Some people take lessons continually, some never have. Some people watch all the trainers on TV and Video, some never have. Some people stay with one trainer for years, and some change trainers regularly. What’s the correct thing to do? It’s up to the individual and their circumstances.

Someone I knew used to say that boarding horses and teaching is like a revolving door – they come and they go. At first I used to take it personally, now I’ve moved beyond that. There is a time and purpose for each season. Perhaps the next person will explain something differently that they my grasp.

The interesting thing about being a teacher/trainer is that when someone comes to you, you never know what they actually know or have done in the past. So where do I start? From the beginning.

Now this woman has been riding since she was very young, in Germany. Now I’ve known many instructors from Germany, and they are extremely strong and strict. I’ve watched her ride as she’s trying to get her horse back into work after a lay-up, and I’ve seen things I would like to see her do differently. Now there are many styles of riding, but what I’ve seen I categorize as not as safe as I would like it, or just simple adjustments to making her riding more efficient.

Well she came to me a couple of weeks ago and spoke about wanting to take lessons. She was a little shaken up when her horse displayed a very enthusiastic approach to what she was asking. Hitting the ground, when you’re pushing 60, gives you a feeling that you might need help.

It’s funny, when we are young, we hit the ground, got back on and hurt for a few days. When you hit the ground around the age of 60 you rethink your priorities. The “I can’t afford to get hurt” thing goes off like a neon sign in your head. “If I get hurt who will take care of all my responsibilities?” “What will happen with my job or my family?” That puts fear in our minds, and we all know what fear can do when we are riding horses.

So when she came to me I gave her my thoughts on the lesson plan. I told her that we were going to start from scratch. I explained that I know she knows how to ride, but that I was going to go over things she may have already heard or practiced in the past. I also told her that there might be holes in her training and we will work through the known and she might find things that were never fully explained or things that might have been rushed over. She said that it would be fine.

Well her fears are gone, her horses is quiet and relaxed and she’s loving her lessons. After each lesson she tells me that she has learned something new and different each time. I always ask her if there is something she would like me to explain in further detail and she always tells me no that the instructions were perfectly clear and easy to understand.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve taught children for so many years that I’ve perfected my explanations into a simple form. Or perhaps it’s because no one ever explained why things were done that way. Most instructors will just say “do it this way,” without giving the mechanics of why.

We didn’t do “around the world” or “touch ears, tail, left toe, right toe,” but I did have her close her eyes and feel which leg was moving forward at any given time. She was also having trouble detecting her correct diagonal. She had always watched the outside leg, I simple told her to try and watch the inside leg and yup it happened. Most people instruct on the outside, I was taught on the inside. I’m not a rocket scientist, but there is a more sweeping motion with the inside than the outside that she could see with a quick glance. We are working on the feeling of the movement, but right now, after all these years, she’s excited about finally getting things right.

Sometimes it’s because instructors fly through their explanations, sometimes they forget to mention things, but sometimes it’s a matter of saying the same thing in a different way. What you don’t get from one instructor you may get with the next. You get that A Ha! moment.

What I’ve found with most people, they don’t ask questions. They don’t want to feel stupid so they just keep moving on. If you don’t fully understand something Stop! and ask for a better explanation. You won’t look stupid, you’ll look interested in learning.

Remember, any holes that are left in your training will come back to bite you later. When you are building a house you can’t leave out a block here and a plank there, it will fall. Come to think of it, so will you.