Do you look for a “resume” of accomplishments for the rider (trainer)?
Word of mouth referrals?
What makes a young horse program successful to you?
Do you look within your discipline or across disciplines?
When you send a horse off for training, what end result are you looking for? Lead changes, showing at X Y Z level/ shows, address specific behaviors or issues?
Just a thought exercise for your Tuesday - purely curious!
At the very least I want a trainer who will work with the horse most days of the week. And I want a trainer who will allow me to watch him or her work with the horse. If I send my horse to a trainer, I want him trained, not just boarded with an occasional ride thrown in. I also like to watch because I learn from it, I know my horse is not mistreated, and I know I’m getting what I’m paying for.
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I want to see them ride a horse at the level of my horse and be effective, kind and gentle.
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I have not sent a horse for training, but based on the positive experience i have had with my most recent instructor, i would look for consistency in the quality of the output they produce across breeds and levels. When talking with them, i would try to glean how sensitive they are to customizing their approach to the individual horse and how that aligns with the consistency and rate of progress with a horse. Specificity and intention in their day-to-day work and an ability to clearly communicate how low level building blocks combine to make significant improvements over time. Resumes might get me in the door, but their actual process is what will determine if we are a good fit.
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Are they moving horses and riders up the levels with good/safe results.
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A good trainer of horses or any beings for that matter I think has the ability to empathize and understand the WHY of a behavior, and then appropriately break down the teaching steps, set boundaries, and reinforce or deter positive or negative responses as needed. They can do this without becoming emotional or extreme. Good horsemanship is across disciplines and they do not have to be showing or win to be skilled and knowledgeable. In fact, some horsemen who only want to win do not see the horse in front of them sometimes, only goals. A good horseman (or woman) can build a confident animal who is happy to be handled, travel, do its job and take care of its rider, within reason. A good trainer pushes the envelope enough to build confidence but does not overface. They reward appropriately but not excessively, and if they punish it is timed perfectly and without anger. A good horseman listens to the animal and can distinguish between pain, behavioral resistance, boredom or learned “bad” behavior. A good trainer is confident without conceit, and is always trying to learn and do better for the animals.
Beyond that, if looking for a specific skill to install in the horse I may look for someone known to specialize in that skill, with all the above qualities.
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Most of what others have said.
I would also want my trainer to be open to new knowledge and a student his/herself - I’m wary of trainers who think they “know it all.”
If I’m having a challenge with my horse, I don’t want my trainer’s response to be, “Well, Dobin doesn’t do it with me.” I would want them to see the cause/effect of my riding with the horse’s behavior and help me so that I can ride Dobin as well as he/she can - not just want me to hand over the reins all the time.
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First and foremost someone who puts the horse first, even if that means having to say show less or do less. Someone who has a great feel and is patient. Within my discipline (unless its basic breaking). Someone who is willing to let me ask questions and understand and learn about why he/she is doing things. A trainer who wants to make the horse relax and be willing to learn.
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I can only speak to the criteria that I was evaluated by when I did my one and only gig ~10 years ago.
Full transparency: this was in bumf*** nowhere Kentucky so I’m not even here to front like I was this incredible, prestigious rider/trainer or anything. I had some success locally showing, but I quite literally have no credentials that would put me at the forefront of anyone’s list - other than having good people skills and being lucky. The owner just didn’t have time to accomplish what she wanted to with both animals (she ran a pretty well known eventing barn) and wanted a cheap solution. Insert: TinFoilHat at 16 years old. I could write an entire book about this gig and the lessons I learned LOL
But ultimately, here’s what it came down to from what I remember from the interview process:
- Owner wanted someone who was receptive to feedback and collaboration on goals. She didn’t want to feel like she was a stranger, as the horses owner, during the process and “impeding” on my work. This led to a relationship with great communication since this expectation was set upfront.
- Similarly, she wanted to work with someone with good people skills.
- She was looking for someone who specifically rode and trained in english style of riding, but she was impressed that I have trained and showed extensively in both western and english verticals (relatively successfully). She perceived this as being an “agile” rider which is ultimately why she added on DM to be worked with as well.
- References, of course. In KY I had shown exclusively in western events and in the state where I am from, I had shown exclusively in english events. I happened to be more successful in western (despite preferring english) so I gave her contacts of a few others who were trying or had tried to get me to show on their horses. That went a long way - especially with one name in particular that I could name drop.
- Cheap labor. I was just a teen excited for this task. I undersold myself big time compared to the work I put in.
For myself, I was looking for someone who was not a complete nutcase to work for, who would work with me as a partner to accomplish said goals, and of course, I wanted to make sure I felt safe. Around them, around their barn, around the horses. I was smart enough to stand by that thank god.
If I was looking for a trainer for myself, now, 10 years later, I’d look for/at:
- word of mouth recs
- past horses that this individual worked with and their relative success afterwards
- people skills and compatible communication style
- history of training - not horses, but how they learned skills to get to where they are (did they complete an apprenticeship? or work under another trainer? who is the trainer?)
- is their frontal lobe fully developed? (sorry teenaged-TinFoilHat)
My advice is to sniff out their expectations of involvement from you right off the bat. I am naturally an outgoing person who loves to collaborate with others - that is NOT THE CASE for a majority of the horse people I’ve met. I know trainers who want their clients to sit down and shut up while they do their job, while others, like myself, want an owner to be more involved. Similarly, I know owners that just want to hand over the reins and let the trainer do their thing. It’s all fine as long as expectations are clear upfront.
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I would be watching videos of their riding. Are they craming the horse up into a frame or teaching the horse to think?
And i would take a lesson. Are their methods effective and does it positively influenve my horse?
And i would listen carefully to their words.are they telling me nice things in a nice accent to make me feel like i am a workd class rider or are they just being honest and humble about themselves amd how they speak to me.
I woukd not let price or distance be the determining factor. I would choose the most effective one.
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I just hauled a pony 10 hours (and spent the night in a dubious motel-cum-pawnshop) because I know the trainer is going to give him the tools he needs to be a confident driving pony–or tell me honestly that he’s not a good fit. I would rather go the distance to someone who is safe, calm and intuitive and has a background in combined driving than take a chance because a lot can go wrong in a hurry in a carriage wreck.
My current pony, who had a good start, is far better at handling adversity than my retired pony, who was trained in a hurry and doesn’t have the mental toolkit to recover when things go awry. She also tries to bite men in cowboy hats, which may be related…or else she just has strong opinions about fashion.
Current pony has never had anything really unfortunate happen to him vis-a-vis training, so he has a more relaxed outlook. That alone is reason to send hopeful pony pair-mate to the same trainer for a similar introduction to the job.
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