Let’s Discuss: A Trainer’s Responsibility
“[H]ow long should a trainer wait before deciding that their approaches just aren’t working? At what point does the horse’s training venture out of the ‘just needs a bit more time’ box and into the ‘now we’re wasting everyone’s time and the client’s money’ box?”
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When I first began writing for Horse Nation, I wrote an article on the responsibility of equine service professionals to their clients. At the time, I was writing about veterinarians, body workers, farriers, etc., and my thought process related most closely to those professionals’ responsibility when it came to the horse’s health and being honest with their clients.
Since then, I’ve had more time to mull this over — and I’ve had experiences that have informed my thinking further.
Let’s get real about the equine industry: most of us are amateurs. And the majority of professionals make their money from those of us who are amateurs. That’s absolutely how it should be. We — the amateurs — should be turning to the professionals to help guide us in our riding, horsemanship, care, nutrition, and training. The best we can do for ourselves and our horses is work to get better, and doing so requires turning to more knowledgeable sources to improve.
But what happens when those professionals, the trainers in whom we place our trust and on whom we rely to help us build quality horses, can’t be trusted to put the horses’ interests and clients’ best interests first?
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There are so many ways equine professionals can break our trust, from not caring for a horse appropriately (don’t even get me started on that one) to using inappropriate methods to not respecting a client’s financial limitations. However, for the purposes of this article, I specifically am referring to the progress of the horse and the horse-rider team.
The word trainer encompasses a wide variety of equine professionals. It can be anyone from a colt starter to a coach — someone who works almost solely with the horse to someone who focuses specifically on the horse-rider team (and works less specifically on what the horse knows). Although I will be referring to trainers whose role is somewhere in the middle of those two ends of the spectrum in this piece (the ones who both work with the horse on its own to teach it something specific and work with the horse and rider to help them build their partnership), it also applies more broadly to all trainers.
When we ship our horses out for training, we’re placing a lot of trust in the people or person responsible for the horse’s care and education. First and foremost, we want to know that our horse’s basic needs are being met — that they’re being fed appropriately, getting regular farrier and vet care, etc. This is horsemanship 101 and generally shouldn’t be a concern. A note on this: If it appears your horse’s basic needs aren’t being met, get your horse home ASAP. Do not hesitate. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.
But at what point do we know when our horses’s educational needs aren’t being met and where does the trainer’s responsibility lie when it comes to informing the client of that?
The first part of this question is one that can only be answered by the client. Going in, you have to know what your goals are, what your timeline is, what your financial limitations are, and how you best need your trainer to work with you so that you can learn your newly trained horse (all of that is an article in and of itself, and we touched on part of it last week). The second part is where today’s discussion exists.
At what point in a horse’s training should a trainer recognize that the horse is not the right match for that trainer’s program and send it home?
There’s no question that horses are individuals and the same training approach can’t always be used on every horse. Even though seasoned and successful trainers might have a basic structure they use regardless of the horse, they may still need to adapt their timelines and methods based on each horse’s needs. But what if all those adjustments still don’t work? What if the trainer has exhausted the supplies in their toolbox and the horse still isn’t progressing? At what point should the trainer tell the client that the horse needs a different approach than they can offer?
To be clear, I don’t think anyone wants a trainer who gives up the moment things get a little hard or one who won’t look outside their current toolbox to learn more, better themselves, and train a difficult horse (any trainer who is inflexible and committed to a cookie-cutter program likely isn’t worth a damn anyway). Also, I think most clients are okay with a little extra time being allotted for a trainer to figure out a particularly difficult horse or one that needs a more individualized approach.
But how long should a trainer wait before deciding that their approaches just aren’t working? At what point does the horse’s training venture out of the “just needs a bit more time” box and into the “now we’re wasting everyone’s time and the client’s money” box? At what point is the most professional path to let the client know that a different program or trainer is what would be best for everyone involved?*
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Let us know know in the Facebook comments!
*This discussion should not remove responsibility from the client. Instead, this is a separate, albeit closely related, discussion that focuses specifically on the trainer’s accountability.
