Everything We Do Is Training 

The idea of some horse people being trainers and some not is absurd for one reason: everything that we do with horses is training. Just because someone isn’t a professional trainer or a high level competition trainer does not mean that they are not trainers.

I like to compare training/making a horse to making art; let’s say a watercolor. If too many people add to the painting, it will be inconsistent. A master painter will paint a masterpiece, while a less experienced artist will obviously not. It is the same with making a horse. Anyone with common sense and patience can train a horse given sufficient time and inclination. The variability comes in the level of sophistication contained within that training. A professional trainer is likely going to have a larger vocabulary of skills to draw from than an amateur.

It is important to acknowledge that we are all trainers. Once we do, horsepeople can start to hold themselves more accountable for how their horses go. The perspective shifts dramatically when attention is paid to every detail of a horses life, from how they are lead to the pasture to the way they are worked on the ground and ridden. When everything matters, the line between “trainer” and “owner/rider/client” blurs because the “trainer” is suddenly not the only person who is considered able to teach the horse anything. In fact, it is more likely in most scenarios that the owner has trained the horse more than the actual trainer who may get on the horse twice a week for schooling rides.

I feel that one of the reasons that people are so hesitant to claim status as trainers is that the very word is hoarded as if it’s some sort of title that can only be bestowed upon the worthy. The very concept of who is worthy is a course entirely subjective. As a “working student” I trained horses, often with minimal input from whatever trainer I was working for at the time (regardless of whether the input would have been desired). And yet, I was not referred to as a trainer. “Trainers” train horses, and everything we do is training. Therefore, we are all trainers, and we are all equally responsible for the development of our horses.