Eyes on the Ground

(This blog was originally posted on July 13, 2011)

Photo by Rick Hustead

No matter who you are, every equestrian 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 Ms. 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 video of his training sessions to his own instructor…in Germany!

I rode in my first horse show in 2011. To prepare, I took taking riding lessons almost every day. I followed the mantra, “Perfect practice makes perfect performance,” and I relied on my then-trainer’s experience as a riding teacher and a successful competitor in dressage to help me prepare for this competition. I wanted to ride accurate tests on show-day, and I trusted Julie Van Loo’s insights as she advised me how to fine-tune my position and aids when I rode Candy through walk-trot transitions. She even corrected my mistakes before I even make them—or, at least before I was aware that I had made an error.

As the tagline for those MasterCard® advertisements might read, “Having a trainer to watch you ride: Priceless.”

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