Great point!
I NEVER LIE. I never praise bad riding. I look, very critically, at the whole picture, and then chose to focus on what the rider is doing right.
I’m also a big fan of the critique sandwich: “I love how you used your eye to make that turn! I absolutely, positively, need you to stop micromanaging and leave your horse alone after the first trot pole. Love the way you rode the halt at the end of the exercise and didn’t let your horse walk through your aids.”
I think it’s quite possible to tell someone exactly what they did wrong in great detail without raising your voice. Students definitely need to know what they’re doing wrong in order to correct it, but it does not necessarily need to involve screaming at the top of your lungs in front of God and everybody.
Again, I’m sure there are people who think screaming works well for them and their learning process, which is fine. That does not mean most people enjoy it, or learn well from it.
PM me where you are, because you sound AMAZING! Just make sure to yell at me a lot when I micromanage. 
The former works great for me when I am not anxious. If I am “in a moment”? I need someone to shock me out of it. Again, my trainer only does it to me… and only because it works.
When I was teaching I always tried to stay upbeat and positive, and did not yell, period.
Except for one time, one yell, with one teenaged student. Pleasure class. She would never check her canter lead or set her horse up for it and always missed the right lead the second way of the ring. Over and over, I’d remind her, and over and over she would miss it.
Then, at one show I decided to change things up. I was standing along the rail, and she picked up the wrong lead right in front of me. I never said a word…until she got around to the other side of the arena. I cupped my hands and yelled “Brooke, you’re on the WRONG LEAD!!” She was mortified…and never missed another one. 
I only remember my trainer yelling at one person, and that was just one time. If you weren’t following her instructions you were ignored. It didn’t take long to figure out you’d better pay attention or the lesson would be a waste of time.
I do crustless quiche also, but did you know how tasty a sweet-potato crust can be? It’s divine and totally GF, suitable for Celiac folks!
Peel and thinly slice a nice big sweet potato (orange, yellow, or purple, they all work). Spray a pie plate with Pam or rub lightly with olive oil. Place the slices of sweet potato overlapping in a thin layer on the bottom and sides of the pan, lightly salt, bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.
Then dump in your mixed quiche ingredients: Eggs, cream, mushrooms, asparagus, whatever. Bake to done.
I guarantee your Celiac and GF friends are going to love this. I’ve never had such good luck with a dinner party recipe in my entire life.
Re my screaming trainer. I had decided to train with her because she had been a working student for a former U.S. Olympian and had subsequently spent time in Europe as a working student there, so I figured she knew her stuff. And she did know a lot of stuff but she also had a natural talent that few of her clients had and she was unable to give precise instructions for aids. She would say something like, turn down the centerline and leg-yield to H - but she couldn’t tell you what to do with your body to make that happen, so she would scream at you.
One week, her trainer from the Netherlands came to visit and spent the week giving her and us lessons. And he was also a screamer, so I guess that is where she learned that “technique.”
So he humiliated students in public and sodomized young teen boys because he had an inferiority complex? And doing so made him feel superior? Ick, what a warped mind.
If you look at everything about his life, career, and personal actions, it all makes sense when framed in context with that. He made it clear in his book and interviews that he wanted fame, success, and craved power over anyone else, to feel better about his own inadequacies, in comparison with others. He was never intelligent, attractive, or wealthy, so he had to weasel and work his way into power positions to get what he wanted and forced his will on others to keep his ego sated. That’s why certain people, that are just like him, gravitated towards him after he became well-known and power and why certain people fully support him to this day. Like attracts like.
I have yelled at students, of course.
But it’s been when they are doing some dangerous (getting ready to jump an oxer backwards was one) or being unkind to a horse. (That’ll get me yelling pretty quick.)
My wonderful, late mentor never yelled. My favorite technique of hers was that she would call a student into the middle of the ring for a quiet chat about why they weren’t following her instructions. Usually it was a misunderstanding that they clarified out of other’s hearing. Occasionally it was laziness or willfulness, in which case, she would give them the option of dismounting, explaining that she couldn’t have people who wouldn’t follow instructions ride and ruin her school horses. But it was all done calmly and quietly, without the side of public humiliation.
I think this is more common than we’re willing to admit. Lots of top riders have been riding at a high level for so long, and have developed such feel, that they don’t consciously understand what they’re doing to influence the horse, they just do it. And don’t understand why others can’t without detailed instruction. As a riding student, I have to understand the mechanics and the how of everything before I can do it. So I’m pretty good at breaking things down for my students as well.
In general, I think we tend to conflate good rider with good teacher, and it’s just not necessarily so.
Very true.
Some great riders can “just do it,” to use the tagline from Nike.
But when they simply tell a student to just do it, that might not work as well. Lol.
Teaching, especially teaching people who can’t “just do it,” is a skill that not so many great riders/trainers have. I had one instructor recently who was a great rider and trainer, but more than once when I asked for specifics on aids, she said, “I don’t really know; I just do it.”
More recently, I had the pleasure of riding for a few months with an “S” judge who teaches dressage at a college with a big equine program. She has trained horses to GP, so she definitely knows how to do it. She teaches RIDING to students in the program, some of whom have never sat in a dressage saddle but are required to take two semesters of dressage. She taught me not only what to do, but how to do it. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I couldn’t continue with her; I wish I could have.
Absolutely. Which is why it is good to audit clinicians before taking lessons. I took lessons from Istvan Sorenyi Sander
Obituaries-10/08/04 - The Chronicle of the Horse (chronofhorse.com) He said his best critic was his wife…who did not ride.
I went to a “hoity-toity” farm in NJ to take a lesson. This was at the recommendation of someone I liked. I walked into the barn and trainer was rudely yelling at the (immigrant) barn help. That set the tone for the place.
I figured I was there, got on my horse and started lesson. I don’t remember much other than his methods were rude to the horse. Trainer wanted to ride my stallion. I said no. I paid for the lesson, thanked him and left…never to return.
Arguably all accomplished trainers can ride well. When it comes to teaching riders, my experience has been that most trainers have a better eye for what the horse is doing than what the rider is doing. It’s the ones with a good eye for the rider whose clients actually improve and progress up the levels.
I’ve always understood Michael Barisone to be one of those trainers and have long hoped for an opportunity to ride in a clinic with him. 
This sounds delicious. Thanks much!
I can attest to the fact that Michael Barisone is very good at this. He pinpointed and fixed some position problems I had that were impeding my horse, and he could also tell what kind of ride worked best for my horse. I only took one clinic from him but I still use what I learned.
For those following the insurance suit, there was a status conference on July 17th. Both sides were directed to submit letters re: the really bizarre guardian ad litem request and whether or not the case should stay in Federal Court.
The Insurance companies waived the guardian request, Michael, through his attorney, agreed to remain in Federal court, and some more deadlines were given yesterday.
Joint Status Letter Ins Co re GAL 072123.pdf (80.9 KB)
MB Status Letter 072423.pdf (215.8 KB)
You’re welcome!
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