One line in the blog made me stop and not take offense, despite the fact I think it was poorly written:
my talent lies in developing Grand Prix horses
I read that as an admission that her talent does NOT lie in fixing seat problems, and there are others whose talent does, and instructors working with the students who need that should also be learning how to teach it.
I will admit to looking around at what I see locally and know of multiple local trainers and being horrified. I do live in a small pond type of area. We certainly need to train the trainers, but to some extent I think that may not happen until the students realize the trainers aren’t as great as they want to be thought. My trainer is a spectacularly good trainer who adjusts his training style by individual and has regular clinics he sets up and encourages students to attend - where he listens to how they are taught and learns better how to teach from what he sees, as well as gets new ideas of ways to work through the problems his various students are having. He’s not the norm around here, and we have plenty of upper level riders around who can’t sit the canter.
I loved what de Kunffy said about training at different levels when he was here - that by the time a rider is an upper level rider, they should need the most beginner of helpers - just someone to tell them if they see any crookedness, unevenness, perhaps a backward stepping hoof in a pirouette. By then, the rider should be able to fix the problem just from having that pointed out. However, beginner riders need so much more information from someone who is experienced enough to both see the problem and see the cause of it, and focus on the most significant problems.
The most BNT I rode with was Jeremy Steinberg, and he’s fantastic with varying levels. He’s very much a teacher at heart, thus his getting the role as youth/young rider coach - it fits his skills. I specifically chose to take my horse who is relaxed at home and tense (explosively) away from home after watching him work with tension in multiple horses at the USDF Convention a couple years ago. The first day when we rode up to him and my horse was dancing around I told him that we had major tension issues away from home, and I needed help with strategies of how to fix them. I think my two 45 minute sessions added up to about 3 hours of riding with him, possibly more, and the entire time in between telling me specific things to do he was lecturing on tension, the little giveaways when my horse was releasing it, the different techniques I could use to help, etc. It may have been an expensive ride, but it was worth every penny - but my ride was right in his wheelhouse of skills.
I think asking your students to pay for a clinic which doesn’t help them if a trainer knows that in advance is reprehensible, and I suspect was the root of the ire behind this blog.
Damn! I know people who are afraid to clinic with certain riders because they feel like they’re too___ or not _____ enough (like too fat, or not shiny enough, or not advanced enough), and we like to encourage them to go anyway because of the experience. Well, sorry; didn’t know they were insulting the clinician.
But I’m not going to slam him or any other BNT for that. It’s life.