Tips for choosing a trainer in equestrian sports

Progress in any sport is impossible when working without a coach.

Today, equestrian sport in Russia is experiencing its “new birth”, and the choice of equestrian coaches in the service market is quite large. Therefore, before you start looking for your trainer, we invite you to find out what an equestrian trainer needs to know and be able to do.

Coach in English translation – Is trainer (from the verb to train – to educate, train, prepare).

The coach carries out educational and training work aimed at educating, training and improving skills, developing the functional capabilities of their wards.

The younger and more inexperienced the athlete, the more he needs an experienced and qualified coach. A coach for an experienced athlete is more like a colleague, a consultant, and not a teacher, like a child or a young man or an amateur athlete.

It should be noted that the statistics show that most often the best coaches are not obtained from athletes who have shown high results in competitions, but from riders of the middle category. This can be explained by the fact that the average athlete, who is not naturally endowed with outstanding abilities or has not worked with top-class horses, needs to think and analyze more about how to achieve results using the available opportunities. And it is quite obvious that a good coach cannot be made from a person, even a graduate of the Institute of Physical Education, who has only a theoretical relation to sports.

It is also essential to distinguish between youth, professional and amateur sports. A coach working with children and young men does not have to be a great sportsman in the past, but, of course, he must be a competent, cultured, patient and qualified specialist, in some ways a teacher.

In addition, the compatibility of the athlete and the coach is also important. Speaking of a coach in equestrian sports, it should be remembered that he trains two partners at the same time: the athlete and his horse. Work with an athlete begins with the selection of a horse, soless to see a horse! The coach must understand horses, and understand that not every, even a good and experienced horse, at the moment will suit a particular rider.

The issue of choosing and buying a horse, in which the coach must take part, is a very responsible event, often after a short time ending in disappointment. A veterinary or sports trainer’s mistake made at this stage of work may turn out to be completely irreparable in the future, regardless of the involvement of any outstanding specialists. Conversely, a well-acquired talented horse can help a rider achieve excellent results even in the hands of a not-so-great trainer.

A coach must constantly improve his skills, realizing that sport does not stand still and the methods that led to victory 20-30 years ago may not be suitable for ours. An equestrian trainer is a unique specialist, not found in any other sport. Even an experienced sport horse, ready to train a rider, under a child, youth or amateur will need correction, and here the trainer will have to play the role of a guard.

The competitive part of the preparation of the rider and the horse must be carefully thought out and argued by the trainer. At the beginning of the season, a performance plan for the year is drawn up, which, depending on the circumstances and the state of health of the horse, is adjusted in the working order.

It happens that the state of health of the horse changes the tournament plans and puts another requirement on the coach’s qualification: to understand veterinary issues, coordinating his actions with the veterinarian. When, how much and what to feed the horse, the trainer also decides, he also distributes the load of the horse in training. Vitamins, mineral and specialized supplements, taking into account the opinion of the veterinarian, are prescribed by the trainer, so as not to make problems with doping control.

If, in addition to all of the above, the coach is also a good teacher and organizer, this is good, but … .. there are very few such specialists, and fate does not always provide them with good working conditions. There is a saying: “Victory is the merit of the athlete, defeat is the fault of the coach.” She is probably right, although it seems unfair. A real coach in a good team with well-established working relationships is responsible for everything, because he provides the main thing – the result. It is difficult to judge a coach who does not have all the opportunities for work, he is good or bad. A great analyst can be an undemanding organiser, a great teacher can be weak in equestrian training, and an all-around strong specialist can work for a wayward employer. In any of these cases, you will never get a result.

KSK «Golden Horse» 23th of January 2017
Thank you for an excellent article! Response
Tatyana2017 29th of January 2017
What wonderful words! Unfortunately, there are very few such trainers, especially for children, but they do exist. Unfortunately, most parents do not understand the importance of this and, as a result, unrealized talents of children and disappointed parents. Answer
Asia_Tainaya 7 April 2017 city
Completely agree with you! Answer