# Am i a rubbish rider ? :(



## tina60 (11 August 2014)

Hi I have been going to a local riding school for the last 6 months ( after a very long break!) and have felt I have been doing really well, instructor has always been positive and said I am improving.  Went somewhere different yesterday to try out a pony and the instructor there is a lot older and has been "classically trained" well basically everything I had been doing was wrong, the reins, my seat, position ! and I came away feeling very dejected - I don't know what to do now, should I go to this new place  or carry on learning the other way?! By the way my usual riding school has all BHS trained instructors. Thank you!


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## vickyb (11 August 2014)

I am sure you are not a rubbish rider. At your local riding school - are you secure in the saddle? Is your seat independent? Are you happy that you are progressing? If the answer to all that is yes, then I would carry on with your lessons. If all you want to do is ride for pleasure, as long as you are feeling happy and secure, and you horse is going sweetly and happily for you, it doesn't really matter that everything about your riding style is not perfect. There will be a time in the future when you can 'fine tune' yourself. Instructors will always pick up on different things, however experienced you are. Don't be disheartened!


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## Midlifecrisis (11 August 2014)

Don't let other people steal your joy - here s a thought - have a friend video a lesson then (if you can bear it I hate watching myself) watch the video. Be objective as often we can see our own shortcomings - watch a professional rider you admire and compare - do you need a longer leg - need to keep lower leg still - hold hands level -- whatever it may be and then ask instructor to keep a look out and help you correct. I have ridden in many places and some techniques are different sometimes because the horses have been trained to expect something slightly different. I agree with vickyb don't be disheartened.


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## chahala (11 August 2014)

tina60 said:



			Hi I have been going to a local riding school for the last 6 months ( after a very long break!) and have felt I have been doing really well, instructor has always been positive and said I am improving.  Went somewhere different yesterday to try out a pony and the instructor there is a lot older and has been "classically trained" well basically everything I had been doing was wrong, the reins, my seat, position ! and I came away feeling very dejected - I don't know what to do now, should I go to this new place  or carry on learning the other way?! By the way my usual riding school has all BHS trained instructors. Thank you!
		
Click to expand...

No you are not. But sounds like instructor is !

No instructor should make you feel so negative; she should be able to assess what she sees and work positively towards a goal.


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## Rosesandhorses (11 August 2014)

I wouldn't take what the instructor says to heart (I know this is difficult though). I have been riding for over 20 years and have competed affiliated in dressage, show jumping and eventing. Occasionally I go to clinics at other yards and am always quite happy to have my riding taken apart and put back together again and usually come away with a fresh outlook on something that I didn't even realise was an issue. I have regular lessons with 2 instructors who have taught me for around 15 years and I love that they know my riding and horse well but I am also aware that if I don't go to see others I am only getting their opinion. Onwards and upwards, try and see it as a positive!


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## Apercrumbie (11 August 2014)

I think a lot of people encounter this problem when they "step up" to a different sort of riding.  I had some classical training lessons after I had been riding for many years and after the first I did feel a bit dejected because my riding had been completely de-constructed.  However I stuck with it and it improved my riding hugely and gave me a completely new perspective.  After 6 months in a riding school you will need a lot of tweaking.  That doesn't mean you're a bad rider at all, it's just that riding schools are often not the best places to get more nuanced riding.  Personally I would have at least one more lesson with the classical instructor.  If they continue to be negative, eg not praising you when you get it right, then I would move on.  But you may find that the challenge is good for you.


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## littlecoblet (11 August 2014)

OP - are you in the NW by any chance?


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## YasandCrystal (11 August 2014)

I too now have a classical trainer after years of just traditional training - it is very different and it feels like I am learning to ride all over again. I love it though and I think if you like the principles stick with it. The instructor shouldn't make you feel negative and rubbish though - mine goes to great lengths to explain the reason for everything she asks of me. That to me makes for a great trainer.


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## Skib (11 August 2014)

Two  very normal things happened to you. 
When ever you go to a new teacher, you are likely to be taken back to square one - No two people (not even two classical teachers) think exactly alike - And it isnt so much a case of right and wrong in riding but of adding to your repertoire. Even advanced riders may start from the basics when they go to a new trainer - 
Then there is the change of style too - remember that  you went to try a pony? Riding style has to fit the horse you are riding - a bit like a language.  The horses and ponies at the classical school will be used to being ridden in the way that teacher demands. 

So to communicate with those horses, you need to adapt your language - not a case of rubbish or not rubbish. 

If it is confusing you to have two different approaches, may be settle just for one for the time being, but the thing to remember about riding schools and riding tuition is that one can pick and choose and go to more than one instructor. One big reason for  making a change is to find a more suitable horse for what you want to do. Which is possibly what you did?
Lots of us feel complete rubbish after a lesson - But that can be because we have  taken in a whole lot of information that is new to us or different, and that is what lessons are for. As you build on the experience of riding different horses and with different people, you will build up a repertoire  of knowledge on which to draw when you are problem solving, out there on a horse on your own.


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## Tnavas (11 August 2014)

Don't get disheartened by the comments from the second instructor.

How do these instructors differ in experience? A more Novice instructor will not yet have developed the 'eagle eye' of the more experienced instructor.

Discuss with your regular instructor the comments made and she may be able to clarify them.


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## tina60 (11 August 2014)

Aww thank you guys - you have really lifted my spirits! don't mind being criticised it just felt that everything I had been taught was just a waste of time and money!

Vickyb you have hit the nail on the head, that is more or less what I want to do, I am 54 so just want to enjoy myself! 

littlecoblet - no I live in the south west!

Lots of great ideas thank you everyone!


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## Jola (11 August 2014)

I was in the same boat very recently. Came away quite disheartened (apparently I was even getting on wrong!) but now I've thought about it the second instructor is just way way way more 'tuned' than the others I have had. Take what you have learnt from the second instructor and try it in your normal lesson. You might find it really helps (and if it doesn't maybe re evaluate!)


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## WindyStacks (12 August 2014)

Try not to look at it is negative criticism, but instead simply adding another arrow to your bow. 

I'd been riding (I thought well!) for 20 years when I went for a lesson with a Dutch guy. First thing he did was grab my foot and move it back about 6". This position won't suit all disciplines, but it does suit dressage. 

Look at it this way, I bet you have a lovely "go to" dress, but it probably wouldn't work as a cocktail or wedding dress. It's simply a case of the right style for the right occasion.


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## tina60 (12 August 2014)

Windystacks that's very true, I think I just have to get it into perspective everyone is different, it just knocked me back a bit that's all - sometimes if things are said in the right way it sounds fine! but she was very abrupt !


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## redfoxhunter (12 August 2014)

OP I have been in a similar position. I had a long break away from riding, then started riding a youngster so decided to get lessons on him to improve us bother together. I started off in a local riding school in January then moved onto a freelance instructor who is involved with the pony club and local riding club, my first lesson with new instructor was totally overwhelming - even though she was not particularly negative, I felt like I couldn't ride at all because everything was being corrected!

Now I have had a few months with her, I'm so grateful I changed as don't think I ever could have progressed with the previous. I still sometimes feel like I can't ride during the lessons, but very proud of myself afterwards. I would stick with it for a few more sessions and see how you go.


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## tina60 (12 August 2014)

Thank you redfoxhunter that is so good to know, everyone is so supportive on this forum it really helps, I have been looking to buy a pony for myself and the grandchildren to ride, just happy hacker really, and I just don't want to make any mistakes so when the instructor said all that I thought there is no point in me getting anything!


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## Joyous70 (12 August 2014)

OP - no your not!! 


I have been riding for nearly 30 years, in that time 22 of them i have had my own ponies.  We have done a bit of everything and had a lot of fun.  Then FF 18 months ago, I got an unbacked youngster, once she was backed i started to have lessons with a really good instructor, who is very very supportive, but i felt exactly like you, everything i was doing was wrong! I felt as though i have had to re-learn everything, from how i sit, to where my legs go how i rise to trot etc. etc, 

Now after a few months, i can see a huge improvement in both our ways of going, i realise before i was merely a passenger, now im more of a rider and more in control of my horse and my body, you never stop learning or improving, however, some instructors maybe aren't as tactful as others!


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## enchantedunicorn (23 August 2014)

You are not a rubbish rider and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
I've been riding for decades since I was 3.
I had this with a previous instructor - it was only a few months ago that I was made to feel like this, she gave an extremely strong impression that I was a rubbish rider and that my horse would never amount to anything -that it was my fault he was poorly schooled I had only had him a month for god's sake! I lost alot of confidence, and no one should ever make you feel like that. 
You should have an instructor who gives you the most enjoyable experience and makes you feel great


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## madmav (24 August 2014)

And is horses for courses, literally. Rode with friend's polo ponies. Reins only in left hand. And held in an odd thumbs up way.  And when reins up horse's neck, as I get doing by mistake cost of loop in reins, makes them go woo-hoo fast.
Just saying this that everyone has an opinion as to what it right. Doesn't mean that they are. Or that you are wrong. But it is good to learn.


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