Today I learned that one of my first riding/4H instructors from my pre-Parelli days was voted "Best Trainer of 2013" by my home town. When anyone wins an award, you always want to be happy for them. But the fact that this person was selected makes me sick to my gut. Between how she handles horses, and then the fact that horse owners LOVED it, it just really blows my mind. Let me give you a little bit of a back story..
I come from a small country town which a lot of competitive horse owners call home. The majority are western riders, and barrel racing and team penning are the most popular events. In my experience, and especially in my home town, these people are incredibly competitive and tend to think more about prestige and pride than that's best for their horse. Yes they think horses are pretty and a good time, but it's all about ribbons and appearance.
The first time I met this trainer (who shall remain unnamed, but for the sake of the blog I will refer to her as "L") I was about 10 years old and had just joined 4-H with my green broke mustang gelding, Merlin. He was a sweet and willing horse, and the first horse I've ever trained. He was great during our lessons, however when it came time to go home, he was pretty unconfident about loading back into the trailer. I asked L to help us out, and she preceded to grab a broom and smack my horse with it repeatedly for about 10 minutes until he loaded in. At the time I knew it was wrong, but being 10 years old and not knowing much, I didn't want to say anything. Needless to say I did not continue lessons with her. I then learned that my neighbor's mare Mariah had gone to L for training, and she noticed after a week that she had gone lame, yet still kept her in training for the rest of the month. Next, at a team penning event, she decided she was upset with another competitor and attempted to run him over on her horse, and after it was all said and done claimed that her spurs had slipped. She is incredibly heavy handed, beats horses into doing what she asks, and does not take their physical or mental well being into consideration at ALL in showing or training. Her "professionally trained" horses can rear when the herd leaves, buck their riders off in a field, won't load into a trailer if their life depends on it, but if they win a blue ribbon it was a success.
Who thinks this is okay?! Who thinks this is acceptable horsemanship? And then to go as far as to vote for her as best trainer of the year?! I'm sorry, I know this is childish, but I would LOVE to go toe-to-toe with her in an arena once I'm a solid L4 student and challenge her that anything she can do on her "professionally trained" horse, I can do on my PNH trained horse bareback and bridless.
I am a firm believer that if you want to show something without having to take it's mental and emotional state in mind, then show a car. There is NO excuse for manhandling a horse, working a lame horse, or beating horses into a trailer with a barn broom. It sickens me that she even has students who think this is okay, but to be voted the BEST?! There may not be a lot of natural horsemanship students in that town, but there are definitely a lot of more compassionate trainers that deserve that award that truly take the time it takes. My old dressage instructor, for example, always had the horse's best interest in mind and was fabulous at reading feedback and properly addressing the issue, whether it was my posture, the tack, etc. And guess what? She still wins blue ribbons, so much in fact that she is not allowed to show in local events anymore because she always cleans house. She might not do Parelli, but she is 10x the superior horse trainer than L has ever amounted to with happiness and success of her horses. This really boils my blood.
There's not a lot I can obviously do about this, except maybe once I'm an instructor I can target that area and start at it bit by bit, hoping people can tell the difference between want vs. make in their horses. I just have to breathe, remind myself that I am 300 miles away, and be grateful that there are so many amazing PNH students and instructors around me and watch the positive changes that they experience, and that I do as well. I guess at worst I can say that this makes me even more proud of my training choice, which has ended up being more of a lifestyle choice. Using psychology vs. force not only with my horse, but with others around me as well.
Thank you, rant OVER.
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