08/13/2026
# 50 Learning to Teach
In 1958 I had an excellent start as a rider from the Ecuadorian Military Police. I was competing by 1959 after intensive training. When I returned to the US, there were very few dressage riders in South Florida. I had no intention of being an instructor at first. I wanted to be a good rider, and that was it.
I started riding horses for people in my teens, and eventually I was asked to explain what I was doing when I rode. All my training had been in Spanish, so finding the right words in English was very difficult. I read lots of books in English to help me with the correct terminology, but it was not enough.
I learned to express myself with mental pictures and off beat descriptions of what I felt. To explain to riders the need to ride every stride, I could say "stir the gravy to get the lumps out " , or to convey the softness and throughness feeling I might say " he has to let your aids go into him like he is a marshmallow, not like an avocado... an avocado rolls away from your aids and remains the same shape, the marshmallow lets you change it's shape".
My riding has always focused on softening the horse's body. I might use restraint on the reins to get the horse's midsection moving, but I never used the reins to pull back. I would walk beside the horse and not allow the rider to pull the horse's head backwards by me holding the bit and keeping walking or trotting at a consistant speed. I called it head speed... and the head speed should always stay the same, and the hind end should speed up to engage.
I would run next to the rider and pull his leg off and on to show him about intermittent aids and to develop feel for the timing. Eventually I learned to long line the horse with the rider on board, and holding on to the long lines to feel what I was doing, and how the horse would respond to correct or incorrect aids. I could use the lunge whip to create the forward a rider might be to afraid to ask for, and control the horse from the long lines so no one got hurt.
I used to think that anyone could be a good rider, just like any horse can do dressage, just some better than others. But I kept failing to get riders to progress as fast as their horses. It occurred to me that controlling a horse is much easier than controlling yourself. Whether it is controlling your body or your mind - riding is about mastery of oneself.
I was now on a mission to learn about people. How they learned, how they handled information and concepts, how they handled fear of failure, whether it was fear of injury or embarrassment.
I read books on teaching.. teaching tennis, teaching piano, teaching martial arts, I learned about different learning styles. I discovered that I liked to teach with physical touch and mental imagery, which worked with the sensory riders. I experimented with a more academic approach with handouts and book chapters to read for the printed word learners. I used music to develop consistant tempo control and breathing for those that were auditory processors. I rode demos for those that learned visually.
I had my students do phycological tests to learn more about them; the Meyers Briggs, the Eneagram, the color tests, the Herman brain function tests...anything to learn how to teach them more effectively!
I studied anatomy of humans and equines to learn what body types would benefit from what system. People who were long waisted had different problems than short waisted riders. And men took a different approach than what would work for a woman.
It was after my back repair that I became a better communicator since I was not going to ride every horse at every clinic. I used my long lining skills still, but I had to find a way to, essentially, teach a feel using words. I developed even more mental pictures and strange descriptions. For example; squeaky toy hips to get people to let go and follow the horse, greasy arm pits to describe allowing the body to move through the arms, the exoskeleton idea of that support comes from all the outside muscles on your body - not the inside ones, the doggie door idea that your back and shoulders are the framework to hold a flexible doggie door of your hips that let the horse's back move through easily...until you firm up your hips and make the doggie door not move and the horse stops or slows down. I would say hold your hands Iike you have ice cream cones in them...don't drop the ice cream!
I would explain that on the bit is not leaning on the bit, and that it makes no sense to expect your delicate disks to "absorb" the horses movement when your huge ball and socket hip joints are better equipped to both allow movement to go through, or restrict movement by stilling and absorbing movement.
So, I taught for about 15 years or so for free just to learn how to do it. Safety was my first priority, and in my whole career, I have never had a student break anything during a lesson.
I taught pony club, Doctors wives, and trainers. I learned from everyone and I got better. Eventually I was traveling out of state to do 3 day clinics 50 weekends a year. Almost all of the clinics occurred because someone saw me ride. Once in a while it was from referrals. I taught for 30 years without a business card or any ads. It was totally word of mouth or seeing me ride.
I think my biggest draw was that I never had the perfect rider's body. I'm 5'1 and thickly built. I never looked the part and I think that gave many people the confidence to sign up. I have some students that have been with me for 40 years or so.
I have been lucky to have been able to find the kind of students that I can help. I have always tried to find the talent in my students for their benefit, not mine. And although they have been winners in the show ring, they realize that we do this for the benefit of the horse.. he is not our "equipment for winning"... he is our partner, our friend.
My achievement as an instructor was being named an outstanding instructor by the American Riding Instructor Certification Program.
My achievement as a rider is that people wanted to learn from me, and that my horses were always calm and supple partners.
