Our guest columnist of the week is British dressage trainer David Pincus, who regularly contributes witty, on-point columns on his Facebook page about the reeling and dealing in the British dressage world both on a local and national level. Pincus, a former student of the Spanish Riding School and Dr. Reiner Klimke, runs Sheepcote Equestrian with his wife Serena.
David has successfully competed and trained students at international Grand Prix level. He is still actively competing at the highest level and has produced and ridden more than ten horses to Grand Prix.
A Trainers for Each Taste
Recent posts on the British Dressage forum highlighted the fact that different people benefit from different teaching styles, what is suitable for one student maybe totally alienating to another.
One student may appreciate the trainer that deliver short sharp to the point commands, like “do this, pull that up or down', and then be left alone to work it out for one self; another student will relish on detailed analysis of the situation that may cover the formula of calculating the distance from the Moon to Mars but will miss the explanation of how to rise to the trot .
The variations are as many as the number of people that ride and the modern certified coaches must be able quickly assess the style of learning preferred by a student and conduct the lesson accordingly.
One forumist commented about a learning experience she had in Germany many years ago. The trainer, with Olympic credentials both as rider and coach, used to employ one word only with differing emphasis to convey his message, the lesson mostly would start with the usual “ZO” which means “so” as the riding improved and the rider attained a level of proficiency the trainer's respons was “ZOOOOOOO”, should the rider really excelled himself , the well known trainer would burst into a spontaneous exclamation of “Achhh ZOOOOOOO.”
The debate was going on, with each person singing the praise of their trainer. “My trainer is so good I love the way she explains things I wished I went to her 49 years ago when I started riding” (well you could not she is only 15.5 years old)
Another person described how clear and concise her trainer is. With few chosen words he effects a complete transformation. “My trainer shouts, screams and threaten physical abuse should I fluff the corner again, but I don't mind it, as long as he does not gloss over or flannel me" (the trainer is obviously a non cricketing male and the student a middle age Diva).
One contributor to the debate mentioned that her extremely knowledgeable articulated trainer delivers the best instruction in spite of a small speech impediment, “What do you mean?” the others asked “Well, during a lesson he sometimes has to stop talking in order to breath” she replied.
- by David Pincus