Un qualified instructors

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I couldnt belive what I was seeing or hearing, it was total rubbish, the poor person she was teaching was so unbalanced, and bless her was a real novice, but the instructor kept on saying Good Good Excellent, when she was on the wrong diagonal, wrong canter lead etc etc. The little horse was a star, didnt put a foot wrong dispite a totaly unbalanced rider. The lesson finished and the rider was beaming as she was being told how well she was improving.


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And it didn't cross your mind that the pupil may well have serious confidence issues and that perhaps building her confidence was number one priority? Without confidence nothing works, with it teaching the finer points becomes easy.
An instructor should adapt to the the person/horse in front of them and give then what they really need at that point in time. Sometimes thats a simple confidence boost.

Amongst my small group of pupils I have a couple of BHS qualified instructors, one of which is also a pony club A test examiner.
The only qualification I have is my 'D' test I gained back in 1967. Qualifications dont amount to a hill of beans, ability to
a) Spot what the pupil needs (vs what they want) and
b) provide that in a way the particular pupil can empathise with are far more important than anything else.

In my experience, nethier of these can be learnt in a classroom.
 
Agree with Juno. I have had a few instructors and some have had BHS qualifications and some have not. It doesn't matter to me whether they have or not it's whether they can teach or not.

Some of the best riders may be the worst instuctors. I believe teaching properly is a real gift - I'm sure we all remember teachers, either in school or riding, that we respected and learnt from.

The worst instructor I ever had was when I was a real novice. For 30 mins she pointed out everything I was doing wrong and gave me so many instructions at the same time that it made my head reel as well as being unable to follow. She did not say one positive thing the whole lesson and she just ripped me to pieces.

I left that lesson and never went back - it was the most awful riding experience I ever had. I learnt nothing and was completely disheartened.

I don't have a problem at all with being criticised - but for me an acknowledgement when I am doing something right, works wonders. I read somewhere that a criticism should be sandwiched between two positives to have the most beneficial effect.

I have read Molly Sivewrights two teaching books and I have to say they are the best example of how to teach that I have ever come across. I have seen her teach as well and she was incredible.

I don't agree that if a rider is doing something to the horse through ignorance that it should not be said but there are ways to do this.

Like Juno said that rubbish rider may just have been riding the best she ever had and without knowing the background it is impossible to judge whether the instructor was right or wrong.
 
My instructor is "unqualified" in that she's not a BHS instructor. However, she has trained with some greats, including Arthur Kottas, so no BHS instructor could tempt me away.
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I don't think you can judge how well this instructor was teaching, or how well her pupil was doing, unless you know what their starting point was. A good teacher will concentrate on what is most important first and other issues later. You can't throw everything at the pupil at once.
 
I wouldn't be interested in whether the trainer had any BHS qualifications or not, having seen the standard of teaching & riding that many of them have I wouldn't waste my money, all it means is that they followed the procedure on the day. For me experience in whatever discipline is much more important along with an ability to pass on their knowledge & inspire me to improve. I train with a BSJA accredited coach who has jumped internationally, doubt he has his AI, for XC we go to a gold medal winning member of the YR team, he doesn't have it either!! My dressage trainer does have her BHS IT stage iv riding, but left the BHS system to further her training with top classical coaches as she was so uninspired by the "pull its head in" BHS.
 
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OK got to ask this question what would they get insurance for? If they are not qualified would an insurance company cover them? For what? If they are not qualified and something happens the insurance would probably be nil and void due to them not being qualified
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They do not have to be qualified to get insurance
 
My husband is a group 3 rider and has won at PSG, he is also a former national champion at Restricted Elementary, he evented to Intermediate and showjumped to Foxhunter.

He trains with Andrew Murphy, Emile Faurie, Charles de Kunfy and has also ridden for Klaus Balkenhol

We run our own training yard and he also teaches freelance. He is insured and has a full client list.

Of the two of us I am technically the more 'qualified' with a degree in Equine Science and my stage 4, while he only has his stage 2.

Of the two of us I know who I would rather have a lesson with!

While I agree there are some terrible unregistered instructors there are some equally terrible registered ones.
 
Every pupil is different and should be treated as such. A good instructor has to learn to read the person first and teach accordingly. Some people can take a bit of critisism and pushing, others need to be praised to the nth degree and make terribly slow progress. Yes, I'm an unqualified instructor, and I have 30+ years experience of riding. A teenage AI can't necessarily say that. I have some BHS qualifications (a waste of time) and ABRS (much more use) and hope that not only do my pupils learn how to do something, but why to do it and the effect on their horse as well.
 
How do you know that this novice rider hadn't improved and wasn't doing great after how they first started. What good would it do, criticising and pointing out every mistake a novice is doing? Everyone has to start somewhere.

As for the unqualified rant...I've had both and can honestly say, from my personal experience, my lessons with an unqualified internaional eventer have given me much more than the lessons with the BHS instructor that wouldn't actually ride herself as she had lost her nerve.
 
My instructor is fab - does not have BHS qualifications but is ARE insured (I checked). As with many other's I've experienced good & bad instructors both qualified & not.

I now always check they are insured (usually before I find out about any qualifications).
 
It is in the yard owners own interest to only allow people to teach on their yard if they can prove that they are fully insured by showing them an original copy of their policy and keeping a copy of it at the yard.
Anyone teaching children or vunerable adults should also have completed the appropriate child protection course and have been checked out by the authorities.
 
I have had a wonderful BHS instructor - she also showed the horse I eventually bought - she made her lessons lively, informative and fun. I had a rubbish one that did everything "by the book" and couldn't seem to adapt anything she learned to my personal needs. I have had an unqualified teacher who was experienced in eventing and she was amazing!
Maybe the rider needed lots of encouragement - maybe she had little confidence and just needed to get on and go for it for now and refine it later....
IMO the BHS is in the dark ages with much of what it teaches -the ABRS are better but less well publicised. each to his own!
 
I don't know any YO's that do that, whether the instructors are "qualified" or "unqualified".
Sorry, was replying to Peter's post.
 
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