How to pick a trainer for your Off Track Thoroughbred.
Here are 5 points to consider!

ONE
It’s really important that you can be involved with your horses training. Look for someone who is close by that can come to you. 

Often sending your horse away, means that you don’t have any ability to supervise or ensure their care in many programs a Thoroughbred is not fed correctly, the horses often losing weight and muscle maybe their feet aren’t being trimmed correctly or often enough most likely the tack does not fit them. 

TWO 
Before you hire someone see if you can observe some sessions. Not all trainers are open to this and I understand is it’s more coordinating for them, but really it’s the best way to see their methods.

You want to look at their general training but also, how do they react when there’s a problem. How did they deal with that? What methods or mannerisms do they use – do the horses look willing and able to learn , or, do they look anxious, nervous and uncertain?

If you know a horse’s body language, you learn a lot more by watching then listening to the trainers words of explanation about what they’re doing and why

It’s common that people will use nice words that describe things that are not so nice

For example, a lot of people will say a rope halter is effective what it really is just painful and as long as you understand that – that’s one thing, but it can be really misleading when you think effective means good and don’t understand that those knots in that narrow rope causes them pain

Sometimes a trainer will say they’re going to use a whip and tag the horse -tag that’s a game that we remember where it’s a light touch and it’s a fun game but really tag is a hit with a whip it may be light. It may not be but call it what it is. And why are they using whips anyway? That’s generally a bit more old school and sometimes is used to chase the horse around. 

Words matter so much and it can skew how we interpret what we’re seeing

THREE
It’s really common in the industry for a trainer to quote 30 day 60 day or 90 day training, but that’s not realistic/ pricing might be based on that, but I’d prefer a trainer would say well let’s give it a month and see where we’re at rather than saying I need 60 days and I can accomplish XYZ . Honest training done right doesn’t happen in 30 or 60 days. 

They should be really upfront with pricing what they’d like to accomplish and what might be realistic to accomplish. That’s assuming that your horse is sound and not experiencing any behavioral problems. Everything else takes extra time and if a customer pressures a trainer to accomplish certain things in a certain timeframe it doesn’t usually bode well for the horse.

It’s really expensive to have a horse in training so it’s really understandable that you may want to limit the time frame it based on budget, but it’s really something to consider having certain goals or milestones rather than a certain time limit

I’d like to see the mindset change because horses are like us. They learn through all their lives, so it’s not realistic for them to have a deadline of a month or two or three and then be “fixed“

FOUR
Being involved. As I mentioned before, ideally the trainer is coming to you so that your horse’s whole world isn’t upended by leaving your home. This allows you to see what’s going on and learn yourself so that your skills and the horses skills will match at the end. 

FIVE 
Set up periodic progress reviews maybe once a month you sit down for an hour and talk about where the horse was where they are now and where they’re going. This is your time to talk to the trainer and ask any questions that you’ve come up with find out if there’s any sticking point and a chance to bring up any concerns you may have.

Trainers work really hard and to get a random question off of a video or an in person session sometimes can make them feel defensive You definitely want to be able to bring up concerns but sitting down outside of a training session. It’s usually easier to have a conversation. Have thoughtful questions and acknowledge the great work they’re doing. That doesn’t mean to gloss over glaring problems, but in general you want this to be more of a review so that everybody’s on the same page.

Recommendations from people on which trainer to use often goes poorly. You would not think this but often it’s true. Interview them like they are caring for your children. 

Hope this helps!