Question? Reasonable Expectations on Horse Training

It depends entirely on the person doing the training. Some people go over and over and over and over the same thing every day until the horse is completely perfect (which, by the way, never happens) before moving on to the next thing. Sometimes it depends on how effective the 'trainer' is at getting their timing right so that the horse learns the lesson quickly.

Perfect example is a guy I worked with today. He was riding a colt that he said he had put 50 rides on. The horse was only half ass neck reining and sidepassing and only when he felt like it. His stop was complete crap and it was a fight to get him to back up. I am using a colt that now has 12 rides on him and behaves better and knows more than his colt with 50 rides.

Not everyone knows how or is willing to teach them as quickly as they are capable of learning.

When I take my horses to a western pleasure trainer I expect them to be trained to show western pleasure. For the extreme collection required to show successfully, 4 months isn't really enough time to build the muscles that are required to carry the horse in frame. Also, he's 6 with sporadic training and riding history, so I'm guessing quite a bit of time had to be spent teaching him to go straight, since it says "he was all over the place with his body" and to get him responding to leg cues. So some unlearning and retraining had to take place too. He wasn't just a blank slate as an unstarted horse would be.

In showing western pleasure (on the Arabian circuit, I don't show QH's so they may be different here), I hold my left hand out above the saddle horn and the romal reins just below where they are joined by the quirt, so lots of drape in the actual rein part, and then I hold the bottom of the quirt in my right hand on my thigh. All of my 'steering' is done by seat and leg cues, not by moving my hand. It's actually bad form and will knock me from competition if I try to use the reins to direct my horse. The bit is, at the very least a spoon bit or a spade bit depending on the horse's degree of training. A horse over 5 MUST be shown in the bridle and horse under 5 MUST be shown in a bosal or snaffle (I haven't seen a horse in a snaffle in years in the ring). Especially the bitting and training to seat and leg cues can take quite a while to learn and polish.

So, if you just want a comfy trail horse then you need to follow up with a trail trainer (but make sure it's not an in the ring show "Trail Class" type trainer), you want a 'take it out and ride it on the trail' type trail trainer.

If you want a finished western pleasure horse you will need a year or more with your western pleasure trainer. In Western Pleasure you probably would never side pass, but you would get really good foundation on all your gaits, walk, jog, lope and back up. Then you'd go to a trail class trainer for him to learn how to negotiate the obstacles and to do that class in the show ring. At any point in time, with a previously broken horse, your trainer will probably find holes in his training. Depending on how severe the holes are, it may take one session or it might take 2 months to fill in the holes and then start to make progress. It's actually easier to start with an unbroken, unmessed with horse and start from square 1 and go from there.

Hi - I think what you've gotten out of the training is probably fair progress, all things considered. I hate to see that you did not make the most of your lessons. Lessons with the trainer really are immensely helpful for understanding what work is being done with the horse as well as learning how to replicate the trainer's methods and results.

A confused 6 year old is often going to be harder to deal with than a baby who doesn't know anything, good or bad. Retraining a horse and building up muscle takes time - so does PROPERLY training a horse. There is a difference between slapping a pair of draw reins and big spurs on a horse for 30 days and training it properly - the draw reins and spurs will get the horse looking okay - but the horse has learned NOTHING and when it goes home to the owner, they'll never be able to recreate the "training" unless they ride the same way.

My own horse is - at this point - a bombproof pro. I get a lot of compliments on him - what the people who are complementing him often don't realize is that he literally has YEARS of training on him. Not months - YEARS. I rode him and worked with him daily during our showing years - in conjunction with my instructors and trainers.

Truly training a horse - training it so that it fully understands what you are asking and does it correctly EVERY SINGLE TIME - takes a lot of work and a lot of effort. Its a job that is never over, either - because your horse is periodically not going to do it right, and its your job to continually correct him.

Also, a lot depends on your horse. Horses come in all shapes, sizes, athletic abilities and intelligence levels. Some horses learn more quickly than others, some are more willing to please than others. Some horse's conformation is a whole lot better suited to collection than others.

I few details that have come up since I began this posting.

I am getting an extra week of boarding and training, free of charge. I did not have to ask my trainer for this, so I really do think my trainer is reputable and she cares about a job well done. I am very happy she is willing to put in some extra time with me and my horse.

Thanks for all the input!

Thanks again all!

Good to hear.