How do YOU choose your trainer?

MagsNMe · Advanced

How do YOU choose your trainer?

Jackie Cochran · Advanced

This is sort of difficult. My first horse was green broke and I could not afford a trainer and I had to work him on my own (green on green). As I gained experience I started watching people train and decided that I could not find a single trainer down here that would train within my parameters (starting with no side reins and going on from there) and I trained every horse I owned to saddle thereafter, starting with weanlings usually, without riding rings, working in fields and on the trails, with no eyes on the ground). My horses that I trained to saddle were my first, the green broke Anglo-Arab, I retrained a ruined 7/8 Arab mare (field and trail riding) a POA gelding, and from foal an Arab stallion, Arab mare, Paso Fino mare (my most spirited horse!), and now the ladies I ride for use my to retrain horses who have suffered from bad riding, including Arabs. I also started another Arab colt, gelded, broke his elbow (green stick fracture from a kick) elbow healed but with problems, donated to a 4-H'er whose grandfather, an very experienced horseman with Saddlebreds, considered the best horse he had ever worked with. Due to my MS I do not own or "break" horses any more, and I owned all these horses.

Now, over 40 years later I finally found a trainer that I would dare send a horse to (Debra Barham Campbell of Brandywine Springs South Stable) now that I don't have any horses! She does not train exactly like I did before my MS crippled me, but I would end up with a horse I could work on without any major issues. I would trust Debbie with any horse, I would trust her to train a horse of mine without feeling any need to watch her doing it, if I had a major disagreement with her Debbie is the only trainer that I would listen to and consider that she might be right, and I would trust any of Debbie's students working with the horse. How do I know she is good? Even with my MS I can safely ride Arabs that she has trained (including ones she re-trains while teaching the riders how to ride properly at the same time) and I haven't had any problems with her non-Arabs either. Debbie's students also frequently win at local and state shows in spite of training their horses properly (I do not think much of most show training.)

I would NOT send my horse (if I had one) to anyone else I've seen down here. Why? I don't want to spend years correcting mental and physical problems that could have been prevented by proper training. Don't get me wrong, many of these people are good riders and decent trainers (and often win at the shows), but they have their own methods that bring different results than my ideals for a riding horse.

I was by no means a perfect trainer. Even so my horses ended up reliable mounts, in spite of my physical problems from my undiagnosed MS.

I am sure there are many trainers in the USA I could use safely, the problem is finding them! Right now the only other person I trust is all the way up in Maryland (Karen Fenwick at North Fork School of Equitation) pretty far from here, and there, again, I would end up with a horse I could work with. I do not trust the certification systems, many trainers I would never send a horse to have certificates and show wins out the wazoo.

I firmly believe that if a rider wants to ride and compete at a high level that they must do this advanced training themselves. If the rider is not good enough to train the horse to go at the higher level he/she is not good enough to ride the horse at this high level without ruining the horse (some talented exceptions, of course.)

It really is not that difficult to train horses well. It does take patience and years of good work.

dbliron · Advanced

It's an interesting question, as I've never had a "trainer". I am a trainer, but I've never had one for myself.

I have had a number of great coaches: Hubertus Houben, Bert Rutten, Charles de Kunffy, John de Kenyeres, Inez Propfe-Credo, Jacqueline Oldham, and many clinics with "offshore talent", but no trainers...

I agree with some of the comments thus far: I would never send a horse to someone I had not observed and did not know well. I don't ride with coaches I have not observed and don't know well either.

I have seen quite a number of BNT's and BNC's abuse horses and riders, and I'm just not prepared to go there.

There can be surprises, however! For years I've been sending riders to clinics with a certain German clinician who, in my personal experience, has always been safe, sane, and reasonable and helpful in her approaches to both horses and riders. Last spring and fall this person came again to BC, and I sent 3 riders to work with her. To my horror, they all came home with their horses grossly BTV, and rearing and fighting. Each of them felt personally abused by the coach/trainer, and would walk out in a similar situation in the future. All three horses took about 2 months of consistent and reasonable work to undo the mess. To this day I don't know what's come over the coach/trainer, as her approach to riders and horses seems to have done a 180 degree turn, but I'm no longer recommending her as an option.

Queenrider · Advanced

I have never had a trainer but I have had excellent coaches. With my new horse I found myself really short of time due to business and family demands. I broke my current youngster when he was 3, rode him for the summer months and for the fall and winter turned him out. My trainer then got on and gave him a canter. Now she rides my guy twice a week and I do the rest and this works timewise.
Before I started with my trainer I went to watch her compete in a GP class on a horse she had trained/found/owned herself with help from her coach Belinda Trussell. I was amazed at her level of skill. She was also very gentle. I moved to her barn and started with some lessons on my old mare. She just kept getting better and better in my opinion. She proved to be very honest and open and communicates well. My guy has proved to be a slow developer and needed much patience and time! Now we are reaping the rewards of going slow with him as he has "caught up".

Barbara F · Grand Prix

I Have made mistakes in the past, but in the last 15 years, I have chosen my trainers not only according to their stated philosophy (anyone can say anything they want about the way they train), but according to how well they put that philosophy into practice.

I watch them ride, I watch their working students and watch their amateur owners. I look at the horses under their care and I go from there.

I have been working with Belinda Trussell for years and years. She has a system, now ingrained in me, that works for the riders and is consistent and compassionate toward the horse.

Before that, I trained for quite a few years under Gina Smith - also a superb horsewoman.

Thank goodness they have similar philosophies and I have been able to combine them.

I would personally never work for one minute with a trainer who was abusive toward the horses, or a trainer who treated them like machines.

deb · Well Schooled

Hi

This is a good question.

I am a freak when it comes to my horses and not letting anyone else near them-- this in the world of stb racing is unheard of, so I get lots of strange looks for it. With us it is easy, my husband is our farier, we groom our own, have 100 per cent care of our own, only call in vets for hands on for coggins, my husband has his race driver's licence back, and I am a stb A listed trainer for racing, and I have trained and given lessons since I was a teenager. I got my first horse and was not able to pay for lessons let alone a trainer, so I watched other's take lessons and used this to help myself, and then the coach that owned the property that I stayed at took pity on me and let me work off lessons after a while, she also would give me tips now and again. My first horse was a leased horse that we re-broke, she was dangerous, but a very tallented and well school horse that had been ruined, we (my sister and I-- Lisa ended up going on with her as she was a juniour and I became a senior) did so well with her that she went back to being a top show pony in our area. My first owned horse was Badger, a bay 3 year old 1/4 horse rig. He was (until my horse Che that I currently own), the toughest horse I have ever known-- ever in a long list of tough horses that is saying something-- he was a meat priced throw away, ment to heard cattle, he would kill them, and his mother was an off track 1/4 horse import that died shortly after he was weaned-- I also found out that he had broke 2 trainer's legs-- and had been through 9 trainer's hands before I owned him-- all this was told to me over 2 years after I had taken him home, almost starved to death, he was also supposed to be a gelding-- not so much!!! Long story short I was 14 when I bought him, and when I was done he was beating 60 000 dollar dressage prospects, and this in the 80's when that was a lot of money, he also was showing up strong as an eventer in this area. After my success with these two, I continued to train my own, always watching and listening and reading wherever I could and can. I always think I can learn more, and this is stood me in good stead. To date the only two people who I would let work with any horse of mine would be my husband Joe (who has a broken bone in his lower back/hip, so he rides little, but helps me break my stbs-- and is the most amazing horseman I have ever known), and my best friend from grade school who has been an insperation to me always (she also ran her own stable for 25 years and now runs a big school in in the TO area). Also for me Che is dangerous for anyone else but us, Tattoo was an abused horse that we rescued and has serious trust issues except for us, and the new horse Steel was supposed to be problem free, but we found out he too was abuse, so while he will be steady enough to sell at some point as a child's horse, he also has issues that I will work out before anyone else would be allowed to work with him. So in answer really I am my own trainer, but if I was looking, I would turn to Joe or my best friend for help and advice if needed :).

Deb McDaid

Tiocfaidh Ar La Stable

Cheers