[QUOTE=Eclectic Horseman;7104943]
Although being controversial can be a wonderful thing to stimulate discussion, being offensive just turns people off.[/QUOTE]
Among the many good points made on this thread, this one really stands out. I thought she made some good points in the article, and I suspect there are many 2nd tier BNTs who are also a bit frustrated at the lack of skills/riding ability they encounter at their clinics, and who wonder why these people’s instructors haven’t taught them better.
And I think her comments weren’t so much about beginners, but rather about people who have been riding “for years” (as she said), but can’t execute basic skills such as riding their horse from back to front, putting their horse on the bit, keeping a soft, consistent, elastic contact, posting the trot without balancing on the reins, turning without hauling on the inside rein, sitting the trot, keeping their horse in front of their leg, keeping their spur out the horse’s side except when needed, etc.
I suspect there are people like this in almost every riding program around the country - and yes, I am one who struggles with all the above. But I would never consider trying to ride in a clinic because I am very aware it would be a waste of my time and money, a waste of the clinician’s time, and would frankly be an embarrassment to myself and my instructor (who is patiently working to bring me back after being away from riding for several years and several strokes).
And I will add that it isn’t always the instructor’s fault. As others have mentioned, instructors are just trying to make ends meet, and until they are so in demand that their barn is overflowing with good horses/good riders, they have to work with the students they have. Sometimes the instructors are good - but they just cannot make much progress with some riders. As an example, I am reminded of a gal I used to ride with at a different barn and with a different trainer. Said lady had been riding for many, many years, she was very slender and fit - ran every day, etc., but she absolutely could not keep her horse on the bit, she could not keep her legs underneath her (they were always halfway back to the horse’s rump, with her heel halfway up his sides), could not keep her spur off of him (jabbed him with every single stride), etc. She ALWAYS rode in the double bridle because there was no way in h*** she could put her horse on the bit in the snaffle, and she rode primarily off the curb rein. Luckily for her, her horse had been imported as an I-1/I-2/GP schoolmaster, and he was wonderful for that purpose - he knew all the tricks and would do them if she gave a modicum of a correct aid, but he had also learned how to put himself into a false frame so she thought he was on the bit (she honestly had no feel, and really didn’t know how the difference between a horse being in a false frame and being truly THROUGH the body). Poor saint of a horse would shuffle around the ring day after day, basically tuning out the fact that he was being gigged in the sides with every single stride, while she either hauled on the curb rein or let the contact go completely. Said lady had lessons almost every day - with a USDF Gold Medalist (and the horse looked wonderful when the trainer rode him) - but in all the years I was in that program, the lady never really improved her riding skills. She loved horses, loved riding, but she had no feel and no true understanding of what it meant to have the horse “through”, despite years of nearly daily lessons. Instructor just dealt with it - lady had two horses in training with her - and she needed the income, so they slogged it out, day after day. I felt sorry for all three of them - the trainer (who did a masterful job of keeping her frustration in check), the rider (who honestly had no clue), but most of all the horse (who had just resigned himself to it all).
I can just imagine CHS’s frustration if someone like me or the lady mentioned above rode in one of her clinics. Oh, the horror! :lol:
