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Ammy vs. Pro
So, the old Pro-Ammy debate. Or, the old Ammy Whine. You know the one: “I want to teach a few up-down lessons a week and I can’t do that because I’d have to give up my ammy status and turn pro and wah-wah-wah it’s not fair!”
Actually, it is fair. It is entirely fair. Because—and this is important—if you are receiving money for just one up-down lesson a week, you are running a business. A small business, but a business. At that point, every time you step into the show ring your ride is about more than just you and your horse. It’s also about showing off your abilities to potential clients—or to your current client(s). Even if there’s only one, and that one is your neighbor little Suzie, who worships the ground you trot on. Other parents, and Suzie’s parents, will be watching you ride. They’ll evaluate the skills you show. If you do well, maybe those other parents will approach you about teaching Jimmy. If you do poorly, maybe Suzie’s parents will think about finding a new instructor. You might not be thinking along these lines, but other people will. Even with just one student, every time you walk into the ring you are representing yourself, your horse, and your business. That’s a professional concern, and it has no place—absolutely none—in a ring with amateurs, who have no business concerns. None. Not one student, not one horse they are training (except their own).
I realize a lot of would-be up-down instructors don’t think of it as a business. They think of it as side income, something to help them level the costs of participating in an expensive hobby. I always wonder about that, because… do they tell their students that they don’t view the lessons as a business? That they think the up-down lessons are so… I don’t even know the word here… unimportant… that they want, on the one hand, to take the students’ money for teaching but on the other hand have the rest of the horse world say “It’s ok, you’re not really teaching. You (or your students) aren’t good enough to qualify you for Professional status, so be an ammy.”
Would you want to ride under someone like that? And I don’t mean someone who, maybe, chooses not to show but is a great instructor, so Pro-Ammy status never comes up. I mean someone who wants to teach, and get all the money and benefits of teaching, but then walk into the ring and claim they aren’t professional. What: “I’m good enough to teach you, but I’m not good enough to show against anyone else who teaches.”?
I don’t… get it. You teach and you’re a professional, or you don’t teach and you’re an ammy. You can’t teach just a little bit and still be an ammy, because no matter how people try to justify that, it comes across to me as… entirely unprofessional.
Everything has consequences, right? One of the consequences of teaching a few up-down lessons a week is that you now have a business to represent. You don’t get to stop representing it just because you want to show as an amateur. So you decide: is amateur status more important than the income a few up-down lessons might bring? If it is, you don’t get to teach. Period. You get to be an amateur, but that means being an amateur. If the income is more important, than you lose your amateur status. You get to be an instructor, but that means being a professional. In all aspects—not just the ones that put money in your pocket.
(This rant brought to you by the letter “If I see one more discussion board topic about an amateur thinking they should be allowed to teach lessons and stay an amateur, I’m going to scream” and the number “I am still young enough to see things in black-and-white, but I’m old enough to know there’s lots of gray in the world, so I’d be happy to discuss the other side of this issue” and the conundrum “So why is it I’m happy to discuss this on a blog but not a discussion board, anyway? Oh, right: less trolls.”)
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Comments
Ohhhhhhhh, this is my rant too!! I haven’t gotten to it on my blog yet, but you can bet, I’ll reference yours when I do. It makes me crazy! And there are so many cheaters out there! I could easily help pay my bills here by giving lessons to the people who buy horses from me, but I don’t because I’m an amateur. Some of my horses would have been better off if I had done that, but I didn’t. The rules are clear and I stick by them even if others don’t.
One of the things you didn’t mention is about integrity. If you take money for lessons and still show as an amateur, aren’t you teaching that kid you give lessons to, it’s ok to cheat? What kind of person pays someone to teach their kid to cheat? And if they’re willing to do that, do you really want that kind of person in your inner circle? Not me! I learned a long time ago to stay away from those kinds of people. OK, so I got up on the soapbox right with you! You can bet it’ll show up on my blog too!! Great post!
Oh, so many feelings on this.
I recently gave up my ammy status because someone asked me to give them a lesson. I have taught lots of people before but never taken money. They wanted to ride my horse and specifically learn from me. I thought about it a LONG time (several weeks) then finally said yes, because it did mean giving up my amatuer status.
But I am not a professional. I don’t have the skills to make a full time living, I cannot coach someone to win at a national level and I don’t even own a horse of that calibur.
But they asked me to train their horse and I did it for free for six months (yes, free) and now I am taking money. If that means I have to compete against professionals, I don’t really care, because I will learn SO MUCH in the process of working with the horse that the learning outweighs the detriment.
But I position myself very clearly. I am an apprentice. I do get paid, but I only take students at a beginning level. I will only train 1 horse at a time and I can be very picky about what I choose to do. I don’t think of myself as a pro, but I do get paid. Following the rules is important to me, so I did the right thing and now my card doesn’t say Amatuer, but I have too much respect for the professionals to say I am on the same calibur as them.
Maybe one day I will be that good, but until then, I’m just a paid intern.
So much to think about… I keep running in circles and tangents while trying to write a response, so I’m going to think about it for a while. But my first reaction—
Jerri, I think you’ve hit on the reason so many people are unhappy with the current ammy/professional division. It really doesn’t distinguish between people who make a living off horses and those who are working part time. Although I’m with USEF on “any money makes you a professional,” I’m also with you on the “but I’m definitely nothing like a Big Name Trainer competing at the national level.” But USEF doesn’t give us anything in between… I sort of wonder if instructor certification would help here, since it would allow people to say “Yes, I’m a professional: I’m an Apprentice (great choice of term!) Trainer.” Or “Yes, I’m a professional. I’m a certified Master Trainer.” I’m all for the professionals of every level competing against each other in the ring (I love that this happens in eventing), but it would be nice to have USEF recognize, somehow, that you can make SOME money off horses without making a LIVING off it.
rising rainbow, the integrity thing is a big problem, I agree. I think a lot of the people complaining about the ammy/professional breakdown are actually following the rules, though—they just don’t like the lack of middle ground between a true amateur and a national instructor.
But the ones who teach and still show as an amateur—I agree, it’s awful all around. And I doubt they’d change what they are doing even if a new system could be rolled out, because they’re obviously more interested in showing as amateurs than anything else.
So. Hmm. Off to think some more. A big part of the problem here, I think, is that the system leaves so many people unhappy with their options but changing it… no matter how… would be incredibly difficult and expensive and leave a new set of people unhappy.
When I started my career in sales, I was a jr. account manager, then slowly working my way through the ranks to being a Sales Manager. The Ammy vs Pro debate is a very black and white line in a world filled with gray. It is virtually impossible to go from being an Ammy to a full time professional overnight.
I don’t think there is a solution and frankly, I don’t really mind not showing in AOTR because I don’t show that much. I am moving into judging because I am much better at evaluating than training. The more horses I see, the better trainer I will become. Besides, I just want to go horse camping & trail riding!
I will be showing and I’ll show against the pros, but in my breed there just are hardly any horses shown out in the northwest, so if we have a class of 8 it is AMAZING! Besides, my mom can show my horses in AOTR.
It is an interesting debate, but for me it was simple. Take money, no more AOTR. As simple and ethical as that. Here was my post that declared it to the world: http://learninghorses.blogspot.com/2006/11/exciting-and-eventful-days.html
On Feb 23, 2007, Girls Horse Club said:
For what it’s worth coming from someone who’s not into the whole showing thing, your rant makes a lot of sense. Plus your writing is fun to read. There’s something to be said for having a soapbox of your very own. http://halt-near-x.com/images/smileys/wink.gif