How to Choose a Trainer

I recently got a call from a girl who boards her horse at my barn. She needed me to help her move the mare from a different barn back to my barn. This was sort of an emergency situation; the horse was brought to that other barn to be trained, but after two weeks ended up lame.

Since the girl had paid for a month of training, she decided to switch horses. She moved her stallion to the trainer’s place and brought the mare to our barn. After about a week of hearing nothing from the trainer, she got frustrated and asked the barn owners if the trainer had been working with the stallion. The people at the barn had not seen the trainers at the barn at all. This is when she called me to move the horse.

When we got to that barn, I couldn’t believe she had let her horses stay there at all. We pulled up in a strange trailer, but no one came out to see what was going on or question why we were there. The smell was awful; all barns smell a little, but this one obviously had not been cleaned in a long time. The large number of horses, including mares and babies, were crammed into tiny stalls and standing on 5 inches or more of manure. Flies buzzed everywhere, and none of the horses seemed to be in the best condition.

As we pulled her horse out of his stall and loaded him onto the trailer, we noticed that the backs of his feet were severely lacerated - injuries that obviously would take a long while to heal.

What's the point of this story? A trainer for your horse must be chosen carefully.

There are some common-sense things to look for, questions to ask and things to do before you send your horse to a “trainer.” Remember, you're looking for a trainer with "horse sense" who knows more than you do. If trainers can’t meet these minimum standards, they don't know enough about horses for me to trust a horse with them.

First, visit the barn before you send your horse there. Check out the barn, the stalls, the horses and the other facilities.

• The horses should be calm, well fed, have plenty of water and have lots of space.

• The barn should be kept up, clean, and look like people use it on a regular basis.

• The stalls should appear to be cleaned at least once a day. There should be no overwhelming smell of manure or other strong odors.

• The areas where your horse will be ridden, tacked up and bathed should all be clean and look safe to use.

• If the barn does not seem like a safe, clean place, you probably need to pick a different trainer who can choose a proper barn at which to work.

Next, talk to the trainer.

• Ask about his or her training philosophy and what his or her plans are for your horse.

• Make sure the trainer's plans align with what you want, and that their philosophy makes sense and will produce safe and happy horses.

• Watch the trainer work with the horse. This will allow you to see if the relationship is going to work and learn about how you will work with your horse when it comes back from the trainer.

I generally don’t recommend that you send a horse to a trainer and then go get it in a month or several months. If you don’t learn along with your horse, you will have just as many issues when it comes back. I suggest finding a trainer who also wants to give you riding lessons to help you work with your horse.

If you want the horse to be yours to ride, you will need to learn how to ride it.

Don't find yourself in a situation such as that of the girl at the barn, having to pull her horse out of an unsafe situation at the last minute. A little homework will save you time, money, and potential tragedy if your horse should happen to get hurt or killed by a trainer who lacked proper horse sense.