# The life and Times of an Apprentice Horse Trainer



## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

So I thought I would start a journal about my horse training apprenticeship. It's a topic I see almost every day here on HorseForum and it's something I think we could use a little more insight on from people who are actually living it. Feel free to ask questions, to add suggestions, or to even post about experiences that may be useful to others!  

*A little bit about my circumstances: 

*I grew up with horses, my family doesn't own a farm, we don't have a lot of money, but we always saved up so that we could have horses and board them. Since I was little I wanted to be a Vet so I worked hard in school and graduated high school with honors and went to a first rate University. 

Now let me add that all throughout middle school and high school I took lessons, I rode all sorts of different horses and I had an excellent mentor in my Trainer. I honestly began apprenticing with my Trainer during these years because I learned more than I ever had about training a horse. 

Fast forward to college. I was miserable. I had a lot going on family wise, I had a lot going on financially and I absolutely missed my horses and my apprenticeship. I was so miserable I was flunking out and having anxiety attacks. 

So I decided to drop out, take a break and do my apprenticeship full time. And that's what I'm going to talk about here. This is hopefully the first few steps towards achieving my ultimate goal of being a horse trainer. 

*Economics and Apprenticeships:

*First thing's first. An apprentice in the horse world makes no money. None. Notta. Zilch. So I had to find a job. Because of my full time apprenticeship the job would have to be third shift, or incredibly flexible. 

So I started the job hunt. I worked at many jobs at first trying to find the right fit. I'm not going to lie it took me a few months to find a job that would work WITH my apprenticeship instead of against it. I now work third shift in an office and I have a very flexible schedule. I make a decent amount of money and I'm able to live off of it.

That being said I have an AIRTIGHT BUDGET. Every week I draw up a "Spending sheet". This sheet factors in all the spending I have to do: 
-Gas: $20
-Food $50
-Bills (including the one credit card I have)
-Savings account: $75
-Extras

Now when I say "Extras" I mean stuff that comes up unexpectedly. Extras for me are some doctors bills or vet bills or 'oh whoops I forgot to pick this up at store'. My Gas, Food, Savings and Bills all take priority. I NEVER deviate from this scheme. Also over budget to pay bills, add in the late fees when you divvy up your paycheck. I've put my averages beside them to give a little clue as to how much of my paycheck I put into living. 

As for the credit card I should note: I NEVER put anything on it unless I can pay it off within four months. Meaning that I put about 75% down on the item. As for food I buy whatever's on sale and freeze the rest. 

I save on gas by walking or taking the bus, If if drive I rarely use the heat or A/C. I keep my home temperature down and I make sure that my electric is all shut off before I head out. 

I live very frugally. I have no cable TV, I have a dvd player and a computer. I have a 'bargin bin' internet provider and I usually spend more time doing projects or being busy with two jobs rather than enjoying technology. 



So that's my initial speil..... I promise we'll get to actual horse stuff next post! :wink:


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

So I wanted to start off with a little bit of sobering experience as an Apprentice. As it has to do with clients I can't post pictures of horses. 

We have a client who has two horses. One horse (their first horse) contracted EPM and has never quite recovered. Horse Two was bought as a replacement. Owner has always held onto the dream that horse One will recover and be the "same". 

The owner always goes to the south during winter up here in the north and they always takes one of his horses. Since horse One has been sick they take horse two for the past few years. This year they decided that me and my boss had no idea what we were doing and announced 24 hours before the shipping company came that he was sending horse One to be evaluated by professionals. 

As we were getting horse one ready he could barely stand in the aisle way, he has poor balance and a fall in a crowded trailer means death. As we were getting him ready he was perky, looking at us and trying to figure out why we were spending all day with him. 

With him falling every few minuets it occured to us that this would probably be the last journey he'd take. IF he survived. 

When the horse trailer arrived we led him out, giving him a pain shot and a few parting treats and began the loading process. He fell up the ramp, he fell in the trailer and he screamed. 

The shippers had a conversation with the owner and told him that he might not make the journey there, to which the owner was insistent that he would be just fine. 

I've loaded up many horses onto trailers. Some I've seen again, other's I haven't. Lots have screamed and few have been stoic. But it hurts when you load up a screaming horse who you've groomed for, taken care of, stayed up for days on end with who you know you've given a poor sentence too. 

It hurts when the owner's aren't bad people persay but they are incredibly naive. And it hurts when you know that there's NOTHING you can do except for advise because the horse isn't yours. You can only work with what you have. We do our best to do right by ALL of our horses because they become one of "mine" when in my care, but the reality is that they aren't yours. 

If an owner wants them broken in at two and doing shows by three, you have to do it. If an owner wants a horse to pull a cart when the horse is terrified you do your best. You try to make the transition easy and try to make it unstressful but you can't prevent it. You can only advise. 

I stayed up that night waiting for the phone call that the horse had died. What I got was a phone call saying that he'd made it safely down to the other facility and was extremely tired but stable. When I next saw the owner they were smug about how Horse One had been fine and we were stupid. I just smile and wave, some owners will heed your advice and others will go against it. Some you have to conjoul and others are just going to do whatever. 

The important thing is that the horse was okay.

To add a more happier note, I went to work the same morning I got that phone call and my boss had a fruit basket on the table. When I walked through the door they handed it to me and told me to look at the card. 

Opening it up with that small sense of dread (accumulated from years of threats if the horse wasn't braided right or desensitized to x,y,z) I found that it was from a family who had sent us their horse from out of state. The horse had been trained to be a saddleseat horse which was why they bought her but upon us getting her we found that she was miserable. We gave our professional opinions that she was much better suited to western pleasure and they heeded that. After her ninety days were up she was the perfect amateur mount for their daughter in western pleasure. 

The thank you note thanked us for doing the best with the horse, it said that they were happy to have a sane mount for their daughter and the guidance we had provided. 

My boss put it to me brilliantly, they said: "We often have to do things that are unfair to the horse. We hate every minuet of it and do our best to make it easier on the poor animal. For every hundred bad or naive owners you'll get one exceptional one. In the end you have to decide if you can put up with the naivety and mistrust they cast upon you for those few clients that are saints." And they were right. In the end it's about what's easier for the horse. I can't guarantee a horse will have a good life, or a good owner, or a 'forever home' with me. I can guarantee that while in my care I'll do my best to do right by them, even if it means I get a sleepless night and curse some owners.


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

That's why I never went into it. But I appreciate your perspective on it and will enjoy hearing of your tales.


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

*I always thought I'd have more time with my own....*

I am the proud owner of two horses. A paint/mustang gelding and a two year old morgan colt *now gelding*. 

Even though I knew in the back of my mind that I would be hard pressed to find free time while a trainer, it didn't occur to me that any free time I did find would NOT be spent with horses. The plan when I got said colt was to have him hooked to the cart about twice......................................................

I'm lucky that I got him on his way broke to tie.......................................

I had a few people (horsey or otherwise) ask me "Why haven't you gotten far with him? Don't you want to be a trainer? Why aren't you Training him?" 

And it's a complicated thing to answer. I do train him, just not as much as I do other clients. Let's face it: they pay me and my boss and my colt does not. I work two jobs so it's not like I can finish up with my client's horses and go work him. When I'm done with the last horse I book over to my second job, when I get done with that it's dark and almost midnight so I have to come and sleep. 

My training sessions with him are limited to short sessions spread throughout the day. I work the first two clients horses, go and spend five minuets working on ground work with him or working on tying. It's worked out because you shouldn't be pushing a young horse and these broken up sessions are wonderful for his brain..... but at the same time it's frustrating when you have an exceptionally talented horse, who's gungho about learning, but you can't work him more than fifteen minuets twice a week if you're lucky.

As for my other gelding....... well......... he hasn't seen the barn once in 2015..........

I wouldn't trade it for the world but I'm quickly finding out it's a whole new level of difficult to work your own colt while you're in the first stages of getting your name out there.


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

Ironically for going into horse training for the HORSES I spend a lot of time with PEOPLE. Which, considering my lacking customer skills, is a trial. 

As of today I have one more dinner to go to involving clients/prospective clients/ other professionals in the horse field (vet, trainers, farriers, etc.) This is an excellent opportunity for me to form those 'connections' with other people in the business to help gather up recommendations, clients and even other mentors. 

I had one last night and gathered a couple of clients up who said when I decided to fill my program up to call them (I'll go into why I haven't done so in another post). I work with a lot of farmers and "old timers". The type of people you don't think would be impressed by a business professional, conducting themselves with a highly professional and I guess you could say "posh" (though I use that word to describe not using slang or being obtuse) tone. However I got a lot of compliments that because I conducted myself so professionally and looked the part of a banker or investment broker, it made the prospective clients more comfortable with discussing finances, and made them feel confident that I would be responsible with a $$$+ amount of money and not cheat them. 

A fellow apprentice (who I have the utmost respect for and in many ways think he's better than me) had less clients inquire about his rates and openings in the future. 

We aren't necessarily dealing with millionaires and 'posh' upper class horse people here either. 

So I suppose my tale of the day is that in training it's about 45% WORKING with horses and the rest is working with people and doing things you would rather NOT be doing. I really don't want to dress up in business professional clothes, go out to eat and spend money I don't have, and then talk to people for two hours. I would much rather be riding a bucking green horse!

I would just like to give a massive shout out to National Honor Society (of which I was a part of in HS) because through that organization I had to learn how to conduct myself at formal dinners, how to converse at a cocktail party and how to dress/act appropriately to represent my business. So I definitely recommend etiquette courses! They really are a life saver and I can guarantee you will at some point need them with horse folk! It looks great to all sorts of horse people if you have the attitude and skills the 'old timers' enjoy but can also have the business professional side that other clients enjoy.


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Good work, keep it up.


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

I want to take a moment and back track. When I first started an apprenticeship (about 7 years ago) I had the most mundane tasks. 

Clean the stalls and water troughs, hold this horse while the trainer tacks it up, groom this clients well broke horse. They were tasks that at the time I thought were below me. After all anyone who's been around horses for a year or more should be able to do these things. 

However about a year later those tasks soon involved: "clean the stalls and troughs, hold this green horse while the trainer tacks it up, WATCH the horse, see how he moved there? When that muscle moves it means he's going to kick. Go get this slightly spooky horse out of the field and bring him up. Here you tack up this green but good natured horse." 

Which slowly progressed into "clean everything, hold this spooky/green/ill mannered horse for me, keep me (the trainer) safe, go get these three horses out of the field and have them tacked up. Ride this horse that just needs miles in the pen." 

It took about four or five years until I got on my first green horse. It wasn't because the trainer was trying to "steal" all the horses or "not teach me", it was because the trainer had building blocks up to that moment. 

I was a groom for about six of those seven years. And to be quite honest I learned more than I EVER have by being on the ground. When you're a groom you can see every muscle on a horse, you learn very quick how a horse tenses when he kicks, how he bobs his head before a rear, how his eyes look and what each individual is thinking every minuet of every day. 

So when you get really good at this and have watched the trainer work them and have had the privilage of working them on the ground via walking to and out of the barn, holding them and tacking them up, when you're on them you know pretty much about 80% what they're going to do. 

All of these years as a groom paid off in big ways. We were at a show and I had drawn an unlucky card. A horse I was supposed to excersize was 'off'. The kind of off that grooms will agree equals a bucking, misbehaving horse that is just being an..... donkey. 

Because I knew the signs (and what to look for) when I got on I was ready for the initial explosion of buck, rear, leap, bolt, rinse and repeat. And even though I managed to stay on for a length of time that impressed the local rodeo troop when I fell off I didn't feel quite as stupid. I'd known what to do, I'd known when he was going to buck or go into fourth gear or rear, and I'd known when to give up and had just dropped the reins and flew off the side. 

Then when we got back to the trailer I grabbed the reins over his head, got on and we went for round two. It took about four rounds but by the fifth we walked/trotted and cantered with no acts of defiance. 

So trust me, while the years of being the 'grunt' will seem like the dumbest they're really not. You can learn so much by just being quiet and watching than you ever will being on top of a horse. Some of my fondest memories were going to shows with my trainer, grooming for our horses and then being invited to groom for some top notch horses. 

Being a grunt/groom is the most important job you will ever have. You have to position any horse that's acting up so that the trainer can get to safety, if a horse has that trainer pinned you have to get everything back to safety and handle it with poise.


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## EdmontonHorseGal (Jun 2, 2013)

subbing. i love the way you write and tell your story!


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## Alhefner (Nov 11, 2015)

Good stuff, keep it coming!


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

Never say never. I said many stupid things in my youth. 

"I can't."
"I won't."

And those were dumb things to say. As an apprentice I dont pick and choose my rides. Every ride is an opportunity for me to show my worth. It's an opportunity to learn. And even when that horse scares me to death I've got to pretend like it doesn't. 

I'll be honest here. I hate gaited horses. After having one nearly put me in the hospital and another literally die underneath me I have an extreme distrust of them. In fact I have only met one I liked. 

So when I got a call a few days back about riding a different trainers Tenessee walker for a sale video I was hesitant. So I agree and go out. 

He was a chestnut and about 15h, a sweet tempermant and stood perdectly ground tied as I tacked him up and got him ready. I took a deep breath and reminded myself to be calm and felt really good about what was going on. Got on did some arena work and he was fine. So i relaxed and agreed to doing a trail portion. 

The barn had this lane that went drom the barn to about half a mile out to the back field. Well........

After the first two laps Dodo decided that he wanted to go in that big field. So he started gaiting down the lane quickly. There was another rider up ahead and i noticed it was a boarders kid. So i called out and said "just turn around and my horse will follow yours back to the barn." my horse really hadnt bolted bolted hed just grabbed the bit and ambled. So we ambled right back to the barn with no problems.

The trainer laughed and asked if I wanted to get off and I laughed and said no so we went another three laps with me correxting the horse and keeping him up by the barn. 

Well just as I decided to finish up for the day , Dodo the gaited misfit decided to bolt. And this time I mean bolt. 

He dug his feet in and ran, grabbing the bit and i knew then i was in for a tussle. I went to do a emergency stop, didnt work so I turned his head to the fence and used my outside leg to force him into it.

I figured a shock was better than a buck. 

So the horse doesnt get shocked but he decides if he cant run he's going to buck. Well ling ago an old farmer gave me a method to stop a bucking horse. Keep his head up and moving. So after two crow hops during which he looses hus balance he decides to rear. 

Just as he pops up to gather momentum I flung forward, gave a sharp growl and a smack between the ears and let off the reins. 

So back to bucking it was. And we began to seesaw like this as the trainer tried to hurry to us. 

I'm sure it was a spectacle to see. Going up and down and me spitting like a mad cat! 

Finally the horse decided to bolt while seesawing so as we're going up and down we're now going forward. I noticed some fence that contained the big field was weak and I knew if he broke through those boards i was a gonner and so was he. 

So without much of an option (and not wanting an impaled horse to die on top of me) I saw a round bale net and aimed him at it. 

His feet hit it and twisted up in it, he had no choice but to slow down and think where his feet were or fall. The net held fast but would rip if he ran forward so while he's trying to figure out how to chacha out of it I got ready to jump down. 

Luckily the trainer got to him before that could happen and led us back to the barn. We then had a small ride in the round pen and at the end of the day had some pretty good laughs. 

As far as I know the horse never tried that again. I want to say it was because the net and having his feet twisted were the reason. But in reality it was probably because I didnt ride him again as he was sold. 

Neither me or the trainer figured out if he did it because I was a tad nervous or if because he was a butt. Because he was used in beginner lessons with timid kids I like to think it was the latter. 

Anyhow, after that debacle my boss called and said she had a lesson kids horse she wanted me to ride. It was a rocky mountain and my bad streak with gaited horses continues. 

Still I have to ride them.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

Can't won't Part 2

And the truth is I am not a fan of Jumping. I don't particularly enjoy barrels or poles or fine harness. But even though those things aren't my cup of tea I still have to train for them, compete in the and somewhat enjoy them. 

In tainung you can't say can't or won't or never. You have to take everything in stride and learn from it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

This journal has been closed due to prolonged lack of participation by the author. Journals that have no active participation by the author for a period of time greater than 18 months will be considered abandoned and will be closed until the author asks for them to be reopened.


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