Some years ago, I had my fairly green brokehorse at a trainer’s barn for 30 days of training.
Trainer had come recommended from my farrier,
and I was comfortable with using said trainer
(never heard any negatives).
I had asked that the trainer work with my horse under saddle, some refinement with gaits, and just regular handling bc horse was kind of spooky/reactive.
I visited periodically during that month, and then went to pick him up on the last day.
When I arrived to pick him up, I was rather stunned to find the trainer using him in a lesson, with a young novice rider on him.
I was equally amazed that the trainer acted like I was hardly standing there (let alone, the owner of the horse), and NEVER said anything about him being used in lessons, or the young rider using him, especially in front of the student’s parents, who were standing in the barn watching.
I argued with myself internally, bc I had ZERO expectation that my horse was going to be used as a lesson horse, but at the same time, he was ‘none the worse for wear’ and the young rider was loving all over him.
Just wondering how others would feel about this,
if this were their horse ‘in training’?
I have never really said anything much about, remained ‘distantly’ friendly with the trainer, but it has always left me with a sense of distrust where this trainer was concerned.
I have not ever used her since, and have gone on to find a wonderful trainer for my horse, that I think is a better fit for the horse’s needs.
Thoughts, input, appreciated.
Just want to make sure I am reading this right.
You are upset about something that happened three years ago with a trainer that you do not use anymore?
When my trainer had my horse in training he used the horse in a few lessons to see how the horse was going with a different ride than his. It did not bother me at all. It was not a secret that this happened, my trainer was not being sneaky or anything.
It sounds like your trainer was doing the same thing, not being sneaky.
Did you ask how often your horse did this?
The big question is: did you like how your horse came back? If so, the trainer did an OK job. I would stop worrying about this.
My coach will put novice riders on green but broke horses. It’s often a good match as no expectations of subtlety on either side.
I would say if the trainer had a novice riding your “spooky, reactive” horse within 30 days they probably figured they’d done a great job and were proud of it. They may have been showing you, look anyone can ride this horse now!
I wouldn’t want to send a horse for training and find out the trainer had used him 4 hours a day in jumping lessons and his hocks were blown.
But I would trust a good trainer to make the right decisions about what to expose my green horse to, including novice riders.
I do not feel especially possessive about my horse that way. I feel horses benefit from other riders within reason. As we benefit from riding multiple horses.
I agree with the other posters. My horse is currently in training, and the trainer told me that she would have other people riding her. This way, she is exposed to different riders, weights, etc., and she will supervise the entire thing. I think it’s a good thing for my horse to experience as much as she possibly can while in training, to be better prepared for me! 
It’s one thing if the trainer tells you in advance that others will be riding your horse, under supervision. Quite another to find it out, and be surprised by it.
I’d be ticked. As a matter of fact, it’s happened to me. Once. I took my horse home, then put him with another trainer. He wasn’t hurt in any way, but I felt I should have been consulted/informed/asked.
Well i get the impression from COTH that many people especially newbies send their horses away for training without asking many important questions. Because I’ve always trained my own horse (for better or worse) there are a lot of questions I would ask.
Who will be riding? Head trainer, assistant, others?
What kind of ground work or inhand and how often?
How often? Where, arena or trails? At what tasks?
What bit? What tack?
What’s feed and turnout?
What are our goals at the start and how will we modify them week by week to match progress?
When can I come watch you work horse and when can I get a lesson?
Etc.
Exactly! Just tell me and I wouldn’t have been caught off guard, nor had reason to distrust.
It left me with negative feelings toward that trainer and hard pressed to recommend them in the future.
I wasn’t paying them to use him as a lesson horse and given the ‘’‘reception’ when I showed up, it made me question how many times she had done it that I eadwas aware of.
Thanks for understanding my point ðŸ‘
This is not OK if you did not give your express permission, even if just from a liability point of view. What if your horse had done something to injure the novice rider?
When I trained horses, I had it in my contract who was going to be riding the horse when in my care (either just myself, or myself and my assistant).
So why didn’t you nicely discuss this with the trainer at the time? And why is it an issue now 3 years later? What happened to bring this detail back to mind?
I understood your point. I was doing what you asked which was give you thoughts.
If you wanted to know how much the trainer used your horse, or how much they had someone other than them ride it, you should have asked. Being pissed three years later because you did not ask seems out of line.
I suspect that the OP was startled enough not to know how to react at the time, and never got the answer she needed.
I can understand that 3 years later it isn’t that it’s still an issue, rather, it’s just an open question that was never answered. I get that.
Yep, important questions need to be asked up front, but there is no way to even guess every question. If it had never occurred to me that a horse I sent for training might be used in a lesson, well then of course it wouldn’t occur to me to ask. There is no way to imagine every possibility, especially when one is new to something.
So this seems to me to be just an open question about expectations, generally. Was that an unusual situation, or not? I’m guessing that may depend on what circle of horse people one is in. Did the OP catch the trainer out when the trainer wasn’t expecting her? Or did the OP see situation normal? OP may never know, unless she casually asks around if that trainer occasionally uses training horses as lesson horses.
I would absolutely want to know up front who would be riding my horse in training. In some barns, ‘assistant trainers’ aren’t much more than inexperienced students. I’m not on board if a head trainer is just trying to pad the training bills with more horses than the head trainer can actually ride by using students as riders, regardless of the true training being offered the horse.
On the other hand, if a trainer says “when the time is right, I sometimes put lesson students on horses in training, when I think it will benefit both”. I may be ok with that, but I do want to know ahead of time. If it happened no more than two or three times and was common with this trainer, I’d figure it was figured in with the cost of training. Otherwise I might ask about a discount for lesson rides and expect the trainer to handle that question in a professional manner.
OP, I’d chalk it up to ‘live and learn’. Now you know one more question to ask. All questions of paid professionals are fair questions, if they are presented in a polite and friendly way. Just imo.
I would have been pissed. I think it is inconsiderate for the trainer not to ask to use your horse for novice lessons.
I have never worked for or rode with a professional barn where this has happened nor would be acceptable. With that said, if I was sending a horse out I would not think to ask if the horse would be used in such a way. I would just assume trainer, assistant trainer and an assistant would ride.
At the end of it, the horse needs to ride for the trainer and myself, not everybody that walks through the barn door and their dog.
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I sent my horse to a trainer to make a non pro/rookie horse for me. Trainer put a couple rookie and youth riders on her in lessons to see how she would react with them. It helped him see what he needed to work, as some of the stuff she may not do with him. I was fine with it. It was part of his training to get the horse I was needing.
I also felt like it wasn’t ok ,.,
And it diminished her professionalism in my viewpoint.
TY ðŸ‘
Exactly on point!
Describes my feelings and thoughts perfectly.
I’m not angry, just was wondering if it’s a normal thing.
The trainer I use now is completely different, and I do not think, would ever presume to use my horse as a lesson horse without checking with me first.
I think exposure is great for certain horses, but in the case of this horse, he had had A LOT of mishandling in his lifetime, and ‘just another rider’ with confusing and inconsistent cues, is not what I had in mind when I sent him off for training.
He has come a long way!
As a matter of fact, the old trainer commented to me about his anxiety and I thought, ‘Yeah, I TOLD you that he was very anxious’ 😳
Just was dismissive of my input about my own horse.
I think her ego had a lot to do with the aforementioned ‘issue’ I had with her.
Rest assured I am certainly not a '‘newbie’, I’ve owned/ridden horses for 45 years.
Those questions were asked/discussedd etc, as well a letter was written, and delivered to the trainer BY ME with my express concerns, wishes, expectations, as well feeding instructions, etc
You seem to assume a lot from my post that doesn’t actually have anything to do with the situation as I described it.
I would be pissed also, nobody should ever get on your horse without your knowledge.
It is sad but a lot of trainers do stuff like that because they can get away with, and pad thier training bills by having other people ride their training horses, sounds like she was double bumping, student pays for lesson, you pay for training ride, win win for her.
When you send a horse out for training if the trainer is not going to ride it , then they must make that clear,not your responsibility to ask.
This is EXACTLY what is happening with my horse. Initially, trainer and assistant trainer are riding her, then actually, an experienced student of said trainer will ride her (and I was asked at the getgo if that was cool with me - the difference between myself and the OP). This particular trainer does it this way because I want a well-rounded horse that is suitable for me, not just a pro ride. While I do have 45 years of experience riding and training horses, I’m at the point in my life where, I’d rather someone else do the bouncing, thankyouverymuch. 
I felt like she was attempting to make some lesson fees off of him also.
That was my immediate, gut reaction to the situation,and it pissed me off.
She avoided me while I gathered my horse and my stuff, talking to the parents, the kids, etc.
Then shessauntered over to say good bye as I was loading him on the trailer.
I decided, right there on the spot, that I would never send him there again, altho, otherwise, he received good boarding care.
It just makes me nervous, when I need to board him,
when I travel bc I would have never suspected she would do that, and I was torn as to how I felt about it.
If the trainer had professionally asked you how you felt about your experience with her organization, in the way that businesses do when they want to learn from their customers and gain repeat business, that would have been the time to talk this out. You could have brought it up anyway but you had already made up your mind, so why have an awkward conversation - I get that, too.
When someone has already burned a bridge there isn’t much point in throwing more fuel on the fire.
In your shoes I would also have wondered, does she do this with all (or most) training horses, or just mine? Does she see me as expendable because I’m a new customer and she’s already solid with her most important customers, so a one-horse customer more or less is no matter to her? That’s what I would wonder. Like you I think I’d just load & go. It’s done. :winkgrin:
