"It’s nice when you can help someone in a one-on-one training, but it’s even better when you can reach riders all over the world who don’t have the possibility to come and train with you."
Those were the exact words Tristan Tucker shared with us in an article on Eurodressage. He had just launched his online training platform TRTmethod. Now, five years later, his online training platform has reached its 10.000th member.
What is the secret behind the success of TRTmethod? It’s time to catch up with Tristan.
The Secret Behind the Success
Tristan, originally from Australia, is located in the Netherlands where he runs his stable together with his wife, Grand Prix dressage rider Katja Gevers.
Given Tristan’s specialisation in training sensitive horses and teaching them to feel relaxed in any situation, after moving to Europe and settling in the Netherlands it didn’t take long for his entire stable to be filled with training horses and to have a long waiting list for lessons.
“Over the years I’ve received quite some questions and comments from colleagues in the sport about TRT method. They would joke about seeing my face all the time on their Facebook timeline and ask questions about how the training program works. I believe this is a tool any professional trainer could use to help and inspire more riders. But, at the same time, don’t underestimate the work that comes with it.”
New Training Videos on a Continuous Basis
Tristan spends one day a week solely dedicated to filming new training videos for TRT method.
“A lot of people think that you only create an online training program once and you’re done. Just make some videos, have them online and that’s it. But no, we’re continuously adding new videos.”
But besides adding new videos, Tristan has an entire team around him that deals with giving support, keeping the website up to date, editing videos and doing marketing.
“Of course, at first, it was just me and my business partner Conny Loonstra who runs the website and does the marketing. But now we’re with more people and that means we can also do more in terms of creating more training programs. For example, recently, we’ve added training programs like starting young horses, teach the piaffe and how to work with the double lines.”
Misconceptions about Online Learning
Even though online learning has been around for quite some years, Tristan believes there are still some misconceptions about online learning in the equestrian world.
“To be honest, in the beginning, I didn’t know for sure if people would be able to train their horses according to my training method just based of the videos. But fortunately, we received a lot of good videos from members when doing the first Q&As. And actually, I even notice that when I get someone in for a lesson who has been doing the online training, they really have an advantage over people who’ve been training with me for a longer period of time. But perhaps… that says more about my lessons,” Tristan jokes.
“But, seriously, I’m very proud of the TRT online students. I’m constantly impressed by their ability to improve and progress and inspired by their own dedication to go watch the videos on the TRT platform, share their experiences and progress with other members on the TRT community page and reap the rewards of their own self-improvement to help their own horses.”
Special Offer
To celebrate having 10.000 members on TRTmethod, Tristan now has a special offer for people wanting to join his training program.
To learn more, visit www.trtmethod.com