Why America Is Producing Such Mediocre Instructors

This is a subject which I believe is not only resonating within the US but also within other countries. I see it happen on my own home ground in Australia.

You can find the full story here on The Riding Instructor. 

This is a subject which I see represent itself at every competition, local, national and international. We live in a world now where the ribbon, the prize is the the epitome of many riders careers. There are many riders who prefer the easy option. The push-button ride they know will come out on top. What is worse is that these riders most likely get into the teaching profession and this ties into number 1 below. You can only teach what you know. Our riders are not diversified with different styles of horse and a vast majority could not start a young horse or take a troubled off the tracker to stardom. Therein lies the problem.

George Morris once said "If riding were only blue ribbons and bright lights, I would have quit a long time ago." Sadly, that is what people strive for. More time is spent practicing movements or jumps than spent schooling horse and in turn schooling the rider. Riders should not be single disciplined, there should be a cross over. Cross training for horses and riders should be as common as cross training for other athletes. Versatility is important. It is vital to creating a great horse. Jumping goes hand in hand with dressage. Dressage can take pages from jumping. Why is there a lack of people taking the effort to train their horses, not just buy the best their bank balance can afford. Without the knowledge of other disciplines and riding styles how can you expect the quality of instructors to continue as it once did in decades past.


The following is an excerpt from the article: 

"1.  Too many Instructors are not learning and teaching foundations and basics

Instructors can only teach what they have learned, whether it be from their instructors, clinics, books or experience. If a system of basics isn’t taught to the first generation , the second generation will be weaker and so on down the line. This is a reason that so many of our current instructors lack depth.  They may have miles and miles of show ring experience, but they lack the fundamental foundation and do not understand how one principal depends on another to form a strong base of knowledge.

Students are not usually encouraged to read the classics and when they are, the classics are out of print and unavailable. A horseman can’t go into a tack or book store and purchase books by authors such as, Harry Chamberlin, Gordon Wright, Vladimir Littauer, Piero Santini, or Margaret Cabell Self.  In the January 11, 2002 Chronicle of the Horse article “Observations I’ve Made While Teaching”  George Morris wrote “Unless teachers review the classics of riding and jumping literature on a regular basis, they will become stale and fall prey to fashions and fads.”

Instructors can only teach what they know or what they see. We have a generation of copy cat instructors who see something but have no idea about the principles behind what they see.  They teach it to students, some who become instructors themselves, and their knowledge is more shallow than their predecessors. This has created a spiraling down cycle and a dilution of the quality of instruction in the U.S.

2.  Too many riding instructors in America are in the wrong profession.

A person is not automatically a teacher because he knows how to do something himself. There are many extremely talented, even Olympic level, riders who are naturally gifted. They ride like they really know riding, but as spectacular as they and their horses are, they can’t explain why they do what they do. The most important quality of a good instructor is that he or she is able to get you, the student, to understand the principle of what he or she is teaching.

A trainer of horses does not automatically have the tools to be a good teacher, either. A trainer communicates without words.  Many who are patient with their horses have no patience for human students and they lack good communication skills. She or he may be the best trainer, able to get their horses to do amazing things, but it is no indication that they will be a good teacher.

A coach is a motivator who is also a teacher in many ways, but a coach is concerned with competition. Frequently, equestrian coaches deal more with the psychology of winning than they do the art of horsemanship.  In a the July 7, 2006 Chronicle of the Horse article “Where Did We Come from? Where are We Going?” George Morris quotes former USET  3 day Coach, Jack LeGoff. Morris says, “When talking to Jack the other day about his new book, I asked him what was wrong. He hit the nail on the head, as usual: The young trainers are teaching their students to compete. They are not, necessarily, teaching them to ride.”

The ability to teach is a gift and a talent. Instructors who lack the gift of teaching also lack the passion and ability to understand their subject and are unable to give their students a thorough riding foundation. They are usurpers masquerading as instructors.

3. Too Many Riding Instructors Teach for the Wrong Reasons

In an October 10, 1997 Chronicle of the Horse article “Values- And Boys- Are Hard To Find On Our Horse Show Scene” George Morris wrote “Money and greed are the worst problems that have crept in to what I used to think of as my sport.  I’m afraid unless our society has a big shock, that money will be the eventual ruination of this sport as we once knew it.”

It takes lots of money to run a good barn and keep up the right appearance. Money is a driving force in today’s horse industry, even more than it was in 1997. A trainer’s lifestyle depends on clients and commissions. Many instructors and trainers strive to keep their students dependent on them so they can keep clients, and they teach “over their heads” in order not to lose their client to another barn.

The goal is wrong. Horse Shows used to be a “progress test” for riders, a way to see how you compared to other riders in order to improve yourself as a horseman. More often than not, today horse shows ARE the goal for riding.  The horse professional, be it trainer, instructor or coach, makes much of his money at and because of, horse shows. This causes trainers to find the fast track, the easy way, the short cut for their students, in order to get their student on the show circuit faster.  Students don’t learn how to work through problems.  They learn how to replace problems with a better horse. They don’t develop an eye for distances.  They count strides.  They don’t develop a base of support. They lay on their horses over fences.

Judges reward bad training techniques and short cuts because they are obligated to place classes.  And competitors do what it takes to win. If a slow canter placed this week, next week the horses will be cantering even slower.  If the winner’s horse had its face on the vertical this week, next week the horses will be slightly behind the vertical.  Trainers copy to win without knowing what they copied and they teach these short cuts to their students. Instead of giving students the tools that are required to train a horse and to ride well, our riders are becoming gimmick professionals. The crutches become the way to ride and copy cat riders and trainers turn them into fads. Fads, crutches, gimmicks, and short cuts lead to cruel training practices, over use of artificial training aids, quick fixes and disposable horses.

The Results

The result of not educating our future riders in classical principals,  of turning our sport into an industry that is motivated by money, and providing quick fixes and fast tracks, is that we have diluted U.S. Horsemanship.  U.S. Horsemanship is no longer the envy of other countries.  And our equestrian venues have become increasingly dangerous to the point that we are killing horses and their riders. Teachers and instructors are the people who have the most powerful influence over the upcoming generation of horsemen and women.  Unless instructors choose to develop depth in their own education and unless instructors are willing to slow down and teach the foundation to their students, U.S. Horsemanship will continue on it’s downward spiral."

This is the first article I've come upon that reflects how I feel on the current generation of riders and instructors. 

Stay tuned for more posts, one year without blogging is a bit ridiculous! 

Jess|x 

The Tales of an OTTB's Training

Hello one and all,

The new boy, Boss has been settling in well and is getting much more comfortable jumping. I am happy with his progress so far. I love a good project horse!

In terms of his jumping work I have taken him out to jump club twice now and each time has been better than the last. Last Weekend I took him in the 85cm as his first full course of jumping. There were a few confused spots during the course so I just trained him around over some of the fences. Happy with his efforts I thought I should give him a go in the 95cm and he was even better than in the 85cm. Nothing to complain about with this guy so far!

I need to get onto some cavaletti exercises with him as he has a tendency to just run through the hand in the canter and set his head and neck - as is common in the ex-racers. I don't see it as a problem for him, he will learn in die time. He is taking the half halts better in his trot but the canter is really where I have to put in the hard yards. I have started on his lateral work, both on the ground and under saddle. Moving him off the leg and from the shoulder most importantly, where he would rather load up his weight and push through me. Colleen has been helping me when I come to her with problems in our flatwork. Her solution - amongst many others - TRANSITIONS. A myriad of transitions, walk - trot- canter - trot; up and down the arena, making the horse balance himself and desist him from running through the hand as a result of his lacking balance. The flatwork exercises I am using on him and Rion are those that I learnt from George Morris. Spiralling circles,  shoulder in, quarters in, straight around the arena. Never underestimate the power of simplicity in your exercises.

As yet I haven't been using my lunging to aid his schooling for him. Alas, the amount of university work I have has kept me from doing all that I can with him until I am on holidays next weekend. I have plans with him to take him cross-country schooling in Camden after my exams and possibly his first horse trials mid July. I don't know how he will go there but we shall see after the cross-country training day we do.

This weekend I was at Camden with both of the boys, jumping in the freezing cold. Here is a video of Boss in his first competition:

Thanks! 

Jess|x

Lions and Tigers and Bears..

It seems a young horse will find any excuse in their search for leadership. This is my latest lesson that I have learnt from my surprise visit from Mark yesterday and today.

Yesterday the young fellow was rather fresh, after being spelled for a week over Christmas. Mark took the keys yesterday and said my aim for him was to have him moving from the leg/whip onto the contact. For Mark being the experienced and stronger between us the 'discussion' that occurs when the horse learns to step across with his hind-quarter on the circle. The 'discussion' is the giving and taking of the rein through the contact of the line - somewhat encountering some resistance until said contact is accepted. Being on the other end of the line there is an amazing difference in his 'going' - for want of a better word. When the hind-quarter steps across and under the horse there can be a give in the rein and there is a rise in their back as they carry themselves.

I found that there was a fight with me, which depended greatly on my ability to walk a small and direct circle whilst lunging. At the moment we are working on travelling up and down the arena. Our aim for the past two days was improving Dart's ground work. Moving the circle slowly, encountering props and stops along the way. As I stated, a young horse will look for any excuse to stop, to question their leader. Young horses need a clear direction, reiterated by the contact of the line, and they must always be in-front of their leader; in-front of the leg. Horses don't know what you are asking, they have to be given the opportunity to work it out for themselves - accept and understand what is being asked of them. Lick and a chew later and you see that the horse has understood, is mulling it over as they continue on.

Today, as I was lunging under Mark's watchful eye I felt Dart pulling, particularly on the right rein as a result of my allowing him to lose the rhythm and let him fall behind the leg. Just as when you are riding and the horse gets behind your leg you are no longer the leader. They prop, they rear, they stop, whatever their method of payment it serves as a challenge to the rider. Mark advised that he is a clever horse and as a young fellow he is not abnormal in his displays of youthful disagreement. In saying this the horse must then again yield from the rider and accept once more their place in the herd, if you will. When he stopped and I got behind his shoulder, the literal relationship of my body and the aid of my whip caused him to be in-front of the leg, moving once more into the contact.

The legendary, George Morris said to me last year: 'your greatest aid is your brain'. People believe it is either the seat or the leg, even the hand but without the brain they would be pointless. You have to become a thinking rider, a thinking leader for your horse. To know when you need that extra leg, extra give on the rein, the movement of the hind to get your horse in the frame you want. To react and get the right reaction in turn. That is a thinking rider. The same applies when you are lunging.

A horse, such as Dart, is pliable but also disagrees, playing and questioning. In order to keep him from learning bad habits we have decided to give him a spell, without me playing with him on the lunge. I will still be de-sensitising him to his surrounds, training him to accept the rug and a fly mask and so forth, each making the starting process that little bit easier when the time comes in a couple of months.

As of Friday I will have some news on Rion as I am having a lesson with Mark on the trouble maker.

Jess|x

George Morris Clinic

It has been almost a year since the clinic and I can't believe I haven't posted about the great George Morris and my 3 training days with him.In January this year I spent my 3 best equestrian days in the heat of the Australian summer at a Clinic with Mr Morris.
At first I thought that he would not be a fan of my crazy thoroughbred, with his racehorse tendencies to rear, which there was no shortage of at the clinic. However it was quite the opposite, George was a fan of my "easy and straightforward jumper" as he soon became the 'teacher's pet' in my group which very much came as a surprise to me. Each day our lesson began with flatwork, using it as an aid for our later jumping exercises. The flatwork was tiring, as expected. George's goal with us was to attain perfect straightness in our horses, to achieve this we were made to start in shoulder in up the track, then into haunches in and again into straight, repeating the exercise around the arena.

Each day we began with new exercises, all focusing on the straightness and later implication on our jumping.Our jumping began each day with small grids, getting larger and more complex each time. George's favorite exercise was 3 jumps in a loose 'z' formation on the arena, the point was to continue what we had begun in our flatwork, bending in the air and making the horses listen to our aids, we would go down through the 'z' then half turn back to reverse the order of the jumps. George used this exercise with all the groups at the clinic as a warmup for the later courses and grids. It is an exercise that I have implemented into my jumping warmups.

The hardest part of the clinic would have been our flatwork and jumping warm up without stirrups. The flatwork was all fine, that I am used to but as soon as the jumping began I forgot the importance of my legs again and Rion went up in the air on yet another racehorse rearing spree. As much as I didn't want him to show his bad side to George but he helped me greatly in avoiding and getting out of the situation; stating that "this horse will teach you equestrian tact," and indeed he has.

I can honestly say that this was the greatest clinic I have attended and am lucky enough to be attending another this coming January. A big thank you to Vicky Roycroft for organising the clinic, without her I would not have had the chance to meet the man himself. George is a master of his craft and thoroughly instilled the importance of the leg to us and also safety and correct care for our horses which he called 'cavalry'. I will definitely be writing a longer, more thorough post after the next clinic.

Click here to watch videos from the clinic.

David Green, Colleen Brook, George Morris, Team Brook riders and Vicky Roycroft