WAs i right to speak up.

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Annagain

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On Saturday, I took my 5yr niece to her riding lesson. The indoor school is large and they often split it and have two lessons in there. My attention was drawn to the other lesson. The rider had the horse on livery at the riding school and was having trouble with canter. He was a dream in trot but as soon as he asked for canter, his ears would go back, he'd pull horrible faces, kick out and/or buck. The instructor (it sounded like it was the girl's first lesson with this particular instructor) was telling her to be brave and work him through it. It wasn't working. She then put him on the lunge (riderless) and he was cantering perfectly on both reins. Rider got back on and, while better, he still wasn't perfect. Instructor told them he was lazy and if he was naughty, they should get off, lunge him - hard - and then get back on so he'd realise lunging was the more difficult option.

Her mum was sitting near me. I started to chat with her and asked about the pony. He's 9, they've had him since November and this issue has been getting progressively worse. All good at this stage. I asked if they'd had his saddle checked - she replied yes and his back and both fine and he was fine cantering out hacking in a straight line, so he was clearly just naughty in the school. I said I hope she didn't mind me butting in but I wasn't convinced he wasn't in pain as he was so sweet in trot but not in canter and canter, especially on a circle, can often throw up problems trot doesn't reveal. She got quite shirty with me and basically told me to mind my own business and how could I know more than an instructor. I was in civvies rather than my riding gear but it would have been clear from the terms I used that I knew a bit about what I was talking about. I apologised for sticking my nose in but said I was just concerned for her daughter's safety and the pony's welfare and left them to it.

Hopefully I've put that thought in their heads now but I'm torn between thinking I did the right thing and thinking I shouldn't have said anything. Thoughts?
 
You've planted the seed in her brain. It's not like you have to spend massive amounts of time with her or ever see her again so who really cares what she thinks of you? If that seed takes shape, which it hopefully will then the pony may just get checked out and hopefully have its issues resolved.
If not then you've done no harm at the end of the day.
 
Agree with SEL - I put the pony's welfare first, over someone's feelings. If we don't speak up, who would? There are some very ignorant instructors around sadly.

I would turn up next week in my smartest instructor gear and hope she sees you. You have planted the seed but you might need to germinate it!
 
Well you can't have made anything worse, so yes, you did the right thing. Whether it will do any good is a different question. In similar circumstances, it can be useful to talk about 'when my horse did that', even if you have never actually had a horse that did it! The bit about knowing more than an instructor made me laugh, most RS instructor's are very young with very little experience and basic (if any) qualifications.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Well you can't have made anything worse, so yes, you did the right thing. Whether it will do any good is a different question. In similar circumstances, it can be useful to talk about 'when my horse did that', even if you have never actually had a horse that did it! The bit about knowing more than an instructor made me laugh, most RS instructor's are very young with very little experience and basic (if any) qualifications.
Click to expand...

This place is council run so I'm pretty sure they only employ qualified instructors. Having said that, I know a few AIs I'd never have lessons with. I wasn't completely unimpressed with this one, in some ways her method was effective but I was surprised she didn't question WHY he was behaving like this. All I could think was she'd bought the "we've checked everything, he's fine" line. Nonetheless, if I were in her position I'd have pushed the checks a bit more.
 
Maybe the instructor has asked a bit more about his back (saddle?), pain, etc. Maybe she got the same shirty response, or knew she would get it. Or maybe she goes in, does the lesson and walks out and onto the next.
Sounds to me like you did ok. Mentioned it politely, even said sorry.
I agree a seed has been planted. Sounds like she may be the sort of person to let it shrivel up and die, but at least you mentioned it.
 
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