I am frequently asked for advice, and I generally will give it. I’d like to think that with 50 years of experience, my advice is sound. As a certified instructor, FEI level 3 course designer and as a top tier competitor in quite a few disciplines, I believe I’m sometimes qualified to dispense advice.
If it is an issue I am not familiar with, I would rather not advise, than give wrong or bad advice.
There are times when I decide not to give advice to a person who isn’t discerning about who they are asking advice from.
Here’s a tip. If you want good advice, ask good people. If you ask every Tom, Dick and Harry, and it makes no difference to you what their qualifications are, you are probably wasting my time anyway.
Quite often someone will ask me for advice, and immediately compare it to what their groom told them. First of all, if your groom was that smart, how come he is still a groom? Secondly, ask yourself, what is his equine education?
Sure, many grooms are very experienced, and they can teach you many things. But if your go-to guy has no formal training, I’d be inclined to listen to the person who has the qualifications and experience.
It’s insulting if I give it some thought, give good advice, only to be told that their unqualified Bangla/Pakistani/Indonesian groom thinks it should be done some other way. Go for it, buddy. Don’t let me get in the way of your Prof. Just don’t bother me again.
I am always amazed when someone compares a riding lesson from a groom to a lesson with a qualified instructor, especially if that instructor has also had the riding experience behind them. (Yes, there are instructors that were no good as competitors. We used to joke that those who can, ride, and those that can’t, teach. But that’s another blogpost!)
If you are taking lessons from a groom that isn’t qualified, and that never even rode competitively, you are probably not going to get much further than he did. There are clubs that engage these grooms to teach lessons. I won’t name them, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend these clubs either.
The best advice I can give anyone is to get good advice. And be discerning about who you ask for advice, who you ask to teach you. Get good instructors.
It’s important that you are not an askhole, or no one will bother with your questions.
