Mary Wanless clinic - auditing

[pony_baloney]

She’s not teaching the horse, just the rider. But I think she finds Arabs are easily distracted. That could mean any horse, really. Or maybe their conformation isn’t suited to moving correctly, which would make it more difficult for the rider to influence it.

I dunno, I’m just guessing.

I suggest you watch some of her YouTube videos and see if it’s something that resonates with you. If you want someone to tell you “Use inside leg/outside rein, more leg” etc, it’s not that kind of clinic. If you want to fix yourself so your horse can move correctly without you hindering it, this may be of help to you.

Like SuzieQNutter said in another post, once you “get it”, it’s easy. Not physically easy by any means, but you’ll be doing a lot to yourself and the horse will go “Oh, OK, I can do this now”. No more nagging and fiddling from you.

[Djones]

If she’s teaching the rider, then the breed is irrelevant. It’s crappy behavior to take someone’s money and overtly, cruelly insult their horse.

[iris2006]

I wouldn’t worry about her insulting any horses. We did not have a lot of fancy horses in the clinic I was in, and I did not hear her say anything negative about any of them. I showed her a video of my horse that I wasn’t able to bring, just a little paint, nice mover, and she said she really liked him.

[iris2006]

Yes, it is true, once you “get it”, as in learn the method of using your core, and being aware of all the things you can do to make your body strong that she teaches, you will be so much more secure in the saddle. When I watch upper level riders, I see that they are all riding like that. Using this method, riders who are not naturally talented can learn to be MUCH better riders.

It is also about balancing your body and lightening up the load on your horse by taking responsibility for your own body and the horses become so much happier. I’m a much quieter and deliberate rider now. I only wish I had learned this much earlier!

[Wicky]

I know that Mary tries many different ways to communicate with people who have different learning styles. However, I am not sure she would tell you what she wants your horse to look like. She is more into trying to tell you, with different images, how to use your body to get the horse to do what you want. If one image doesn’t work, she will try to find one that does.

[fairawayfarm]

Just reading this as I’m looking to see if I’d benefit from going to a local MW clinic – based on this, I’ll say No. Why? Because any horse, any breed, can be ridden well, assuming they are healthy and sound. It’s tiresome and too easy to dismiss an entire breed. Seems she dislikes Arabs. Others dislike tbs. Why is that? Well, they don’t fit the trainer’s program or skill set. So, blame the horse, that’s an easy out. But if you are teaching riding, it’s about the rider, isn’t it? And if the rider has a horse they love and want to keep, why not help them become the best rider they can be for THAT horse, regardless of breed? And secondly, discouraging a beginner is never good teaching. I’ve taught at university for nearly 40 years, beginners through advanced in my field. I know how to work with both, equally well. You don’t have to be mean to be effective. You can be both empathetic and effective, and in fact, the latter is HOW you are effective, esp. with beginners. Imagine if I told a beginner who was willing to pay to learn and struggling to understand, to just go home, figure it out, and come back after that. Are you kidding? I would and should be fired as I would have no business teaching anyone. It’s my job as a teacher to know how to effectively guide people through those early stages of learning when it’s difficult and frustrating, and show them a path where they succeed rather than quit. I would not give one cent to MW or anyone like her, who only wants to work with certain types of people and horses who make things easy and make her look good. I’ve seen trainers like this, they discourage anyone who will not make them look good as they fundamentally lack the skills to work with whoever shows up from the place where they currently are. In academic teaching, I have no choice about who shows up in my classes, and I have to have the skill and ability to adjust to them all, and not send anyone home in tears as they give up on their dreams. Fortunately, my ego is strong enough to choose humility. And as a result, I’m extremely good as a teacher, as evidenced in thousands of student evaluations. Teaching riding is no different from teaching anything, but for some reason, in the horse world we have too many trainers who are bullies, work off their ego, and don’t really care about the damage they cause to both the human and the horse. There are also some who are the real thing, and I’m grateful to them. And for the record, I’ve never made a single beginner cry in any of my classes. Why would that be acceptable on any level? It isn’t.

[eightpondfarm]

And me, i crave a hardass teacher.
i view compliments as superficial and not helpful. I want corrections. Pure, exacting, explicit criticism.
My coach, and i will need to see some of her other lessons to verify i guess, but she is very complimentary. I think it’s just her way of instructing

[SAB]

My trainer was one of Sandy’s long time students. it’s amazing how few people get to experience a trainer who can ride AND who can really teach. It’s a completely different skill.

I got the chance to ride with Sandy once before she died. Completely agree with your sentiment. On a different note - we have a local trainer and R judge, who is, frankly, a waste of time to ride with. After the clinic my trainer said, “I should have known it wouldn’t be worth it when she (the clinician) said that Sandy was “mean” to her.”

One of the hardest things to learn is ‘feel’. Not even what should something feel like, but actually can you even feel the horse’s body through your body. Honestly, this is super hard for most people. For a traditional rider’s rider who is leading a clinic, they might give you the exercises to get your horse more through, or more collected, or straighter. They are hoping that you will be able to FEEL the difference in their body, understand the difference, and voila, now your are on the path to correct training and riding. The problem is - they know how to feel, and they struggle to help people who can’t feel that difference. MW will help explain how things should feel.

[Bogie]

I audited a MW clinic some years ago and found it very illuminating. I had read her books and I could see how she helped the people who rode. I thought about coming back and riding with her, but I also rode with someone who had studied with her and felt it was similar enough without spending the $$.

Auditing is a great way to see if an instructor meshes with your way of learning. I always audit before riding in a clinic because I’ve made a few expensive mistakes. What springs to mind is the clinician who asked me if I knew what Trakehner meant in German. Pig! she said with a chuckle. Needless to say she was not a fan of my horse. Could have skipped that one. I do think she helped other people, but not me.