Catherine Haddad's latest editorial

[TrakHack]

[QUOTE=millerra;7106946]
lowly AA carefully poking her head up out of her backwoods hole in the ground…

I wasn’t offended by CHS blog.

I thought it was a great wakeup call/opportunity for the USDF to DO something for AAs - by sponsoring and organizing regular regional training opportunities/clinics/symposiums for local trainers to train with some of the top trainers in the country.

I mean if you want trickle down…

Now back to the squabbling… sorry if this positive idea has already been brought up.[/QUOTE]

Like this?
http://www.usdf.org/education/clinics/

[katarine]

Trak, unfortunately the US is just too big for that to meet what I’d call ‘regional’ need.
http://www.usdf.org/education/clinics/adult/dates-locations.asp

2013: Massachusetts, Texas
2014: Maryland, Indiana, Idaho.

[suzy]

[QUOTE=Lucassb;7107239]
I would guess that if CHS had simply written, “I want to teach the trainers I meet how to install better basics in their riders,” without making such a huge point about how offended she is to be asked to teach those riders herself and what a waste of her time/talent it is, she might well have gotten a much more positive reception.[/QUOTE]
Agree. The message could have been delivered more tactfully, and I find it disturbing that her editor didn’t “massage” it before letting her publish it. She has a very different audience here than in Germany, and I imagine that this blog has shown her that she needs to self edit more if the editor isn’t going to do his/her job effectively.

[Bristol_Bay]

[QUOTE=grayarabpony;7106940]
Nope.

But people who have attended her clinics have stated here that she tried the saddles on most all of the horses. If I was attending a clinic I’d be happy if someone informed me that the saddle didn’t fit. I wouldnt be happy that she was putting those saddles on all of the horses, and I don’t see how this wouldn’t cut into lesson time.[/QUOTE]

Susanna von Dietze, here rightly lauded for her helpfulness to riders of all levels, times her clinic to coincide with her book releases, and for one of her clinics, we were all invited to stay for a Balimo chair demonstration. I don’t begrudge trainers at all for introducing people to products that might be helpful. I very seriously doubt that CH would stop her lesson after 15 minutes to sell saddles. We should encourage sponsorship for our top riders. After all, riders in all disciplines accept without question when a trainer insists they all buy new saddles because he/she is sponsored.

Ms. Staller, this forum is where Lendon Gray started a thread to ask for help in buying tall boots for a child and was criticized by a few COTHers offended by the extravagance ('unnecessary and elitest"). It’s the nature of the beast.

I remain unconvinced there was anything offensive in her blog or in her responses to the comments, and whoever characterized them as a meltdown for defending herself was exaggerating.

[millerra]

Clinics should be within- say- 8 hours drive time with in each region, minimum 2x per year with the same clinician as continuing education, to actually improve dressage across the country. That would be my utopia…

[suzy]

Well put, Bristol Bay. I’d also add that CH admits outright to being blunt, and blunt is very different than rude. Blunt is stating something as you see it. Rude is stating something, knowing that it is bound to offend people and not caring. I just don’t think it’s fair to accuse CH of that. Her responses to the comments on her blog have been gracious, honest, and non-combative. She is doing her best to clarify points from the original blog, but it’s clear that some people are just determined not to hear what she’s really saying. They’ve made up their minds and closed the door.

[netg]

[QUOTE=millerra;7107322]
Clinics should be within- say- 8 hours drive time with in each region, minimum 2x per year with the same clinician as continuing education, to actually improve dressage across the country. That would be my utopia…[/QUOTE]

In discussing solutions, I totally agree.

The folks in the concentrated areas simply don’t understand how big an issue geography is. I’m in the region covering the largest geographical area, and often events in other regions end up being closer, and yet could still be 18 hours or more away.

[rideastar]

This is a blog addressed to Trainers:
I believe this sentence is the essence of the blog.
“Our trainers need more knowledge about how to train the basics—not just for themselves, but for their students as well”

I am a trainer, certifed, I took the time at the advanced age of 50+ (after retiring from a career not related to riding) to learn how to teach the sport I love.
I respect what Catherine says, I am frequently surprised at the theories and ideas students bring from other “trainers”. How many trainers actually know the Training Pyramid, let alone are able to teach to it?
How many trainers know how to give a correct lunge lesson to a student? The vast majority of people (trainers included) do not even know how to correctly lunge a horse. And that said, how many students actually want a lunge lesson? Many are offended by the suggestion.
Catherine is opinionated and vocal, and I say " Great, about time someone said something."
So stop being offended, and try learning.

[Foxtrot_s]

It is not a known fact - when people say “the vast majority of trainers do not know…”, or “Most people…blah blah blah”. I just feel that is too much generalizing.

[Graymaresrule]

[QUOTE=rideastar;7107394]
This is a blog addressed to Trainers:
I believe this sentence is the essence of the blog.
“Our trainers need more knowledge about how to train the basics—not just for themselves, but for their students as well”

I am a trainer, certifed, I took the time at the advanced age of 50+ (after retiring from a career not related to riding) to learn how to teach the sport I love.
I respect what Catherine says, I am frequently surprised at the theories and ideas students bring from other “trainers”. How many trainers actually know the Training Pyramid, let alone are able to teach to it?
How many trainers know how to give a correct lunge lesson to a student? The vast majority of people (trainers included) do not even know how to correctly lunge a horse. And that said, how many students actually want a lunge lesson? Many are offended by the suggestion.
Catherine is opinionated and vocal, and I say " Great, about time someone said something."
So stop being offended, and try learning.[/QUOTE]

Had I, as a smurf, ridden in one of her clinics I would be offended, not because I don’t ride as well as she thought necessary to attend, but because she let this happen repeatedly without doing something to stop it.

Evidently she had no problem pocketing the $300 per lesson though. Respect goes both ways.

[grayarabpony]

[QUOTE=not again;7107032]
Until you take a lesson, audit, attend a clinic, and/or talk with Catherine in person you are all writing inflammatory fiction.[/QUOTE]

What a load of nonsense. She wrote that blog post, did she not? We read it, and these are our opinions of said blog post. What is the inflammatory fiction you’re speaking of?

[exploding_pony]

I think that is the issue most people have here. Teach who you want. Help develop a training system in the US, we’d all be better off for it.

But don’t take our hard earned money and insult us for it. And that’s what the blog post did, insulted us AAs for having the nerve to show up for a lesson in a clinic.

It’s not blunt, it’s rude. Make your requirements known ahead of time. Then if someone ignores it and does show up unprepared, insult them all you want. But not after the fact if you did not publish your requirements ahead of time.

[grayarabpony]

[QUOTE=Bristol Bay;7107318]
Susanna von Dietze, here rightly lauded for her helpfulness to riders of all levels, times her clinic to coincide with her book releases, and for one of her clinics, we were all invited to stay for a Balimo chair demonstration. I don’t begrudge trainers at all for introducing people to products that might be helpful. I very seriously doubt that CH would stop her lesson after 15 minutes to sell saddles. We should encourage sponsorship for our top riders. After all, riders in all disciplines accept without question when a trainer insists they all buy new saddles because he/she is sponsored.

Ms. Staller, this forum is where Lendon Gray started a thread to ask for help in buying tall boots for a child and was criticized by a few COTHers offended by the extravagance ('unnecessary and elitest"). It’s the nature of the beast.

I remain unconvinced there was anything offensive in her blog or in her responses to the comments, and whoever characterized them as a meltdown for defending herself was exaggerating.[/QUOTE]

Oh, really. No one said that she stopped lessons after 15 minutes to try on saddles. But it’s practically impossible not to cut into lesson time if you’re trying saddles on most of the horses.

So much logical fallacy, so little time.

[grayarabpony]

[QUOTE=suzy;7107014]
No. That isn’t what she’s saying. She is saying that she wants to teach the teachers how to teach the basics.[/QUOTE]

Really, she wants to teach advanced students. Otherwise she is not honored.

Straight from the horse’s mouth:

"I am often hired by a trainer to do a clinic at his or her stable. The general pattern goes like this: The trainer wants my input. So he/she hires me to teach for a full day even though the trainer rides only once, maybe twice on a somewhat advanced horse, and then watches eight to nine students from rank beginner to talented amateur learn some basics from me at a much lower level.

I realize that these students are paying for the trainer’s opportunity to ride with me. And I know that some of them are there simply in order to say, “I rode with Catherine Haddad Staller.” But this does not honor me, nor is my skill respected. If you are a fan, come by and say hello—stay, audit and learn. If you are a rider who needs help with a throughness issue, come by and get a lesson.

To show up for training with an accomplished rider before you are ready to benefit from his or her knowledge is bad form and disrespectful. I am often taken aback when clinic slots in the United States are filled with riders who can’t even put their horse on the bit."

The thing is, there are a lot of “advanced” students who cannot put their horses on the bit, in addition to lower level people. All of them want to get better at dressage.

[Spiritwalker]

[QUOTE=exploding pony;7107545]
I think that is the issue most people have here. Teach who you want. Help develop a training system in the US, we’d all be better off for it.

But don’t take our hard earned money and insult us for it. And that’s what the blog post did, insulted us AAs for having the nerve to show up for a lesson in a clinic.

It’s not blunt, it’s rude. Make your requirements known ahead of time. Then if someone ignores it and does show up unprepared, insult them all you want. But not after the fact if you did not publish your requirements ahead of time.[/QUOTE]

Reading comprehension is sorely lacking by many of you?? She is upset with trainers that are not teaching the basics, sitting the trot and holding the reins and if you are an AA and do both of these things SHE’S NOT TALKING ABOUT YOU!!! What is so hard to understand OMG. If you can’t sit the trot and hold the reins take that $600 you’d spend that weekend and go learn to ride. She believes you deserve trainers that can actually teach you these basics. I don’t know why people keep saying she doesn’t want to teach AA, she does if they have the basics down. You don’t have to be an upper level riding to ride with her but you should be able to do the bloody basics.

[mp]

[QUOTE=Spiritwalker;7107682]
She is upset with trainers that are not teaching the basics, sitting the trot and holding the reins and if you are an AA and do both of these things SHE’S NOT TALKING ABOUT YOU!!! What is so hard to understand OMG. [/QUOTE]

Oh, thank heavens. I feel so much better.

SW, if you know Catherine, then you might tell her that giving the 65 y.o. rider who was afraid of his/her horse as an example was low. Really low. If you can’t make a point without pointing someone out, don’t do it.

There are three rules people in the public eye should follow:

1. Don’t sh*t where you eat. If you do …
2. Make a genuine apology. And then …
3. Be quiet and let it die down.

She broke all three. Honestly, I agree with what she said, but not with how she said it and how she reacted to other people’s opinions.

If that’s just CHS being herself, fine. But she’ll just have to take the flak for it.

[katarine]

She and Paula Deen must have the same editors and handlers.

Shut Up, Catherine.

[poltroon]

The trainers who hired her to come out obviously were people who wanted to learn, and went to some effort to bring her to their own barn. I don’t feel their effort was honored or respected or acknowledged.

The point was made earlier on this thread that often the motivation isn’t to say “I rode with Big Name” but just to support the clinic for other people, or to support the idea of clinics being possible in that particular location.

All of what she meant to say could have been said without disparaging the people who hired her to teach. I would ask her editor to keep that in mind.

Someone brought up George Morris. GM, for all his qualities, has never made any secret about what he expects to see in his clinics; he says so in public right there. We all know not to send anyone without serious skill, perfect turnout, and a thick skin to him (he has mellowed substantially but even so); he’s had that rep since literally before I was born. Certainly he makes a lot of people unhappy, especially if they mosey past the warning signs. He’s a fabulous trainer for upper level students and not at all a good choice for anyone below that, and honestly, that’s perfectly fine, because there’s plenty of demand for that.

[Spiritwalker]

[QUOTE=mp;7107756]
Oh, thank heavens. I feel so much better.

SW, if you know Catherine, then you might tell her that giving the 65 y.o. rider who was afraid of his/her horse as an example was low. Really low. If you can’t make a point without pointing someone out, don’t do it.

There are three rules people in the public eye should follow:

1. Don’t sh*t where you eat. If you do …
2. Make a genuine apology. And then …
3. Be quiet and let it die down.

She broke all three. Honestly, I agree with what she said, but not with how she said it and how she reacted to other people’s opinions.

If that’s just CHS being herself, fine. But she’ll just have to take the flak for it.[/QUOTE]

She’s got plenty of people agreeing with her on FB even those that are just learning to teach. Can’t please everyone all the time. Oh well

[Spiritwalker]

[QUOTE=katarine;7107765]
She and Paula Deen must have the same editors and handlers.

Shut Up, Catherine.[/QUOTE]

Now that is RUDE LMAO