Today my friends, I'd like to hear from you. What do you consider to be a training program? Do you think having a trainer ride your horse three times a week is necessary to constitute being in a program? Does taking lessons multiple times a week from the same instructor count as being in a program? Could a capable amateur keep her own horse in a program on her own? Or on her own but with regular lessons? What say you?
I ask because today's confession is that apparently, after all of these years, I evidently do not know what a training program is. My horses, despite being plenty successful doing whatever it is that I've been doing, have not been in any sort of program at all. Or so I'm told. And I just really want to figure out what it means to have a horse in a program.
I've always thought that having a thoughtful, careful schedule/plan/goal for your rides constitutes a training program. If I can supplement that with lesson or rides from a pro, great! And if not, staying consistent, setting goals, and achieving them still seemed like a program to me. And I'm just really wondering if I've been doing it wrong all these years.
So please weigh in below in the comments section, and let me know what you think it means to have your horse in a program. Help me understand where I've gone astray.
thoughtful careful planning?? after years of skill development and extensive experience??? lol nahhhhhhh. it's only a "program" if you sufficiently cater to the whims of the insecure professional in charge. only one single way to skin that cat, never forget!
ReplyDeleteRight! My bad.
DeleteI could not agree with Emma more! it seems to me that as soon as you get back to the boarding barn, you are criticized for not doing things a particular way. For me? Being in a training program is about finding the right trainer and working with them regularly through thick and thin. It’s not about how many times they ride your horse. In fact, my current trainer who I’ve been with for over 10 years, no longer rides! But he is a master dressage trainer, and we have made all our way to FEI with little problem by staying true to his program. My horse is happy and I am happy. And we won multiple year and USDF awards this year at fourth level. And we have won those end of year awards all the way from training level to this point. Sticking with him has worked. So find the right teacher, the right situation, and shut out everyone else. Including a boarding barn that seems to only criticize you, and not support and help you. Just my opinion from reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteIn a perfect world I'd stay with my summer trainer year round. We mesh so well! But we're in different locations in the winter. And I get to board for winter on my dad's dime to hold the stalls for my stepmom. So for now, we make do as best we can. I just need to be better at tuning out the insults.
DeleteUgh, just sending you solidarity. Looking forward to Wednesday's update, but it sounds like the boarding barn is becoming a nightmare. Why can't people just be kind?
ReplyDeleteIt ebbs and flows ;)
DeleteI agree. There are kinder ways to address a problem than putting people down and making them feel bad. Especially when it's untrue.
I think a program is a set of activities that take you to a goal. That could include training rides, lessons, etc. a program can be whatever you decide it is. Just because it sounds like you’ve run into someone with a rigid definition doesn’t mean they are the holder of the ‘one truth’. I would avoid that person like the plague. That sounds more about control.
ReplyDeleteOn a more personal note, I couldn’t cope with multiple lessons a week. It would suck the fun out. If I couldn’t ride my horse without having someone teach me every ride I would seriously consider selling. But I don’t mean for an intense training period to get through a hump.
In my area, pretty much anywhere you board, you can't jump without a lesson. So it's pretty normal to do two a week just to get some jumps in if nothing else. But I agree. I think the real learning happens in between when you have to apply the lessons all on your own.
DeleteA program to me has always been some set goal between trainer and rider and it is set up individually case by case, whether it be multiple lessons a week, or a set amount of pro rides.
ReplyDeleteI generally have heard in the local hunters a program consists of at least 2 pro rides a week, but those are the top time competition hunter barns I hear that from. On a personal note, I would be fine with multiple lessons a week, I love lessons. Pro rides however, I have a love hate relationship with because while its beneficial for the horse and usually my instructor to get an idea where we are, I hate handing over the reins, it feels like a personal failure in my own riding that I can't do it. Still working on it, but that's kinda why my idea of a program does not involve many pro rides.
To me, you are right on target with what a program is, and sounds a little like someone wants to shove a square peg into a round hole.
So, I also used to feel like I failed if I needed someone else to get on. But as I've gotten older, I'm starting to see that sometimes you just need someone to hit the buttons differently. Or really feel what's happening under the saddle. It often doesn't look like it feels. So letting a trainer hop on and help trouble shoot isn't really a failure. It's an additional tool. I've even had other amateur friends hop on and see what they feel. Everyone has had different experiences with different horses so it's nice to get another thought on something if you're having an issue.
DeleteAnd yes, I agree about the square peg. I think it's hard at these big barns to really adjust to every horse and rider when there are only so many hours in the day. It's significantly easier to try and make them all fit in the cookie cutter program, but often times they don't. And that's obviously my problem, and not the programs.
I feel like what you're describing (or alluding to (trainer must ride x number of times, plan all rides, rider takes a set number of lessons, and maybe you ride one time on your own...if you're lucky)) is the current hunter barn special. I say that nicely, but...
ReplyDeletePersonally, a training program CAN be anything. It should be something where you set out a series of goals: I want to work on this or accomplish that (for example: lead changes) and determine how you want to make that happen. It may be lessons, it may be training rides, it may be a combination of both. But, you've been in horses for a while. You know stuff. No reason why you can't have input. If you can't, I say you should be able to take your money and go elsewhere..
Agree! And if I had a very green horse, or was a very green rider, I'd have the trainer on a lot more often. I think for the weekend warriors the three or four day a week training rides and mostly only lesson rides works. But for a really hands on, relatively educated amateur, I buy a horse for myself to ride. Not for the trainer. They have investors for that.
DeleteMy situation is a little different in that my dad pays for me to board in the winters to hold the stalls for my stepmom's horses when she comes up in the summers. So I go where they need me to be and do the best I can.
I think unfortunately the definition varies. When I think "program" I think regular scheduled activities. Which can be a combination of a lot of things. Programs vary wildly among the riders at our barn. We have some people that ride once a week in a lesson, some people that lesson once and hack once, some that ride 5 to 7 days a week with a combination of hacks and lessons, some that have their horses in full training, but lesson on their horse twice a week and many variances in between. A typical summer program for me is riding 3 days a week with at least one day hacking, then another hack and one lesson or two lessons on top of the hack I've already done. At our barn though, no one is required to do x number of training rides or lessons per week to participate in any given event. They do have training packages, but you're not required to purchase them.
ReplyDeleteI think this is the way it should be. Not every horse/rider combination needs the same things or has the same goals. The strongest programs realize that and set up individual plans.
DeleteComing from an eventing perspective, my trainer works with me to figure out a program that works for me and the horse. That may look like two lessons a week, four training rides a week, or nothing for a week. When we had specific goal (ie getting Yoshi to lift and bend at the base of his neck) she did say it would be great to have him for a few days straight to really get it sorted. So I made that happen. And he stayed at her farm for a week. But mostly I come and go and we do a mix of lessons and training rides as appropriate to where we are and what we're trying to accomplish. I couldn't deal with less freedom than that.
ReplyDeleteI like this. That's mostly what I was used to before the current barn. My summer trainer thinks this way too. She couldn't ride this summer due to injury, but she made sure we were on the right path and gave us two lessons a week. We had a fantastic summer, so I'd say it was working for us.
DeleteIf I really couldn't get Al straightened out, she would happily take on the challenge. I'd just have to get him to Florida. Gotta get that money tree blooming!