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We are looking for a training assistant / apprentice full-time

14K views 43 replies 35 participants last post by  daniellemakenzi 
#1 ·
As many of you know, I have severe physical limitations and can ride very little and not at all beyond a walk on a gentle horse. I have severe arthritis and advanced degenerative joint and degenerative spine disease. [Just call me old and helpless! I don't do helpless well!]

Since I cannot actively train any more, I am attempting to train vicariously through a young aspiring 'trainer-wannabe'. We have not had anyone help us for several months and are ready to ride a lot of horses as weather improves.

This is a paid position (but you won't get rich) with private living quarters and complete independence from us, other than riding. It involves few if any chores and no stalls or barn work. We only need help with feeding or chores when husband is not doing well. [He does 99% of them but is 72 and has had a stroke, a heart attack and quadruple by-pass open-heart surgery. He is doing much better now, though.]

This person needs to be mature, a very good rider and needs to be looking toward a future of full-time training. This person needs to be able to get on colts and very green horses. This does not take a lot of experience riding colts, but it takes someone that is not timid or afraid of them. We give our horses a comprehensive start, get them really broke, get them soft and gentle and turn out horses any person can ride and get along with. We turn out finished ranch horses, penning, mounted shooting, trail horses and great all-around horses (like those of a generation ago).

We start, but no longer try to finish, reining, reined cow horses or cutting horses. Those have become specialties that do not work to 'cross over' any more. But, we have started a lot of them that have gone on to become World Champions and World Champion caliber competitive horses. [We just sold two that went to California and are in training now with a top reined cowhorse trainer (has won the Snaffle Bit Futurity) that really likes how they were started.]

We take out trail riders. An apprentice does not have the drudgery of it, but can use some of the trail rides to school on green horses. This is an intense, full-time riding job. It requires ambition and drive. A person can get on 8 to 10 different horses a day. A person will learn how to deal with spoiled horses. [ I think I bought one yesterday -- a 14 year old spoiled kid horse.] But this is mostly going to be teaching a green or un-started horse to be a really broke, go anywhere do anything kind of horse.

We currently have 5 or 6 well trained horses that are ready (actually way past ready) to work on cattle -- just no one able to do it for a good while. We keep cattle and/or bison to train them on.

These horses are very well-bred and very athletic. Our stallion has reining points and sires very athletic horses. He is Colonel Freckles, Doc Bar and Zan Parr bar breeding. Our mares are Foundationbred, but are daughters and granddaughters of horses like Playgun, Doc O'Lena, Smart Little Lena, Doc's Hickory, Peppy San Badger, etc. We have always selectively bred them bigger than the average tiny cutters and reiners.

If you think you might be interested in taking on this job, PM me or answer me in this thread. I welcome an open discussion so anyone interested in this knows what they are getting into.

Thank you for your time. Cherie
 
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#4 ·
Cherie-lots of the trainers around here hire the recent grads from the equine programs and they work out pretty well, at least the ones know. That may be a possible pool of candidates for you. Our schools have teams that show, so you may actually be able to see them in action. good luck-wishing I had my youth back.....
 
#5 ·
I wish I did, too. I'm not ready to give up training. It is so frustrating.

What are the names of some of the horse programs near you? It might be worth contacting them. The schools around here are really into rodeo. The kids I have met from schools close to me are either wanting to get into specific show specialty training (like working for a reining trainer) or into rodeo and speed events. Others we have met want to go to a H/J or Dressage barn.

Something will pop up. I am just starting to look.
 
#9 ·
Morrisville (Morrisville State College - State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Morrisville - SUNY Morrisville)
THis is the one I am most familiar with.

I would also contact Findlay, they have a good program. THey are in Ohio.
The University of Findlay

I know there are other schools-maybe other folks can chime in too. Wish I was still in contact with the guy who trained my horse for the reining trainer-I know he was feeling a bit "stuck" there, and might have been up for something new. I will keep my ears open.
 
#16 ·
Wow, folks are really losing out by not applying for this position Cherie. If I didn't already have my own thing going up here, I would probably be driving to you now.

What a fantastic opportunity for anyone wishing to learn to create wonderful horses and get enough knowledge to require a significant super-sizing of the old "training toolbox".
 
#19 ·
We are in South Central Oklahoma; 80 miles from OKC and 130 miles north of Dallas.

We have a nice, neat and clean 27 foot RV trailer permanently set up. It has one bedroom, full bath and a combined kitchen / living area.

We have a 5 stall barn that is not used unless we have to keep a horse up, so it is empty. We DO NOT have an indoor riding arena but have a 40' round pen, a 60" round pen, a 150' round pen (mostly for working cattle or bison in) and a square arena. When it is muddy, we just head for the pasture or the hills to train and stay in a complain a lot when it is pouring rain. We can haul horses to an indoor if we have to.

We have not aimed horses toward the show-ring in more than 10 years, but we would if we had someone riding that could get one shown or wanted to learn. I have just been in too bad a shape to get a horse shown well for several years. That is how we got into the 'trail horse business' -- I could not ride anything else. Turned out, it's a pretty good business. Before, I had just made trail horses and ranch horses out of the horses that did not move well enough or have the talent to rein at a really high level. I would still train working cowhorses if I could.

If someone were already a trainer in their own right, we would let them bring or take in a couple of horses to train for themselves and ride ours the rest of the time. That would increase their income and we would still get a bunch of horses ridden. They would just have to keep their own stalls and pens up on their time after work. A week does not go by that we do not have people ask us to train a horse for them. [A lady just contacted us from Calif wanting to ship her horse to us to train.]
 
#20 ·
I am floored that you've had no one contact you. Folks are missing out on a real opportunity. If I didn't have hubby, kiddo and already established farm I'd be out there in a heart beat. Wish I'd have known you 10 or so years ago. Sigh.

To anyone reading and considering this, jump on it. The opportunity for learning how to be a darn good hand and trainer here is huge.
 
#21 ·
Cherie, I'm not sure I have the experience you are looking for and I live. e in Canada so that may be a bit of a limitation, but I absolutely have the desire and drive to do something like this.

I have no experience with reining or cutting. I've started two young horses under saddle and have a bit of experience riding green horses, but by no means do I consider myself an expert. I am a good all-round rider.

I have a very strong desire to learn, I'm a hard worker, I am honest and I'm self critical.

I'm on my phone right now so I can't exactly write out a full length reply, but am I someone you might be interested in taking on?
 
#24 ·
Same for me, "I love my husband, I love my kid, I love my farm", and repeat.
I told DH I was taking a job in Oklahoma a couple days ago, ya know, just testing the waters...

Ohhh if you had needed someone 10 years ago... I would have done it for free, lived in a tent, cooked all your meals, mucked all your stalls, you name it I'd have done it.

I hope someone grabs ahold of this and you guys do AMAZING things!
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity guys. Cherie is my Hero.
 
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