Do you let your trainer ride your horse?

Skyhuntress

Skyhuntress

Trying to escape reality
Apr 26, 2005
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Alberta, Canada
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Question in the title. Just curious, because I came across a thread where a few of the posters said that their trainers have never (or would never) been on their horses-that the idea was totally preposterous.

To me, the idea is completely bizarre. I pay the trainer to teach both me AND the horse, and (in my opinion) one can only teach something properly if one has the idea of what the horse feels like, or what the horse is doing in response to something. Also for the manner of schooling-I like to have a trainer pop on at least once a month to "tune" up the horse, if needed, because no matter how well I like to think I'm doing, chances are, I'm always making a small mistake somewhere along the way that is affecting the horse's way of going.

So what do you think? For? Against?
 
I would be really wary of a trainer who didn't get on CW. How can they possibly instruct you as to how best to deal with your horse? I suppose it depends if you are having lessons on quite a sane horse who is straightforward (maybe) or a horse whose head needs to be looked into. I am so pleased that my trainer as was, schooled CW before I even got near him. She could then tell me why he was doing what and also recognised the signs of him not understanding and not just being bloody minded. I am not good enough to recognise the difference in the school (I am on a hack) and her advice was invaluable as she could instruct me as to whether to change direction in what we are doing due to overload or whether to force the point.

So yes, trainers should ideally get on a horse!
 
Ptaty70 said:
I would be really wary of a trainer who didn't get on CW. How can they possibly instruct you as to how best to deal with your horse? I suppose it depends if you are having lessons on quite a sane horse who is straightforward (maybe) or a horse whose head needs to be looked into. I am so pleased that my trainer as was, schooled CW before I even got near him. She could then tell me why he was doing what and also recognised the signs of him not understanding and not just being bloody minded. I am not good enough to recognise the difference in the school (I am on a hack) and her advice was invaluable as she could instruct me as to whether to change direction in what we are doing due to overload or whether to force the point.

So yes, trainers should ideally get on a horse!
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I totally agree. To my way of thinking, I wouldn't WANT a trainer who would be like "oh no, I don't get on client's horses" or "umm...well, you just work on that problem, yourself, k?"

I mean I wouldn't want a trainer to insist that she ride my horse everytime I get on - because then it would seem like she couldn't pass on the knowledge I would need - but I really think the horse, especially green ones, benefit from someone who won't accept anything else but what they are asking for - and as owners, sometimes I find we tend to be a bit lax ;)
 
Yes, I do, in fact I insist so the trainer can get a feel for my hrose and see what problems I am having. I wouldn't want a trainer who refused to get on my horse.
 
Me either. Although my trainer, when I get a lesson, and it's very rare, is all about refinement. The basics of good behaviour and work ethic, is my job, not hers. So neither trainer has ridden Rosie, only joe. Rosie as yet is still very slightly unpredictable, therefore it is my job to ride her, and my responsibility. Joe on the other hand, is what I would call 'broke to ride' and therefore any instructor should be willing to hop up and ride the little grey feller.
 
I would expect any trainer to get on my horse, to feel what is happening, it may look like one thing or another but until you feel whats going on you dont understand. Although not all trainers understand this themselves!! I dont expect them to ride it for me at every lesson I usually get my trainer to ride my horses at a different time, but then I am able to do that not all people can afford that.
 
yes of course having the trainer ride is good. that way they know the problems you might be having and how to better correct them because they know the horse and what works for it.
 
I have had instructors who ride my horse. But the last couple haven't. They say they can't because of insurance.

I think I got the most out of the lessons of the ones who would ride. They could help me much better when they understood what was happening.
 
I would be happy for my trainer to ride my horse, but it is very rarely she does, you can see from the floor better than on the horse what is going wrong, esp if something isnt going as well as it should!!!!

My trainer will ride my horse if i ask her too, but i dont feel the need and neither does she, plus if something is going wrong, why should your trainer put their neck on the line, nobody pays anyone enough to do that!!!!

Obviously if your trainer is dealing with problem horses/or you have a problem horse and have gone to that type of instructor fair enough, but from the other point of view, your trainer could have your horse going beautifully but that still doesnt mean you are able to ride it to the same point!!!!!

I have a horse here (now in foal) that i used to compete for its owner, my trainer never once sat on her, i took her to medium level until she started to get too stiff, she did incredibily well, but her owner struggled to ride her at prelim as the horse wouldnt go for her?!? She was the easiest horse to ride to me, and even though i knew every button to press i couldnt explain to her owner where they were, although other people could ride her very well!!!!!!!
 
When I first got my horse, my trainer rode her more frequently, as she wanted my mare to get to a certain place before turning the reins over exclusively to me. Now she only gets on for tune ups. :)

I would think it a bit odd if I had a trainer who didn't want to ride my horse. By getting on and feeling out what is happening one can then figure out the best approach to overcoming a problem (if one existed) or for the most effective way to progress further on that particular horse.
 
I'm for a trainer who will ride the client's horse ...

BUT

I left my trainer as he didn't want me to ride my horse :eek: Said that I wasn't to fiddle with the "fine-tuning" he had put in place.

Thank you - GOOD BYE !!
I'm an owner, NOT a sponsor ! :D
 
One of my instructors can't ride. If she fell off she would be in a wheel chair, so it's not worth the risk.

The other has been on Daffy a couple of times, once to teach him the one rein stop, the other to try and get him moving laterally. Both times I've asked her to do something else with him as well, just so I can see precisely what he's doing underneath me. But that's a sort of last resort. She has so many different methods for me to try with him, usually one of them works before she has to fiddle around herself.

ETA, she doesn't seem to need to be on board to work out what's happening at all.
 
i think it is important that the instructor will get on but not vital they do it as a regular thing.
Very often i think a good instructor can simply see what is happening and should be able to teach from that but occasionally when instructing they find what ever they tell you to do it doesn't work and mounting up will tell them if it is horse, rider or both. my horse used to go disunited almost all the time and my instructor wasn't sure if it was because i wasn't or couldn't hold the quarters and she couldn't see what was causing the disunitedness. she got on and couldn't stop him going disunited but was able to feel what it was like and feel where it was going wrong. she was then able to give me specific exercises to help and now he rarely goes disunited.
she has only ridden him once for about 10 minutes but it gave her a feel for how lazy he is as much as anything... he ride completely different to how he looks but she now knows that and can tell from looking.
 
my instructors are a couple and teach very much along the same lines. Pip schools my horse and is taking him to his first BE event on monday! :D They both know exactly how to get the best out of him and what exercises to do to improve him. I work for them (they event) and evey so often they ask how hes going at home etc.. Best instructors ive ever had.

My instructor at college also rode my other horse. I feel its important as what you see from the ground can be very different to how its feeling for the rider.
 
Yep my instructor has ridden my horse and I would expect every instructor to have a sit on him to understand whats going on underneath! He actually said to me that he felt very different to how he looks from the ground so all in all a very useful exercise. Although I have had instructors in the past who havent ridden due to injuries etc so can go both ways :)
 
I don't need a teacher to get on regularly but I do feel it's useful for them to sit on occassionally to get a feel for what's happening. Yes you can see a lot from the ground but you get a different perspective from on top - I've had a couple of teacher's who've drastically altered how they've taught us after a sit on Jim! From my point of view I also find it useful to see Jim ridden at times, it lets me see changes in how he's going & how he's reacting to different things.
 
Since I've had Mayo no one has ridden Mayo (except for the odd friend whos led rounds on him if he doesn't mind) except me. No other trainer has asked too except Jayne Lavender once to show me how he was supposed to yield and teach him and soften him a bit as of course she would no exactly when to release etc. so as I have full trust in her I said yes. She hopped on for 5mins, Mayo was fine, showed me what I should be doing and refined it a bit for me and hopped back off again. If she feels she needs too I don't have a problem with it but generally she doesn't:)
 
Interesting thread.

Personally, if I couldn't 'trust' a trainer to ride my horse then I wouldn't be continuing lessons with them - how could I get the most benefit from lessons with someone who's riding ability I didn't feel comfortable with?

Maybe I come from a different perspective though, as from showing I have to let anyone get on my horse. I don't proclaim that she's that 'special' that someone sitting on her for 10 minutes and not working her to the best of her abilities would kill her, i have let some friends ride her, but only in cases where I know they wont end up putting themselves in danger.
 
Waikato Valuta said:
Stormin didn't he want you to ride at all? Even between lessons?

That's crazy. How often was he riding your horses? Did he plan to ride and compete your horse himself?

Crazy.
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I bought the horse from him - the horse was to stay in training and I was supposed to be trained at the same time.
I was allowed to walk at the end of the training sessions on a loose rein.period.

Even when the horse was supposed to be prepared for non-pro showing (ie with me on board), I was pretty much allowed to sit on my horse 10 minutes before getting into the show ring ...

However, looking after the horse on the ground (brushing, tacking up, bathing, feeding, mucking out, ...) was no problem as long as I didn't feed carrots and try to bond with the horse ...
 
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