If you were interested in Leslie give her a call or send an email. I would try several trainers to see what teaching style works best for you. It is what works best for you and your horse, not what others like.
[QUOTE=Finally Time;8375008]
If you were interested in Leslie give her a call or send an email. I would try several trainers to see what teaching style works best for you. It is what works best for you and your horse, not what others like.[/QUOTE]
You’re right - ultimately trainer choice depends upon what one is looking for in a trainer, and what will work the best for each of us since we have different goals and personalities.
For example, it’s important to me that my trainer follows classical methods, has horses and students who steadily and consistently move up the levels, to the upper levels, and that they do well in the competition arena without compromising horses’ mental and physical well-beings.
In addition, my trainer must be honest and have integrity - I have to know I can trust them. Otherwise, all the rest doesn’t matter.
That might not be a requirement for everyone, but since the original poster asked for recommendations and was given a name who I knew did not do well in the integrity department, I felt a responsibility to say something. I wish someone had said someone to me before I got involved with Leslie Bean. And I vastly regret that one of my guys from the Spanish Riding School is also a victim.
I’ve been quiet for almost a year; I gave her every chance to work things out and resolve things amicably, yet even now she is ignoring the court judgement. So I’m not quiet about her any more. She has hurt a lot of people - not just financially. Integrity and character follow pretty consistent patterns.
My post about Leslie Bean - her owing a Spanish Riding School Bereiter money and refusing to pay him, her ignoring a court order to pay me, despite losing in Small Claims Court, and her being arrested for Assault with a Deadly Weapon causing Serious Injury, and then pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of Assault Causing Serious Injury - those are facts that cannot be denied. They have nothing to do with opinion and or a teaching style that might or might not be desired. Why in the world should those actions which she has chosen to do be hidden from people?
It’s taking a while for word to get around, but it finally is. Seriously - she can talk about being a victim all she wants, but when one’s best friends who used to defend you, and almost everyone of your former students has left, at some point you have to consider that the problem isn’t everyone else… there is reason. And I know she can be nice and charming and helpful - she led me on for the longest time… I couldn’t believe she could be lying, week after week - but I also saw her in the courtroom looking like she would kill me if she could, and heard her lie under oath.
People should have pertinent facts and information available to them; you’re right, Finally Time - after that, the choice is up to them.
I know I have tried several trainers before I found something that works for me at this time. Who knows how long it will continue to work? Have had some that worked for a bit then it became “old”. OP just asked for trainers in the area and I mentioned one I use. I don’t care if I am in the “popular” group. I just want to make progress on my horse and I AM! Just saying that OP should try several and see what is best for her at this time in her training. I could care less who she picks as long as it is a good fit for her and her horse.
[QUOTE=Finally Time;8376379]
I know I have tried several trainers before I found something that works for me at this time. Who knows how long it will continue to work? Have had some that worked for a bit then it became “old”. OP just asked for trainers in the area and I mentioned one I use. I don’t care if I am in the “popular” group. I just want to make progress on my horse and I AM! Just saying that OP should try several and see what is best for her at this time in her training. I could care less who she picks as long as it is a good fit for her and her horse.[/QUOTE]
Finally Time, I understand and agree, and it’s great that you’re feeling you and your horse are progressing. I wasn’t taking issue with what you were saying and the spirit behind it; I just wanted the OP to be aware of facts regarding the person you recommended (Leslie Bean) that until recently were not widely known.
My apologies if I came off as attacking you - that was not my intent at all. Enjoy the journey with your horse. 
Speedy Alice … thank you for posting what you did. People need to get more comfortable with watching out for others … which is very different than mean spirited gossip.
I am in the area and am NOT originally from here … I did coach the UNC Team for a few years and I am familiar with a lot of the local barns … back around when I first came here …
There are ‘issues’ here that I’m NOT comfortable with … that doesn’t mean there aren’t good people around here, but because of the history of the area there seems to be quite a bit of craziness that goes on.
Lots of people will tell you someone is GREAT and then you find out they don’t pay their bills or feed your horse when they are supposed to or …
ETA: technically I was heavily focused on dressage when I moved here, but found the overall available instruction to not be very classical in general.
I had good luck with Leslie Bean but unfortunately she isn’t available in this area anymore. There are some people who will bad mouth her but as far as her scores always being low that isn’t true. She has also studied with some very strong trainers so implying she isn’t a good trainer or rider is really kind of insulting them too.
One thing to avoid in the Raleigh-Durham area is to not get caught up in other people’s disputes–make your own decisions about people because otherwise you are just serving someone else’s agenda and you might be the one losing out.
I’d head over to a NCDCTA show and watch many of the trainers at work. You may find someone who hasn’t been listed that has an approach you like. Enjoy the area, I lived in NC for 10 yrs and loved it!
Copperhorse, set aside scores for a moment. RE: Leslie Bean, her scores are the least of my concerns. And also your comment about how it’s insulting to the good trainers she’s studied with - there are plenty of people who’ve ridden with good trainers who are bad riders and trainers, and it has nothing to do with the skill of those good trainers they might have taken lessons from.
The facts are that Leslie Bean didn’t pay money she owed for a clinic (she lied about the reasons why to anyone who would listen, but the bottom line is the judge ruled against her in court); she still owes money to the SRS Bereiter who did a clinic for her (she also lies to people about that, saying that she has paid him, but I have proof that she didn’t, in the form of her texts to him as recently as this summer that she would pay him - she hasn’t, and he won’t have anything to do with her); she owes money to other people (at least one of whom is going to file papers against her in Small Claims Court); she was arrested in July for running her husband over while drunk (at least her third arrest having to do with drunk driving) - this is public information readily available.
Honest, reliable trainers tend not to have a lot of drama around them. As part of a decision-making process, it’s worth noting when someone’s former best friends no longer support them; when most of someone’s clients leave after any length of time with her; when someone has been asked to leave several barns; when someone leaves their husband and 7 year old daughter to go across the country to be with another man - while still married - and then leaves that man after something like 6 weeks with him…
Those are all part of the total character and makeup of a person; to suggest that only certain things be taken into consideration is disingenuous.
The above is not gossip; these are facts that are widely known, and that Leslie Bean posted about widely on FB (not the stuff about the arrests, of course, but that is public knowledge available via Google).
Others had had bad experiences before I had mine, but didn’t say anything about them publicly. I wish I’d been able to find this info out before I agreed to have one of the SRS guys do a clinic with her; it was an eye-opening experience as to how someone could come across as nice, helpful, sincere, etc. and end up being so deceitful and dishonest. I waited a long time before saying anything, thinking I was taking the high road, but that’s wrong -it’s important to be honest and state the facts so that people know before they make a decision what kind of track record someone has.
[QUOTE=Copperhorse;8472413]
I had good luck with Leslie Bean but unfortunately she isn’t available in this area anymore. There are some people who will bad mouth her but as far as her scores always being low that isn’t true. She has also studied with some very strong trainers so implying she isn’t a good trainer or rider is really kind of insulting them too.
One thing to avoid in the Raleigh-Durham area is to not get caught up in other people’s disputes–make your own decisions about people because otherwise you are just serving someone else’s agenda and you might be the one losing out.[/QUOTE]
"when someone leaves their husband and 7 year old daughter to go across the country to be with another man - while still married - and then leaves that man after something like 6 weeks with him… "
Have you been stalking her? If you are not a fan - that’s fine, but to bring up personal stuff that is none of our business is very harsh and slanderous. :no:
Finally Time, really - don’t take something that is widely known (because she posted about it so much on FB) and make it sound like now it’s suddenly personal business that people don’t know about. It’s not stalking to read things posted on social media, especially when the subject of the posts is the one posting them.
And yes, it actually did affect me, because the sheriff who was responsible for and trying to collect payment that the court ordered her to pay me was doing this at a time when she was going back and forth between NC and CA, before she moved out to Santa Cruz.
I understand that Leslie Bean might prefer to have a lot of this information kept hush-hush, but these are facts; suggesting that people who are looking for trainers aren’t allowed to know all the facts isn’t fair and it isn’t honest.
BTW, you’re confusing “libel” with “slander”. Slander is oral, libel is written. But in either case, what I’ve written isn’t false. Just because the facts are ugly doesn’t make them untrue.
[QUOTE=Finally Time;8505227]
"when someone leaves their husband and 7 year old daughter to go across the country to be with another man - while still married - and then leaves that man after something like 6 weeks with him… "
Have you been stalking her? If you are not a fan - that’s fine, but to bring up personal stuff that is none of our business is very harsh and slanderous. :no:[/QUOTE]
