horsesandhounds wrote:
^^ If someone wasn't "getting it", I would ask if they would like me to demonstrate and I'd get on whatever horse they were riding, show them, and hand the horse back over. I expect/expected no less from my own trainers/instructors if I needed a demonstration. As an instructor you should be able to get on and ride anything your teaching lessons on, whether it be your own lesson horse or a horse belonging to a student.

This would piss people off if I did it. This is teaching kids on tiny ponies, which I can ride in a pinch but I'd rather not. Not to mention the stirrup leathers don't go down far enough for me to ride like anything but a jockey, even if I did want to waste time adjusting them. And what if I don't have a hat? It's a long way to run back to get it and we're REALLY not supposed to get on without one, not to mention it being a bad example.

Our instructors are very different to the US 'trainers'. It'd be considered weird if you were having a lesson on a school horse for your instructor to do this, although if it was an instructor who came out to teach you on your own horse it'd be more normal.