Critique for my Daughter

Whoops, you're right :) I looked again and saw the saddles. The lady with the white pants that was getting the wrong lead looked like she was bareback! Another thing I noticed- Most of these horses need more leg in the transition. You can't take your leg off as soon as your horse switches gaits, you have to keep your leg on until you have a working canter.

Oh my goodness! She is absolutely lovely! It looks like she definitely was one of the most advanced riders.
The video you posted is really hard to judge anything from. Along the wall she was to far away to really see her well, and on the close wall, it was to close
She is a lovely, great position(from what I could see), and a very quiet rider. She did however look a little stiff with her position, but it was hard to really say what was happening again, due to the distance from which you were filming. The other thing I would suggest is to bring her hand up. You want to be able to see a straight line from her elbow to the horse's bit. She was doing what a lot of us do and had her a little to low into the base of the neck.

Did you have any other videos of her?

I will try and see if I can get a better video of her (haha, I'm not the best videographer that's for sure). It's such a long indoor arena I never know where to stand to get the best shot. Thank you for all the great critique. This thread has been so helpful and she is excited to try out all the new ideas.

I'm still trying to find a better video but while I was looking I found this one of her learning to canter exactly a year ago. This was her 3rd lesson. My she has come a long way. For all those newbies who get frustrated....stick with it. It takes time. :)

[youtube]http://youtu.be/25gP-IdD9Ws[/youtube]

Ooops, it wouldn't let me edit it. Here is the embedded video. BTW, that's my son in the aqua shirt on the grey. He stopped riding after about 4 months. He was really getting good but 1. He hated the outfits t show in, 2. He preferred to play with the owners son, and 3. As he put it "too many girls!!!!!! Blech".

Couple things I see in this video. Number one HEELS down. I also see or at least, think I do (bad eyes from far away) that she is riding in tennis shoes? If so, I never allow that. I like to see kids (or anyone for that matter) riding in a shoe or rather, boot with a heel. Dover Saddlery - Search Results for boots

Notice all the boots have a little heel. This will help to prevent the foot from sliding through the iron or getting hung up. A safety issue that I believe strongly in.

It is again hard to say too much in this video as she is working hard to do a transition and is losing her center of balance. Putting her weight in her heels and butt at this point would help. With riding, if you lose one thing, it tends to go a bit wonky which is what happened here. She is a lovely girl and with more transitions will come comfort in it. As they say "Rome wasn't built in a day" it takes practice and persistence. I like to see that the trainer this time was more focused on her rather then an enormous group of people riding. I think she will benefit from these more private lessons. Can't wait to see more. :)

I should have been clearer. That video you were referring to was of her very first lesson a year ago. The original video I posted that I want critique of her on is on the first page. That one is of her today. I just posted the video above to show how much she has changed.

Oh Thank Goodness I thought "How was she that much more solid in the earlier video?" ha ha

Still hold on the opinion of boots needed vs. tennis shoes for anyone. Also, like the idea of private lessons vs. huge groups. I don't think huge group lessons can do too much for someone. Things are missed that wouldn't be if the teacher was focused on you (her) Also, again for me, a safety issue.

Hahaha. Yeah, I realized after the fact that it was kind of confusing.

She takes one private lesson and one group lesson a week. I know it's an individual thing, but I kind of like throwing a few group lessons in because when she shows she was so much more prepared to ride among a large group of people then had she only taken private lessons.

As for the sneakers, I think each barn is different. They allow you to wear sneakers the first few lessons. I think because they have different level riders and many kids come to ride for the first time here. Just there policy. They ask that if you are going to continue to ride though you get proper boots.

What I love about this barn is that they have first time riders, National Champs, and all levels in between. They have older people who just want to ride again for fun and young riders who want to show. I've been really impressed with them and even though I was a little shell shocked about the price they obviously know what they are doing because that little girl in the previous video all wobbly and who couldn't get a canter going to save her life, in a year has improved a lot.

She certainly has improved and I am so happy it wasn't what I first thought upon seeing that second video. I thought maybe she had a big scare and totally lost her confidence. Ha ha

I agree that there is a benefit to doing an occasional group lesson. I guess I can see taking a lesson or two in the beginning without boots because you want to give a person an idea of whether or not they wish to invest in this hobby but safety is a big thing for me. Helmets are a must too even though I have been known to jump on horses without either proper shoes or helmet here and there, I always try to teach "proper safety" first.

The group lesson thing for me just scares me because of past history. I spent a month at a "show barn" where there was an instructor that gave huge group lessons while she sat on the end of the arena and read a magazine. Boarders were also able to ride in the large indoor while she was doing these lessons so it was very busy in there at times.

Once while I was riding a Morgan Stallion, I saw a Quarter horse (lesson horse) go down with his young rider and try to roll. The child's leg was pinned and the horrid teacher didn't even notice. I screamed at her and took my gaited whip to try to get the horse up but had to keep control of my horse. I was finally able to get the horse up and the kid was scared to death. I just remember seeing his eyes, terrified as this horse was rolling up over his tiny body. That woman should have been in jail as far as I was concerned. I know she got sued a few times for things like that. It just makes me a bit MORE defensive about things. Not saying that could happen in your situation as your teacher was obviously intently watching her students. Just flashbacks, you know?