The Importance of a Trainer Who Can Adapt to Your Needs

“You must be formless, shapeless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.” – Bruce Lee

This is exactly the adaptability needed by a trainer to create the most successful teams in his/her industry.

Photo courtesy of Ezra Yoder.

The job of a horse trainer encompasses a task list larger than just training the horse. Most of the trainers I know don’t just get to work with the horses — most of them have to work with the clients in some capacity, and a vast majority also coach their clients through lessons and/or at competitions. For those trainers, 50% of the job may be educating the horse, but the other 50% is coaching the rider to create a team between the two (these percentages are probably pretty skewed — likely a much larger portion focuses on coaching the rider). Bringing the rider into the equation complicates everything — especially if you are a trainer with multiple horse/rider combinations in your program.

Many of us don’t realize the adaptations trainers have to make to create successful equestrian teams. The trainer has to account for the horse’s demeanor and learning needs along with how the rider comprehends information and timing of when they can fully grasp the concepts being taught.

The biggest breakdown in this cycle stems from the communication, or lack thereof, between the trainer and rider. In my years of riding and working with trainers, these are the biggest issues I have encountered in training programs:

1. The rider is not self-aware enough to know his/her learning needs
2. The rider is nervous to communicate their needs to the trainer
3. The trainer does not want to adapt their style of coaching to the particular rider

Almost anytime a horse/rider combination is as not as successful as the rider would like, it’s due to one of these issues. It took me years of frustration and crying — and a lot of therapy — to understand the changes that needed to be made for me to be successful with my horses.

As a highly emotional autistic individual, finding a trainer who can adapt to my needs is one of the most important criteria when I look for a trainer. For those of you reading this that need background information on the diagnosis, here’s some insight: Autistic individuals input, process, and perceive on average 42% more information than the average adult at any given moment. This makes sensory overload and meltdowns more frequent. Sometimes we are so overwhelmed listening to the song that’s playing, the crickets chirping, the skid loader that’s being run, and the horse two barns down that’s kicking the $h!t out of his stall that we cannot even begin to process what our trainer is telling us to do.

Also worth noting — because it is something I have experienced — is eye contact. While many trainers may think the student is rude for never making eye contact when receiving instruction, it is actually easier for us autistic individuals to process the information if our eyes are down and our ear is turned toward the trainer.

Lastly, as an autistic individual, I’m a thinker. Sometimes I just want to feel what the horse is doing and process that information quietly without being yelled at or having my brain cluttered by my slower rate at processing thoughts. Finding a trainer who can adapt to the constant changing of my needs really set me on a successful trajectory.

@_gru_crew_ Thank you, @No Reins Performance Horses for being a great horse trainer and coach! #mountedshooting #horsesoftiktok #ottb #offthetrackthoroughbred #western #westernliving #motivation #motivationalvideo #motivationalspeech #inspirational #inspirationalvideo #horsetrainer ♬ Motivation – StoryTune

Ezra Yoder of No Reins Performance Horses has adapted to my learning needs on every level. While I’ve had great trainers and coaches over the years, Ezra really makes the effort to understand my needs at the time and how to make me successful with my horses. Sometimes I wonder if his ability to listen so carefully to his horse than he can run a mounted shooting pattern bridleless is the same skillset that allows him to listen to and really hear his clients…

 

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Some days, I’ll go for a lesson and not much will be said. I’m given the opportunity to just ride and understand my horse without feeling awkward or like I’m wasting my trainer’s time. At competitions, Ezra has done a phenomenal job asking if I can mentally handle discussing fine tuning lines and course management before jumping into the conversation. It is easy for me to approach him on days I don’t feel my best and openly tell him that I’m not coachable for the day. No questions asked, good mental health day or bad one, he’s on the sidelines cheering for me and keeps the feedback until I’m ready to process it.

@_gru_crew_ Thanks @No Reins Performance Horses for being an exceptional coach! #ottb #offthetrackthoroughbred #mountedshooting #horsesoftiktok #western #westernliving #motivation #motivationalvideo #motivationalspeech #inspirational #inspirationalvideo ♬ Epic Inspiration – DM Production

Although that example applies specifically to me and my needs, the truth is that great trainers and coaches adapt to the needs of all of their clients. Here are some other examples:

A person who has ADHD may need the information given to them in smaller, more frequent spurts. A highly emotionally individual may need to be treated with kindness and delicacy to ensure the building of confidence. An insensitive rider may like a tough coach to fire them up. A rider dealing with depression may just need the motivation to get on the horse to release endorphins. Riders are not “one size fits all;” therefore the approach to how they’re coached can’t be either. Our needs change, just like our horses’ needs change — and the trainer has to be willing to adapt to both the horse and the rider at any given moment.

Lasting relationships require flexibility. That’s true with any relationship. Adaptation to a person’s needs allows an evolving relationship that creates success for everyone involved. It may be that the trainer needs to adapt their language, exercise regimen, or daily coaching patterns. Adapting to the horse/rider combination is all about finding what the strengths are in that particular day and utilizing them to make the team just a hair better than where they started the day.

Marcella and her trainer Ezra, enjoying some downtime. Photo courtesy of Marcella Gruchalak.

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