08/09/2025
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠
I wrote this today after the Scottish weather broke me, I’m soaked to the skin because apparently I don’t know what a waterproof coat is 🤣
So, you fancy being a riding coach? Right, here’s the reality check!!!!
You’ll work stupid hours. 13, 14, 15 a day. Not for champagne, just enough for diesel, leccy, and maybe a soggy Greggs pasty eaten in the car between lessons.
You’ll freeze in winter, roast in summer, and the rest of the year you’ll be permanently damp. Christmas? Forget pigs in blankets, you’ll be the pig, muddy, wet, and still shouting “heels down.”
People will say you’re too soft, too strict, too old-fashioned, too modern. Basically, whatever you do, you’re wrong.
Shows? Glamorous? Don’t kid yourself. It’s you, stood in a bog, yelling “sit up” at someone who’s pretending not to hear.
Parents? Half of them think their kid’s ready for Badminton, when they can’t even steer in trot.
You’ll see tears, tantrums, bolting ponies, and more drama than Love Island. Some days you’ll mutter, “That’s it, I’m done.”
But then…
That nervous kid finally canters.
That “lazy cob” pings a jump.
That adult says, “I’d have quit riding if it weren’t for you.”
And suddenly, there it is, the reason you put yourself through all this madness.
Why don’t people tell you this?
Because if they did, no one would become a coach.
And because the best bits? They can’t be put into words.
So here we are , cold, broke, dripping wet, boots squelching… and still, somehow, happy.
Representation of what I look like today 🤣
Tag your coach!
