Best horse trainer to subscribe to and follow (basics + dressage)

[trynix]

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to identify a good horse trainer to follow on youtube and subscribe to - aim is to understand ground up horse training and development (from the basics), perhaps towards a dressage outcome.

I hear many names thrown around, like Buck Brannaman, Tom Curtin, Martin Black, etc… but I’m not sure if these trainers are much more in the “western” training school, or if what they teach applies to any horse in the beginning stages.

Anyways, thought I’d get some thoughts from the friendly fellas here

So in essence, it’s two questions in one:

• Who’d you recommend for basic ground-up horse development up to a good decent broke horse with good self carriage
• And, if different from the above, who’d you recommend to follow for in-depth dressage training and development

[RPM]

I’d rather spend my money on a trainer near me, to work with in real life. I’d choose that one based on the recommendations of people I know, the trainer’s local reputation, his/her other students, and how much he/she charges!

I do occasionally watch training videos on YouTube, but I don’t pay for any of them – the ones I watch are free.

There is no substitute for real-life training with a real live trainer!

[merrygoround]

I agree! there are way too many nuances in training-no one way fits all, no matter who says that their way does.

[MissAriel]

While I agree about there is no substitute for a live trainer, I do enjoy watching some free videos online from time to time. Jane Savoie has some good ones. Very often it just helps me to have a visual of what I am trying to accomplish, sometimes there will be a phrase or description that stands out and “clicks”.

I also have a great trainer, who is willing to discuss things I read or watch and how they are or aren’t applicable to my situation, so that’s the best of both worlds.

[cuatx55]

If you want to pay: Dressageclinic.com, dressagetrainingonline.
Dressage riding fulfills the same aims as natural horsemanship riders.

[CativatheDiva]

As someone who lives in a place where the number of good trainers are few and far between (which may be the case for the OP, in which these “get a real person” comments may not be helpful at all), YouTube videos can be a great source of inspiration or assistance. I read a lot of articles from Dressage Today which I usually find on their Facebook page!

I will also be keen to see what YouTube videos/channels folks watch to help with their riding. Good for the long and many days between clinicians coming to visit.

[Draftmare]

@MissAriel

While I agree about there is no substitute for a live trainer, I do enjoy watching some free videos online from time to time. Jane Savoie has some good ones. Very often it just helps me to have a visual of what I am trying to accomplish, sometimes there will be a phrase or description that stands out and “clicks”.

I also have a great trainer, who is willing to discuss things I read or watch and how they are or aren’t applicable to my situation, so that’s the best of both worlds.

Agree with this. I love my instructor, but she is on the ground and sometimes the subtle things about what to do with my hands during leg yield can be hard to visualise unless seen on a horse. I often find myself going to youtube to watch videos of trainers explaining things while doing them on a horse. I really like Your Riding Success, she is a Australian Grand Prix rider that does a bunch of videos. She also had a paid video service, but last time I looked I think it was $100 a month, which wasn’t worth it to me.

[outerbanks77]

I don’t know of a “good” trainer who offers an extensive, ground-up set of videos for free online. I’m not exactly clear on whether you’re looking for dressage training or more basic training. The names you listed are western trainers. Most of the dressage trainers focus on training horses that are already well broke W/T/C. Emile Faurie has several good videos on YouTube, and I was just enjoying some videos of Laura Graves teaching.

If you want to spend some money, Ingrid Klimke and Anja Beran both have DVD videos series that show starting/developing a young dressage horse. I have the Anja Beran ones (Elegant Dressage Training) and they are good, but there is not a ton of detail.

[trynix]

Thank you all for your responses!

Forgot to mention, but yes the video will be in support of one-on-one training that I undertake whenever I get the chance, and I don’t mind paying for a good subscription!
I’ll definitely check out the websites mentioned, as well as the DVD series by Ingrid Klimke and Anja Beran

[preppyeq]

@Draftmare

Agree with this. I love my instructor, but she is on the ground and sometimes the subtle things about what to do with my hands during leg yield can be hard to visualise unless seen on a horse. I often find myself going to youtube to watch videos of trainers explaining things while doing them on a horse. I really like Your Riding Success, she is a Australian Grand Prix rider that does a bunch of videos. She also had a paid video service, but last time I looked I think it was $100 a month, which wasn’t worth it to me.

I used to like Your Riding Success. Her name is Natasha Althoff but over the past year or so her customer service/reliability/helpfulness has decreased SIGNIFICANTLY. Everything is behind a paywall now or multiple paywalls and honestly the content is really not that helpful. You can watch videos of her giving lessons or her riding but there are times you can’t hear or you are just watching her ride and there is no commentary. Why would I pay to watch her ride and her not explain what is going on? She gives you just enough information to make it seem like she is helping but your always waiting for a little bit more to tie it all in together.

She used to do videos all the time where you could ask questions and she would answer them but I haven’t really seen any recently that have been good. She has significantly decreased the amount of free content she has on YouTube to next to nothing. She basically only does Motivation Mondays now and I think two riding videos a month. She also seems to have expanded into like five different programs between the original, reloaded, fearless riding, etc. She seems to be way too much into the $$$$ aspect of it because her content is definitely not worth the $79 AUD ($62.51 USD). She also promised to roll out a new website with training plans etc with the price increase but its been months and according to people on the FB groups those training plans are still not available. Basically, take advantage of the free content she has on YouTube if you like it but her paid content isn’t worth it.

I’ve found some really awesome clinics on YouTube that people recorded and posted of their child or friend with some pretty cool clinicians. I have found those to be the most helpful.

[Draftmare]

@preppyeq

I used to like Your Riding Success. Her name is Natasha Althoff but over the past year or so her customer service/reliability/helpfulness has decreased SIGNIFICANTLY. Everything is behind a paywall now or multiple paywalls and honestly the content is really not that helpful. You can watch videos of her giving lessons or her riding but there are times you can’t hear or you are just watching her ride and there is no commentary. Why would I pay to watch her ride and her not explain what is going on? She gives you just enough information to make it seem like she is helping but your always waiting for a little bit more to tie it all in together.

She used to do videos all the time where you could ask questions and she would answer them but I haven’t really seen any recently that have been good. She has significantly decreased the amount of free content she has on YouTube to next to nothing. She basically only does Motivation Mondays now and I think two riding videos a month. She also seems to have expanded into like five different programs between the original, reloaded, fearless riding, etc. She seems to be way too much into the $$$$ aspect of it because her content is definitely not worth the $79 AUD ($62.51 USD). She also promised to roll out a new website with training plans etc with the price increase but its been months and according to people on the FB groups those training plans are still not available. Basically, take advantage of the free content she has on YouTube if you like it but her paid content isn’t worth it.

I’ve found some really awesome clinics on YouTube that people recorded and posted of their child or friend with some pretty cool clinicians. I have found those to be the most helpful.

Yeah, I can’t see myself paying for a video content service like that. I am mostly watching her older videos where she explains some of the basics that I have recently found myself struggling with. I haven’t really watched any of her newer videos. She did respond to one question that I had on Youtube and pointed me towards some of her other Youtube videos, but of course also plugged her paid service.

When it comes to horses, I have a really hard time reading books about riding. I read them, and then once I get to the barn, I can’t remember anything that I read. However, with videos, I can pull it up on my phone to refresh my memory while I am in the saddle, and then proceed with what I wanted to work on.

Horse and Rider Magazine’s Youtube channel also has several “how to ride…” videos that I enjoyed.

[Melusine]

For general support with horse and rider, I follow CRK Training. Callie King puts out high quality video training sessions each week on her website. She works a lot with Wendy Murdoch and comes to horses by trying to understand them as horses and help riders with basic, day to day, ins and outs of riding, having horses. Covers lots of topics in confidence, position, neutral position, almost a centered riding approach to training and riding. Ms. King has been publishing for 2 - 3 years and has a depth of videos to review. She spends a lot of time on hand, seat and balance for the rider. There is a paid program yearly that is similar to an on-line training program. I think she is popular with riders without reliable instructor or trainer or cannot afford it.

[madams747]

Karen Rohlf dressagenaturally.net highly recommended
Anja Bernan as well,
and for understanding and working in harmony with horses, the Buck Brannaman 7 Clinics dvds are great

[Foxtrot_s]

Just today a newsletter came in from The Horse Journal. It is a free subscription and always has useful articles form eminent people. Today’s was Ingrid Klimke (taken from her book) on keeping a horse fresh, relaxed and buildign the whole horse, menatlly and physically. …I felt it was an important article because it keeps us from grinding the horse!

[Dressage_Strider]

Follow as many as you can on facebook. I love my feed to be filled with different methods and videos. It allows me to see what works and gives me new ideas to try on horses that aren’t responding to whatever I’m trying currently

[gymangel812]

@preppyeq

I used to like Your Riding Success. Her name is Natasha Althoff but over the past year or so her customer service/reliability/helpfulness has decreased SIGNIFICANTLY. Everything is behind a paywall now or multiple paywalls and honestly the content is really not that helpful. You can watch videos of her giving lessons or her riding but there are times you can’t hear or you are just watching her ride and there is no commentary. Why would I pay to watch her ride and her not explain what is going on? She gives you just enough information to make it seem like she is helping but your always waiting for a little bit more to tie it all in together.

She used to do videos all the time where you could ask questions and she would answer them but I haven’t really seen any recently that have been good. She has significantly decreased the amount of free content she has on YouTube to next to nothing. She basically only does Motivation Mondays now and I think two riding videos a month. She also seems to have expanded into like five different programs between the original, reloaded, fearless riding, etc. She seems to be way too much into the $$$$ aspect of it because her content is definitely not worth the $79 AUD ($62.51 USD). She also promised to roll out a new website with training plans etc with the price increase but its been months and according to people on the FB groups those training plans are still not available. Basically, take advantage of the free content she has on YouTube if you like it but her paid content isn’t worth it.

I’ve found some really awesome clinics on YouTube that people recorded and posted of their child or friend with some pretty cool clinicians. I have found those to be the most helpful.

i too like watching her videos but the money grabbing aspect is getting in the way at this point. i keep watching some of her new videos and she starts explaining stuff then cuts off the video and says you need to pay money to become a member to the see the rest. so sad as i really liked her videos.

[KittyinAus]

@Draftmare

Agree with this. I love my instructor, but she is on the ground and sometimes the subtle things about what to do with my hands during leg yield can be hard to visualise unless seen on a horse. I often find myself going to youtube to watch videos of trainers explaining things while doing them on a horse. I really like Your Riding Success, she is a Australian Grand Prix rider that does a bunch of videos. She also had a paid video service, but last time I looked I think it was $100 a month, which wasn’t worth it to me.

Your Riding Success has a lot of free stuff, especially if you sign up for emails. Yes you do get offers to buy things but definitely worth it. There is also a section of free information on her website. http://www.yourridingsuccess.com/free-stuff/
Have previously bought some of her books in PDF format. Confess that I am a fan. I live relatively close to Natasha and have been to a clinic there. I hope that helps

[preppyeq]

@KittyinAus

Your Riding Success has a lot of free stuff, especially if you sign up for emails. Yes you do get offers to buy things but definitely worth it. There is also a section of free information on her website. http://www.yourridingsuccess.com/free-stuff/
Have previously bought some of her books in PDF format. Confess that I am a fan. I live relatively close to Natasha and have been to a clinic there. I hope that helps

She was great a couple years ago when she put actual riding videos out on YoutTube that were free even if they were short but I lost a lot of respect for her with how she runs her businesses. She is overpriced for what she offers and she way over promises (like that she can take you from Intro to GP in five years with her plan) and then way under delivers. I mean she would start promising stuff to her subscribers and it would take months and months for them to see anything. I did sign up when the first month was $1 before she significantly raised her pricing so I am in the FB group. People as of recently were still asking where the training plans were for the new website. They were supposed to be in place in March and it was one of the reasons for the price hike and they are still not available. I’m going to end there because she just rubs me the wrong way.

[KittyinAus]

@preppyeq

She was great a couple years ago when she put actual riding videos out on YoutTube that were free even if they were short but I lost a lot of respect for her with how she runs her businesses. She is overpriced for what she offers and she way over promises (like that she can take you from Intro to GP in five years with her plan) and then way under delivers. I mean she would start promising stuff to her subscribers and it would take months and months for them to see anything. I did sign up when the first month was $1 before she significantly raised her pricing so I am in the FB group. People as of recently were still asking where the training plans were for the new website. They were supposed to be in place in March and it was one of the reasons for the price hike and they are still not available. I’m going to end there because she just rubs me the wrong way.

That’s a pity. I haven’t met Natasha but have met Meghan and thought that she was lovely. Am going to send you a PM.