GOT TRAINING PROBLEMS? ASK THE HORSE FIXER! © 2002 by JP Giacomini
Copyright ©2002, PUBLISHED 2002
When reading Internet forums, we frequently stumble on endless polemics between exalted students arguing the worthiness of a particular educator. They either gush uncontrollably over the latest recipient of equestrian fame, or pillory mercilessly an unfortunate professional who recently displeased an Emailing fanatic in his/her clientele. Those discussions usually center on how calm s/he is with the horses, how nice s/he is to his/her students, how pleasant the lessons were, but rarely on how they resulted in making the student a better horse trainer. The problem is that too many teachers, and too many students, get their priorities wrong. They become more involved in maintaining a pleasant emotional relationship between student and teacher, rather than in the true effectiveness of a program design to create riders and trainers.
As a teacher, my goal has always been to create independent, thinking students that take responsibility for their own progress
and do their homework. If nothing else, because I get bored repeating the same thing to the same rider without obtaining a visible result. This may not be the greatest recipe to make a fortune in the teaching business, but I have the satisfaction to know that I have really GIVEN knowledge for someone to use as their own (just in case I go ‘under a bus’ tomorrow), rather than reassure them enough on their current skills so that they come back next week. Because I have seen my lessons (and others’) so often misinterpreted in the past, I would like to use this month’s column to share some guidelines I have developed over time.
Most riders either ‘dish out’ too much discomfort to their horses, who end up resenting it, or accommodate them so much that they don’t learn anything. The same goes for humans. Find out how much discomfort you are willing to put up with as a student and you will know how much you will learn from a knowledgeable teacher. Today, the notion of ‘study’ in America is associated with the idea of nurturing the physical, emotional and mental “comfort zone” of the student. Instead, the DESIRE for learning should provide the stimulation necessary to pursue change and to accept the discomfort attached to it. The ‘prize’ is that this effort eventually recreates a new, temporary comfort zone, but with much better practical results. Then, enjoy the “YOU GOT IT” feeling while it lasts, until attacking the next bastion of your bad habits. Remember: they will probably behave like Davy Crockett at the Alamo (fight to the death!)
The goal of any lesson is for the student to replace at least one old habit, however small, by a new, better one, FOR LIFE. There is NOTHING comfortable about that process: the body hates modifying the habitual path of movement; the subconscious mind revolts against a new routine; the emotions flare as adrenaline rushes in to defend the old against the attack of the new and the conscious mind (the person as we see it) is tempted to go straight to the Internet to blame someone for that discomfort (usually the teacher who was contracted in the first place to teach something NEW). As an unfortunate result, most popular (and richer) teachers are the ones who don’t threaten the body’s mechanisms; reassure the subconscious with some equestrian platitude; keep the ego’s feeling secure; and throw a little bit of mental excitement to the conscious mind so the person comes back with a new check, next Friday at 2 PM.
Comfort was not part of the equation when I was a child learning to ride in France with Captain Hubert Clauzel of the Cadre Noir (the elite of the French Cavalry Schools) or later when I studied dressage in Portugal with Master Nuno Oliveira. My teachers knew their ‘stuff’ and cared deeply about our progress as riders. They also had little consideration for our comfort. The greater the discomfort endured without complaint, the greater our effort, hence our progress, the more interest we received, the more knowledge was offered, and so forth. We had to deserve every inch of what we got from them, but we certainly valued it. Times change!
Teaching Theory:
1. To teach effectively, the coach needs to know his/her subject well enough to be capable of simplifying the guiding principles (correct as to suffer no exception) and repeat them understandably until they become an automatic mental reference as well as a physical reflex. That is how it will be remembered and used in all future situations.
2. As we all discover, riding is made of at least a thousand details. Each one of those only matter when the situation arises, but then, if you cannot fix THAT detail, no progress will be possible. So each of these little techniques must be taught thoroughly as the problem occurs.
3. Finally, for that lesson to make sense, the teacher needs to integrate the new technique taught (and hopefully learned) within the perspective of the general principle that has been previously explained. Now they can do it, they know it works, they know why and they will keep using it because IT ‘FEELS’ RIGHT.
Practical tip:
Example of an important principle: “LACK OF DIRECTION IS ALWAYS A LACK OF IMPULSION” which translate as: “a horse that doesn’t go where you want, is not going forward in the first place”.
Corresponding technical detail:
having to learn to turn without pulling on the inside rein (meaning: keep the inside arm sufficiently rigid so it doesn’t bend, hence does not pull, consciously or not). Instead, push the outside of the horse forward (not sideways) with seat and legs, while the rider’s body progressively faces the direction of the turn. This is a concept that must be completely assimilated or it’s absence will plague the rider forever. It doesn’t matter if the student is a reiner, a jumper or a trail rider, there will be a penalty: the reiner’s circles will fall to the outside, compromising the flying changes; the jumper will get ‘run-outs’ or at least miss his/her spot; the trail rider may end-up in the way of an oncoming truck.
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