# Is my Riding Instructor wrong?



## PrairieBunny (Aug 13, 2020)

I've been taking western riding lessons from a lady I found on Craigslist for about 6 months now. At first I thought she was great. I was pretty rusty and had just adopted my own horse (fairly green). Lessons are on her horse, and they started with bareback pad to get my seat in walk and trot, then we switched to saddle. I only just started cantering last month, because we spent so much time working on sitting the trot. 

She has taught me to constantly squeeze with my thighs when walking. Then when trotting, it's constant pressure from calves and thighs. I am a green rider and went with it, but talking with some other ladies at the barn my horse is at (they ride mostly english or they post the trot), they were saying that is not good and will result in a horse dull to leg pressure. I tried not squeezing with my calves when trotting on my horse, and I was actually able to seat it better, but had a hard time holding her in a trot. 

I had some doubts about my instructor recently because I feel like I'm not progressing that fast. I also don't feel like I have a goal to reach. I had told her when I started that I want to compete at a low level in something, but I have hardly any experience, and want to explore options to see what would be a good fit for my and my horse. She hasn't made any indication of helping me explore.

My questions are:

Should I be squeezing 100% of the time? Is my instructor wrong?
Does 5 months of lessons before ever trying canter seem like slow progress? I take the lesson once a week, and ride my own horse 2-3 times a week.
Would you look for a new instructor?


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

Squeezing 100% of the time is wrong. 5 months seems long to me before cantering. I would have looked for a new instructor way long time before this.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Certainly not SQUEEZING. OK to have some tension in the legs, but it ought to be more like the tension when standing. Not a brace and not a squeeze. 5 months to canter? Depends. My youngest daughter didn't want to TRY a canter for several years. I knew an instructor who had all her new students ride a canter in a round pen with her best horse on their FIRST lesson, just so they would not be scared if a horse spooked. New instructor? Hard to say. A good instructor is great but there are a lot who teach as many bad habits as good ones. I'm a fan of reading books on riding and then trying out what they say on your own horse - since you have one.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

No, you should not be squeezing all the time. A horse needs to be taught to stay in the gait once it's in it. You ask for the trot using pressure and/or whatever cue you use (I like voice cues with my horse + leg, but sometimes he will give it to me with just a voice cue), and once he gives it to you, you remove the pressure. You only apply it again if he shows signs of breaking back into the walk. I have a horse that would rather go slow, so it wasn't easy at first, but now he knows that he is supposed to stay in the trot until I tell him he can walk. This requires a lot of good timing and consistency. The goal is to teach the horse what is expected of him, and that if he doesn't give it to you, you will escalate. 

If you're always squeezing, how does the horse know that he is doing it correctly? How do you escalate, more pressure? That sounds very inefficient. You shouldn't be working harder than the horse. 

As for not cantering, that's hard to judge because everyone is different. There's no point in rushing things before you're ready.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Squeezing, as a cue, is a bad idea. I would not even 'squeeze' to ask for an increase in gait. You bump, or tap or 'flutter' with your lower leg. Before that, you learn how to just raise the energy in your body. That sounds really 'woo-woo', but if you are riding your horse, and you look at a somewhat distant point, like the other end of the arena, and you say. "Let's go there !! come on! let's go over there!" and you get internally mentally pumped to go there, your horse will totally pick up on that change in your energy. If they don't, we then put a little bit of bump type pressure with the lower leg. I like to think of it as plumping a pillow with the inside point of your ankle bone. Not squeezing, bumping and plumping and upping your energy. 
Just as you suggested, squeezing will dull out your horse.


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## jgnmoose (May 27, 2015)

Horses don’t like nags and knee squeezers.

Sounds kind of like she was teaching Western Dressage and if so I can’t comment because really every specialty has things like that.


If you have options, check out the trainers teaching something that you want to do and that is probably going to work out best.


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## PrairieBunny (Aug 13, 2020)

Thank you so much everyone. These responses solidified my decision to not take lessons from that instructor anymore.

The barn I board at ended up hiring a trainer, so I am taking lessons with her instead. And now it's on my own horse, so she can cater more towards my horses needs.

I think the other trainer was very much more "old school" and less "listen to the horse". I have had two lessons with the new instructor and have learned so much more about my riding and what my horse needs in a rider. She is working with me and my horse to un-learn constant squeezing during trot, and learn a proper seat. After just those two lessons, I can already seat the trot so much better than I could after months with the first trainer!


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

I also want to point out that a lot of school horses are already dead to the leg and so instructors encourage clients to use more even though it IS technically wrong. There is only one place I've gone where the instructors, who own the yard and raise and train their horses, are very consistent in their teaching. They rotate horses so they don't get sour and they will scream at any rider that is "kicking". It's really hard to train a horse consistently with different riders of varying levels on them - they really are angels. I much prefer that you're taking lessons on your own horse. This way you can learn what is right. But then when I ride at a school again or a different horse I have to adjust, even if it means initially doing the wrong thing. We can't really train a horse in 30minutes to ride like we'd prefer and what is standard :< Good luck with your lessons


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I ride western and I never hold a constant squeeze. I usually just bump or nudge to cue. The closest I come to squeezing constantly is if my horse gets a particularly bumpy trot and then I sort of wrap my legs around their barrel a bit to help keep myself in the saddle. I am sitting the trot (I never learned to post) so on rare occasions I will "leg wrap" if the horse is bouncy. But mainly my legs just drape and I do a little bump or nudge to cue. Once at the desired gait my legs are "off." Perhaps the term bump or nudge is even too much.....it's more like I curl my heel into their barrel to cue but then release all pressure.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Constantly squeezing for an hour lesson? Geez I would've quit that nonsense after 5 minutes.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Haven't read all replies, but I'm bound to be repeating - no, you should absolutely not be squeezing all the time with your legs. That said, is it possible this is a misunderstanding? As IMO it's fine to squeeze lightly with your thighs to help you balance, and you can rest your calves on your horse - they don't need to be off the horse's sides completely.

The thing is, 90% of teaching/reinforcing cues to horses is negative reinforcement - that is, removal of pressure in order to tell the horse he's done Right. So if you have pressure on all the time, where's the 'out' for him? He isn't being reinforced for Right answers, so he's not going to be motivated to do them. The 'cues' will essentially become meaningless. That's when people say their horse is 'dead to the leg' or has a 'hard mouth' regarding ignoring bit pressure, etc.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

waresbear said:


> Constantly squeezing for an hour lesson? Geez I would've quit that nonsense after 5 minutes.


Sounds like a good workout tho! OP must have thighs of steel!


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Acadianartist said:


> If you're always squeezing, how does the horse know that he is doing it correctly? How do you escalate, more pressure?


Something I saw on FB...


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## Part-Boarder (Aug 17, 2019)

I agree with everything above (no 100% squeezing especially on your own horse). The lesson horse you were riding was probably a school horse that has become deadened to lighter aids


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## Whinnie (Aug 9, 2015)

I agree with Loosie about definition. She may have meant "contact" when she said squeezing. I have learned to always ask what is meant as different instructors can have different definitions and what they mean might not be what you hear.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

loosie said:


> Sounds like a good workout tho! OP must have thighs of steel!


I was seriously cussing under my breath at an instructor who had me ride in 2 point, no stirrups for part of lesson, lol. Effective. But seriously, I think constantly squeezing a horse's sides, would dull them to that cue. They don't listen to your legs , step it up, use a dressage whip, they will start listening to leg at a reasonable pressure.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

waresbear said:


> Constantly squeezing for an hour lesson? Geez I would've quit that nonsense after 5 minutes.


Are you sure she's not a beach body instructor? Talk about muscle tone!


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## PrairieBunny (Aug 13, 2020)

loosie said:


> Haven't read all replies, but I'm bound to be repeating - no, you should absolutely not be squeezing all the time with your legs. That said, is it possible this is a misunderstanding? As IMO it's fine to squeeze lightly with your thighs to help you balance, and you can rest your calves on your horse - they don't need to be off the horse's sides completely.
> 
> The thing is, 90% of teaching/reinforcing cues to horses is negative reinforcement - that is, removal of pressure in order to tell the horse he's done Right. So if you have pressure on all the time, where's the 'out' for him? He isn't being reinforced for Right answers, so he's not going to be motivated to do them. The 'cues' will essentially become meaningless. That's when people say their horse is 'dead to the leg' or has a 'hard mouth' regarding ignoring bit pressure, etc.


She had definitely told me that I need to be sore after every lesson.

The trainer I had switched to (but am not using anymore for other drama reasons ...) introduced me to the different types of reinforcement and walked me through them like your explanation. I feel like that should be one of the first things to learn!




loosie said:


> Something I saw on FB...
> View attachment 1112821


That is a perfect example!


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## The Connemara Eventer (May 4, 2021)

PrairieBunny said:


> I've been taking western riding lessons from a lady I found on Craigslist for about 6 months now. At first I thought she was great. I was pretty rusty and had just adopted my own horse (fairly green). Lessons are on her horse, and they started with bareback pad to get my seat in walk and trot, then we switched to saddle. I only just started cantering last month, because we spent so much time working on sitting the trot.
> 
> She has taught me to constantly squeeze with my thighs when walking. Then when trotting, it's constant pressure from calves and thighs. I am a green rider and went with it, but talking with some other ladies at the barn my horse is at (they ride mostly english or they post the trot), they were saying that is not good and will result in a horse dull to leg pressure. I tried not squeezing with my calves when trotting on my horse, and I was actually able to seat it better, but had a hard time holding her in a trot.
> 
> ...


Hey there ! 
I have some experience with western and English riding (primarily English for right now). I would not be squeezing 100% of the time, I squeeze or rub when I feel my gelding ‘slipping’ out of the trot. Granted, my gelding has two moods- wanting to go and lazy. He can get slow while I use him English . To keep him from slipping, I give small pressure every now and then when needed. For cantering, it really depends on what your instructor thinks. I personally started cantering about a month or two into riding as my instructor thought I had it all down. I would politely ask if you could try and work on cantering . 
I wouldn’t look for a new instructor unless they won’t allow you to canter, or if you truly feel you aren’t progressing. Maybe find an instructor that can come to you ?


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## Riding.Rain (Oct 22, 2021)

PrairieBunny said:


> I've been taking western riding lessons from a lady I found on Craigslist for about 6 months now. At first I thought she was great. I was pretty rusty and had just adopted my own horse (fairly green). Lessons are on her horse, and they started with bareback pad to get my seat in walk and trot, then we switched to saddle. I only just started cantering last month, because we spent so much time working on sitting the trot.
> 
> She has taught me to constantly squeeze with my thighs when walking. Then when trotting, it's constant pressure from calves and thighs. I am a green rider and went with it, but talking with some other ladies at the barn my horse is at (they ride mostly english or they post the trot), they were saying that is not good and will result in a horse dull to leg pressure. I tried not squeezing with my calves when trotting on my horse, and I was actually able to seat it better, but had a hard time holding her in a trot.
> 
> ...


I would NOT be applying pressure the whole time, though I’m an English rider. I give gentle squeezes every other beat of the trot when the horse I have is being difficult to keep trotting. Also, that isn’t slow progress, it just means you’re taking time to learn the basics, making you a better rider in the long run. I hope my advice helps!


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

I'm not sure if this has been already suggested as I didn't read all the responses but if you have your own horse at a different facility could you take lessons there on your own horse?


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## Caballera (Sep 10, 2021)

I don't agree with your trainer. I'm a western rider, but pressure is pretty much the same however you're riding. I only apply pressure when needed, such as if my horse starts to break gait, or I'd like him/her to speed up. I'm also very vocal about my cues, and usually just putting the reins forward and cueing them is all I need to do to get them to speed up. But I have ridden horses before that need alot more "umph" to get them going. But no, I don't like your trainer's opinion about putting pressure on them the entire time. I'd probably get a new trainer. 

About the cantering... I cantered in my second lesson. (Once a week lessons) My trainer was lunging the horse, and she told me just to focus on keeping my rump in the seat. In other words, I didn't have any reins, and I did hold on the the saddle horn. A few lessons later I was loping (or cantering) on my own around the arena. If you feel like you're ready for it, and want to do it and you're trainer won't let you... Get a new trainer. It's hard to find the right trainer for you, but just keep searching- eventually you'll find the right one.


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