A coach for horse riding should mesh well with the student, they should have good credentials and they should be respectful. Pick a coach that creates a desired environment for horse riding with helpful advice in this video on horse training and dressage.
So, when you're starting out to ride or even if you have been riding for a long time, you definitely need a coach or a trainer. Everyone does, even the top professionals. Everyone rides with someone, whether it's a ground person, or day-to-day lessons, or a lesson a month, it's very important to have that eye on the ground and someone to keep on you about things that you need to be kept on about. I think some important qualities on looking for a coach are, you would want to have a coach that you mesh well with, you understand, you respect. I think it's important to see how your coach rides, and want to aspire to ride like that coach. Looking at their credentials, looking at what they've done, looking at their riding, how they are with people. How their students ride is very important. And if you're going out to look for a coach, maybe a great thing would be to ask if you could sit in on one of their lessons and watch how they teach a lesson to see if you like that kind of riding style, because some people like to have a more vigorous lesson, other people are happy with someone who's a little more diplomatic. So it's very individual, and it depends solely on the rider. Do they want to be pushed? Do they want to be in a competition-like barn? Or do you want to be in a more recreational-type environment and have fun? And what is your coach willing to do? What kind of schedule do they have? Are they competing a lot? Will they be around a lot to teach you? Or are you happy to ride in group lessons? So, looking at what kind of facility you'd like to be in, whether it be a competition facility, stable, or maybe it would be a riding school. And looking at also the different types of people that ride in that environment, whether you're comfortable with wanting to be around people you own age, young kids, or more amateur ladies, or professionals. So I think it's important to do a lot of research and definitely find out about your coach's credentials before you decide who you want to ride with. And how they are as a person, I think, says a lot about their abilities.
