# From Rider to Trainer



## horseylover1_1 (Feb 13, 2008)

Hey everyone!

I have recently (within the last year) decided to pursue my dream and passion of being a professional horse trainer.

First of all, I gotta say, OMG! It is way harder than I imagined! The more I learn, the less I know. I'd like to think of myself as a humble person, but I really needed a reality check. Just because you've started a couple horses and love doing it does NOT make you a trainer. 

I currently go to school (intern) 3-4 times a week at a very reputable training barn. I really enjoy it, even on bad days. I have learned a lot. 

I also struggle with anxiety/confidence issues. Where most people would take advice with a grain of salt, if it's too harsh, it really causes me to become very discouraged. Hearing you are doing something wrong - or worse - not good at something yet - can be so discouraging. But I am absolutely determined to take the advice, mistakes, and bad days and turn them into a better version of myself.

I wish I had started this earlier, but now is a good time because I got my very first horse that I get to train by myself... from the ground up. Her name is Denari. She is actually a long term lease for myself. I plan on entering her into a colt starting challenge this fall and really want to document our progress. So I will make sub-threads about her. It will be mostly about Denari the first few months, and hopefully expand the more I grow.

I also have another that documents the journey I've had with my personal horse, Joy. I guess she is technically my first training horse that I got to train "by myself", but she is still a bit too small to ride. I've sat on her a couple of times but mostly just letting her be a horse and grow up. 

https://www.horseforum.com/member-journals/joy-2-3-friesian-filly-745730/


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## Bugbegone (Jun 3, 2018)

Good for you.. Anxiety keeps a lot of people from challenging themselves to follow a passion. Accept that you will be told you did something wrong. It's not personal. Like the horses you'll be working they won't get everything right the 1st time either. You already have a better version of you, you took the 1st and started. Believe in yourself ,you got this....Hope to follow your progress..


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## horseylover1_1 (Feb 13, 2008)

*Denari; Rides 1-5*

So, Denari came to me about 2-3 weeks ago. I finally got my land set up for horses. I brought Joy home, and Denari's owner and I figured it was a good time to start Denari. I am entering her in a 2/3 year old challenge in October. 

Denari has definitely had a lot of handling but she has never been broke to ride. She is VERY special. Spooks at almost nothing including tarps, pool noodles, wind, thunder, etc. You name it, she doesn't spook at it. The first time I got on her, she literally just stood there. Then we walked - she was fine. Trotted. Fine. Lope? Fine. (Over the period of 3 days). I took her out of the round pen and into the pasture to ride her 4th time. She didn't spook at all, and I even got to trot her a bit. I never thought I would say this, but I honestly would not feel uncomfortable putting an older kid on her back. That is how gentle she is. It's not really something I can say I've _ever_ seen in any other horse. She is beyond chill. 

So, today was our 5th ride. Approx. 8th-9th session if you count groundwork. Video posted below. Now, I know we are not perfect. Either one of us. Lots of room for improvement. But, I'm happy with how she did for her 5th time ever being ridden. She has a pretty solid whoa, which in my opinion is the single most important thing to teach a horse to do well. 

My goal will be to get her more collected. Of course this will be a process that won't happen overnight. She also needs to work on picking up her shoulder and moving off my leg, which I probably will do next at the walk.


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## horseylover1_1 (Feb 13, 2008)

Bugbegone said:


> Good for you.. Anxiety keeps a lot of people from challenging themselves to follow a passion. Accept that you will be told you did something wrong. It's not personal. Like the horses you'll be working they won't get everything right the 1st time either. You already have a better version of you, you took the 1st and started. Believe in yourself ,you got this....Hope to follow your progress..


Thank you for the kind words! Would love to have you along on my journey!


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## horseylover1_1 (Feb 13, 2008)

Denari has been coming along well. She’s progressed to moving off my leg (though not consistently), backing, and starting to give to the bit. She’s not in shape so getting her to collect and really use those hindquarters will come with time. 

I don’t have the luxury of an arena. I have a 60 foot round pen and about 3 acres to ride on - most of it not flat. It’s a struggle but I am determined to work with what I have. I feel like many times we get too used to arena walls anyway - so it’s nice to work with an open field. Even if it’s nerve wracking on a horse with 9 rides. 

Pic from today. 9th ride.


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## horseylover1_1 (Feb 13, 2008)

I've abandoned this journal, but not my journey, so I am coming back to it. I really like to write about my trial and errors as well as my successes. And, maybe, just maybe, some young inspiring horse man or woman will stumble across my journal and benefit from it.

OK, so my last post was from July of 2018. I had no idea what I was doing back then. I THOUGHT I knew how to achieve a proper headset. Denari only broke at the poll, and not even consistently at that. Thankfully my trainer stepped in and got her on the right track. It took me a really long time to _truly_ understand that a pretty headset comes from a soft horse that is using their hindquarters. And, even a year later, I still struggle with it sometimes. I still want to use my hands too much. I have to remind myself to use my legs to encourage the horse to lift its back up and push with their hind end and not hang on to the horses mouth. Ugh, I hope someday this will be a subconscious thing for me! 

Denari got 4th at the 2 yr old challenge, by the way. We had some tough competition and she was absolutely spectacular. Even though we didn't get champion or reserve champion I was happy with how we did. Personal bests by far. And, I know what to expect for the challenge this year. 

I stuck with my internship for a year and two months. I was out there between 20-25 hours a week. It took a lot of dedication, especially for me, who hates mornings. My trainer moved away so I am currently without an internship. I found someone to mentor me but my husband won't let me resume (because it takes so much time) until we get a handle on some debt and bills. I'm trying to be reasonable about it, but it's hard.

I do have a horse I am training right now. It's a friends horse. I don't feel comfortable advertising training right now... being a professional trainer is my ultimate goal but I don't have the experience for it yet. 

I included pics of Rusty. He didn't lope, turn, trot, do anything really when I got him. The extent of his training was following other horses around on the trail for 8 years. I think he had quite a bit of miles on him in that sense, but no real knowledge of anything. He is extremely intelligent, though, so he's learning very quickly. 

To be brutally honest... I did not feel great when my internship came to an end. Not really. Yes, I had improved a lot. Yes, I had some things to be proud of. Yes, I worked very hard and was proud of my dedication. But I lacked real confidence. I was still afraid I was not cut out to be a trainer. That I didn't have the talent for it. 

But working with Rusty has been a real game changer. He is doing so well so far. So far his owner is tickled with his progress. I am starting to finally feel like I can do this. That I am good rider, trainer. That, while I have so much more to learn, I do have a lot to offer. And honestly, even writing those sentences wasn't easy. Publishing them terrifies me a little. Lol. But working with him, bringing together all I have learned in the past year, has given me some confidence. Working with someone else's horse without the assistance of someone more experienced has forced me to do what I haven't had to do yet. Be thorough, and apply what I've learned. No one is coming in behind me to finish up the stuff I didn't want to do. *I* have to do it. Nobody is coming behind me to fix the hard stuff I don't want to do. I have to do it. It's making me really apply myself. I wish I had that drive when I was working under someone, but I didn't. I guess I have always been a "Where the Rubber Meets the Road" kind of girl. Which is good and bad. 

Anyway, I am still slightly terrified that Rustys owner won't be happy with his progress after 30 days. She is very happy so far but we're two weeks in and she's only seen videos. And I have no reason to be worried.. he is doing so well.. but I am paranoid. My husband has given me the term "NegaNoid" (Negative paranoid). That's just how I am. It's not anything to do with horses. I am just an anxious person overall. I'm getting there though. Rusty killed it yesterday. Awesome ride.

I will write in here periodically. I have less to share now that my internship is over and I can't resume another right away, but I'll continue to share my progress. It's a dream I just won't give up on.


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## horseylover1_1 (Feb 13, 2008)

Oops.. pics didn't go through in the above post. Here they are.


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## horseylover1_1 (Feb 13, 2008)

Rusty has about 30 days on him now.

I am very happy with his progress, but nervous about his owner being pleased with him too. People have all sorts of expectations when they pick up a horse from training - I just hope I meet or exceed hers. He probably will go home this week sometime, so I probably have 4-5 rides left on him.

I have another horse in right now. He's not technically "in training" - it's an unstarted 2 year old I am leasing for a 2 year old challenge in September. I'll probably start working with him when the other horse goes home.. I am really careful about starting 2 year olds so he will only be worked with a couple times a week for awhile. I'll have July, August, and most of September to work with him so I'll probably get him riding more toward end of June.


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