Why Horse Trainers Are Insane

 

This post is intended as clarification for Marie (and anyone else who might be wondering), as she brought up a seemingly valid point a few days ago in regards to my current reluctance to ride with people whose horsemanship skills are poor (or non-existant), while before my retirement from training horses I had strongly advocated rider education and skill development... makes me seem wishy-washy for sure.

These days I'll only ride with my peers, and here's why:

The most direct and honest reason is that as a trainer of backyard trail and pleasure horses, I was driven quite insane by my clients over the years.
Ultimately, my only defense to the madness of training horses for Backyard Betsy was to distance myself from it.   

I retired earlier than I had planned from a horse-training career I really enjoyed because I became so frustrated with horse owners who either could not (or would not) learn, that I couldn't continue.

The horses were never the problem, and I miss working with them... but quite frankly, although I had more than a few former clients who possessed the "can do" attitude to develop their horsemanship skills (and I'm proud of them), most were aggrevating at best, and it'll be a long time before I'm able to forget them and become sane again.  

After years spent at the track where horse trainers actually trained horses for people who were accomplished horsemen themselves, where everyone was an expert rider capable of following instructions, and logical thinking prevailed; in semi-retirement as a pleasure/trail horse trainer, I was shocked by my new genus of clientele. 
Backyard Betsy's outlandish and unpredictible emotional behavior was the norm, refusal to "try harder" or leave her comfort zone very common, and downright FEAR ruled the day.   
I was amazed by the high percentage of hobbyist riders who will hire a horse trainer when what they really need is a riding instructor (or a new hobby).
 
Generally, the problem isn't that they can't improve, but rather that they choose not to, and therefore remain stuck in their rut while blaming their own issues on the horse (who actually has no issues except those directly caused by his owner), and expecting people like me to "fix" it.
Overwhelmingly, they expect the horse to make all of the concessions in the relationship which is not only unreasonable, but also just plain unrealistic.

It's very nerve-wracking for a horse trainer to also provide services as a therapist, personal fitness trainer, and babysitter.

Time invested by a horse trainer in riding instruction for clients with horses "in training" is usually time that would be better spent cleaning your toilet.

Here's WHY:

Overwhelmingly, horses sent to trainers by hobbyist owner/riders are mature animals with a satisfactory amount of previous training for their jobs... they have simply been ruined by mishandling, spoiled rotten, and poorly ridden until they developed misbehaviors that alarmed the owner (when I say "alarmed", I mean scared the crap outta her).
As a trainer interested in creating harmony and understanding between horse and rider, I attempted to combine retraining of the horse with instruction for the rider so that she wouldn't destroy his training again in the future, and both would be happy.
bzzzzt... FYI... it rarely works.

There's no way you can heal the mind of a neurotic, stressed-out horse while allowing it to be handled or ridden by the person who caused the damage in the first place... unless that person is willing and able to make serious changes.

It's extremely hard on a horse to be handled and ridden by a capable person for a month or two, regain his trust in people, and become a happy, mentally stable animal... and then return home to the madness that caused the damage in the first place.
He would have been better off never being sent for training at all than to stress and confuse him with on/off bad handling.

Even if the owner/rider is willing to improve and make changes, the challenge often proves to be too much, depending on how damaged the rider is.
Horses can almost always be cured of their issues... people not so much.

So as a trainer, let's say you're making great forward strides in "fixing" a horse, but every time you attempt to work the owner into the picture, she drops the proverbial ball.
She lacks comprehension or simply ignores instruction, subjects her horse to unwitting abuse, and ultimately, by the time her brief visit is concluded, the experience has left the horse severely set-back in his progress. 
It will take the trainer far longer to restore the horse to it's pre-client-visit state than it took for that person to undo 3 weeks of training.

So working with clients on their horses is often a vicious circle of good and bad handling/riding that is ultimately so stressful to a horse that he'd be better off mishandled all the time than being jacked around between the two styles.
Nothing is really accomplished except mental (if not physical) abuse to the horse.

Pleas to these people to get riding lessons are mostly ignored.
They are adamant that they learn to ride on their own horse, yet fail to recognize that their horse-in-training is currently in recovery from their poor riding.
They need several lessons a week from someone who specializes in riding instruction... on a stoic old schoolmaster... not an occaisional Saturday afternoon of driving their horse trainer (and their horse) insane with their inept skills and apparent inability to learn.     

My job description as a horse trainer (according to me) is that I am an *educator of horses*... teaching and refining performance in each horse according to his athleticism and talent, eliminating bad habits, and unfortuneately, sometimes even "dumbing them down" a bit to suit their riders abilities if the horse's previous training exceeds their rider's skill level.

It's extremely disheartening to take a talented and well trained horse and reduce him to a virtually non-responsive slug... yet I had to do this on many occaisions because the owners refused to work towards bettering themselves, and demanded that the horse be reconfigured to what they wanted him to be.
Every time I was forced by owners to reduce a beautifully trained horse with a wonderful understanding of discreet rider aids to one which would ignore all inadvertant miscues and respond only to a direct kick in the ribs or yank on the reins, a little bit of me died.
Although the owner was pleased, I always felt I had done the horse a disservice.

While every customer I had believed their own situation to be unique, they actually all fit neatly into catagories.

I had the "Brash Brenda" clients who yee-hawed their way down the trail on their freshly trained horse like a maniac, confusing the animal, and quickly undoing all of my hard work.
Brenda often demanded a quiet, safe, gentle and well seasoned trail mount from me, only to destroy that "mellow" training by (for example) barrel racing the horse on weekends under whip and spur. 
So much for that 30 days of my blood, sweat, and tears... the horse was ruined again within a few weeks of going home.
These people were generally quick to blame the trainer, when it was themselves who fried the horse's brain by riding like hellhounds.
(For the Record: I'm not against barrel racing when done correctly, but very few hobbyist riders actually train their horses for it, preferring instead to just haul-ass around the cans while goring their horse with Texas Stars, then yanking to a stop using a brutal bit... making it the perfect example of how to ruin a dependable trail horse).  

My "Nervous Nellie" clients required an excessive amount of hand-holding and encouragement; gals who often dissolved into tears while standing frozen on the mounting block with one foot in the stirrup, while their babysitter-safe horses waited patiently for them to either mount or chicken out.
Some didn't make it that far, and I sometimes burnt up half my day trying to console them as they sat sobbing at my picnic table trying to conjure up the courage to ride their horse.
These gals were very common.

"No-Win Nancy" surpassed Nellie in that she was so deeply frightened of her horse that any chance of successfully interacting with him was dismal at best.
Nancy routinely fit neatly into the catagory of the middle-aged horse lover who had dreamed of unicorns from childhood, but never had the chance to own one.
Nancy was almost always a complete novice.
She had never ridden a horse outside of a hire-a-pony situation, was slightly overweight, totally nonathletic, and had no clue. 
In her 50's, financially stable, with kids grown and gone, she had finally purchased the horse of her dreams... and I mean OF HER DREAMS.
The most common *dream horses* I recieved for training were either the Black Stallion or Trigger.

One time (and this is all true!), I actually had Nancy bring me a gorgeous, unbroke black Arabian stallion which was her very first ever horse... and even admitted to me that he was selected based solely upon the horse in the movie... she even had posters on her wall at home depicting him!
Needless to say, once she had him, she was intimidated by his size and strength, while he was empowered by his ability to frighten her... it was a no-win situation.

Other common no-win mismatches were the "color" riders.
Selecting horses without consideration for any other attributes except their haircoat, these unicorn dreamers often quickly discovered that "pretty is as pretty does" when it comes to horses.
A good horse is never a bad color... but a bad horse can be any color.

Generally as a rule, by the time these people sought professional help, they were so scared of their horses that they could never trust them again... fear gripped their core, and the only solution was to sell the mismatched horse, invest in riding lessons, and considering a severe "downgrade" to something more suitable when purchasing the next horse.

"Overmounted Olivia" seldom realized what the problem in her relationship with her horse actually was, even when clearly pointed out.
While her delusional mind pictured her horse of personal preference as an animal of spirit and sensitivity, her skills dictated a need for a much more laid-back and docile mount.
She was confident in her ability, while totally devoid of the same.
Usually heavy-handed and lacking the finesse required for a sensitive mount, she routinely demanded that her horse be made "less hot"... an impossible task for any trainer if the rider is bullish and unwilling to lighten-up.

*** News Flash: A trainer cannot change a horse's basic personality or temperament.
They can only condition behaviors.***

"Slippery Sally" had a butt made out of butter, and spent half her time falling off for no good reason, and mostly just sat there for the longest time pondering if she should ever try riding again.
5 miles out into the woods is NOT the place to decide to give up riding unless you're trying to piss off your trainer.
ugh... I hate hiking, yet I ended up walking home on foot from a trail ride with Sally on a fairly regular basis when she refused to remount her horse. (I couldn't very well ride home while Sally walked along miserable and/or crying, could I?)
Sally felt that I should be able to teach her horse to stay under her at all times despite the fact that she tended to just fall off out of the blue without the horse spooking or anything... no shit... she'd just get overbalanced to one side as she rode, and slip ever more to that side until she slid right off onto the ground.
I had a lot of riders like this.

I actually had a woman complain to me in a tone of blame when she fell off in this manner one time.
She slid off sideways, and the horse stopped within 2 steps as he had been trained (I knew going in that she was a horrible rider without a desire to improve, so I made sure he would stop when she fell off).
She irately insinuated that I wasn't doing my job, and demanded that I teach him to stop quicker... like before she fell off.
That doesn't even make sense... if I taught the horse to stop every time he felt her losing her balance (and before she fell off), they'd never get out of the barnyard... I might as well just teach him to never move.

Then there was "Freak-out Freda".
Freda was fine as long as everything went smoothly, but if something horrible happened (like a bunny sitting in the trail), she immediately gripped her reins white-knuckled and stiffened her entire body... alert to impending disaster although her horse had been totally unresponsive to Mr. Bunny.
Of course, Freda's response to "danger" was communicated to her horse through her body, while her continued vigilance and red-flag caution convinced him that although he couldn't detect any life-threatening monsters, they surely must be lurking nearby... and so the entire demeanor of both horse and rider were destroyed, with each reduced to frightened anticipation of... nothing.

I had a "Freda" freak-out and freeze so badly one time (for no good reason) that I had to loop my own reins over my saddle horn in order to use both hands trying to pry hers off her reins as she was actually cutting her young horse's mouth with her death grip.  No Lie.
She dug in with her legs and heels, and maintained that while simultaneously hauling back on the reins so hard her horse's head was buried in its chest.
Confused, the animal became agitated and began trying to bolt from the unrelenting pressure.
So we rode side-by-side together, me controlling my horse through only leg and seat while ponying her horse with one hand and trying to dislodge her frozen hands from the reins with the other... while also attempting to talk her into a state where she'd relax her legs and give her horse some relief.
It was brutal and scary for me as well as her, as her poor horse was close to a meltdown, and liable to do anything at that point.
Luckily, I was able to calm her down enough to ease-up a little, and I ended up ponying her all the way home.
It set back training for her horse by a good week.

An alarmingly high percentage of my student horses arrived here neurotic and distrustful due to a steady diet of mishandling at home, and some needed a vacation from their owners far more than they needed training.

Some needed no training at all, but the owners seldom accepted this evaluation, and insisted that training take place, even though I knew in advance that unless the owner changed her ways, nothing would be accomplished.

Overwhelmingly, resistance to change prevailed... I estimate that for every client I had who was eager to improve their skills, I had 10 who demanded that the horse be made to conform to their poor horsemanship... or who were so terrified of horses in general (and their horse in particular) that improvement was impossible.

Granted, working with those who dedicated themselves to the project and became capable riders was rewarding, however don't forget the impact of the other 10 who simply refused to try.
For myself, the satisfaction of assisting the few who "got it" failed to balance out the anguish of the majority who did not.

The things I saw them do to their horses piled onto my brain until I could no longer send my student horses home in good conscience as I knew that within weeks they'd once again be reduced to mental wrecks and displaying misbehaviors based solely on mishandling from their owners.
When it got to be so much that I was sickened with pity for the horses and resentment towards the offending owners, I quit.

I'm not the only horse trainer to quit my beloved job due to the stress of dealing with clueless clients... it's quite common... and any trainer who deals with Backyard Betsy can offer hundreds of horror stories.

And THAT is why I carefully select my riding buddies these days.
I no longer possess the patience to deal with this type of horse abuse... and won't... I figure the new generation of trainers can take over from here.

... at least until they are driven insane by those they are trying to help...  LOL