Equido Articles:

Money where your mouth is…..?

Life is constantly throwing challenges at you in one way or another and never more so than for the horse trainer. Around every corner you will find a new horse with a new problem and it is up to you to sometimes find a new solution to solve the problem. Adaptability is the name of the game and a constant drive to learn more. Every horse has something new to teach and a good trainer has to learn to take every opportunity to expand their knowledge base. The bottom line is that no one can know everything and even the best trainers can sometimes be stumped and have to seek advice. Most of us are “permanent students” which basically means we are constantly on the lookout for new ideas or concepts that may be applicable in our area of work. It is in our best interests to attend courses and clinics run by our peers and to keep ourselves open to new methods of work or the latest scientific research. We just never know when we might come upon a situation or an animal that challenges our knowledge and it is always a good idea to have as many “tools” in you “box” as possible.

Last month we talked about fear and I mentioned that a lot of people are afraid of being wrong or being seen as “not knowing” and that it takes a brave person to realise they may need help. This also applies to the “experts” as they can sometimes find themselves up against something completely new to them and they also have to seek help, but who does an expert turn to? The answer is simple, they will seek advice from their peers. Many trainers consult one another on a regular basis and may even refer horses to each other, especially if the animal would benefit from another trainer who specialises in their problem. A good trainer will have the horse’s best interests at heart and will have no qualms about passing on a case to someone who may be better equipped to deal with the issues being raised. It is a tough situation to find yourself in as most clients see you as the authority on the subject and some may not understand when you say you cannot help or simply don’t know. This puts a lot of pressure on trainers and some may find it hard to cope.

It can take a long time to help a horse and their owner work through a problem and it is absolutely vital that the owner sees the training through to the end. It is also very important that the work continues once they have “left” the trainer and moved on for a year’s worth of rehabilitation and re-education can be undone in a few short weeks.

The nightmare can begin for client and horse alike when a trainer will not admit they don’t know. This does not happen often as most professionals will not jeopardise their reputation by blindly marching on without brining in other professionals for either consultation or referral. However, there are plenty of people out there more than happy to “train” horses and riders (even though they have little or no experience themselves) and to pontificate to no end about how the rider should to this or that. A good trainer will be the first to admit they don’t have all the answers so a word of warning to you if you come upon a trainer who claims to be infallible and knows all there is to know about a subject.

Plenty of people “talk a good shop” and can be very convincing so it is very confusing for horse owners seeking help to actually find someone who really does know what they are talking about. It helps if the trainer has professional qualifications of one sort of another but this may not necessarily mean they know what they are doing. Some trainers don’t have any qualifications but years of experience of producing horses which can be far more effective than academic achievements. So asking for their qualifications may not really be a good indicator as to their abilities. It helps if you can see them ride/train or look at other horses they have produced and gauge for yourselves if this is how you want your horse to be. Again a word of caution, the knowledge required to produce say a show horse or pony is not the same to produce a one day eventer or racehorse, so make sure the trainer produces horses for same purpose that you want your horse trained for. Some trainers can produce horses for several different disciplines or specialise in problem horses of a particular type, a good trainer would advise. For example, I do not train or produce racehorses so would never presume to have the knowledge required for such a specialised industry and would not take on a horse to be trained for this purpose.

Also be very wary of the “show expert”, this is the person you will invariably come across on the show ground who, even though they are a complete stranger, will tell you how to ride/load/discipline your horse and will do so in a loud authoritative voice. It can be very intimidating for some people, (especially if the “expert” is convincing) to be faced with this problem but my answer is simple. If someone is telling you how you should be riding your own horse (who may be being difficult) and you are not happy with what they are saying then simply say “show me” and hand them the reins, nine times out of ten they will back down and disappear into the background as most of these people can’t even ride. Be wary though, there are some “experts” who would gladly jump on the back of your horse and be abusive or “get him on the box” one way or another. We had an incident a while ago with someone visiting our yard. We have some very difficult horses on our yard who have issues either on the ground or being ridden. This person was bragging and boasting how he could ride any horse and would sort out any animal we could present him with. I don’t know how good a rider this person was but I could tell by his manner that he would be brutal to any animal he sat on. I simply smiled and made it clear that this person had outstayed their welcome on the yard. This person felt he had something to prove, I on the other hand had nothing to prove.

It can be difficult for some people to really understand someone else’s horse or their problems. I had an occasion to contradict a top trainer recently about a comment made about one of my horse’s. It highlighted to me how careful you should be on how you choose your words as this trainer obviously did not think how offensive the comment may be, even to another trainer. My horse was standing quietly (actually he was dozing because he was bored) even though this trainer was deliberately trying to “get a reaction” from him by slapping a rope against the tin wall of the indoor school. This horse actually has a real issue with sudden metallic banging sounds and it has taken me a long time to have him not react and not be anxious when he hears any sudden banging noises, so actually I was very pleased with him when he did not react. The trainer was frustrated and said my horse was shut down and desensitised. This, I must admit, did annoy me and I did say that this was not the case. I explained this horse’s history and how it has taken years to train him to be quiet. I think the trainer was surprised that I not only disagreed with her, but I also voiced my opinion and made it clear that I felt she was wrong on this occasion. I don’t think anyone had ever dared talk back to her before. Interestingly enough she accepted my explanation and did not continue in trying to provoke a reaction. 
This incident also highlighted to me how difficult it must be for a student or client to voice any concerns over what a trainer is saying or doing with their horses. I was confident in my knowledge and abilities to be able to stand up for my horse, but it made me wonder if other people are perhaps being “bullied” or intimidated by their trainers, perhaps due to their personalities or just simply their reputations. The only advice I can give those people is that the trainer may not even be aware that this is the case and until you explain clearly how you feel and give them the chance to explain themselves then things will not change. It may be that both trainer and client do not share the same goals and in this case it may be better that they part.

It is very easy for some of us to criticise or be judgemental about others, but there is an old saying “walk a mile in my shoes” which really should be held close to heart. In other words, you cannot understand fully why someone does things in a particular way until you do the task yourself. It is very easy to criticize another but sometimes you have to “do as they do” in order to understand how or why they work in a certain way. For example, most of us would dearly love to have “our own yard” (some of us are lucky enough to have our own yard). It is very easy for a non yard owner to think how much better they would be at running a yard or how they would do things differently, but if the roles were reversed and they had to run a yard for a day would they feel the same way? There is often much more to executing a task than first meets the eye and the same can be said for training horses. There are so many different facets to horses it is impossible to know everything all we can do is try to create as clear a picture as possible and look at it from every possible angle. Remember, unless you are prepared to put your money where your mouth is choose your words carefully.