18/01/2025
This is so well articulated. Being a teacher requires endless study of riding theory.
Totally just venting here- it makes me so sad how many instructors really have no idea why we do what we do, and therefore they just regurgitate things they’ve heard over the years. Aka- 20 years ago when they last took lessons (🙄) someone told them to keep their hands down, so now they teach their students to keep their hands down. But in relation to what?? And in what situation?? There are plenty of times that it makes sense to lift your hand, whether it be momentarily,  or because the student is carrying their hands too low. But no, the uneducated “teacher” just gives everyone the blanket instruction to “keep your hands down!” regardless of the situation. 😔
The one that annoys me the most (right now anyways) is “don’t pinch with the knees”. Back in the 80s, many show jumpers pitched forwards, rotating around the knee, like shown in the sketch.  Many phenomenal riders (think Ian Miller on Big Ben ) rode like this at the highest of levels, and managed to do quite well!  But since all of us had a subscription to Practical Horseman magazine, every month we were exposed to George Morris critiquing mostly good riders. EVERY SINGLE photo critique was over a jump!!! and one of his most common evaluations was that a rider was pinching with the knee. Oh, the horror! 😱
So obviously a bunch of instructors started repeating this instruction, and their students, now young instructors, also continued repeating it, having NO idea the original context! You have young kids riding around with their knee COMPLETELY off the saddle, because heaven forbid if they “pinch with the knee.” 🙄🤦♀️ This original instruction was given to people who could jump a 4 foot course without stirrups and not miss them!!  If you are in a dressage saddle, you also need to relax the thigh so that you can put more weight in your seat bones. But if you are teaching jumping, or even just jumping position, for the love of preventing concussions, please teach your riders to have a tight thigh!!!!!!
And if you don’t know when a rider should have a tight thigh and when they should have a relaxed thigh, maybe stop teaching lessons and start taking them! Yeah, I said it.
Same with heels down and bracing in the stirrup…. In the United States, most beginner barns are Huntseat barns. That was also true in the 80s. Back then there was no such thing as a heel that was too low. 😂 But then along came Sally Swift and Mary Wanless, teaching people how to move their hips and not brace in the stirrup…. Excellent advice!  This is how I teach. But then a bunch of uneducated nobodies started applying this advice to half seat and jumping position. 🤦♀️🫣.
So now we have a bunch of beginner barns where kids knees are sticking out and their feet are flat at best, and they have no security through their leg whatsoever. But they are in a Huntseat saddle with their stirrups set at jumping length, and they don’t know how to sit deep and move their hips like a dressage rider either. **internal screams**
Either teach a proper Huntseat position with a TIGHT thigh and heels jammed down, or teach a proper Dressage position with seat bones plugged in, draping thigh, supple swinging hips, and a strong core. Or you can be like me and teach both, but make sure your riders understand the difference between the two!!!
But don’t mince them together!!  If you are going to take away the tight thigh, and the deep heel, of a hunt seat student, then you better know how to teach an actual proper dressage seat, and put them in a saddle that supports that goal.
And if you don’t understand that the two seats are completely different, again, maybe stop teaching lessons and start taking them.
Quality over Quantity
