Cross Training, Round Two

I realize I'm veering off the prescribed topic slightly. But I had something to say, and I didn't know where else to say it.

Last weekend, I attended a Boyd Martin clinic for dressage and show jumping with a Haflinger mare who's coming back into work after having a foal. For those of you unfamiliar with Boyd, he's an Australia native upper level eventer who's been quite successful competing internationally.

Obviously, Boyd is a better rider than me; that's why I paid over $300 to ride with him. As with any lesson, I expected that he would give me exercises suitable to me and my mount, constructive criticism and critiques, and things to work on at home. That's what I try to provide to my own students.

While he was very friendly, the lessons were not very helpful, especially the jumping lesson. Boyd sent the other riders and me through the jumping exercises with hardly any feedback. After completing a round of anywhere from five to fifteen jumps, he would say, "That was good." It's great to hear something positive, but to me, that's not the purpose of a lesson. I want to hear what parts were good, what needs work, and what I need to do differently to improve. Because that's why I'm there-to improve!

After one of my rounds, Boyd didn't even say anything; he walked towards the next jumps with the group of riders. I did get the impression he wasn't too thrilled with the pony or me, but I had a right to be there, just like everyone else.

Because I was riding a pony, I knew the striding would be different through the lines than for the bigger horses. I told Boyd this, but he told me to just try to make it anyways, which I did. One of the exercises was a line of five verticals one (horse) stride apart. Having jumped the pony quite a bit (with various trainers in similar grids, as well), I knew that I would be able to get the distances for a few of the combinations, but not all. Again, I told Boyd this. He told me to try anyways, so we fumbled through. Placing poles in between the jumps prevented us from trying for two strides, so the mare had to struggle through the end of the exercise, time after time. But like before, we did not get any feedback on our attempts.

I'm sure Boyd is a nice guy. He might even be a great teacher; maybe he had an off weekend. But by the end of the clinic, I went home wondering if the lessons had harmed the horse more than they had helped. I went home wondering if our riding is so poor he didn't even feel it necessary to comment on it. And considering he didn't give anyone much advice, I have to wonder if he feels that it is a waste of time to be teaching lower level riders.

I would hope that these things aren't true. But, as many have pointed out before me, we pay Boyd's salary, we let him compete at the highest levels of this sport, and whether they think we're valid or not, we are riders. We're trying to educate and further ourselves, and I would think that alone would be enough motivation to teach us.

So I learned. I likely won't take lessons with him again. And again, as I've learned so many times before (and will re-learn hundreds more times, I'm sure): listen to the horse. The horse knows, better than all of us, what's right or wrong.

We just have to listen.