# Things Riding Instructors Say



## PaintedHeart (May 24, 2011)

This is basically just a list of the frequently heard phrases in any horse person's life. These are the types of things I hear most every lesson. What do your riding instructors say?

"HEELS DOWN!" 
"LEG LEG LEG"
"A little more bend!"
"One more time!"
"Steady with that outside rein"
"Get after her!"
"Now what do you think you could have done a little different?" 
"Good! Much better!" 
"Shoulders back!" 
"Better! Now do it again."
"Sit DOWN in the saddle!"
"Do you like that walk/trot/canter?" (The correct answer is no :lol


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## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

"Keep your heels down"
"Look, look, look!" (When doing the barrel pattern)
"Is he doing good?" (referring to the horse I'm riding)
"Turn him into the fence if he won't listen"


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## jmike (Aug 21, 2013)

"don't look down, look ahead"
"sit snooty" (head up, chest out)


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## Luce73 (Dec 7, 2012)

"Look where you're going" (when i look to the inside of my circle xD) 
"Is that the right diagonal you're positng on?" 
"What canterlead do you think you picked up there?" 
"One more lap, come on GET UP OUT OF THAT SADDLE!" (when posting with no stirrups)


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## mslady254 (May 21, 2013)

'traditional lessons' :

Toes in
Heels down
Sit up straight
Look up

Lessons with a Parelli instructor:

what are you trying to do ??
Keep your focus
Never release on a brace
You just let him change your focus
trust your horse
have you been practicing your yields ?
hindquarter yields into direct rein for 180 degree turns now
have you been practicing your yields ? ? ?
everyone ride the cloverleaf pattern, try not to use the reins :lol: (controlled chaos ensues)


and the dreaded..."what did you learn this session?"...I've got so much running thru my head by the end of the session that I'm still trying to absorb , that I almost always draw a blank on this and babble out something trivial. 

Fay


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## Elsa5 (May 4, 2014)

My trainer does dressage and ive only ever ridden western, shes appalled by all aspects of western riding! Some things she regularly says...
"Stop riding like a cowboy!"
"Get some thigh muscles and start posting!"
"Dont let her look like some backyard barrel horse!"
"Talk to her!"
"Relax"
"Change her thinking habits!"
"Now shes jogging pretty!"
"Get her feeling like an Olympic dressage horse!"
"CIRCLES, SQUARES, DIAGONALS, SERPENTINES, SPIRALS!!!!!!"


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## southernbound (May 17, 2014)

When I'm riding my colt:
" Uh oh we lost his brain"
"Don't let him pull you to that corner"
"If you don't use your stirrups when he does that I'm going to hitch them up even more" 
"Get him off that bit"

With a reining instructor:
"That wasn't a circle.... I don't know what that was"
"You aren't looking high enough on those stops, know what, look at the top of the tree ok? Yes the top"
"Get your hips out in front of you"
"Keep doing that and her spin is going to land you on your face, sit back"


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I don't take regular lessons, but I did do a clinic once and I kept getting "belly button, belly button!" Because I have a habit of pulling my reins out to the side for some reason instead of back towards me. 

Now when I catch myself doing it, I tell myself "belly button, belly button." :lol:


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

"Stirrups on the balls of your feet, not home: that is one of your springs."

"Close your hands, they look like claws! Closed hands are soft hands, claws are aaugh, they are horrible, rough, grabby claws!"

"Don't ride with your tongue, ride with your belly button. It should point the way."

"Riding is the only legal sport I know of which primarily uses the pelvis."

"If you ride with your tongue out, and he jumps, you will lose it!"

"You don't like to post without stirrups? Oh, dear, for now that will be the focus of this lesson..."

"Don't forget to breathe!"

..and my all time best compliment, ever...
"You are worried you will ruin the horse? With a seat like yours, that will never happen."


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Elsa5 said:


> My trainer does dressage and ive only ever ridden western, shes appalled by all aspects of western riding! Some things she regularly says...
> "Stop riding like a cowboy!"
> "Get some thigh muscles and start posting!"
> "Dont let her look like some backyard barrel horse!"
> ...


I LOVE your Instructor!!! Can I have her?


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## sarahfromsc (Sep 22, 2013)

The same as above, but my all time favorite is: "he will make you a better rider!" after a particularly trying and frustrating lesson. Oh, ok, after every particularly trying and frustrating lesson.

The truth is, she has been correct.


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## Saranda (Apr 14, 2011)

"Hold that indirect rein, hold it, HOLD IT!"
"Breathe, smile, praise him - he needs to know he's done a good job!"
"You don't need faster, you need LONGER."
"Feel him, help him find his rhythm!"
"I want you to count his strides. Yes, out loud. I mean it. Now canter!"
"Shoulders down, chin up, look where you're going!"
"Well, that was an original way to do it!"
"Okay, no more stirrups for you!"
"Feel proud of what you've achieved. That will make him proud of himself as well."


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

One that has always stuck with me from my old coach... "ONE BOOB ON EACH SIDE OF THE HORSES NECK!!" from a jumping lesson because I don't fold enough at the hips over fences. 

Some my students would say i'm known for

"Pick your nose with your toes"
"Outside rein to inside leg"
"Eyes! Eyes! Eyes!"
"If you keep looking at the ground you're going to eat the ground"


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## Raven13 (Apr 12, 2013)

"Squeeze him forward as soon as you get on, don't fiddle trying to pick up your stirrups you can do that when he's moving. Let him know it's time to work."
"Work him from the inside leg to outside rein."
"Give a little leg before every jump, never trust that they are going to just do it"
"Half-halt!"
"Push your weight deep into the inside heel."
"Good, he's nice there."
"Good, you feel that?"
"Give me a little circle."
"Keep your hands down, push them into his neck."
"Lengthen the reins and let him stretch down." She will do this at every gait and the feeling is incredible the horse is so relax and free moving when he does it. I also got my best compliment from her regarding this, I told her that the particular horse I was riding's owner thought I was riding with too tight of reins (which she does have me ride with contact on the bit, but it is not tight or restricting, all the slack is just out to the point that all I have to do to direct my horse is pull on just my ring finger or squeeze my fist tighter) So I told her what the owner said and asked her if I rode with too short of reins, she responded to it with "No, you have very soft hands, if you didn't he wouldn't stretch down like that when you let him."

She has me do a stretching exercise in the saddle which releases tension I didn't even know was there, it goes a little something like this.

"Walk him on a long rein, drop your stirrups and hang your legs. Point your toes up, then point them down. Sit up tall and roll your shoulders back. Keep doing it, go all the way around. Good, now pick up your stirrups." <--I swear every time I do that my legs feel so much longer and I can really wrap them around my horse.


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## CrossCountry (May 18, 2013)

"Boobs to Jesus!!!!"


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

The death sentence: "Now how do YOU feel that went?" 

Alongside what everyone's posted when a horse starts bucking my instructor will start screaming instructions laced with profanities at me. One of the funniest sights people tell me they see. She jumps up and down like a mad woman coaching me through the buck, rear, bolt, whatever and gets so ecstatic. :lol: Gotta love instructors.


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## tempest (Jan 26, 2009)

Not all of these were said to me. But these are some of her more common phrases.

"Heels down."
"Steady your leg."
"Relax."
"Look where you want to go."
"Keep her moving forward."
"Keep her head up!"
"Grow a pair!"
"Buck up!"
"Shoulders back."
"Grow some gonads!"
"Don't let her get away with that!"
To another person: "Hey, can you hold on? A rider decided to fall off/use the wrong bit/let the horse take control."
"Lower/raise your hands."
"I'll see you at the a** crack of dawn."
"You're a P.I.T.A. sometimes."
"Breathe!"
"Sometimes it's okay to show that you're having fun."


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## Cimarron (Oct 8, 2014)

"Toes in"
"Your hands are a riverbank"
"Don't throw away your rains"
"Tell him he's good"

And today we were working on collection so it was a lot of
"slower walk/trot"
"more collection, more collection, more collection"
(without her really teaching me exactly how)


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## beverleyy (Oct 26, 2011)

I don't have an instructor anymore, but some frequent phrases I've heard over the years

referring to my dead lazy hunter mare:
"now there's your fancy hunter!"
"is she going how your want?" (this is where I should respond with a no, lol)
"LEG! MORE LEG! I SAID LEG! KICK HER, MAKE HER GOOOO!" 
"is she dead? (no) well then make her move!"
"keep cantering. canter doesn't mean trot."
"do you need a crop?" (this is where I better answer yes)

referring to my hot/unpredictable mare:
"why is your leg on her!?"
"congratulations, you didn't die"
"NOSE TO THE FENCE!"
"SLOW DOWN!"
"stop posting so fast! adjust her to you, not the other way around"
"slower, slower, EVEN SLOWER"
"HANG ON!"


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## MinervaELS (Mar 4, 2014)

"Look across your circle! ACROSS your circle!"
"What kind of trot is that? Come on, put some leg on her! Don't let her just dink around!" 
Though sometimes she switches it up with,
"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you trail riding? Just plodding along? Because I could have sworn we're in the arena right now. There's a fence as if it's an arena. There are jumps as if it's an arena. But if we were in the arena you would be doing a working walk, so we must not be in the arena."
"Outside rein... outside rein... MORE outside rein!"
"Don't praise her for that. That was sh--ty."
And my personal favorite...
"What the h--- was _that_?!"


:lol:


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## The Fault In Our Stride (Dec 6, 2014)

Being a part time instructor for the pony club myself, things I often say without thinking include
''Check that diagonal''
''Beautiful''
''Watch the strides''
''Push him on, push him on''
''Check your girth now''
''Bit faster''
''Squeeze him down''
''Lil bit slower''
''Take your time''
''Are you ok!''
''Get that crazy horse outta the lesson''

I guess I remember how nasty my riding instructor was and decided I'd be really nice when I was older haha


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## horseNpony (Sep 27, 2013)

Most common phrases Ive heard from my instructors over the years:
-Prepare to trot/canter, trot/canter on
-Flex her to the inside!
-Sit, sit, sit, sit, dont bounce!
-Outside leg, inside rein!
-Slow down the trot, calm her down 
-Heals down!
-Dont drop the ice creams (how I learnt how to hold my hands)
-Are you on the right diagonal? 
-Are you on the right leg?
-Your on the wrong leg, bring her back to a trot
-What's the training scale?
-How does her canter feel?
-Bring your legs back underneath you
-Give her a pat/scratch

And of course, at the end of every lesson: what will you remember for next week?


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Love these!

- You could look like you're having fun, you know.
- Shoulder blades!
- Look where you're going
- Stop moving so much
- He's the one who's supposed to be doing the work
- Don't throw away your reins!
- Shorten your reins. No, even shorter.
- Breathe. Keep breathing.
- More. More. More. Hold that.
- There! That right there! Yes!


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## Pony Paradise (Sep 16, 2014)

I hear these just about every lesson!

-heels down
-shorten your reins
-glue your butt to that saddle!
-what wrong with this circle? Where's the flexion?
-leg, leg, leg, leg, more leg, leg.. And it goes on...
-smack him with that crop! We don't want him dordelling!
-sit! Sit! Don't post, sit!
-that's it, no, wait, you just had it! What are you doing??


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

This thread made me look up my old dressage instructor on the internet, which I do every now and again just to feel as though I am still connected, only to discover that she passed away from this world last December. 

I am so sad!

She was such a huge part of my life, and I think about her all the time. Here is a picture of her which I nicked from the New England Dressage Association, which she not only created the logo for but which she helped found.

View attachment 560241


It says that her horse, Ross, is an OTTB, but she told me that she bought him... I can't remember now if he was in utero or only a weanling, but she rode his mother, loved her, and bought Ross then and there. Ahhm the tears are coming; I'd better go.


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## Cinder (Feb 20, 2011)

Captain Evil, I am so sorry for your loss. I am sure she will be missed :-(

My current instructor always says:

Heels need to be much lower than that
Inside leg to outside rein
Where are you going
Relax
Do you know what you're doing 
Did you feel that
How's that (trot, canter)
More bend
Knees on your saddle, your legs look funny when you stick them out like that
Toes out
Don't let him spook/keep his attention on you


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## Gossalyn (Sep 12, 2013)

* I want a trot that's 8 miles per hour! not 8.5, not 7!
* leg down, back, and in. (generally repeated 2-3x in a row)
* Breathe/Relax. (smell the coffee, blow out the candles)
* "come on my ninja turtle" (pet name that stuck when i wore a green shirt and hunched my shoulders forward)


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

My other favorite... "you need to take about 8 of those 10 batteries out of your bum amd slow that posting down!"


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## Luce73 (Dec 7, 2012)

"Stop him. STOP HIM. STOP. HIM. NOW. Ok, now come here-- Tell me, are you gonna smack a horse you dont know on the bum again? No? Good. Well sat."

(Yes I was an idiot today... Didnt fall of when he bucked spun and bolted though lol)


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## EponaLynn (Jul 16, 2013)

I used to show Hunter Over Fences (and everything else Hunter) for years, and then later when I switched to Quarter Horses, I had a Western coach tell me I didn't have the seat to ride my QH English! Crazy, she honestly had NO idea about English, but just wanted to be mean ~ it really annoyed me.

I posted a pic so you could get the idea that I had some IDEA about riding English ~ don't know if it will post. 

No helmet, I was young ~ my bad!


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

You look GREAT, and braver than me...although some of the stuff I did during our 26 years of CW Reenacting was kinda wild, even though I had a great horse to ride!
I am thoroughly enjoying this thread. NOBODY sets up a riding academy without loving the sport that he or she teaches, and it really shows.


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## PaintedHeart (May 24, 2011)

I'm loving reading all of these. I can hear so many of them in my trainer's voice - is that a good thing or a bad thing? :lol:

I just had another lesson last night on my mare (who's dead lazy), so I thought I'd add a few more: 

"There! Keep her there! Don't accept anything less than that!" 
"Shoulders down! Think droopy armpits"
"Get AFTER her when she does that!" 
"Half-halt"
"Beautiful! Do it again!" 
"While we're taking a small break here, let me see her sexy walk."
"Keep her cantering! She doesn't get to decide when to trot." 
"Very nice!"


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

"_THAT _was a circle? Looked like an egg to me."
"I think that was the shape of a letter D. Try an O."

Can you tell what my problem is?


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## Rebelwithacause (Aug 7, 2013)

These are funny-- I have a couple to add:

" Give her her face!"
" Look up, look up!"
" Turn her around! Don't let her win this argument!"


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## EliRose (Aug 12, 2012)

I have a habit of hunching up through the shoulders when I ride one of my team's horses who has a very short stride, so now my Western coach yells at me, "Don't be a turtle!"

My English coach:
When the horse I was riding refused to break for simple changes when doing a serpentine, "I said SIMPLE changes, not whatever weird flying-bucking thing that is!"
Riding my really, really lazy soft-mouthed personal horse for the first time in over a month, "Put your hands on the buckle! He's going to stop if you even brush his mouth!"
While at an IHSA show, "Don't you DARE hit that rail!"


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## cheyennemymare (Oct 8, 2014)

(Barrel racer)

"Watch that pocket!"
"_THAT_ was your pattern?"
"Look, look, LOOK!"
"Do not let that app bully you into a wide circle!" (When we lope small circles)
"Show him he can't blow that end pole!"
"Going to the last pole, swing him wide, pull him in, and LEG, leg, LEG!"
"Smooch, kick, pull, sit, turn... Ahh, better."
"You hate trotting the patterns without stirrups? Okay, go do it."
"Much better! Do it again..."
"SIT DOWN!"
"Bring him to first, and sit. Take him to second, and sit. Then to third, AND SIT."

So, after I get chewed out, cussed at, and worn down, she says...
"You'll have that app running 16's in no time. Keep up the good work, and I'll see you later."


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## Luce73 (Dec 7, 2012)

"Are you tired?"

there is no right answer to this question, if you say yes you'll be walking around on a loose rein for the rest of the lesson, if you say no you'll be posting with no stirrups.. yeah I love my trainer xD


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## mslady254 (May 21, 2013)

Not my regular instructor, but in a clinic last Spring:

for slouching--Point your headlights straight ahead..... up,,Up,,UP...dont shine them on the ground!Point them up. (several of us were 'slouchy'..and it was all ladies in the clinic...LOL )

Fay


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## corgi (Nov 3, 2009)

"Don't drop your shoulder!" (When turning around barrels)

"Stop looking at your horse..look up" (I do this ALL the time)


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## mslady254 (May 21, 2013)

Corgi's post made think of this one and it's variations:

Don't look at him, he's not going to change color.

Why are you looking at your horse?????

Where ARE you looking ??

Fay


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