10/11/2026
This post is about the best riding student I ever taught 30 some years ago. I post it every football season. I had a barn in upscale Bucks County, outside Philadelphia, near the Horse Park. At one point a NFL Philadelphia Eagles player contacted me about lessons. His daughters got into horses and were taking lessons at a Hunter Jumper barn. He wanted to be able to ride with them, so he wanted riding lessons from a male coach.
He played the very demanding position of cornerback and he was a starter. Heaven knows what his annual salary was, probably more than I have made my entire life. He was a very nice guy and an absolute pleasure to teach. Keep in mind that a professional athlete at his level had been coached since elementary school. He was, no doubt, an outstanding high school player, then a top rated college player to get where he was. Throughout his development and career, he probably had the best coaches and then he came to me. I have no idea how and why.
Once he got over being with a huge animal, he was good to go. His body awareness was off the charts. His reflexes were lightning fast but also remarkably fluid. He was not a small man by any means, and he was solid muscle. Fortunately, I had a quiet but advanced large horse for him to ride. A good instructor can see twenty things that a student could improve, but we only tell students one or two of these issues at a time to work on. If an instructor tells a student too many needed changes or improvements, students get overwhelmed. Not this athlete.
He had been so well coached, for so much of his life, that there were almost no limits to coaching him. After only a few lessons I could tell him what adjustment he needed to make in his knees, changes in his fingers on the reins, hip angle in different gaits. He processed coaching pretty much all at once during a lesson with never coming close to blowing a fuse in his mind.
He got bored, so we started jumping after his fourth lesson and it wasn't at all a stretch for him. A few more lessons later he was jumping 3 feet very effectively with natural ease. I do not teach the crest release, but rather the automatic release with a jumping strap from the beginning. Two jumping lessons and the strap was no longer necessary. He balanced perfectly with his feet in the irons.
I think it was lesson eight or nine when I realized I was coaching him on a competitive level. We were working on shortening and lengthening the stride in the approach. Every correction I taught him, he immediately made, and the improvement was permanent.
After weeks of lessons, I told him that he could become a top professional rider. I was thinking Grand Prix Jumping. We were at the barn untacking when I told him my thoughts. His response was interesting. He stopped, looked me straight in the eye and said, "How much do they make?"
At that time I said a top pro can make $400,000 to $500,000 a year. And then I realized my stupidity. His facial expression changed, and he looked at me like I was trying to sell him a high mileage used car. He probably made that much per game in the NFL.
After a couple more lessons, he thanked me, and we said goodbye. I learned so much from coaching him. The experience helped me to better identify young students with high potential. It was a great, but a brief, high point to my teaching career, and afterward I enjoyed watching him on TV.
