John Lassiter - anybody know him?

[kelsey]

Since a lot of you guys are British, I figure that one or two of you may be familiar with him.

He comes to my area for a clinic twice a year and I am thinking of going for the three days in October.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

 

[janet hakeney]

I know John. I can thoroughly recommend him. He is a great laugh as well as being an excellent horseman and trainer. In addition to his talents in the equestrian field he is also an accomplished Thespian. His exploits on the stage are as legendary as his riding!!

 

[Yann]

Saw him and his wife do a demo at the Harrogate Equine fair last year and was very impressed, he came across as having a good attitude to his horses. He's well known for incorporating pantomime horses in his demos too, and they were very funny, demonstrating flying chances and half pass amongst other things

 

[eml]

I don't know him but I have been to a few of his demos. He is very classical in training and has a wicked sense of humour. The best ever was his demo of the average riding school client!

When I was looking for someone for my daughter to train with he was high on the shortlist because of his sense of fun and the lack of force in his approach to training

 

[kelsey]

Thanks for the replies!

I am definitely going to sign up for the three days - you have sold me with the combination of humour and lack of force....he sounds like a British Walter Zettl (hopefully his accent is easier to understand!)

 

[LesleyR]

Lovely bloke. Very entertaining. He used to run GODS (Getting older dressage society) clinics at our yard and then we'd go out for dinner afterwards. He would keep the whole table enthralled with his anecdotes.

His teaching is very sympathetic and I believe modelled on classical principles. He uses a lot of 'props' like cones and poles placed in particular shapes. His clinics are really intensive - it will be literally "shoulder in down the centre line, now turn left and canter, now trot and circle in the middle, then turn right and leg yield, now canter, now trot etc etc" - but it is amazing to see the difference he can make in just half an hour or so.

You will have to concentrate really hard - 'specially as he is not a 'yeller' - quite softly spoken when instructing but will treat everyone from a grand prix rider down to wallies like me with the utmost respect

 

[Lgd]

If you can get a place grab it!

He is a superb rider and trainer. Very classically based - he has trained at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna so I guess you could call that classical.

 

[tasha]

My sister's friend has started an apprenticeship with him at his yard near Goodwood. She's been there a couple of months and thinks he's amazing!

 

[kelsey]

Just to update you guys - I had my ride with JL today (only one day as I had to have a double root canal on Tuesday!) and it was fantastic. The warm up exercises at the walk were great (using the poles and cones, as LesleyR said) and my gelding and mare (ridden by my friend) were really really soft and forward and bending beautifully. He even got my mare trotting over poles (she wouldn't walk over a pole before this!) once she realized that here brother was doing it with no problems.

So, thanks for the recommendations - and next year I am going to try and schedule all three days ahead of time so that I can get a stall.