krossen@bbncca.ARPA (Ken Rossen) (10/24/85)
I hope this gets to net.rec ... my machine hasn't been receiving anything in
it for a while.
About the cross-posting ... please followup to net.rec ONLY. I am
cross-posting to net.pets to tap those horse enthusiasts who may not read
net.rec. Flames by private mail or not at all, please.
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In a private mail discussion touched off by the horse postings in
net.singles we stumbled onto an interesting topic: the relative willingness
of top-notch instructors in various equestrian disciplines to take on
mid-level students.
When my wife and I moved to New England, her previous instructor in
Illinois (an up-and-coming star on the dressage scene) gave us the names of
some people to check into in this area. The names we were eventually led
to were pretty famous (some nationally) instructors. Like one instructor
who rode dressage in the '76 Olympics.
Karen (my wife) is a good rider, but she's pretty new to dressage (within
the last couple of years), having done hunter/jumpers for so long. That
nonwithstanding, the instructors in this area, even the best-known ones,
were very helpful and friendly, and certainly willing to take Karen on as a
student, even though she's not very advanced and doesn't have a fancy
warmblood (at least not yet ;-). She has settled on taking lessons from
a young instructor in the area who is long listed for USET Dressage in the
'88 Olympics (actually her previous instructor was long-listed too).
Is this willingness on the part of very good instructors to take on
students not dripping with experience (or throwing money every which way)
particular to dressage? It's occurred to us that an analogous situation
with hunt seat, say, showing up in George Morris' aisle asking about
lessons, when it was perfectly clear that you aren't super hot stuff and
aren't planning to shell out $30K for a fancy thoroughbred, would get you
thrown out of the barn quicker'n you could say boo. I recall the scathing
comments Morris makes about people in his Practical Horseman column. sheesh!
Do any of you out there ride in combined training? What's the situation
like on that end? Is it that dressage hasn't yet become as RICH a
discipline as hunt seat, and therefore isn't as lofty?
Equestrians, speak up!
--
Ken Rossen ...!{decvax,ihnp4,ima,linus,harvard}!bbncca!krossen
... or ... krossen@bbnccp.ARPA