I just found out my trainer is having some of the older HS students do some of the “trainer” rides. I guess just too many horses for the trainer to do all of every time. Is this typical practice in the industry or should I be annoyed? I don’t come from the H/J world so I don’t know. I pay for full training which is 2x a week trainer rides, I think the trainer is actually only doing 1x herself.
There was this exact same thread a few weeks ago.
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Thanks I will look for it. Sorry to repeat.
I think this is different from the other thread because on this question, the number of training rides is only two. I think if your contract states two training rides, those should be with a trainer.
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I would be (have been) annoyed to find that “trainer rides” were actually being done by someone other than the trainer. The only way this would be ok, IMO, is if the trainer had discussed it with you beforehand. To my mind, it is not a good sign.
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Agree.
But, if trainer is coaching these rides, then I’d be inclined to consider them Training from the Ground.
OP: Any way you could observe one of these rides?
That might help you decide if it is acceptable to you.
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To me, no.
To others, yes.
I’ve had it happen and I pulled my horse from the program. Once or twice ever so often to help an assistant or to give the horse opportunities to work with other riders? Sure. All of the time because the trainer can’t properly manage a business and know his/her maximum amount of training horses? No thanks.
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Sounds more like part time training to me. Two days a week? That’s it? in my mind, full training is 4 or 5 days a week.
Unless this was cleared beforehand, there is no way I’d allow some random HS students ride my horse in place of a pro ride. If they’re being coached, maybe but if not, then no.
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Yes, this is a normal part of some programs. No, I wouldn’t be ok with it unless it was discussed with me in advance.
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I would agree with this. If it is two training rides, I would expect those to be with my head trainer or her assistant trainer. The only time I’d be ok with a ride being done by one of the juniors is if a) my trainer talked to me about it ahead of time and b) it was because my horse just needed exercise. Like in a week that I can’t get there because of work, I’d be fine with an appropriate junior doing a hack on a weekday to keep my horse on schedule. But that would be something I’d expect to be asked about and agree to in advance, and it would not replace one of my two trainer rides.
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It is common practice and you should be annoyed if it wasn’t discussed with you.
Are these students quality riders? Sometimes its good for some one else to ride the horse while the trainer coaches them if the rider is a quality rider. There are high school students at our barn who are much better riders than the horse owners and the horses would benefit from being ridden by the teens with the trainer present. But it should be agreed upon ahead of time. I feel it also depends on what kind of training the horse needs. Some kids may be really good at certain skills that the horse needs (and some kids have very sticky seats and dont mind dealing with bucks and such).
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