This has me laughing so bad, thanks ^^
Yeah, I need to stop avoiding the issue and tell them I’m not bringing my horse back. I’ll probably hide behind vet recommandations to make for an easier conversation on my side
3 Likes
It’s nothing personal, it’s business.
The new barn fits the current needs better. Best of luck to your steed. I hope the rehab takes.
(and frankly, I find by the time people ask the questions they already know the answer)
4 Likes
Just to note that I appreciate the thoughtful way you are asking questions and gathering more information, to do the best for your horse. 
Asking kindly, as you seem to have come to an overall perspective on the trainer, and possibly not taking into account new information. Or maybe not fully taking into account the experience and knowledge that you are gaining since you became a first-time horse owner.
I’m a bit of a skeptic, I admit that. I’ve found that almost nothing is ever completely good. Re-evaluation needs to happen from time to time. A note that I do that while having a track record of rarely finding a need to move trainers or barns. I tend to stay from 4 to 8 years at each, while doing my best to understand the options (occasionally doing a bit of light barn or trainer shopping, and then staying where I am).
“kind of amazing” sounds to me a bit naive. An impression that is easy to come to, when one is a newcomer to a sport or situation. Maybe some objectivity is being put to the back, rather than continually processing new happenings and information.
The first experience, the first learning, feels impressive – sometimes because that is all someone knows! 
They don’t yet have much to compare with (sometimes not anything). And sometimes they feel they don’t know enough to even be able to evaluate comparatively. Very understandable. We are all subject to that.
Given that you are having some eye-opening new perspectives on the horse care, it might be a good idea to take a fresh look at the overall program, too. Not from a spirit of being nit-picky or critical. Just to absorb new information that is always flowing to you, both from inside and outside the program.
If a key draw is that this trainer provides other horses for students to ride, and there are few other programs in the area that do this, of course that is important to keep in mind.
I’m not saying that you need to stay or go from this trainer, as a trainer (not thinking of boarding - your horse does need to move board barns). You haven’t provided much real information to go by, and that’s ok, you don’t have to do that.
I do encourage you to visit other facilities for informational purposes. Listen to other riding students who have experience with other trainers, what they find positive and not so much. Especially those with long experience that have ridden with a few different trainers, and are further along in their journey than you are.
Just a suggestion to always keep your trainer perspective open, objective and evaluating, regardless of any decision you make for staying or going.
You obviously care a lot for your horse. Clearly you are willing to go above and beyond what some owners would do. I commend you for thoughtfully asking questions and gathering information in your horse’s best interests. He is lucky to have you!
8 Likes
I completely agree with what @fivestrideline is saying. This is a natural evolution.
Of course a good trainer cares about the horses their students are riding, not just the horse’s talents and abilities, but their welfare as well – because no horse, no ride! 
Plus we hope that every trainer actually likes horses.
All of us in a trainer barn have a tendency to end up with the trainer being very involved with our horse care and decisions. That’s great when the trainer’s greater experience is helping us sort out a situation.
We just have to keep in mind that the trainer is also limited to their own personal scope of evaluating things, based on whatever is their education and personal experience. Sometimes it isn’t as broad as we assume.
A horse friend and I once figured out that an excellent, wonderful trainer, who helped so many riders progress beyond what they ever thought they would do in their horse sport – did not know squat about trailer loading and unloading! 
He was also terrible at barn management, keeping staff and assigning tasks, keeping up with worming and farrier and … well, horse care! DOH! 
It became known in the local horse circle that he always had to have a good manager working with him, just to keep the barn routine and care from falling apart. 
We all just assumed that this amazing trainer was a world expert in everything horses. We finally clued in that he was a world expert in riding, and that was about all!
7 Likes
You sound like an incredibly kind and thoughtful horse owner who places your horse’s interests first, even when you’ve been dealt a bad hand.
But I have to say, so many things about the situation you describe at your trainer’s don’t sound remotely acceptable. As others have said, the facilities just don’t met the basic standard of care regarding forage, footing, medication, feeding and turnout. So it’s hard for me to accept that your trainer is as great as you might think he is, letting such basic things slide. I’m not saying the best trainers always have the best facilities, but they do try to control what they can control (for example, it’s one thing to not have a fancy indoor or a heated wash stall, it’s another thing to forget to give medications to horses and not pick paddocks more than once a season).
I also find it pretty problematic that he guided you as a first-time horse owner to buy a horse that was unfit (and ultimately had health issues) and encouraged you to ride the horse before you were comfortable, given the state of the horse’s health. Did you get a PPE? Could the bad footing at the trainer’s barn contributed to his issues?
Regardless, I agree with everyone to move the horse to the facility that is closer, with unlimited access to forage, great footing, and an indoor in winter. Even if your horse was 1000% sound I would switch tomorrow.
11 Likes
Assuming you have already checked the new place in person, move your horse to the new facility after rehab, and don’t speak of future plans to your current trainer. Use the indoor and shorter drive as an excuse.
A simple “I’ve found a place closer to home with an indoor arena, and will be moving my horse there after he’s done at the rehab facility.” will suffice. If you wish to continue lessons on his lesson horses, make the arrangements to do so.
I strongly suggest you don’t mention plans to bring your horse back to the trainer’s barn in the future. I suspect that you will not be willing to put your horse back into that kind of care once you’ve been in a good boarding situation. You may be introduced to other trainers/coaches through the people you meet at the new barn if you keep your mind open to possibilities.
6 Likes
Thank you, it’s appreciated=)
I see what you mean, but its actually my 5th trainer since restarting as an adult in 2019. Other barn/trainers were all focused on “modern dressage”; get the horse round through the use of the hands, more legs all the time to keep them going, pulling on the inside rein to get horse to turn, etc. I know people who train with others and speak highly of their respective trainer and find them so wonderful, but when I look at their video/pictures all I see are horses with their nose way behind the vertical.
This is the only trainer I know of who prefer private lessons to group lessons of 6-8 people. They offer seat and longe lessons, and insist I use my seat. None of the others even mentioned the seat and its uses.
They’ve read the Masters of Old (Baucher, De Carpentry, Podhajsky, Seunig, etc.) and I can discuss them with him. He uses what he learns to better the horses he trains, adapting to individual horse as needed.
We are working with the horse, not against it basically.
There are a couple other in that style where I live, but they are at least a 2h drive, so unless it’s virtual lesson or analysis of video of my rides, they are currently not an option 
1 Like
I have to be honest, the fact that your trainer presents himself as understanding “true classical dressage” versus “bad modern dressage” raises even more red flags for me. I’m not saying dressage doesn’t have its issues as a discipline, “modern dressage” does not mean using all those things that you just listed.
That’s just bad riding.
6 Likes
I agree it’s bad riding, but it’s almost exclusively what I’ve seen with my own eyes and experienced first hand during lessons everywhere else (5 other barns), with trainers going so far as to make the horse flip on his back to avoid the pressure 
My trainer does not present themselves as doing classical dressage vs modern, that is how I word it because that is how marked the difference between what he does and what I’ve seen almost everywhere else so far.
He just say he does dressage.
I’m assuming there are others, but around here jumper/hunter is more popular, so dressage trainers are limited and I’ve seen/tried most already
I think that if you like this trainer, there’s no harm in leaving the door open for YOU to reach out at a later date and see about hauling in, or continuing to ride lesson horses. I don’t think I would keep your horse there ever again, though. Who knows, maybe your new barn allows outside trainers and you can get your coach in for lessons someday when/if horsey is rideable!
People are latching on to the written vibe that you’re very devoted to this coach despite glaring holes in their horsemanship - but as someone else pointed out, lots of people can be great riders and trainers and have NO clue how to keep a horse outside of that hour in the saddle. As long as you (the owner) find a way to manage those other 23 hours, there is no harm in using this trainer for the ridden portion if they do a good job.
10 Likes
Take advice from a stranger with a grain of salt of course, but get a second opinion before you make any decisions based on this horse. None of this information is promising at all for this horse being rideable. I wouldn’t be putting the rehab center pricey money into it without another opinion. It was probably out of shape because it doesn’t stay sound in a program.
10 Likes
Second this. Maybe they didn’t outright say DSLD but everything you described screams it.
3 Likes
Who recommended this horse to you? Your trainer? How did you find him?
I agree 100% with getting a second opinion.
He’s been at the rehab center for 5 weeks already
Impressive improvements have been made to his posture/muscle tone in that time; even if he has DSLD and cannot be ridden, sending him to rehab was the best way to ensure he is in the best shape possible for his own comfort 
Horse had never been in a program; he was born with is previous owner, who’s a now 65-70 years old lady who was advise to stop ridding following health issues, so she started looking to rehome.
No saddle on him before he was 5, and he never did much, not because of soundness but because his owner had another horse that required more care/attention, and was losing interest in riding.
He is a really green but safe 10yo, a bit more on the project side, but showing potential. I didn’t do a PPE, which will never happen again if I buy another horse one day.
He is sound unless flexions are done, but I am pretty sure I would also test positive to those
Vet/therapist said something about the egg or the chicken; they are not sure if the ligaments are the causes of the lack of muscle/posture, or if they are the results, which could be reversed. And apparently there’s not way to test DSLD directly, which is annoying me to no end.
I’ll have news later this week following new ultrasound
2 Likes
I like what you say about your current trainer’s approach to effective riding. That is what it is really about, regardless of the saddle or discipline.
What you say is reminding me again of the great trainer/instructor that I mentioned previously. A genius for riding, but horse care – no! 
Some of us wondered if, growing up as a trainer’s kid himself, he had actually always had staff to do that and never learned it. Or maybe it was that he was so focused on the riding, and so disorganized everywhere but on a horse, that he just didn’t have any brain cells left for management and care.
He did train out of a small barn with a student/staff person who did the real barn management. Most of his clients trailered in – in droves. His place looked like a trailer sales lot on the weekends. He would teach lessons at student barns as well, if they could get enough people into the lesson.
So, sounds like that might be the way forward for you. Work with this trainer for riding, but keep this horse or any horse of your own at a different barn. 
5 Likes
