No matter who you are, everyone benefits from having someone observe you ride. Ideally, you can train with a riding instructor who can constructively critique your position, aids, etc. while you work with your horse. No matter how good or experienced an equestrian you are, it is almost impossible to notice every detail about your position or technique that another person’s experienced eye could easily see. There is nothing so valuable for improving your ride as receiving feedback—good or bad—at the precise moment you are asking for a movement. This kind of instruction can truly make all the difference in how you ride.
Many years ago, figure skater Michelle Kwan decided to train without a skating coach. She had previously won a silver Olympic medal, and she owned many national and world championship titles. Surely, these experiences and her talent as a skater qualified her to work without a trainer. However, she did not skate so well on her own; within a year Miss Kwan re-hired her former coach and started winning medals again.
Even trainers have trainers. At the very least, they acknowledge the philosophies of other horsemen who have influenced their own work with horses. In 2010, I was privileged to audit a couple of Jan Ebeling’s dressage clinics at Equine Affaire (Pomona). In addition to teaching his own students, he competes at Grand Prix dressage competitions around the world. At one point, Mr. Ebeling disclosed that in addition to being coached by his wife (also an accomplished dressage competitor), he sends videos of his training sessions to his own instructor…in Germany!
I will be riding in my first horse show in a few days. To prepare, I am taking riding lessons almost every day. I follow the mantra, “Perfect practice makes perfect performance,” and I rely on my trainer Julie Van Loo’s experience as a riding teacher and a successful competitor in dressage to help me prepare for this competition. I want to ride accurate tests on show-day, and I trust Julie’s insights as she advises me how to fine-tune my position and aids when I ride Candy through walk-trot transitions. She even corrects my mistakes before I even make them—or, at least before I am aware that I have made the error.
As the tagline for those MasterCard advertisements read, “Having a trainer to watch you ride: Priceless.”
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
