Trainer and instructor are, in my opinion, two complementary professional figures, or rather, the second is closely connected to the first. I don't think one can be a good riding instructor without first being a good trainer. This is because in the equestrian training process of a student, unlike in any other discipline or sport, there is a fundamental and non-negligible variable: the horse.
Too many times I have attended riding lessons that are totally useless or even harmful to the technical progression of the student. In most cases the instructors managed the lesson as required by the manuals, correcting in a generic but correct way. So why would the lesson be useless? Even harmful?
Imagine the instructor in the middle of the field. "To get into the corner you have to put on the inside leg and flex the horse." At that point the pupil will apply pressure with his leg, attempt to turn his mount's nose inward while the horse will inexorably lunge towards the centre, cutting the corner and counter-flexing.
How many times have I seen students sweat and puff in a vain attempt to do what was required of them, obtaining practically nil results and on the other hand, in addition to an ugly position in the saddle, a great sense of despondency. Discomfort brought about by the feeling that the horse ignored or was even seriously annoyed by the aids used.
This happens because a student cannot associate the right feeling with his requests and therefore master new technical skills if he does not get a concrete response from the horse. Repeating the same correction over and over again or asking for more strength will result in a student writhing in the saddle, compromising his seat, and simply executing a sequence of actions without understanding them, but only because "it's got to be done this way".
For this reason it is of fundamental importance that the horse that the student rides is trained to respond to what the instructor explains to do. This can only happen if the horse is sensitive and not absent from dozens of hours of lessons during which, as it is obvious, the clumsy requests and mistakes of the students make him increasingly deaf.
The positive influence of a well-trained school horse on pupils' learning
A good school horse (in a utopian world I realize) should be ridden almost daily by a professional, in order to advance in work, maintain good psychophysical shape and remain sensitive to help. I always explain to my students that the instructor can give directions, but then they have to feel and master the right feeling. Because it will only be that which will enable them to create a real dialogue with the horse and to improve their equestrian sensitivity.
George Morris said that "Every second you're either schooling or unschooling your horse. There is no in-between". There is no such thing as "moving" a horse. Every time we get in the saddle we are training or untraining.
Horse riding in itself is already complicated by having a very limited number of attempts to learn. If I fail to make a canter transition, I cannot retry as many times as in any other "sport".
For years I have practiced ballet and if I couldn't do a double turn to the left I could spend hours in front of the mirror coming to terms with myself and my limits. In horse riding, after a few unsuccessful attempts, I will certainly have more difficulty convincing the horse to do what I am asking of him, having repeatedly associated my aids with a lack of response. I will also have to respect his patience and his fatigue by forcing myself to stop much sooner than I would like.
Precisely for this reason it is essential that the horse is in the best conditions to be able to understand and execute what the student is learning to ask for. This will not make learning easy but will leave the success of the exercise up to the skills of the rider. The instructors always explain that when you fail, it is never the horse's fault. Correct and beautiful concept, but which must be made concrete in the field by putting the students in a position to become truly responsible for their actions.
Edited by Giulia Barberis, for Fedda.
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