on a horse he looked nothing special all of his horses were superbly schooled. I take one example one of his last hunters. When he died his wife sold him to a mutual good friend who has him as a happy hacker and I compete him perhaps once a year to every other year when I go home. To this day despite having a year + off between schooling sessions I can get on and press the buttons for all correct lateral work, extensions, collections etc, its just there and as it was taught correctly and no one has countered that education and he has been kept fit it has stayed. we obviously don't push the questions but if I asked he will give!


Also Jane Bartle Wilson. Again no fluff and pandering to you but in a 45 min lesson on one of Chris' ex advanced eventers she completely revolutionised my riding when I was about 16 and what she taught me then has stuck with me through the last 10 years.
 
I haven't had many lessons (I think less than 20 including clinics) for various reasons. Mainly becasue around where I live there are no local trainers who I respect enough to want to pay.

I supposed it could be classified as Western rather than DR/XC or SJ ->
But one of the best 'lessons' I have ever had was sitting at dinner one night, when I was working on a QH stud in Argentina, and the 2 brazilian head trainers started to discuss breaking in horses and then proceeded to question and pull apart everything I had done/was doing with the youngsters I was working with. They had been watching me working/riding them over the last few weeks.

It was good in that it made me really think about what I was doing and why (as I had to explain it) and they thoroughly questioned my methods - and didn't use kid gloves if they disagreed. They made suggestions for better or alternative ways to deal with certain issues. And listed comprehensively ALL my bad habits and suggested how to fix them.

I felt pretty awful by the end of the evening as they were brutally honest but after a day of not getting dumped and thinking about what they said I changed quite a few things and a few weeks later got the highest praise possible from the head trainer when he hopped on one of 'my' youngsters and said he couldn't have done a better job.

The only thing that really annoyed me about that 'lesson' was that it was motivated more by male ego (I was encroaching on their territory) and it was meant to be a set down, rather than good will /intention. Ce la vie, no?

Edited to say: Sorry got a bit irrelevant towards the end.
 
Showing my age....when I was show jumping I did a three day clinic with Dick Stillwell which was amazing. He was really lovely (all the other people had far more advanced horses doing quite serious stuff, I had an ex racehorse who had done a couple of local unaff classes at that point), he taught everyone equally regardless of who they were and rode my horse for a while. The exercises he taught were fantastic. He saw us at a show during that summer and came up and chatted which I thought was really sweet.

More recently did one clinic with Patrick Print which imprinted (ouch!) something on my mind which was really simple but has stuck with me.
 
Dressage : Tracie Robinson for me, she worked really well, told it how it was, she had my ex-racer working in a fantastic outline and has given me the support to go out and do more dressage....

SJ : Years and Years ago I had some lesson with Ted Williams, what he taught me was to believe and work hard.........

XC : Well it was simulated, but with JP Sheffield and it was fantastic, he had me jumping my very spooky girl over all sorts and we had NO STOPS.......he was really good.
 
If only I could afford more regular lessons in every phase... one day!!!

Dressage, I had regular lessons with and now occasional lessons with Henry Boswell, he was fantastic, and so very helpful, would love to go more often.

SJ- Fred Bergendorff, very good trainer, so good at keeping me calm.... he just says useful things like not to worry if it goes wrong, because it has to go wrong at some point for us to learn from it and get better, he is just so laid back, but this really helps me, one of his quotes in my first lesson was " so why are you riding like you are trying to catch the last bus home?....." :D

and XC well, I have had help before from Emma Humphrey and Ann Taylor, and ocassional help SJ too. :D
 
Dr- Ian Woodhead and then probably Harry Payne. Both are patient understanding but also not afraid to push.

SJ and XC- Christie wright, I feel like I progress loads in just 40 mins with her, she's positive but also asks you what you thought of what you just did and then says what she thinks, really gets you to analyse your own riding.
 
Dressage- James Burtwell changed the way I think about things and react- has helped me be a better competitor . (Also had fab lesson with Jennie Loriston Clark )

BHS Training- Eric Mckechnie and Peta Roberts couldn't have passed without either of them ditto Brampton Stables!

Jumping- Cameron McIntyre and Geordie Bull (NZ) (Fab clinics with Nick Turner too )

Polocrosse- Rick Murray.
 
Denise O Reilly - Dr - she uses mary wanless' ride with your mind techniques as well as her own training style. She has helped me so much with my riding - concentrates on me and my position and then how that affects the horse. She listens to me, makes sure i understands by asking questions, she explains everything biomechanically so i understand (as i need to understand everything!!!) She Jumps on horse when i just dont seem to be getting it - to see if me or horse, throws lesson plan out of window if needed. If she hasnt got another lesson after me she will spend as long as it takes to get something - still only charges me for 45mins. if she does ride my horse for say 20mins - still teaches me on my horse for 45min.

Really wish i found her 4 yrs ago!!!
 
Simply Brian Hutton.
He is a legend.
Not patronising, just vv helpful and misses nothing!!!
Recently had an XC lesson with HHOer Sarah Jane.
Great teacher, no bull, says it as it is!!!
Hope she doesn't read this.
 
My current instructor is just fab. Her name is Sharon Kilminster and so far, Ive had numerous flat lessons with her, some sj lessons and an xc session. She's not patronising, she'll tell me if Im being **** and she doesnt spout stuff she thinks Ill want to hear. I have done things recently that Id never have thought I could do a year ago - or even 6 months ago. She is encouraging and always seems to push me that bit further than Id ever push myself. Unfortunately Im starting to depend on her an awful lot! :)

I used to have lessons with Sorrel Warwick with an old horse, I enjoyed her lessons a lot too.
 
pod said:
My current instructor is just fab. Her name is Sharon Kilminster and so far, Ive had numerous flat lessons with her, some sj lessons and an xc session. She's not patronising, she'll tell me if Im being **** and she doesnt spout stuff she thinks Ill want to hear. I have done things recently that Id never have thought I could do a year ago - or even 6 months ago. She is encouraging and always seems to push me that bit further than Id ever push myself. Unfortunately Im starting to depend on her an awful lot! :)

I used to have lessons with Sorrel Warwick with an old horse, I enjoyed her lessons a lot too.
Click to expand...

gosh the naughty words filter is a bit keen! My word wasn't actually that naughty!!:o
 
I think the best people I have had are Mistatiger from here, and Louisa Lockwood.

I got basically a lesson a day with Louisa when I did work experience with her, which was fantastic, and my riding improved so much over those 6 weeks. She knew how to get the best out of me and Wings, and the advice she gave was excellent. It wasn't a constant lesson most of the time, but advice when needed (as she was riding a horse at the same time). Sometimes though, if we were both jumping, she would stop riding herself just to help me and the other grooms, which was really appreciated.

Mistatiger on here is also fantastic. She has a really outright approach, and didn't try to put things over in a soft way, just came out and said it, which was great. Although I've only had two lessons off her (on Wings and Monica), the improvement on both horses was amazing after just an hour. Basically, she is a brilliant instructor who knows how to get the best from your horse.

(I may be adding another to this list next week, as I have a lesson with Kenneth Clawson :D)
 
I just stumbled across the most fabolous trainer last year, she doesnt advertise, and she doesnt teach many people due to complete lack of time. She used to be one of the rider's for the whitaker family, producing/riding many of their horses and also produced Locarno when he was a very expensive 4/5 year old for Ellen Whitaker. Anyway, she is simply amazing,just one of those people with a very deep encylcopeadic knowledge like I've never seen before, ( way beyond that of many elite riders) her flatwork is also fantastic, as is her knowledge of jumping and how to jump correctly, combined with a real understanding of every individual horse's brain. I am quite sure that any other trainer would have tried to ruin my horse by now as she is complex. Just have the most amazing lessons with her and afterwards I am just like WOW!! I just wish I couldve found her 10 years ago?!
 
Ooh seabiscuit please tell her name?

I also had Arno nessen a few yrs back (probably 8 yrs ago) and he was fantastic. Got my horse jumping to perfection, jumped the biggest course I'd ever jumped on him foot perfect too as I listened to every word he said.
 
Sarah Cheetham is fantastic. She is very good with young horses and equally with the more advanced dressage. She also rides beautifully herself. Well worth it for dressage/eventing!
 
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