Yesterday I told you how I left Singapore and moved to the USA in search of a trainer that could help me find a better, kinder, more gentle way of training and achieving the performance I was after.
The US has a TON of trainers! Wow, I had my research cut out for me. So I asked everyone I knew. A few people, including 2 dressage judges, said "anyone but XYZ". Now, I'm not mentioning names here because, this, Kandoo Equine, is a nice place and devoid of that kind of negativity but they were pretty adamant!
John Lyons was the one name that kept coming up with people from all disciplines. One woman, in particular, an ex-Irish Olympic team member who I happened to be riding and teaching with, was particularly keen that I go to him. She actually even offered me her Prix St George gelding to take with me (I cannot begin to tell you how pleased I was that I didn't take her up on that offer!).
John Lyons described himself as a 'conditioned-response' trainer. Having done a few years of psychology at university, half a lifetime ago, this made sense to me. It certainly made a lot more sense than a lot of the other airy-fairy mythology that was popular at the turn of the century (I never tire of saying that!).
So, hi-ho-hi-ho, it's off to John I go.
You can catch up with this story a bit later, next up we're back to your horse but don't forget to leave me a comment.
