Have you ever thought about a career as a horse trainer? Training horses can be a difficult but fulfilling opportunity for many riders. But if you’re going to be a successful horse trainer, make sure that you have the following six characteristics.
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Patience
Horse training is a slow, gradual process. If you approach training with a mindset that you are going to achieve a particular goal each day, you’ll find yourself in trouble and may actually lose all of the progress that you’ve made. Good horse trainers have endless patience, both with themselves and with their horses.
2. Self Control
When you’re training a horse, you can’t lose your temper – doing so will erase the progress that you’ve made. Horse trainers need to have excellent self control of their emotions, as well as their bodies. Your timing, the feel that you convey to your horse, and your position in the saddle – all of these factors require excellent self control.
3. Drive
A good horse trainer is never satisfied with their knowledge, and constantly wants to learn more. This inner desire is called drive, and it’s an important characteristic for any horse trainer. Your drive is what makes you continue to improve, ultimately making you a better trainer.
4. Instinct
Your instinct is important when training horses. If you spend enough time around horses, you will develop a sort of instinct that you will need to learn to listen to. This instinct can alert you just before a horse spooks or bucks, and it can help to keep you safe.
5. Understanding
A good horse trainer has a deep understanding of horse behavior and of the horse mindset. When training a horse, you need to know when to apply pressure and when to remove it. Split seconds in your timing can make a big difference in your effectiveness. If you want to train horses, you need great horsemanship and an excellent understanding of the horse in general.
Horse Courses by Elaine Heney
- Listening to the Horse - The Documentary by Elaine Heney & Grey Pony Films
- Shoulder In & Out Training for better balance, bend & topline development with your horse
- Over 110+ Polework Exercises & Challenges to Download
- Dancing at Liberty & Creating Connection with Your Horse (11 lessons) - Grey Pony Films
6. Passion
Ultimately, when you train horses, you can’t do it for the money. A career as a trainer is demanding and tiring. You likely won’t get rich as a horse trainer, and you will have horses frequently coming into and leaving your life. In the end, your passion for horses is what will make this career worthwhile, and is what will carry you through. Above all else, you need to love horses if you want to be a horse trainer.
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