Instructors

[Zingy]

I've been having lessons for ages with someone I thought was a good instructor but I now feel I'm being taught rubbish! When I first started riding I was told kick meant go and pull meant stop (v. bad riding school, but I didn't know it at the time). I then discovered there was rather more to it than that and I thought I'd found an instructor who was quite sympathetic to the horse and would try and improve what I did with the result that they'd go better. Gradually this has been changing and I'm always being told either to make the horse do something or stop them from doing something (very negative language in my opinion). This has now progressed (or regressed?) to basically kicking and pulling, but now I can do both at the same time!:( I'm expected to pull the horses head in (so naturally it nearly stops) and then kick v hard to make it go. What's the point? If you don't pull them so much then you don't need to kick so hard - result - much more subtle aids, happier horse, happier rider. But I'm not allowed to ride like that. I tried the new way (for a 20m circle after which my arms ached so much I couldn't keep it up) - horse went sideways etc obviously v stressed and I was told it would fight but would then give in (which it did). This, I was told was the best I'd ridden in ages. Is this how I'm expected to ride? What happened to working with the horse rather than beating it up to get your own way? I was disgusted with what I was being asked to do, particularly as this is a supposedly well respected BHS riding centre.:mad: Apologies for the ranting, but I now feel so much better! Needless to say, not booked any more lessons since!

[Elfin]

God, sorry, but to me that doesn't sound at all nice. Poor you and the horses. Is this the way anyone else has been taught to ride?? This is certainly not the way I am being taught to ride at a BHS riding school. Are you not supposed to give with your hands as much as possible? and to get your horse to slow down or stop to use your back and to give and take with your reins/hands?
Hmmm this is only my opinion though!

[4everSaddleSeat]

Oh my gosh! That is so mean to you and to the horse. My first two lessons started out like that and then I got a much nicer and experienced instructor (I have been riding for 2 1/2 years now). I would say to try to find a new instructor or if you can't do that then ask your instructor why he/she thinks the way he/she does and talk to them about the advantages and disadvantages of both ways of riding. I hope that this has helped! Good luck!

[K&K]

i know this situation well, i rode with an instructor like that for two years! then when i started getting involved at other barns i realized that simply kicking and pulling was NOT the correct way to ride ... i feel so sorry for the horses that awful lady used! i'm currently looking for a new instructor but i'm working around instructors all day and i've picked up a lot of tips, and i now i ride correctly ... and i don't really feel i need a fulltime instructor, since i don't compete and usually me & my horse go bareback lol. but i do take the occasional lesson with a quality instructor and give myself some touchups lol, and make sure i'm not doing anything wrong ...

so do you think if all i do is walking, trotting, cantering and trails, know all basic stuff, have control of my horse and ride safely and have no desire to learn the advanced stuff, do i need a fulltime instructor?

[Kathrin]

Was this aimed at hauling the horse into an outline?


Really you would think that this was a thing of the past!!

[Zingy]

Yes it was! Apparently it's vitally important for the horse to be in a 'correct' outline for the whole lesson, even if they're not physically capable of doing it. If they don't volunteer it then they must be forced. I find the vast majority of instructors truly believe this or at least make me think they do. I'm always told I'm not demanding enough! I'll shut up now, but this mentality really bugs me!

[Moonlightrider]

I taught a lot of lessons over the summer (we had a trainer who's supposed to train the horses and got thrown into teaching lessons, but she didn't have a clue how to work with little kids). My friends and I said to squeeze with your legs, and if the horse didn't go, kick lightly. So many of the kids' legs didn't reach past the saddle that the horse didn't feel the squeeze. We said to pull very lightly and sit back to slow down; these are lesson and beginner horses and they're perfectly willing to stop. We used only open reins to turn - kids pull a lot softer to the out then back (or at least our kids did). True beginners only trotted on a line the first day, so it kept their mouths off the poor horse's mouths at a trot (plus, we put all the beginner horses in softer bits then usual, since most were doing two to three lessons a day - 1/2 hours).

I once rode at a kick-and-pull place, but my instructor didn't like it any better then me, and as long as I got the horse to do what I wanted, she let me ride softly. I got a beginner horse - used to having kids bounce on her - to trot figure eights without reins. Her mouth was so hard from yanking that she wouldn't turn for them at all, b/c they didn't use any weight aids. They didn't kick too much... but from the time you could post holding onto the saddle onwards, you carried a crop. I refused to move up to the level where the instructor would have made me be harder on the horses.