That’s fair! But when it’s what you know and you’re as successful as she is, it’s not really something you just walk away from, even if you don’t like the direction the sport is heading. And I doubt she’s teaching many fearful, talentless amateurs - this clinic certainly wasn’t that. The GM comments are inexcusable and indefensible, IMO.
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I agree, I doubt with her experience she gets any.
As one of those I screen my clinicians carefully and ask questions. I’ve still ended up in a clinic where the clinician was on video standing with their back turned during each of my rounds and had zero advice or instruction. I would have saved money and time if they had been honest about the type of rider they wanted to teach.
I also had a clinician who wouldn’t allow the riders to drink water during their lesson when it was very hot. Said the riders needed to get tougher. I’m talking get a sip from the sideline while someone else was riding and ready to go again, but the clinician had to comment and nobody else drank water all day. Meanwhile NFL football players in games and practice have easy quick access to water to prevent heat stroke.
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That’s one of the things that’s driving me the most crazy about this whole situation! If someone doesn’t like her communication style or the way she teaches … don’t ride with her? Easy. But like I said upthread, every single horse and rider pair improved over the course of their 90 mins, so her communication style clearly works for some people.
The other thing that kills* me is that the riders in this clinic are likely the last people who give a monkey’s butt about the way she spoke to them. That clinic probably didn’t even crack the top 20 toughest lessons they’ve ever had. Yet these ‘kids’ (again, not kids) are caught in the middle of this uproar. It’s all so silly.
Sorry about your clinic experiences. It’s so disappointing to do your homework and still have a bad experience. I personally don’t think clinics are as useful these days as when I was a junior. More often than not they just feel like a really expensive lesson.
*hyperbole
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Yes, but he then clarified it was MISSY who had to leave, not him. He was there all day, as were all the kids. One of the prerequisites of this clinic is that they have NO other obligations during those days.
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The birdbrain comments still remained, as did the 'smack and back", as of a few days ago. The animal rights comment that I think immediately following smack and back might have been edited out. The only comments that were removed as far as I could tell when I watched it were flipping the horse backwards and running them into the fence, maybe one other? They definitely did not edit out everything that the internet people found offensive.
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This unaccountably cracks me up.
I kind of love the idea of diminishing an online mob as “the internet people.”
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If what was said wasn’t that bad, there would be no need to edit it out.
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I watched two full sessions, and while I found the flatwork not very correct or inspiring, nothing in the gymnastics phases was upsetting. She had a lot of very kind and thoughtful comments and pointers.
Should people learn to police their language in our current age of everything being available on the internet? For sure. That is just good PR. But based on these videos I would be super happy to have a similar jumping lesson with her.
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No, I don’t think this true. SLO and Joe Q. Public’s outrage response are why the comments are edited out.
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I’m trying to think of an example not related to horses that would be similar. If you were looking for a dog trainer for your puppy and you visited a very well know puppy trainer and watched them train before deciding whether to use them. Trainer is doing all the right stuff, puppy looks cute and happy, then another puppy goes rogue as puppies sometimes do, and trainer turns around and says to that handler “If that were me I would have thrown the puppy on his back and kicked him. He would not be allowed to get away with that behaviour with me.”… then carried on training their own pup.
What would you think of the trainer? Would you still want to employ the services of that trainer?
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I love the Central Park test. It’s similar to what I tell people about social media - “is it something you would say or do in the middle of the street?”
I’m glad it discusses the missing context and finishes out some of the sentences.
I just wish the “Lowell acknowledged that the compilation clip doesn’t pass that theoretical test” was further clarified. That indirectly excuses the compilation video. If we are going to have to worry about frames and clips and edited video passing the Central Park test, we’re all in trouble.
What’s important is what doesn’t pass the Central Park test in the original context. I do agree that’s the “good licking” part.
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These aren’t puppies.
A better example would be a large mastiff dragging a small woman around. Trainer says “I’d check the crap out of him if he tried dragging me”.
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Ha! After I posted I thought to myself…someone is going to say these aren’t puppies. Ok Cane Corsos… is that better? Would you still want your dog trainer to flip the dog over and kick it? I’ll go even further and say kick it for an issue caused by the handler.
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Have you ever jumped a horse in a smaller arena or indoor, and the horse got a bit quick down the line, and rather than careen through the corner, you aimed the horse at the wall to back it off?
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Again, what she said was hyperbole. Same as if she said “I’d floss his teeth with that bit” or something along those lines.
Note that this rider had allowed the horse to blow the turn several times at this point. The clinician was using escalating language that the rider needed to GET STRONG and TELL the horse that they were going to stop.
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I don’t know who this question is aimed at or if it’s just in general. Personally, I have. I have no issues with it.
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Because those are not her students.
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My only issue really is the whole flipping and lickin’ thing. I don’t agree with using that kind of metaphor, language or whatever you want to call it. It’s not useful in any capacity and certainly doesn’t give the rider any kind of clear tools to use. Just in my opinion though… I am a trainer in real life in my job. If I used metaphors like that to explain what to do with a drunken, high, and abusive customer there’d be a few issues with my boss.
That kind of language is also not useful to the industry as a whole when we are accessible to the general public who don’t know that it’s a metaphor or hyperbole or whatever. It puts the industry in a bigger spotlight for animal abuse when we are already flagged in the public’s eyes for that.
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I don’t think anyone is disagreeing with this?
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