# Advice for new trainers



## mangomelon (May 11, 2012)

For all the trainers out there--

How did you get into training? What would you recommend for someone who wants to get into training horses? Apprentice with a trainer or find a couple clients and go from there?

I have been around horses for most of my life and I consider myself fairly experienced, but I am not sure what I should do next to take my horsemanship from my personal hobby to a professional job.

Any input on your personal experience would be great! 

Thank you!

Margo


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## BugZapper89 (Jun 30, 2014)

In short when the big name trainer you have been under says you are ready to do some solo flights. You need to bring a current big win record to the table that is followed by several others on different horses, before the subject would even be open for consideration. For me I spend 20 plus years under the wing and the. Was sent out for a solo on a second rate horse that I needed to polish like a turd and prove myself. I managed it. The horse was still a turd but an expensive one with a winning record when it left


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

Basically what BugZapper said. Apprenticeships Apprenticeships Apprenticeships. I've only taken on a handful of clients so far at the request of my trainer. One was a lady who wanted basic training done with her colt, my trainer was full so they recommended me. I got the job, but also had a experienced trainer to guide me. Then I had a few riding clients that needed tune ups. All these clients happened after YEARS of me training under my trainer. That's the best way to get into the business is to train under a reputable trainer. 

Just to say that with me apprenticing under them, unfortunately they were no longer a big competitor when I went to train with them but they are well known for my area so while I may not do many competitive horses I have the skill to do such but also to deal with just backyard horses. You have to pick what you want to do in respect to the area that you're in. My area is mainly backyard tune ups, rebreaks/problem horses, with a few small competitive horses, if I would want to go and do a discipline specific competitive area then I would need to go find another trainer to apprentice under for a few years. 

However I went off to college to pursue a medical degree, but I still hold enough weight that it's become easier for me to get more apprenticeships and also jobs back around the area where I worked for my trainer. If you do do 'backyard' horses I will say it's feast or famine. The money I made when I had the few in for training with me was great, I could survive on and make a profit. However I had to continually be good enough and produce 'beyond expectations' results. It was back breaking but worth it.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I do not think that winning at big shows has anything to do with a person's ability to be a trainer. 

Agreed it is best to train under a good experienced person or preferably several.

You never stop learning and no matter how much you know you will never know it all.

My parents struggled to allow my sister and I to ride. I did all sorts of jobs, asked for money rather than presents for birthdays and Christmas to pay for extra lessons. 

Competition in big classes was out of the picture. Didn't own my own horse and th costs way out of my league. 
I rode anything and everything, I watched others taking lessons, watched how some horses went better for certain riders than others and worked out why.

I learned to read horses, to know when they were saying they refused to do something, when they refused to do something because they didn't understand and when they refused to do something because it hurt.

I never competed at top level, I had pupils get there and many horse I had sold on get there but it was not for me.

I worked for several good trainers, learned from them all.

It never stopped me from being a good horse or rider trainer.


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## mangomelon (May 11, 2012)

So how should I go about finding trainers who would take me on as an apprentice? Just start calling local trainers and talking to them? I just moved to Montana recently from Oregon and all of my connections are back home, but I'd like to stay here in Montana.

On another note, how beneficial do you think it is to get a degree in equine sciences/business if I want to be a horse trainer? Is it worth it or is it better to just completely focus on working with horses?


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Personally I think hands on is the best way.


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

I would start by asking my connections if they knew anyone where I was currently at. Then if they don't ask around and see if anyone needs a groom or stable hand. You can always take lessons to get to know trainers and/or while you wait for a response. It never hurts to ask. 

As for the degree let me put it to you this way. If I were to drop out of college right now with no degree and start my training career in earnest I would have no problem getting a job at several well known barns in my area. In my experience people will always choose hands on experience over a degree any day. I just got hired for a job by a barn and they turned down several people who had 'equine' degrees.


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## SummerShy (Aug 3, 2014)

I kinda feel like equestrian degrees can be as useful as photography degrees... Really the information is available to you through mentoring and experience so why pay so much money for something you can do on your own? Just a thought.

And, yes. Call people. Network. Put yourself out there. Start by volunteering at a reputable barn and work your way up from there. Depending on your area the trainers around you may get tons of phone calls a week looking for similar help so you've gotta make yourself something special somehow.


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## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

mangomelon said:


> So how should I go about finding trainers who would take me on as an apprentice? Just start calling local trainers and talking to them?


Yepp. Find one that has a good reputation and several horses in for training - sometimes the best trainer may have one or two horses. Find out how the trainer's methods and you might compare them to another trainer too.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I was lucky in that the roding school I learnt at was very good. They had a lot of remedial ponies and horses in and several for breaking. I was, more often than not used as the rider. 
At the age of sixteen I was breaking ponies and horses in. 
When the couple who owned it retired, I moved on, worked in a private yard, moved again to working with TBs bred for jump racing. The head man was not very agile due to injuries jump racing, so I ended up doing all this breaking and riding away of the youngsters. 
I moved on again, ended up teaching at the original riding school for the new owners. 

Moved again, started riding for a horse dealer, then took over the UK side whilst he bought the horses in Eire amd sent them over. 

Eventually I started,workimg for a woman who had racehorses, jumpers and flat, out of training. We broke them, got them fit prior to them going into training. 

All the time I was learning, solving problems, taking lessons for my own riding, loving every moment! 

I went on courses when I could, attended clinics, ever thirsty for more information.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

In Montana, I would start by showing up at events. Find the horses who perform in a way you like and find out who started them, and who finished them. Watch the riders and take note of who rides in a way that you like. Introduce yourself and compliment them. State your interest in doing the same.

I started by taking very few lessons, had a gentleman from Germany kindly get me extra ride time, and doing catch rides wearing cast off clothing on mostly snotty horses in handy hunter classes. From there, did a ridiculous variety of horse jobs, getting some horses sent my way and having success with them.

After some years of doing well, I moved to a south eastern state and needed to make new contacts. Found a h/j barn that I liked. Offered to help with horses and students getting ready for lessons. They eventually had me climb on one or two. Liked what they saw and I was schooling/training very shortly. I did earn the title of "crash test dummy" as did the daughter who was with me , as we ended up putting first rides on horses brought in for re-training with issues. Vince and Larry were our nicknames. 

The horse part is easier and more interesting to me. I do not have the personality or interest in the people skills necessary to train and ride for top level competition. That and I have many other interests and activities.

To do really well, the people skills are as important, IME.


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## Chasin Ponies (Dec 25, 2013)

boots said:


> The horse part is easier and more interesting to me. I do not have the personality or interest in the people skills necessary to train and ride for top level competition. That and I have many other interests and activities.
> 
> To do really well, the people skills are as important, IME.


This is so true on all levels of horse training and usually overlooked by people who want to get into training!! You will often have more problems with the clients than with the horses! 

You must at some point, teach them exactly how to handle the horse with the method that is working so well for you as it does no good to show them how perfectly the horse performs when _you ride_ and when they get on, everything falls apart! Sometimes you'll run across the "win at any cost" clients and they will try to get you to do the "quick & dirty" to their horses. Once your reputation is ruined by that, the only clients you will get are the bad ones who don't know about you and want to pay the very least for your services.

As for equine college, take it from someone who has "been there, done that", it will teach you a lot but when you get that degree, no one will hire you based on it either in the horse world or any other business. It costs a lot of money (debt!) and time and will leave you starting from scratch again! Then you have student loans to pay back, no job and if you do get an apprenticeship, be prepared to start at the dead bottom(cleaning stalls & grooming) and not make a living wage for quite a while.


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## Hackamore (Mar 28, 2014)

Get a college education so you have something solid to fall back on. Consider business management because a great trainer that can’t run a business will not succeed. While going to school work for an established/successful trainer and learn the ropes of both training and the business end of training. 

Best of luck


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## DuckDodgers (May 28, 2013)

Hackamore said:


> Get a college education so you have something solid to fall back on. Consider business management because a great trainer that can’t run a business will not succeed. While going to school work for an established/successful trainer and learn the ropes of both training and the business end of training.
> 
> Best of luck


Business skills are an absolute must. I can't even count how many relatively talented trainers/instructors that can't figure out why they don't have any business skills to speak of. In addition to being a good trainer you need to have the knowledge and skills to deal with people. You need to be reliable, return phone calls quickly, show up where you're supposed to, etc. it seems like common sense, but those sorts of skills are WAY lacking in much of the horse world. If you don't return calls promptly then they'll find someone else. The first time you don't show up for a lesson many people will find someone else.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

I used to believe that just apprenticing with a trainer would make you a trainer. I now believe that you should begin by learning how to retrain horses out of bad habits, or from one discipline to another to which the horse is unfamiliar. THIS teaches you patience. Then, you move on to learning how to properly start a horse from the beginning.
Horses are so individual and they never tell you what has happened to them in their lives. Those that have been treated roughly only respect a rough trainer, and the trainers that maintain them must continue to stay that way. One of the two OTTB's I owned needed to be lunged and whipped before you started ANYTHING, and then he'd work for you. (I had a friend who had a QH racehorse like this, too.) He was nervous and couldn't get over it...as an 8yo. My QH (Appendix), "Ro Go Bar" (1982-2009, RIP) was very nervous when I bought him as a 7yo, but became my best babysitter horse bc all of the teenage girls in my lesson program ooohhhhed and aaahhhhed over him, petted him and loved on him. He ate it up and really became gentle. The previous owner complained that he wouldn't take to cattle. He was a passive horse and responded to gentleness.
I'm no expert on training young horses, but the unspoiled ones don't respond to rough treatment. Sometimes and often you need to take an older horse back to basics, so a good trainer has learned how to train basics.
SO MUCH training, as in everything ELSE, is about preparation. I remember reading about "Abdullah" in "Practical Horseman." The article was an interview with his trainer, and he prepared him to be focused (as a stallion also begin shown) on his work by surrounding his training arena with mares in pastures. If you keep pressing and a horse resists, but you are stubborn and don't give up, eventually the horse submits. The trainer also said that when he was being led to breed, he had a "fuzzy" halter (w/fleece), as opposed to his "working" leather halter.
If you are REALLY new to training, I suggest that you start watching both Clinton Anderson's programs and Dennis Reis's programs. The styles are different, but they both use pressure, release and then stop and rest, so that the horse thinks about what is being asked and digests it.
Trainers that beat their horses up are a dime-a-dozen. Horses that deserve to be brought back bc of the $show value are very few. Horses that are messed up but can be retrained to be useful are ALL OVER THE PLACE, and many of them are cheap. You can pick one up, improve him/her and give that horse a useful life!!!, while you are learning to train.


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

Just out of curiosity, when you say "trainer" do you mean you want to train horses, have your own lesson program, or both? What discipline are you looking to train? And what clientele are you wanting to work with? IE--Are you interested in teaching/training to the highest levels, or are you more interested in having a backyard, more basic program? 

The answers to these questions will help with the suggestions we can give you.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

^^^ exactly!

Do you want to train AQHA show horses or H/J horses or gaited or Arabian horses or Saddle and trail horses or halter horses or Western Pleasure horses or reining horses, Dressage horses or race horses or driving horses --- you see the list can go on and on and on. If you want to train show horses in any venue, then you almost have to apprentice to a top trainer that is winning in that particular venue.

If you are not riding at a level where you can show and win in the Amateur, Non-Pro or youth ranks, then you will have to start at the bottom as farm help and work your way up.

Trainers that work for themselves have to be very good AND have to have the people skills to attract good horses.

Trainers that work for an individual have absolutely no job security and are under tremendous pressure to keeps the boss' horses at the top. 

I have known several people that were excellent riders and decent trainers, but lacked the political skills to attract top horses and well-heeled owners. There is an old saying in the training world "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken ****** (other stuff)." You MUST be able to connect with the owners that can buy and hand you the horses that you can win with. That is often more important that what you get done with their horses.

I would get a degree because training horses is tenuous at best. A degree in Ag Marketing sets you up for a 6 figure income as a Manufacturer's Representative, Pharmaceutical Rep, etc. I know two people that I headed in that direction and they are making very good incomes and training a horse or two on the side and showing on weekends.


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