# Crazy trainers?



## Gossip (Sep 26, 2011)

If you were lucky you never ended up with a trainer like my very first one. This is just a rant from one of my past experiences. I was 11 when I started taking frequent lessons. There was a woman who gave hunter/jumper lessons. I don't know why we stuck around. She would put me on all these "fancy" ponies who were not very well trained, and they would take off with me, a complete beginner, and I'd fall off every ride. There were perfectly trained ponies at the barn who I could've ridden without falling off, but no, they weren't fancy enough for the shows. I was so scared all the time, but I just kept being put back on these scary ponies. I spent a year at this barn for some reason, and then I got my own horse. My mom wanted a dead broke, calm horse for me and herself, but our trainer convinced her somehow to get a fancy untrained 4 year old, and told us her daughter would train it for us. Also that's how we ended up with Gossip, hence the username. He turned out to be a wonderful horse no thanks to that first trainer though, it was because of her he started having a bucking problem, bur later on he stopped bucking. After about 2 years we decided to leave the barn. My mom went to pick up some of our tack from the barn but the gate was locked, which it never was. We had a new trainer who came by to haul our horse away to the new barn, but the trainer refused to give us our own horse and had again locked the gate. We had to call a sheriff to deal with the situation and only then did we get our horse. There's a lot more to the story bur this is just an overview. Anyone else deal with something similar?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## BreezylBeezyl (Mar 25, 2014)

Sounds very familiar to me!

What is with horse trainers and politics? My first instructor bred, trained, and showed Morgans. All of her lesson horses were Morgans and if you wanted to use your own non-Morgan horse in lessons, you wouldn't get looked at twice. She didn't seem at all interested in training my grade QH mare for some extra cash because she wasn't show worthy. I was the lowest on the totem pole at the barn because everyone else owned a Morgan and I didn't and I always felt out of place. Even in lessons I was disregarded the most. I got pressured to buy one of the owner's horses not only by her but by all the other people at the barn. Very toxic environment. 

It's because of this experience that I have a totally unnecessary and uncalled for hatred for Morgan horses - and I own an NSH, a very similar breed! I probably won't ever get over it and Morgans will be the bane of my existence for a long while to come... Haha.

Luckily, we avoided the owner when we moved our horse. We didn't say our goodbyes and she was busy teaching a lesson when we left. Thankfully my mare loaded up nice and quick that day. We grabbed all of our stuff and left and took her to a different trainer, since she didn't want to train my horse. And what do you know, a month after I left she emails me saying "We would LOVE to train your mare if you bring her back!". She seems to me to be the type that doesn't realize what she has until it's gone - in this case, my money!

I felt used and abused there. I wasn't getting anything out of being there, although I will admit she was a fantastic instructor - when she wasn't putting me down or being in one of her moods.


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## Emma2003 (Jan 9, 2014)

I never had that bad of an experience but was definitely frustrated at the first stable I took lessons at. In the beginning I had the same instructor for every lesson. Then, for whatever reason, things changed and my instructor for any given lesson could be any one of five people and they would start the lesson with "So what are you working on?" This frustrated me so I explained my concerns to one of the instructors and was told "That's just the way the schedule works." I was also called once at work by the BO who told me that that night's lesson had been cancelled because the other rider couldn't make it and they didn't want to do a lesson for just one person. I was ticked because I had paid for and reserved that spot. The last straw was when the BO and my instructor for that particular lesson passed me off to her friend half way through because she had to go nurse her baby!? 

I gave up riding for about a year but missed it a lot so tried another stable that turned out to be very good and haven't looked back


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## BreezylBeezyl (Mar 25, 2014)

Oh, I also want to mention some more similarities to your post as well OP now that I am thinking of them.

The very first horse I rode there was a bratty boss mare who was testy as all heck. She was impossible to catch without grain, detested being bitted, would stop at the door in the arena, and had the most short paced and difficult canter to ride ever. 

Um, excuse me, beginner here! I barely know how to catch a horse, let alone try and catch one that is running all over the field. And give a bucket of grain to a complete horse noob and try and have her catch her horse out of a herd of 15 that all want your food!

Oh, and then try and have that same greenie bridle a horse that raises its head and spits its bit out.

And then when you finally get in the arena, expect this yearling rider to know how to stop a horse from halting at the gate. It's not like she knows leg aids or anything yet.

And THEN convince newly frustrated and disappointed rider to canter because this horse has the smoothest gait at the barn. What a bunch of liars! I couldn't even keep my butt in the saddle, the poor horse had me bouncing all over her sensitive back, I thought she would never forgive me. I later on rode an older gelding who by far had the best canter I had ever witnessed and he was great to learn on. That came at least a month or so later, though.

What a JOKE.

Also, did I mention they tried to teach me to side pass on like my third lesson?

LOL.


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## BreezylBeezyl (Mar 25, 2014)

Emma2003 said:


> I never had that bad of an experience but was definitely frustrated at the first stable I took lessons at. In the beginning I had the same instructor for every lesson. Then, for whatever reason, things changed and my instructor for any given lesson could be any one of five people and they would start the lesson with "So what are you working on?" This frustrated me so I explained my concerns to one of the instructors and was told "That's just the way the schedule works." I was also called once at work by the BO who told me that that night's lesson had been cancelled because the other rider couldn't make it and they didn't want to do a lesson for just one person. I was ticked because I had paid for and reserved that spot. The last straw was when the BO and my instructor for that particular lesson passed me off to her friend half way through because she had to go nurse her baby!?
> 
> I gave up riding for about a year but missed it a lot so tried another stable that turned out to be very good and haven't looked back


I hate barns like that - those instructors and trainers don't know that this is a BUSINESS and a SERVICE that people are paying for.

But people rarely ever complain because they know that almost 90% of the time, drama will ensue the the instructor will hold a grudge.

I've recently began accepting that being in the horse industry is a lot like going back to high school and there is no changing that. You just gotta leave some people behind and look for better individuals to associate yourself with. Eventually, you will find a group you just click with.


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