"You just need to ride her better"

Ambers Echo

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I've remember your encouraging comments after that, camp DabDab. They really helped me to think sod him! So thanks again. Yes I am lucky with Amber. When I get it right she is great. In fact when I stuff it up she's often pretty great too!
 

Mule

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One of the best things ever said to me was stop trying so hard when I stop trying so hard and over thinking things usually start to happen
I know what you mean. I always overthink things. It's so hard not to overthink when it's second nature.
 

redapple

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I had this the other week. Worded slightly kinder perhaps I think mine said "In the nicest possible way she's not being ridden that well".I'd like to think of it as I reminder that I can ride better! I don't think a good instructor would say that to a client if they didn't think the client could ride better right there and then, if that makes sense! I definitely needed it as I was frustrated and annoyed and she was right I definitely could ride better than I was! Though I will admit it stung a bit at the time!
 

milliepops

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it's not just a way of telling the client to try harder. It can also be a shorthand for : there's nothing wrong with the horse, it's not that you can't do it, it's not that the horse is incapable, it's not that you need new tack, it's not that you are doing the wrong things, it's not that you are out of your mind, it's not that you need different feed, it doesn't need the vet... and so on

You just need to ride it better ;) sometimes we overthink all the other stuff related to keeping and working horses, second guess every management decision, doubt the scope or ability of either ourselves or our horses... and sometimes it really is just that basic!
 

Ambers Echo

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Just had a brilliant lesson 6 months on from my first lesson with my not-so-new-anymore instructor. I remembered this thread and it was interesting to review it. She has given me loads of useful instruction but she still does not pull her punches which I like. If it;;s good she says so. If it's poor she also says so. Which means I feel I can trust her view. Dare I say it but I feel like the dressage is just beginning to fall into place......
 

DressageCob

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Just had a brilliant lesson 6 months on from my first lesson with my not-so-new-anymore instructor. I remembered this thread and it was interesting to review it. She has given me loads of useful instruction but she still does not pull her punches which I like. If it;;s good she says so. If it's poor she also says so. Which means I feel I can trust her view. Dare I say it but I feel like the dressage is just beginning to fall into place......

Brilliant! That's my preferred type of instructor; mine are both no nonsense, if it is rubbish they will say so, they make you earn the "goods" or "excellents", but that makes them all the sweeter. They don't say good just to fill a silence, as some instructors do.

Sounds like dressage might become your's and Amber's favourite phase!
 

oldie48

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Mine is also a complete no nonsense type of trainer tbh I was a bit unsure initially but she has improved me as a rider and given me so much more confidence. I have no problem with being told I need to ride better, because I do. She gives me clear instructions which I can understand and is more than happy to give me a hard time if I'm being pathetic which is fine because I know I get praise when I do well. She also makes me laugh.
 

honetpot

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My experience is mainly with children, but we could all ride better how ever old we are or what ever our experience.
With children it's often more obvious that they do not have the brain body connection, the feed back we get from our body that tells us what our body is doing, we think we are doing x, when really we are not. Then there is actually you understanding what the instructor wants you to do, the mind translating to the body, and the body actually trying to do it, then the horse inturpreting those signals and trying somehow to do it. Its a miracle really.
I can not see the point in saying anything negative about a rider, no one wants to ride badly, with children they just give up. What is the point of me trying, I am never going to get it? A lot of people just shout louder at them, and adults, as if they are deaf or stupid.You have to find some way of showing them, how ever small the improvement that if you do x, the chances are you will get y, and you just have to practice doing x, and work out when you need to do x, less or more or do you need to do something else.
A lot of riding is planning the movement, because of the time it takes for the instruction to come as the thought from your brain, to the horse reacting and actually doing it. The same for the instructor, there is no point in telling someone what they are doing wrong after the event, its doing the planning so they are more likely to get its right or at least partially right.
 

bouncing_ball

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it's not just a way of telling the client to try harder. It can also be a shorthand for : there's nothing wrong with the horse, it's not that you can't do it, it's not that the horse is incapable, it's not that you need new tack, it's not that you are doing the wrong things, it's not that you are out of your mind, it's not that you need different feed, it doesn't need the vet... and so on

You just need to ride it better ;) sometimes we overthink all the other stuff related to keeping and working horses, second guess every management decision, doubt the scope or ability of either ourselves or our horses... and sometimes it really is just that basic!
This
 

Ambers Echo

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Yep it was a really helpful comment in the context in which it was made. It wasn't a barked order: ride better!! It was a reassuring 'you are on the right track just keep on keeping on' type comment. Made me laugh and made me see things differently x
 

Caol Ila

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Yes. You remember all the faff I was having with Gypsum's canter transitions at that clinic a few years ago? For everyone else, I just coudn't get her into canter without a lot of flailing and frustration and unbalanced rushing, and then we'd end up in a behind-the-leg four beat canter. I worked on it with Mark Rashid, and Amber was auditing the clinic. Anyway, Mark improved things a little, but they remained kind of a percolating problem (obviously.... a two-day clinic won't fix an issue you've had for seventeen years), and then one day my friend, who's German and rides better than I do, got on board and executed these beautifully smooth, balanced canter transitions and said, "Wow, you just think 'canter' and she hops into it. I've never had a horse this responsive before! This is amazing."

"Oh, balls," I said. "So when she's sticky, it's because I'm doing something weird?"

"I think so," said my friend.

So the horse was trained (God knows how, because I trained her). I just need to ride better.

"With children it's often more obvious that they do not have the brain body connection, the feed back we get from our body that tells us what our body is doing, we think we are doing x, when really we are not. Then there is actually you understanding what the instructor wants you to do, the mind translating to the body, and the body actually trying to do it, then the horse inturpreting those signals and trying somehow to do it. Its a miracle really.

'I can not see the point in saying anything negative about a rider, no one wants to ride badly, with children they just give up. What is the point of me trying, I am never going to get it? A lot of people just shout louder at them, and adults, as if they are deaf or stupid."

And herein might be the foundation of the above issues. I think I have bad riding habits now that are so ingrained it feels hopeless, because as a wee kid, I had terrible coordination and a cl*sterfu*ck of a mind-body connection -- to the point that I was in therapy when I was about five or six, because I was outwith the normal childhood development bell curve, and my parents were worried. A few years later, that was better but not great, and my riding instructors would just yell louder and get pissed off when I didn't seem to be following instructions. "Heels down! I said, heels DOWN." My favourite was, "You will never be able to canter unless you listen better." Riding lessons were really stressful but I loved horses, so I put up with it, but I don't think it did me any favours as a rider.
 
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Ambers Echo

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I remember that clinic really well Caol Ila. I loved the way Mark set about trying to help by really taking a step back and figuring things out. I wrote that clinic up in some detail if you would be interested in reading my musings on the 'trotaloping horse'. I can pm them?
 
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little_critter

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I had similar a few weeks ago when my trainer said “just ride the effing horse”
It was helpful to me, we were doing test practice and I have a tendency to clam up and look pretty, but ride ineffectively.
 
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