PrintOur columnist reflects on the changes in his life and career over the past few years.
A couple of years ago, a former client and friend sent me a note after she retired from riding expressing her appreciation for our time together. She wrote of how much she learned in our work together, but more importantly, how her lessons prepared her to function on her own as a rider.
I’ve always felt that one of the most important elements of teaching is to give the rider the tools to be able to think and function on her own. After all, you cannot be in the ring with her, think for her or ride for her.
I believe that while I inherently always knew this and it’s been part of my teaching philosophy, I didn’t consciously realize how important it is not just for the rider, but also for the teacher, until the past few years.
Life is made up of a progression of changes, which happen far quicker than any of us realize.
Just seven short years ago, I had no idea I’d be asked to join a group and eventually lead the creation of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association, the national affiliate for the hunters and jumpers. I was immersed in my own world of coaching riders and training and riding horses, competing at hunter/jumper competitions all over the East Coast and, depending on the year, Canada or Europe.
Those were some fast-paced times, and I’m grateful for all the experiences I had as a professional trainer.
For most of the past 10 years of my professional training career, I spent the better part of my time and energy concentrating on one rider and a very nice stable of great horses. I was fortunate in this position to also have the flexibility to still coach and train a few other clients who had been with me for years. This opportunity helped me remain fresh for all these clients and provided me with a level of independence.
In the past two years, as my life has changed, so has my involvement in the sport as a professional trainer.
Beginning approximately 11⁄2 years ago, I started the process of turning over the full responsibility for the care, custody, control, training and competing of the stable of my primary client to the client herself.
We talked about this change, and together we developed a plan for my client’s role to gradually increase in proportion to the decrease of mine in the day-to-day activities.
Whether a person is passionate about astronomy, horses or anything in between, I believe there comes a point in every young person’s education where you have to give him or her the space and ability to take the reins and accept responsibility for their own path in life. Now I know how parents feel when they see their children leaving the nest to go off into the real world with real world responsibilities.
To make this change, we made sure that the foundation of the stable was solid and supportive of our mission. Everyone had to be on board to make this transition successful, including veterinarians, blacksmiths, grooms, managers and all the way through to the business side with accountants and farm managers. Changing authority figures is a much larger issue than many realize.
