When does an instructor become a trainer?

quirky

quirky

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As post title.

I always consider myself to have instruction, not training.
Why? Because I am being instructed how to get the best from my horse and to achieve what I can to the best of my abilities.

I would consider myself to be trained if say I was concentrating on one discipline and aiming to compete at a high level.

Most people nowadays seem to be trained by trainer and not instructed by instructors.

Is it because training sounds a little better, or are there other reasons?
Is it because a trainer doesn't have qualifications, just experience?


I await enlightenment :D
 
Personally I think people say trainer because they think it makes them sound better. Teacher, instructor, trainer - all the same to me!
 
For me the definition is that an instructor will do exactly that ie instruct you to do something ie learn to ride

whereas a trainer will take you to the next level ie enhance your existing knowledge / learning and make tweaks. Training may also include a much wider brief in terms of sports motivation, NLP etc.
 
i think a trainer gives you more detail and attention- e.g. an instructor gives you 100% while in the lesson but a trainer will be on the phone to see how you did after a comp, help you plan your season out etc.

i also tend to think of an instructor as someone who teaches basic w/t/c/jump but doesn't go into much detail when you start progressing... but that is probably just me!
 
millitiger said:
i think a trainer gives you more detail and attention- e.g. an instructor gives you 100% while in the lesson but a trainer will be on the phone to see how you did after a comp, help you plan your season out etc.

i also tend to think of an instructor as someone who teaches basic w/t/c/jump but doesn't go into much detail when you start progressing... but that is probably just me!
Click to expand...

Pretty much this - additionally I would expect a trainer to be able to accompany me to shows and give advice, especially when I was younger when my old trainer would walk the course with you, warm you up, analyse what you did etc.
 
In North America, "instructor" has the connotation of someone who teaches in a riding school, Pony Club etc and provides basic instruction in a lesson only format. A "trainer" is usually someone who specialises and/or works with people who are showing. They usually provide lessons but also it's almost standard, at least at a certain level, to have some coaching at horse shows.

People here seem to use instructor much more broadly. I do think some people pick up "trainer" from reading North American books, magazines etc though and they really don't mean to be stuck up, which is how some people seem to take it, it's just a new, and therefore attractive, term. (I've passed terms back and forth and people always seem very taken with the ones they're not used to. I listened to a fellow Canadian teach last week and it made me laugh to hear all the familiar terms and phrases I never hear here. He would totally refer to himself as a trainer but I'm sure his students would call him an instructor without meaning insult.)
 
well these days I have lessons with an instructor but when I was competing with the riding club we had a trainer as we did team training sessions. The trainer didn't just work with us achieving the right number of strides between the fence but also worked with us on striding out the course,giving us valuable information like how to get the horse to drink at shows,using electrolytes correctly and all the kinds of things a normal instructor doesn't actually teach
 
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