Interview with:Mary McGuire Smith [piaffe4me]
PROFESSION
 | What is your profession? What is your title printed on your business card? Dressage Instructor |
| What links do you have on the Internet: website, blog, social networks? |
| Do you usually attended seminars or coursework to advance your professional work or would you consider yourself a more self-taught person? I regularly attend clinics and seminars with world-leaders and masters in dressage, such as Michael Poulin, Christoff Hess, Henk van Bergen, Ingrid Klimke, among others, and have trained both in the US and in Europe (Germany primarily, but also Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, and France). Riding, training and teaching riding is an all-consuming passion, in which you learn every day at least something, whether it is taught by humans or the horses theselves. |
| Which publications associated with your field do you regularly read? Dressage Today
USDF Connections
Equestrian
Chronicle of the Horse
Riding Instructor
PferdMarkt
Horse and Hound |
| How do you feel about speaking in front of an audience? What experience have you had in this arena? I enjoy speaking in front of audiences. A fair amount of the time, I am speaking to an audience when I give lessons and/or clinics, because there are almost always people watching and I try to include them whenever possible. I have also spoken in front of audiences in conventions, during my certification process, and in other areas of my life besides horses. |
| Do you attend cocktail parties, presentations, fairs or conventions related to your profession? I attend the ARIA Convention (this year it is held Nov. 18-21), the USDF Convention, and have attended seminars, clinics, organized and hosted the first Olympic Invitational Freestyle Exhibition (whose concept has become an annual affair in Wellington, FL each season), and helped organize shows which had competitor's cocktail parties. |
| Have you explored the social networks for professionals online? Are you member of any of them? Yes, I am a member of the ones listed above |
| What do you do to manage stress? I RIDE :-) |
| What are the most common mistakes clients make when they judge your work? They look at the price of a lesson without comparing experience, education, certification, and teaching ability |
COACH
| What types of coaching do you do? Who are your clients? I coach horseback riding--specifically, Dressage, which is one of the Olympic Equestrian Events.
My clients are both male and female, range in age from 12 years to over 65 years old, and from the first time on a horse through the highest level of Dressage.
I also provide continuing education and support for horse trainers and instructors who are already professionals in their own right. |
| Can you provide a link to a site where we can get to know more about you, the type of work you do and/or the place where you do it? |
| Do you have innate qualities, or is it something that you learned? I have been in the horse industry for over 36 years, more than 24 years have been as a professional. I have moved from rider, to trainer, to instructor.
The majority of people who learn to ride are content to be able to ride and care for a trained horse without being detrimental to the training that the horse already possesses. Those people are considered riders.
A percentage of those people who learn to ride have a desire and the talent to further their skill set and become trainers, which requires all the qualities one finds in a rider, and additionally requires the person to acquire the skills necessary to teach a horse (a separate species) to carry a rider, through all the gaits and movements a horse possesses, in a balanced way.
A small percentage of trainers have the desire to work with new (or progressing) students who want to learn to become riders, so they begin teaching people to ride.
I believe anyone can learn to ride to a moderate level. I believe most people can learn to ride to an advanced level. Those skills do not necessarily require innate ability.
Training a "green" horse does require the innate ability as well as an advanced set of skills to quietly influence and guide another species, developing them athletically and mentally into becoming a willing and confident riding partner.
Being an instructor requires a great deal of innate ability, and the skills of both rider and trainer, as well as a lifetime of continued learning in order to facilitate the education of two different species together.
So, yes, I believe that I do have both innate qualities as well as a solid skill-set to provide instruction for my horses and my students. |
| Can you describe briefly the technique or methodology you use? My students develop their seat and balance on the longe line, and then move to simple figures, transitions and movements, developing their core balance and circle of aids. All the training is based according to the Training Scale, and the classical principles of dressage.
Competition may be incorporated if the student wants, but it is not a requirement. |
| What must the person you are helping contribute? Empathy for the horse, humility, commitment to perfect practice, commitment to spending as much time in the saddle (and with the horse) as possible--at least four hours per week, flexibility (mental), patience, and perserverance. |
| Is it necessary at times to reorient a person’s desires and expectations? Yes, an important part of learning to ride is to assess your progress and re-orient your desires/goals. Each of the students and I sit down together every 3-6 months (typically before and after show-season) to assess what progress has been made, identify strengths and weaknesses, re-identify and adjust goals, and make a new re-commitment to achieve the goals set. |
| Discipline and creativity: are they two forces in opposition, or are they complementary? They are complementary-discipline without creativity leads to robotic performance; creativity without discipline leads to chaos. |
| What is usually the main obstacle your clients face? Time to commit to riding. |
| Can an excess of self-esteem be the worst obstacle? The horse will hold up the mirror of reality for you. Riding can be the most humbling and the most exhilerating experience at the same time. |
| How do you recommend selecting a coach? Should it be someone who has followed the path that he/she wants to? Should it be someone they admire? Select a riding coach (instructor) by first reviewing their credentials--make sure they are certified through a national association such as the American Riding Instructor's Association http://www.riding-instructor.com or United States Dressage Federation http://www.usdf.org and what training they have had themselves--who they took lesson from in the past, and who they currently take lessons from (don't be afraid to ask about specific coaches they have trained with, what awards they have won, what shows they have competed in, what shows and awards their students have won, etc.). If they are not forthcoming, look elsewhere. Research their claims. Recent results from rated shows appear online on the show's website--all rated dressage shows have their own websites linked through the USDF website listed above.
After checking their resume, ask them if you may watch them give a lesson to one of their regular students who is at the same level as you. See if you like how they interact with them...are they quiet or loud? Are they tough or soft on the student? You may get along well with an instructor that seems to be tough on the student or you may get your feelings hurt if they raise their voice (being loud to make you try harder is not the same as screaming)...you may or may not like their demeanor even if they are a well-known trainer, and you may not get along very well with them. If they taunt, ridicule, scream, demean, or overface a student, find someone else. That is never acceptable. |
| 
906 visits Whohub
Mary McGuire Smith
Vero Beach, FL and Mentone, AL
|
95743 interviews created
![[piaffe4me] Mary McGuire Smith](http://www.whohub.com/_pics/21611.jpg?1337671789)
INVITE YOUR FRIENDS