I like this question because it’s one I was guilty of asking back in the day. Even watching Major Lindgren the first time at the National Instructors Seminar, I wanted to interrupt and say, “Why don’t you just tell her to . . .?”
The answer, it turns out is twofold. You can’t tell someone everything at once and expect her to be able to process and adopt it. All good instructors know they must prioritize the advice they dole out and present it in an order that will do the rider the most good. As I eventually learned, you “don’t tell them what you know. You tell them what they need to know.” (At that moment. Later you tell them more.)
Also, for reasons of personal preference or because he perceives the rider’s or horse’s individual needs differently, one instructor might begin with a different thread than another. If they’re any good, eventually they all end up at the same place. If you are willing to place your faith in a given trainer (and cough up the bucks he’s demanding) then let the scenario play out to its conclusion. If after a time, you don’t like where it’s going, find someone else. It’s okay to question and it’s especially desirable to let the instructor explain to you why he’s chosen to work in the way that he has. Just give him a chance to do that.
So you, the watcher, may be seeing your friend’s mistakes just as I, the instructor, am seeing them. I’m not ignoring them. I’m filing them away to be dealt with when the time is right. In the meantime I just may have other fish to fry.