For the love of your coach/instructor

[Pehsness]

So I’m just a fat middle aged re-rider trying to live out child-hood dreams now that I have an extra nickel and autonomy.

I’ve been muddling along for so many years as an adult, landing on an instructor that for one reason or another wasn’t “it”. Like, they knew their stuff but couldn’t communicate it. Or they knew how to look pretty, but it ended there. Or they didn’t feed their horses.

Some frigging how I landed on my current and how she didn’t make it to the upper echelon is beyond me.

I’m re-learning how to canter on a horse that isn’t my old gelding. So much bigger, more forward, just different. And it’s scary, but she’s making it happen. And yesterday she described how to use my inside seat bone to the outside hand at the canter and a fluorescent light flashed in my peri-menopausal brain.

I am understanding contact, biomechanics, seat aids, half halts - all the things. All the things that in 35 years of riding no one has ever explained in a coherent manner.

I’m typing this here just to put it out there - so many amazing riders and coaches hidden in our backyards. I’m so glad to have found her.

[luvmyhackney]

I love this for you! Good coaches/instructors are priceless!

[Pehsness]

So priceless. But as kids we just glom on to the first person we find and it ends there. Sheer luck if you manage to start with a good one (assuming non horsey parents).

[LCDR]

IMO it is not unusual for things to not begin to click until you have accumulated sufficient saddle hours and knowledge. It took me the first 30 years of riding to get there, and then I had an amazing ten more years, when almost every week produced another equine epiphany.

[Bristol_Bay]

@Pehsness

And yesterday she described how to use my inside seat bone to the outside hand at the canter and a fluorescent light flashed in my peri-menopausal brain.

Yes!!!

And then the instructor who taught me this said to get a transition to trot, just straighten the hips and voila.

[Willesdon]

Oh yes, a childhood and youth on ponies and any old method of hanging on. When I finally started regular lessons again, as an adult, it was like an entirely new sport! But I had enough knowledge and basic skill to recognize good teaching when I got it - and to be grateful that I had found it.

[Pehsness]

Oh, that’s a good tip!

[SolarFlare]

My current coach is great too. I switched disciplines and asked around for a recommendation, and her name came up a few times. I think I had a lightbulb moment every lesson for the first 6 months while she fixed some long-standing habits in both me and my horse.

[trubandloki]

Congratulations on finding an instructor that is perfect for you!

[outerbanks77]

It is fantastic to have the right teacher. I was very lucky several years ago signing up for a lesson with someone I knew nothing about. I’ve been riding with her ever since. She believes in me and my non-perfect mounts, and pushes us just the right amount, we can both have a laugh when things are going badly, and we’re on the same page with what’s fair to the horse.

Now I take occasional jumping lessons from someone who has also helped me a lot in just a few rides. My friend and I were watching him give a teen a lesson and wondering where we might be now, in our 40’s, if we’d had the quality of instruction back then. But then we agreed that we probably wouldn’t have listened.