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Catherine Haddad's latest editorial

Dressage
#641

Looks like my 1971 Stubben Parzival VSD has an evil twin out there, albeit with a considerable amount less of flocking than when I sent it out into the big, wide world…

Yes, I have followed the thread and heard she used a Stubben, not a Parzival. But the similarity in appearance remains.

Perhaps the person over on Off Course trying to sell her older saddle/s might want to contact this clinician.

As for me and my house, we will stick with our Albions. Clinicians can love them or hate them. Don’t care. My back injury loves them and that’s one of the two things that really matter.

#642

That looks painful

#643

And I’m sure that the rider from the clinic is oh so grateful for the snarky and unasked for commentary on this thread.

Some of you all want to bitch and moan about lack of class? Maybe you should take a good long hard look in the mirror first before throwing stones.

#644

Honeylips – while you do have an impressive list of credentials – enough to convince foxtrot :lol:, Willi Schultheis, with whom CHS trained with the longest, is not exactly left of center.

That said I do totally agree with your solutions. We need a system similar to the European countries. Like, for example, Carl Hester and his people, we do need to pay it forward/mentor to our young talented riders on talented horses whether the horses be theirs or the coach’s. This is definitely one path to dressage success that is proven to work.

#645

[QUOTE=see u at x;7108740]
And I’m sure that the rider from the clinic is oh so grateful for the snarky and unasked for commentary on this thread.

Some of you all want to bitch and moan about lack of class? Maybe you should take a good long hard look in the mirror first before throwing stones.[/QUOTE]

I didn’t see anyone being snarky about the rider in that trial saddle…

ETA:Though I have to say if anyone had told me to sit like that I would be seriously questioning their sanity

#646

I see my name - my point was that at least Honeylips HAS some credentials.
On this board anyone can purport to be anyone and have no idea of whereof they speak. If some of the advanced riders could add a cv, they would be more believable.

However - cv or not - attitude, use of words, snarks, is available across the board. The tone of those posters who look down on amimies as the vast majority of people who can never, poor things, ever, improve…pony418 for one.: get over yourselves, America, most ammies suck, etc., and those who agree and are of like mind.

Oh, BTW, a brutally honest trainer can make a rider feel wonderful. They are paid to be honest, but a good trainer improves self-esteem, makes a rider want to be on that horse again and work even harder. Hard work is fun, too.
Improvement is more fun. All the high level trainers, in any sport, that I’ve known can motivate and encourage. (I’m not talking about some countries
Olympic trainers!)

#647

From Crockpot

a) Put out some pie pans with flat beer in them. Snails will crawl in, get drunk, and drown.

b) Go outside with your salt shaker and sprinkle salt on every snail you see. They’ll slime themselves to death.

c) Get a couple of guineas or chickens — I’m sure they’d happily snarf up every one of them.

Crockpot, doncha know this won’t work on rabid snails! :wink:

Oh, and I agree with Alicen. It’s time for some recipes. Perhaps you could share your best escargot sans rabies recipe?

#648

[QUOTE=carolprudm;7108757]
I didn’t see anyone being snarky about the rider in that trial saddle…

ETA:Though I have to say if anyone had told me to sit like that I would be seriously questioning their sanity[/QUOTE]
Oh dear, so many assumptions made throughout this thread. I really don’t mean to pick on you Carol, but were you there and did you hear CH tell her to sit like that? Even if I was on your side of the fence on this thread, I’d never make a comment like this because I can’t back it up. OTOH, if you were there and did hear her instruct the rider, I offer my humble and sincere apologies. Really!

#649

[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;7108788O]
BTW, a brutally honest trainer can make a rider feel wonderful. They are paid to be honest, but a good trainer improves self-esteem, makes a rider want to be on that horse again and work even harder. [/QUOTE]

It is completely unnecessary to tell a student all -or even ANY- of the things they are doing wrong. It is possible to teach an entire lesson without ever saying one single negative thing.

Just tell the student what TO DO, instead.

Example: There is no need to say “Your hands are too low.”
Instead say: “Lift your hands an inch.”
Example: There is no need to say, “Your ability to sit is fundamentally lacking.”
Instead say: “Let’s drop your stirrups,” and proceed progressively from there.

Voila: how to completely change somebody’s riding without saying a single negative thing.

Pointing out flaws is just an ego trip, and it is entirely unnecessary. To do so is for the teacher’s ego, not for the student’s improvement. You know who said that? CHS. In her blog. I remember it, because as a trainer I like to pick up on little tips how to teach better.

#650

[QUOTE=suzy;7108812]
Oh dear, so many assumptions made throughout this thread. I really don’t mean to pick on you Carol, but were you there and did you hear CH tell her to sit like that? [/QUOTE]

When the student is roughly 7 inches away from the clinician sitting in the clinician-approved saddle, is it THEN OK to assume that perhaps the clinician has SOMETHING to do with how the student is sitting? Considering how trainers who are not even in attendance at these clinics are being blamed by same clinician, what about the person who is walking within touching distance of the horse?

If we CAN’T assume that the clinician has anything to do with how the student who is riding 7" away from them in their saddle is sitting, what are the prerequisites for drawing any conclusions along those lines, and did the original blog follow those same guidelines for its own indictment of trainers?

Discuss.

I mean, I completely get that sometimes you teach “an extreme version” of something to drive home a point and get past faulty proprioception, or you leave certain sleeping dogs lie for now and focus on other things, but at some point it would be nice if people would at least be internally consistent in how they evaluate factual information.
If we can slam every single local trainer in the country with hyperbolic prose, then perhaps hold somebody else who is teaching 7" away from a horse to the same hyperbolic standards.
If you would like to apply fair standards to BNT clinicians and have a little understanding when their student rides 7" behind them with their knees up by their ears, apply those same understanding standards to the local trainers as well.

#651

OMG, I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole into a parallel universe. I agree with Meup! I’d also add that there is only so much a student can take in during one lesson. It’s important to avoid information overload. Pick out those things that will help the rider the most in the foreseeable future and shelve the others until the student has mastered most or all of today’s messages. Good quote you picked out of her blog.

#652

Can anyone recommend a good wine pairing for escargot? I love escargot… with garlic and herb butter, mmmmmmm.

#653

[QUOTE=suzy;7108812]
Oh dear, so many assumptions made throughout this thread. I really don’t mean to pick on you Carol, but were you there and did you hear CH tell her to sit like that? Even if I was on your side of the fence on this thread, I’d never make a comment like this because I can’t back it up. OTOH, if you were there and did hear her instruct the rider, I offer my humble and sincere apologies. Really![/QUOTE]

No, I wasn’t there.

To get nitpicky or maybe nitpickier, I did say “IF” which allows for alternate scenarios and certainly implies that I was not aware of the actual events.

I still think it looks painful.

Other than that the only opinion I have expressed in this thread is that if CHS didn’t want to teach lower level riders she should have said so UP FRONT and not taken their money and then griped about it on the internet.

#654

[QUOTE=suzy;7108834]
OMG, I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole into a parallel universe. I agree with Meup! I’d also add that there is only so much a student can take in during one lesson. It’s important to avoid information overload. Pick out those things that will help the rider the most in the foreseeable future and shelve the others until the student has mastered most or all of today’s messages. Good quote you picked out of her blog.[/QUOTE]

Yes, imagine if she had followed her own advice and blogged about things trainers can do to get more education, why it’s important, set up a trainer symposium, and encouraged them to attend.

Lambasting of the entire dressage scene: unnecessary.

#655

[QUOTE=Lost_at_C;7108837]
Can anyone recommend a good wine pairing for escargot? I love escargot… with garlic and herb butter, mmmmmmm.[/QUOTE]

appellation Cahors :lol: delicious and will knock your socks off so drink sparingly!

#656

[QUOTE=meupatdoes;7108830]
When the student is roughly 7 inches away from the clinician sitting in the clinician-approved saddle, is it THEN OK to assume that perhaps the clinician has something to do with how the student is sitting? Considering how trainers who are not even in attendance at these clinics are being blamed by same clinician, what about the person who is walking within touching distance of the horse?

If we CAN’T assume that the clinician has anything to do with how the student who is riding 7" away from them in their saddle is sitting, what are the prerequisites for drawing any conclusions along those lines, and did the original blog follow those same guidelines for its own indictment of trainers?

Discuss.[/QUOTE]
Yes, Happy to discuss. As I put in my post above, there is only so much you can accomplish with a student in one lesson and a lot will depend on the student’s natural ability, learning style, the horse, the alignment of the stars, etc. You teach, so I think we may be able to agree on this one point if no other. To me, a still photo is too brief a moment in time to be 100% sure of anything unless I was right there at the moment it was snapped. The rider’s leg may have been longer a moment earlier. Perhaps she was asking for a more active walk and drew her leg up. I just can’t tell from that one photo what was going on.

Since this rider did not voluntarily post her photo and ask for a critique, I really don’t want to comment further except to say that her horse is cute, and she appears to be intently focused on whatever CH is telling her, so kudos for her spongelike learning demeanor–every instructor’s dream!

#657

[QUOTE=suzy;7108856]
Yes, Happy to discuss. As I put in my post above, there is only so much you can accomplish with a student in one lesson and a lot will depend on the student’s natural ability, learning style, the horse, the alignment of the stars, etc. You teach, so I think we may be able to agree on this one point if no other. To me, a still photo is too brief a moment in time to be 100% sure of anything unless I was right there at the moment it was snapped. The rider’s leg may have been longer a moment earlier. Perhaps she was asking for a more active walk and drew her leg up. I just can’t tell from that one photo what was going on.

Since this rider did not voluntarily post her photo and ask for a critique, I really don’t want to comment further except to say that her horse is cute, and she appears to be intently focused on whatever CH is telling her, so kudos for her spongelike learning demeanor–every instructor’s dream![/QUOTE]

You have outlined the “reasonable critique restrictions” you would like everyone else to apply to CHS.

You have failed to outline whether you think these same “reasonable critique restrictions” should also be applied by CHS to her critique of every local trainer in the country.

Every local trainer in the country did not voluntarily ask for CHS’s blog critique, and yet there it came.

#658

Drive-by comment: There is a solution to this - Riders 2nd level and above get a private session. Lower level or rabid snail riders get a small group lesson on improving basics. The group takes up less of CHS’s time, riders can maybe learn something, say that they clinic’d with BNT, and their instructors can see what CHS does with them.

#659

[QUOTE=belgianWBLuver;7108854]
appellation Cahors delicious and will knock your socks off so drink sparingly![/QUOTE]

I gratefully appreciate the fist half of your post, and say a big fat pppfffffffttttt! to the second.

#660

[

I understand why no one wants to put up their CVs here. Even Lendon Gray, of all people, has been on this board and been skewered.

I didn’t see where pony418 implied that “most ammies stink.” On the contrary, there are some ammies who beat the pants off of the pros. I love the word coined by a poster earlier to describe them—“prammies.” There are all different levels of ammies from rank beginners to intermediate ammies to prammies to advanced ammies who, when they are older, will be pros.

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