6/ JUNE 2024 THE RIDER MY SPIN: Constructive Criticism Given Harshly Hurts Everyone
from an expert from time to time to really know if we’re making progress in a partic- ular subject - riding horses for example. Showing at a horse show would serve the same purpose. Or a clinic perhaps.
They Mean Well Hearing from someone who tells you
By Susan Dahl. We all need constructive feedback
what they think you want to hear is not re- ally helpful but friends mean well. So we pay good money to get very helpful advice. I remember attending many a horse clinic in my horse showing years. Or sitting up in the wee hours of the morning watching the pros tune their horses up for the day’s classes at the Congress. (All American Quarter Horse Congress) trying to absorb as much as I could.
Photo credit: Pixabay
know. But I do know that I can go to my other art instructors who do know how to deliver the all important criti- cism in a more acceptable way. It’s all about being heard after all. If you get someone power trip-
ping on you whom you’ve asked for criticism and their not considerate, there are plenty of other experts out there that can be more helpful. I’m glad I didn’t have any of those harsh horse coaches back in my horse show- ing years. May you have great, considerate
Putting Yourself Out There Everyone knows how nerve
wracking it is to ‘put yourself out there’ to get constructive feedback. I belong to several art schools at the moment learning how to paint well. I get feedback and art critiques from several of them. It’s really not good when 1 art instructor delivers the ‘what can you improve upon’ criticism in an unkind and harsh way. It really can be hard to sit there
and get told of ‘severe compositional issues’ & ‘fatal flaw’ several times in front of a bunch of fellow artists like myself. Ouch! I’m not going to lie, it took me back. I did get an apology af- terward but still... I wonder how that would’ve ef-
fected my future horse showing life if I had had someone harshly deliver horse advice to me way back when. Would I have continued to show? Maybe not. I remember one rider get- ting feedback was told so harshly that she not only stopped showing horses, she stopped riding all together! I kid you not. I just thought of that now as I’m writing this. I don’t know if she ever went back to riding at all. I felt so bad for her.
What to Do When Harshly Deliv- ered Criticism Strikes You? “Once bitten - Twice Shy” as
they say! I’m certainly forewarned now. I don’t know why the criticism was delivered harshly. I may never
feedback to improve your horse skills and any other non-horse endeavors. Putting my Spin on Proper Help-
ful Criticism
Reinersue @KISS Reiners
About Susan Dahl Susan Dahl, ORHA/NRHA past multi- ple champion, writer, blogger, author and clinician, retired certified profes- sional horse trainer. Owner of Foun- dation Reining Training Centre in Durham, ON. She specializes in effec- tive horsemanship, and reining. For more information on her services: judging, clinics or resale horses, please contact her on facebook, her website:
ship.com or
reinersue@hotmail.com
www.reinersuehorseman
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