There are several different catagories of horsemen, ranging from the novice horse-lover to the professional who makes his living in the business... and they are more similar than you might think.
The 55 year old horse lover who purchases her very first horse, only to ruin his previous training through errors and mishandling, isn't really much different from the pro trainer who makes the same mistakes over and over again because he refuses to be flexible in his methods, or who lacks the ability to "read" and "listen" to his student horses.
Neither is *in-tune* with the horse, and both sometimes cause more damage than anything else while working with them.
As a lifelong horse professional myself, I like to believe that all pros love horses as much as I do... but in reality, I know that isn't true.
I've known pro trainers who were brilliant centaurs who communicated easily with their horses... and I've known greedy idiots with little understanding of horses as well.
In a way I guess, I hang onto my own little version of the unicorn dream because I like to think there is more good in the horse world than bad, and hate to admit to what I know of the nightmares horses endure because of the people in their lives.
I've had the unique opportunity to work with people and horses from both ends of the spectrum, first as a racehorse trainer for 22 years, then as a trail and pleasure horse trainer for an additional 15.
You'd think that by virtue of spending more years there (if nothing else), and the sheer numbers at the track (literally thousands of racehorses compared to mere hundreds of trail & pleasure horses), that I would have seen more injustice towards horses at the track, right?
Wrong.
The typical novice horse-loving owner blows away the racetrackers when it comes to horse abuse through ignorance anyday.
Yep... true fact.
I never saw so many maladjusted, neurotic, or borderline dangerous horses as I saw coming to me for training from people's backyards.
Nightmarish horses that had reached their breaking points through obsessive poor handling, unskilled riding, and general mismanagement.
Sweet natured horses that had turned into vicious thugs through overindulgence and lack of a consistant leader in their lives.
Sensitive horses living in insensitive homes... or perhaps even worse... in homes where bumbling and mistakes were commonplace, keeping the animals in a constant state of agitation.
Each of the privately-owned riding horses had it's own set of unique circumstances that brought them to me for help, yet most of them with severe mental issues shared a common denominator: They were all dearly beloved unicorns belonging to people who didn't understand them.
Since these animals accounted for more than half of the horses on my training roster, I can only conclude that there's a LOT of mishandling going on in backyards.
Most were "fixable" of course, but if the owner wasn't willing to make changes in herself, and be more realistic about her expectations for her horse, the training was ultimately a waste of their money and my time... they quickly unraveled the training progress that had been made, and the horses generally became unmanageable again (often in just a few weeks).
Of course, a few of my clients listened, learned, and became worthy of their horses... but the vast majority did not.
Those who refused to make changes, both in their attitudes towards their horses and their management or riding practices, never "got it"... and continued to struggle along with their personal nightmare horses once they returned home.
Being unrealistic about themselves, their abilities, and their expectations, these people generally just blamed the latest trainer, and proceeded on to the next in a long line of what they considered to be "bad" trainers.
Those who didn't blame the trainer were no better off...
These people didn't accept responsibility for their horse's problems either, and preferred to grab at unlikely straws (usually pointing fingers at feeds, tack fit or chiropractic issues) to explain the problems they were having.
All in all, the unicorn daydreams of these owners conflicted with what horses really need and want... resulting in nightmares.
Yeah... I'm gonna drop all the dancing around the berry bush soon and get to the root of what my writing is all about... but the gist so far is that if your horse has behavior issues that aren't extensions of physical conditions, the first place to look for solutions is:
IN YOUR MIRROR.
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