The best lessons learned about my RDA riders, from my RDA riders
Mia riding in London with Park Lane Stables The best part about teaching people? You get to learn from people. It isn't the coach who's at the centre of a productive RDA session: it's the participants, aided by their horses. I've done a lot of thinking about RDA riders during my quiet first quarter of 2024: here are the best lessons my riders have taught me without even realising it. If you don't let me have a go, I'm not going to learn how. Years ago, I remember hearing a former coach mutter "X rider has been on Y horse for too long". I got a raised eyebrow for pointing out "that isn't the rider's fault" - but I knew I was right, because they weren't the one in charge of choosing who they rode each week. It's a grounding lesson for any coach to learn that if we don't put our students in a position to try - a new skill, a new horse, a new challenge - they aren't going to learn how to do it. There's common sense inv