# Interviewing trainers



## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

90 days should give you a good foundation to go in any direction. I would expect a good foundation on the ground to be established first, and a basic w-t-c with softness emphasized. I think the obstacles are great to help with desensitization for sure. I would not expect a head set or collection in this period of training. Again-I would expect very basics to be done correctly. I am not a fan of treats for everything, but then, I have a mouthy horse. Just our of curiosity-does this guy have a Parelli base? They seem to use a lot of treats from what I have seen. The trainers I use would spend a good couple of weeks at minimum on the ground before even thinking of swinging a leg over. 

Hopefully some of the folks here who are much more knowledgeable than I will chime in…..


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## amigoboy (Feb 14, 2014)

Am not keen on sending horses of to be schooled while the owner sits home unschooled........but if you plan to go that way then it is best to take measures, like:
Does the trainer have Insurance that will cover the horse for Medical and Life.?
What kind of resumé do they have? listings of former clients.
Stuff like that.


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

Skip this trainer. When a trainer starts talking about headset and collection together, he doesn't know what he's talking about. Triple this if he thinks he can do it with cookies.
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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

Ditto on skipping any trainer talking about training collection at this stage and headset in general. Collection is pretty high up on the dressage training scale and requires more physical fitness on the part of the horse than can be accomplished in 90 days. Not sure what he thinks he does with treats to accomplish this, but seriously doubt it's effective or desirable. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Ninamebo (May 25, 2013)

sprite911 said:


> He also sort of explained how he would accomplish a proper head set, he wasn't going to use any sort of rigging but said it could be done with treats.
> 
> This is also very foreign to me, again I am no expert but I have read that a proper headset comes after a horse is started on learning bit contact and collection, and for some horses the 'english' flexed head set can come naturally and might not need to be trained or trick into doing.


Hard pass on this trainer. You know more about the basics of true collection (yes, where the head ends up is the last piece of the equation) and anyone that is trying to achieve a head set using treats doesn't need to be training a horse in this manner.

He may be a good trail trainer, that's fine. But if you have the possibility of doing more with this horse you'll want to keep on searching.


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## amigoboy (Feb 14, 2014)

I see no reason why these so called trainers cannot come home to the horse & rider to give lessons. 
I know a woman in her 70´s who still goes home to people teaching High Dressage to people and their horses. She was one of Swedens top Dressage Riders and her husband an International Dressage Judge.


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## sprite911 (Apr 13, 2014)

Thanks everyone!
I am planing on participating as much as the trainer will let me.



amigoboy said:


> I see no reason why these so called trainers cannot come home to the horse & rider to give lessons.
> I know a woman in her 70´s who still goes home to people teaching High Dressage to people and their horses. She was one of Swedens top Dressage Riders and her husband an International Dressage Judge.


There are some trainers in my area who will travel, but that really won't work out for me because I don't own land to keep my horse on. I have to board my horse and it is cheaper and less of a hassle to board the horse at the same facility that the trainer works at. I expect a trainer who works at a barn full time is guaranteed to have the needed facilities to work with client horses. The horse can be in full time training which is usually 5 days a week.


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