How to find a good trainer - and other musings about quality professionals

[Ambitious_Kate]

Well I’ll talk for a bit how I found my trainer. I was training with a woman who was a hunter jumper trainer, but she was taking lessons from Bettina Drummond on her lovely draft cross and showing second level herself. I found her a lovely rider and a hard working horse person, but I needed the basics in classical dressage she wasn’t able to teach.

I had my horse at her place, and mostly it was just to far for me to be driving every day, almost an hour. I was unemployed, and wanted my horse near home, at a place I coud afford, and I wanted lessons from someone really experienced, and I found an ad for a trainer who said we could work off her lessons with barn work. That’s the life for me! Her lessons are 140. an hour, but I was able to work off the lessons in her barn. I started lessons with her, and soon moved my horse to a barn nearer to home.

The barn I moved him to, the owner was also learning dressage and come to find out her new trainer was my new trainer, so my new trainer could come give me and the new (to me) barn owner lessons at my home barn. I admired her style of teaching. She was very exact, and explained why so well I was able to practice the foundations with understanding not just parrot the movements told to me.

This trainer had a background in Theater and dance. Her real passion is the freestyles, and even coreographing modern dance with horses. But her classical foundations are golden. She currently is one of the founding memebers of Baroque Equestrian Games, and has a passion for lusitano horses. She hosts clinics by tina veder, and other clinicians throughout the year, plus a wonderful trainer from portugal, who asists her trainingher horses in the higher levels like piaffe and passage.

She is never too proud to bring him in when introducing a new horse to a new movement, and encourages the owner to ride with this, HER trainer, to learn from the best, which she reinforces and continues in lessons with the owner/student later on.

My horse is an oldenburg, who I got free, after resting several years at pasture from an injury. I soon needed to move out of state, and my trainer’s daughter was dying to have a horse to train dressage as well as three day event, to add to her own list of trainer skills. Today, my trainer’s daughter has my horse on a free lease, where she has successfully shown him at second level and training level eventing. He gets the benefit of a first rate rider, she is using him to get her bronze medal, while at the same time using her own lusitano to get her gold medal.

Here are some pics of her and my horse at their first time second level class, last spring. I think he scored a 68 and came in either first or second. When she got him, I had had only a bit of work on him myself, and she brought him through training and first level, until he was strong enough for second. He’s a fabulous performance horse, and works hard at everything he’s ask to do. He’s a horse who can’t take a joke, though Ask right, or beware! I am so luck to have found these two inspiring women for my horse. I’ve been able to travel this past three years for work and see how wonderful his training has been. And yes, that’s his real tail!

https://moments-in-time.smugmug.com/…ey/24-Edwards/

[Ambitious_Kate]

Good idea - I started a new thread on quality trainers

[NSC_Los_Angeles]

I found a wonderful trainer by watching her ride in a clinic and asking auditors who she was. I wrote her name down and internet stalked her, been happy ever since. Normally I’d have scrutinized her scores but she was so spellbinding in the clinic I’d seen all I needed to know. Then I looked up her scores months later and saw the very happy progression of scores on the same horses from training level to GP, with scores in the 70s at the upper levels, which was no surprise by that point.

One thing I’ve noticed is that a few bad experiences with shady trainers helped me “find my voice.” Now the bad ones avoid me like the plague, I think they have radar.

[Ambitious_Kate]

That’s a really interesting way to find a trainer - watch how they themselves learn. And, you get to see them ride and how they work their horse under another trainer.

[Angela_Freda]

@Ambitious Kate

That’s a really interesting way to find a trainer - watch how they themselves learn. And, you get to see them ride and how they work their horse under another trainer.

And see that they are open to discussions, and open to their students attending clinics.

Some of the early instructors I worked with when I first got Yo frowned on their students attending clinics… which was a sign.
IF an instructor is confident that they are ‘good’ and are doing well by you, there is no reason for them to feel threatened by you taking a spot in a clinic.

[Nestor]

I literally stumbled onto my trainer. I previously vented, and moved my eventing QH into her barn based on the recommendation of friends who were there, and planned to continue training with my eventing trainer. When my QH retired, my BM (and now trainer) offered to let me ride a horse she had that needed a person, if I took lessons with her. I had watched her, so I agreed, and the rest is history.

So I’ll offer both how I would look for a trainer now, and the things I value about my trainer.

If I were looking for a new trainer, I would be asking for recommendations from others in the area, either on here or through real-life connections. Those recommendations would get widdled down by contacting trainers, visiting their farms, watching them teach and ride, and trying a lesson with them. I’d see if our styles mesh, if they provide quality advice in a way that I can understand, and if they seem to have the ability to improve my riding.

What I value about my current trainer starts with her own riding ability and feel. I have watched her get on many different types of horses, some with major behavioral issues, and not only work through the issues, but make impressive dressage horses out of creatures you would never expect. The fact that I know she can always help me through an issue by riding the horse herself is very much valued, because there are a lot of armchair coaches out there that do not ride. But it isn’t often that I’ve had to have her work through anything, first of all because she put a great foundation on my horse (she trained him for many years before she offered him to me), but also because when issues do arise, she is able to communicate very clearly how to ride through these issues. In explaining new ideas, I’ve heard her explain the same thing 5 different ways, as each student might click with one way but not another. Our styles mesh in that she is TOUGH, and pushes me not to be lazy in my riding, while we are both still able to laugh about it as she is yelling at me. I wouldn’t do well with a trainer who is less authoritative or demanding, because I’d be thinking “Oh, it’s good enough” and the trainer would be moving on to something else.

[netg]

I’ve been lucky in finding trainers stupid ways which could end up with really lousy ones, but I’ve only had good ones.

As a kid, my mom saw an ad in the school newsletter for a riding stable and sent me there when I was 6. They had a large string of horses at different levels of training and quite a few instructors. I think there were typically lessons going on in 3-4 rings at once there, up to at times even 6. Big place. My first instructor put us on the longe to start. In western saddles, but good riding basics. She left when she was pregnant with her second child and I ended up taking western, hunter jumper and dressage lessons while at the school. At some point after we bought a couple horses we moved, and my first instructor was there. I started lessons with her again through middle school. I then switched to a showing focused trainer I knew from 4-H when I bought a registered horse to show.

I went to a school with IHSA, and my instructors were the coach and several other instructors who taught at our riding school. All were good.

I didn’t ride for a long time after college to save money so I could afford to ride the way I wanted. I wanted to ride dressage, and just kind of lucked out finding my first trainer. There was a barn about a mile and 3/4 from my house which looked nice, and there happened to be an eventing trainer there who had a few horses I could ride. I adore her. However, as I started looking at wanting to move up the dressage levels, and she was focused on eventing, I knew I would need an upper level dressage trainer at some point. I knew none of the dressage trainers I knew of were not a fit for me instinctively, thought it was only later I learned their teaching methods are ones which just don’t work for me. Not bad trainers, just not a match for me. My guy had some explosiveness issues - ulcers I took care of, but he also had been magnesium deficient and once he wasn’t he discovered how well he could buck to release his tension… and rider. He bucked me off dramatically in a clinic. The clinician recommended I send him to my now trainer who was capable of riding through that sort of thing and helping reach the horse to help its mental issues. I was only sending my horse for two months, but my first lesson with him I knew I would be switching trainers. He just clicked with me for some of the problems I was having, plus his ability both to ride through that explosiveness and teach me to ride through it safely and kindly to get through to my horse that there were happier ways to react to energy and excitement.

ETA:
Oh- and I hadn’t known my trainer was a trainer before he was recommended to me. At the time he was working full time at a school and only training part time (which meant 3-4 horses in full training plus lessons in several places - so probably about 30 hours/week). I had seen him riding at shows and noticed how peaceful horses he was on seemed. One of my friends commented when I asked about him how even though he isn’t pretty on a horse she’d heard multiple clinicians just raving about his seat and that he and his wife were breeding horses for themselves. That good impression meant I was willing to go work with him, and was a well earned good impression.

[pluvinel]

I found my trainer thru fortuitous chance. I audited a clinic at her farm (another clinician), then as is sometimes the custom, I signed up to be on a “mailing list” (snail mail…pre internet) and was later invited to an exhibition at her farm. When I saw her ride, I signed up.

She did a short-line exhibition that would rival anything at the Spanish Riding School, including tempi changes. I was floored about the peace and calm of her horses, then energy…a piaffe…then boom! into a gallop…then a calm walk, trot, then boom! extended trot that floated, and then peace again back to a walk.

No bulging eyeballs in the horses or veins popping out in their necks. All the horses were calm, but full of energy when asked. I decided to ask to take lessons with her…and have been taking lesson for the last 20+ years.

[Sunsets]

Let me preface this by stating I’ve never had a truly bad trainer. I’ve learned something from everyone I’ve worked with.

I was lucky enough to stumble into VERY good training at my current barn. I started taking lessons at this little laid-back place from the BO, who was just getting serious about competing in dressage shows. When she bought a GP schoolmaster and a super talented youngster that both needed lots of riding, she offered me a lease on her Han/TB mare. Watching her learn and progress with her fancy boys made me get more serious about my own riding.

So I started taking lessons from her instructor, who has a great eye from the ground and a wonderful, kind, no-nonsense approach to teaching. She basically restarted me (years of hunt seat perching to get over) and got me through some serious confidence issues. Then I started attending clinics with people that she herself worked with (Tom Noone, Volker Brommann).

Unfortunately, financial issues forced me to take a step back from clinics and private lessons, but I’m still riding that mare and her owner helps when when she can. What I love about this setup is that we’re all in the same “chain” of instruction. So concepts are the same, the “higher level” instructors push me harder.

[MissAriel]

I love my current trainer. She was just what I needed to overcome some confidence issues, push me (gently) in the right direction and most importantly she taught me how to have fun again. She makes no secrets of the fact that she has not made it to GP herself yet, but she works with her own trainer on her own progress. She makes each of her students believe that we can reach lofty goals like medals, FEI, etc if we put in the work. She encourages learning through videos, books, clinics and shows. Should I reach the point that my horse and I have “outgrown” her teaching, I have no doubt she will help me find a suitable new trainer and wish me luck.

[merrygoround]

Watch them teach… See if what and how they teach works for their students, and decide whether what they say and teach makes sense and will work for you. Look for a teacher who is willing to explain things many ways, and is patient with both horse and rider.

Remember too that some UL riders simply cannot teach, that goes for all disciplines.

[poltroon]

@Ambitious Kate

That’s a really interesting way to find a trainer - watch how they themselves learn. And, you get to see them ride and how they work their horse under another trainer.

One of my hard-learned lessons about choosing a professional is that I really don’t want to ride with someone who isn’t doing some kind of continuing education for themselves.

Even for people at the international level of teaching and riding, there is always more to learn. People who stop thinking so are not a good fit for me.

[trubandloki]

@MissAriel

I love my current trainer. She was just what I needed to overcome some confidence issues, push me (gently) in the right direction and most importantly she taught me how to have fun again.

This sounds like my (amazing) trainer.

[EEWinterFresh]

I found my current trainer on facebook - super trusty, I know :lol:. I’m fairly confident in my ability to pick out a good trainer, so I figured I would try a lesson with her and go from there. As luck would have it, she is AMAZING and I could not be happier. She builds my confidence while also pushing me. Her teachings are rooted in correct and classical dressage, and she fuels my desire to learn as much as I can.

[Jumping31]

Let me give a preface. Got sucked into a team with a great trainer. Said trainer began to be very emotionally abusive to our team and even judging us by our parents and forcing us to judge each other. Quickly left her and soon enough the entire team left her.

Jump to 6 months later. I was so nervous to find a trainer especially after struggling so much with my past trainer. I had already ridden at large commercial barns and was looking for a more quiet private barn and private lessons. So I found a small local barn and was set up with their hunter jumper trainer. Jump a few months from that. Now I take private lessons with her at her own boarding barn. I ride her own two retrained OTTB’s who are two of the best and highly trained horses I have ever had the privilege to ride. She is beyond generous to me and trusts me to the point that I am comfortable to be vulnerable with my own goals and worries to her. She’s helped me move past from an abusive environment to a relationship built on pushing my confidence and goals past what I imagined. I’m so thankful and blessed to be taught by such an amazing and hardworking trainer.

[J-Lu]

I must be so analytical!

I’ve moved alot, and carted horses with me. I’ve found my trainers first through word of mouth. Then, I’ve watched them teach and heard what they say about riding/training. I’ve watched most of them ride a horse and most of them show. Luckily, I lived in 3 different states and worked coincidentally with tightly “related” people who trained with the same people.

They have to have a solid foundation in dressage and be flexible enough to address specific problems with specific horses/riders and be effective. They also have to be quiet but effective riders who know how to apply aids and then get out. The trainers I have/had could teach a good training level lesson and a good FEI-level lesson.

Life is too short to train with people who have techniques and philosophies that I think diverge from classical/competitive training and can’t be applied to any horse/rider.

[Foxtail]

I found my last trainer by cold calling her. She had a little website and on it she mentioned that she frequently clinic-ed with a BNT that I greatly admire, so I figured that she and I must have had similar riding philosophies, which is something very important to me anymore. What really made her a wonderful instructor was that she originally went to college for education, and then became a school counsellor until she could teach lessons full time. So she knows how to reach very different types of learners and knows how to push a student and when not to. It’s such a shame I moved away from her!

[mishmash]

Some observations over the years:
Watch her teach Is she really paying attention to the rider? Or is she texting, chatting with others. is she distracted by someone else in the ring? Is she out in the ring with you, or is she sitting on the side checking FB?
Is she honest with the rider? If a movement is not good, does she say so? Does she have exercises to improve things that seem to be difficult? Will she stop a rider and make them go back and re-establish basics, if needed?
How does she talk about her students? Is she kind? Does she shut down gossip? Because if she is talking about her other students behind their backs, she is talking about you behind yours.
Does she care about your goals? Does she bother to find out what they are?
If you want to compete, scores do matter, Has she been there, done that?
Does she push her students outside their comfort zone, in a safe way? You have to go there if you want to improve.
Learned the hard way, over the years…

[smoofox]

@poltroon

One of my hard-learned lessons about choosing a professional is that I really don’t want to ride with someone who isn’t doing some kind of continuing education for themselves.

Even for people at the international level of teaching and riding, there is always more to learn. People who stop thinking so are not a good fit for me.

Exactly! I wish I could find a film clip/video of Dr. Reiner Klimke that I saw many years ago… he was being interviewed and said much the same thing. The interviewer said something like this - in a kidding way - "…but you are not telling us that YOU actually take lessons - come on, now… "

RK was surprised by such an apparently odd question - and said that OF COURSE he took lessons - how else would he improve and develop without an extra set of eyes and thoughts/ideas/input??!!

There is always more to learn, no matter who you are and what level you ride at…

[anon55755751]

This is a subject that’s been on my mind a lot lately, as (1) I’m between trainers, (2) have a hard time moving on even when it’s clear a particular trainer isn’t a good fit, and (3) now that real life is settling down, I will be wanting to establish long-term connections.

I’ve had a mixture of good and bad in the past, and honestly I’ve also spent a lot of time just working by myself in not entirely productive ways. My first dressage coach was an NP type, unfortunately, (though not NEARLY as extreme) who I rode with from ages 11-18. As that was my introduction to dressage, I do still have some baggage from the experience, even ~20 years later.

The advice of getting recommendations, looking at scores, etc. is all good, and in particular looking for people who are interested in their own continuing education is essential, but in addition to that, I will be personally looking for someone with
(1) a problem-solving mentality and
(2) some willingness to be goal-oriented. As in, if I say, “I’m at 2nd level now, what will it take to move up to 3rd in a year?” I want a coach to do more than pat me on the head and say “it’s nice to have goals, but we should enjoy the journey.” I DO enjoy the journey – I especially enjoy starting young horses and hope to do it with some regularity for the rest of my riding life, but I’d like to push beyond my comfort level and advance my own skill set when I can too, so I want an instructor who will say “If you’re serious about that, it’s going to take XYZ, and it might take 2 years” or just be explicit if it’s not possible at this time/with this horse/without pro training rides/etc. (I may not agree, but I’d at least like the chance to discuss it.)

Re: problem solving, if I say “I’m trying to do what you’re telling me, but it’s not working now/hasn’t worked in the past because ___________,” or “my tendency is to tip forward and ride with my hands, so can you please focus on [my legs/balance/stability] instead of _____,” I want them to say, “Ok, [strength/suppleness/your position/whatever] may be an issue, have you tried _________?” or “Ok, usually in that case the problem is [not enough leg/bend/whatever], let’s try adding ________ and see if it helps.” And when appropriate, advice akin to “your saddle/horse doesn’t fit you/isn’t appropriate for you and is not doing you any favors, are you open to trying something else?” is totally welcome, and in fact desirable from people who are at least nominally more experienced/educated/advanced than I am…

I had the good fortune to live in Germany for a few years, and I rode with a number of different people on everything from greenies to schoolmasters, and I believe the biggest difference between my instruction there and here was this open, direct, problem-solving mentality/culture. That’s across the board, not just from instructors, and not just in horse-world, and BOY did my social anxiety just EVAPORATE in that environment.

I could say “I’m not good at X, can you help me” and they would say “Of course you aren’t good at X, because you’re doing Y wrong. Do Y this way from now on.” and I would do the work to make that happen and experience some meaningful lasting change. I tend to default to the assumption that I am just not a good enough student/not working hard enough to improve as a rider (this is an e.g. of the baggage), but I truly do not believe I was a different student there…so that experience was a little bit of a relief and a revelation.