Testamonials - Equine Coach, Sam Jamieson

Rebecca Gilbert After years of searching for an instructor, I feel so lucky to have found Sam and just up the road too! Sam is excellent at picking up poor body positioning in the rider and horse. Encouraging good riding dynamics will improve good biomechanical movement in the horse, Sam has a very keen eye for this. I used to regularly compete in dressage with my now semi- retired mare. I bought a youngster and had alot of very big emotional and fear based issues to deal with. I went down the natural horsemanship route with her and after several years of purely focusing on this and establishing a strong bond and trust between us, I was ready to focus on dressage training. Mmmmm not easy to find a trainer that wasn't all about kick and pull them into an outline!( believe me I tried many, some world renound!). Sam has such a rounded and deep knowledge of the horse which I feel unfortunately and sadly is hard to find in a trainer. We have been focusing alot on lateral work, particularly shoulder -in, over the last few lessons. I can feel some really exciting changes in my horse, to name but a few, more cadence, collection and elevation. Thankyou Sam for being so down to earth, putting the horse first and being a stickler for attention to detail. Rebecca Gilbert and Milly Nick Sellors: I have recently moved from Suffolk to go it alone. The biggest thing I noticed was my team had disappeared. My chiropractor, dentist, farrier and instructor could not travel to my new house so I had to start again. Its then that you realise that you are only as good as the people around you. I have been searching for a good instructor to replace my previous excellent one and to be honest I didn’t think it would happen. For years I have found a lack in instructor knowledge and the feeling that I have to find out everything for myself a bit daunting. To me qualifications don’t mean a thing, I needed someone who has the experience, someone who can do it not talk about it. I was searching the internet to find a local school for hire when I came across Sams website. I arranged to visit her yard to hire her ménage and was impressed. Her immediate friendly manner and openness took me a bit by surprise. I have hired the ménage for a couple of times a week for over a year now and apart from how good the school is I was also impressed with that for a riding school the horses were all really well schooled. I am retraining/re-backing a thoroughbred mare and struggling. She is definitely set in her ways and she is my first attempt to train a horse from scratch. I would agree a thoroughbred maybe shouldn’t have been my first choice but I do like a challenge! I got to a stalemate with my mare. Not bad but not progressing when I spoke with Sam about her she offered me a lot of advice but we both agreed I needed to have a lesson so we could give her the time she deserved. Sam has helped a lot. Some basic seat adjustments for the rider, yes I’m not perfect, to start with which really got the ball rolling. Sam also made me appreciate how I need to let a green horse learn. This is a strange concept I know but my mare is not a machine. The question Sam made me ask myself was how would I like to be taught if I was the horse? If the horse doesn’t understand what I am asking then that is my problem not a problem with the horse. Each time I have a lesson with Sam I learn something new. Its not all about “I didn’t know that” but more like suggest a movement instead of demanding it, keep your frame stable concentrate on yourself, if you get it right the horse will. Give the horse a constant platform to work from. Things we all read about but don’t actually put into practice. Its a more successful approach to understanding the animal you are working with and how to best communicate our requests. I would recommend Sam to anyone who wants to improve their riding and get the best from their horse. I am really looking forward to working with Sam on training a horse from the ground, something I have never done. I would like to thank Sam for taking the stress out of my problem and adopting a “lets think about it instead of react to it” approach. Scary thought, “As I improve amazingly so does my horse”. Nick Sellors David Rainford & Jane Bishop: We're very lucky to have a qualified Enlightened Equitation Instructor in our region. Sam has helped us begin to tackle positional faults that have gone uncorrected for years. She has taught us EE techniques for giving leg aids and sitting to the trot, and her teaching has built our confidence and enabled us to try things that we would not have wanted to try in our previous group lessons. Sam is very sympathetic and knowledgable, a rare combination in our experience, and her yard is well equipped and the staff are friendly and supportive. We recommend Sam's yard to any riders in East Anglia who are looking for a change from the ineffective teaching techniques of traditional riding schools. David Rainford & Jane Bishop Anna Griffin: I have now been riding at Meadowbrook Stables for just over 2 years and my teenage daughter has been riding here for just over a year. In this time, Sam's patience, support and encouragement has enabled my daughter to make the progress and gain the confidence that she failed to do with any of her previous instructors. During many years of riding and at many different riding schools, I can honestly say that Meadowbrook is the best and friendliest that I've been to. Previously I found riding schools reluctant to cater for adults who wanted private lessons, as they viewed this as not being cost effective; whereas private or semi-private lessons is precisely what Meadowbrook provides. I thoroughly enjoy my lessons with Sam and have benefitted from riding a variety of very well schooled horses. Sam has enabled me to learn more and make progress with my riding despite me being a more 'mature' rider. She is the first instructor I've had who has focused in detail on my position and helped me to improve this despite having acquired bad habits over the years. Sam adopts a sympathetic approach to both horse and rider and never fails to offer praise to both. She is an active interested instructor who patiently explains and demonstrates what is being taught. She willingly shares her knowledge and experience and her enthusiasm for what she does is infectious. I look forward to continuing to learn, improve and increase my understanding of horses and feel very lucky to have found such an excellent riding school and instructor." Anna Laura Newton: I have been riding for 17 years and been a qualified Instructor for the last 6 years, but can honestly say my riding has improved no end since starting lessons at Meadowbrook. I studied riding at college for 3 years having between two to three lessons a week for two hours a time on different horses, and yet only since being taught by Sam have I started to appreciate how we influence the horses so much, and by only having to do very little. My lessons with Sam are fun and informative, she really takes the time to explain things-finding a way that u will understand. I have lessons both on Sams horses and I also bring my own back, Sam done a months training with my youngster and I couldn't ask for a better horse, she enjoys her work and I like to keep bringing her back for us to progress together. I look forward to my lessons everytime I book one, and I really get a sense of achievement when I dismount at the end. Thanks to Sam and the team for making me want to come back time and time again. Laura. Lorraine Boon: I met Sam via her fantastic website. It came over to me as a very honest truthful website with the sort of information I wanted to read, so I made the phone call and spoke to Sam. My feelings about the site were confirmed by our converstation, so I made a booking. Sams yard has a great feeling with it, which i actually find very rare, I immediately felt at ease and was proud to be part of it, and look forward to each time I am there. Sams staff are equally as kind, accomodating and welcoming, and I always look forward to meeting them too. The lessons are informative, precise, and structured and also welcoming, rewarding and leave you wanting to go back for more. I have watched Sam teach and do groundwork with her horses, as well as giving me lessons. She is a concientious and caring teacher, and gets the best out of the horse and rider at any given time, and she does this without putting horse rider or herself under unneccessary pressure. There is always a clear understanding and good line of communication for all. I wish I lived a lot closer to Sam and her yard, then I could spend more time developing my understanding for horses and their training both in the saddle and on the ground. Since I met Sam, I have watched her business develop and grow into something special; a School of Excellence, for her clients and horses to develop and grow into something more special than they are already. Lorraine Boon BHSAI (Northamptonshire) Helena: The first time I came to Meadowbrook was a one off lesson just after christmas last year. I was so impressed by you, your staff and your horses that when I decided to begin lessons regularly again there was no other place I wanted to go to. I have now been riding at Meadowbrook for a couple of months, and love every minute of my lessons. Sarah is a brilliant instructor and a credit to the yard. She is very kind and welcoming, and very patient and constructive when she teaches. She doesn't mind going over things a couple of times if you don't pick it up straight away! I came to Meadowbrook with a knocked confidence after a fall, and as soon as I started my first lesson Sarah put me at ease. It is brilliant to be able to work on some basic stuff that makes such a difference to general riding but also get to attempt some school movements such as shoulder in and leg yield. Even though I haven't been riding at Meadowbrook very long, I feel like I've learnt so much already. Also, huge credit goes to the beautiful horses you have in the riding school. I have been fortunate to ride Ben, Stanlee, Bas and Archie, and they are all lovely well schooled horses. They give you the opportunity to learn so much when combined with a good instructor!! Many thanks to you, Sarah and all the horses for putting the enjoyment back into riding for me (and it must be worth it as I drive about 20miles to get to you for my saturday lesson!!) Helena (Kings Lynn) Debbie Hartley: When I first met Sam, she was teaching a friend of mine, on her own horse. She like me had had an accident and had confidence issues. Although she had a fantastic bond with her horse, her mare is very sensitive and they were struggling to gel where ridden work was concerned. I was really impressed with how patient and understanding Sam was with my friend and her horse. Sam is very clever at gently encouraging you to do things that you wouldn't dare do, or even think you were capable of doing, without you even realising! She could read the horse and give my friend tips on what to do to distract her from any naughty habits... before she could actually do them! Since that first meeting my friend and her horse have reached an even greater understanding and are progressing really well. Another of my friends has also regained her confidence in riding since starting again after a long break. This was also down to Sam's expertise and patience. Sam also took her horse in for schooling because she was being naughty when ridden and was also very bolshy around people. She came back a different horse and is now a real pleasure to handle. All of this gave me 'the bug' to start again after a bad accident and a long break. To cut a long story short, Sam gave me a lesson on a horse that I was interested in buying. I thoroughly enjoyed my lesson and although I hadn't cantered for 'fourteen years'....after telling myself 'I AM THE BEST RIDER'...I was soon cantering twenty metre circles! I went home having grown a couple of feet taller, bought the gorgeous horse and haven't looked back! So Sam, I'd just like to say a big thankyou for giving me back my passion for riding..... Oh and...... I AM THE BEST RIDER! Debbie Hartley Debbie Wilkinson: My daughter Beth has been riding for 9 years. Mostly at riding schools, riding holidays, and private instructors covering everything from dressage, showjumping and eventing. Beth had been taught / re-taught so many times by different riding schools, which had confliting methods / approaches to riding. We started to look for someone to bring together the skills Beth had and to fill the gap beyond the "riding schools" towards professionalism. We found Sam, I must admit I thought long and hard before I phoned thinking is Beth going to be "advanced enough" to cope with lessons. After phoning Sam we immediately relaxed as she was the most enthusiastic, understanding person I had talked to. We booked Beth in for her first lesson (being warned that it would be a lunge lesson) and assessment of her riding skills. At last Beth had found someone who could explain in great depth the links between the horse and rider, and how Beths movements affects the horse. At every lesson Beth has learnt and understood the reasons why, which many instructors could'nt explain to her. Yes, Beth has had to re-learn and improve on some of her skills, but just watching from the side lines she is now learning so much from every lesson.Sams lessons are always fun and informative, she always gives you 110% and expects the same from you. Sam and her instructors are very easy to approach and talk to I only wish we had found Meadowbrook years ago. Debbie Wilkinson Testamonials Cont’d (Click Here)

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