"Professionally schooled" in adverts...

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saskia295

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The post below has got me wondering... Seeing as the people schooling that horse are clearly NOT professionals
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...

What does the term mean? And who qualifies as being 'professional'? Does it mean that you just do horses full time? Or that you have attained a certain level of training/competition etc.

I think this terms is really thrown around with adverts and makes you wonder who is actually telling the truth when selling a horse, so sad.
 
I personally think people use the term when they are paying for their horse to be schooled by someone else, regardless of weather they are actually a 'professional' or just a Numpty offering their services!
 
Well, Professionally schooled would mean to me that someone who knows what they are doing has schooled their horse!

professionally schooled is that horse has been taught properly and not blindly bumped along the way till the right result was achieved
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Any horses that come from our yard are professionally schooled!
 
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Well, Professionally schooled would mean to me that someone who knows what they are doing has schooled their horse!

professionally schooled is that horse has been taught properly and not blindly bumped along the way till the right result was achieved
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I agree with you on this, but that's what I mean... Now people just seem to be using this terms for anything. Kenzo's post below with the advert of that poor horse that was 'professionally schooled' clearly wasn't! Why do people use this term when it is simply not true!! Idiots
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I might be a cynic but to me "professionally schooled" in an advert for a horse under £4k hints that either the horse is a nut, the rider is a numpty or both. i.e. "We had to pay someone else to school it because we couldn't"
 
Ah yes, "professionally schooled". My near neighbour and I both own horses aged within two weeks of each other, both are professionally schooled. They are both now seven.

Hers was started by a "professional" aged three and is now ridden out once a week by the professional. It goes in a wonderful inverted outline possibly aided by the short running martingale on it and the three ring gag used on just the bottom rein with her constantly niggling it. It's occasionally seen fighting draw reins. It's admittedly novice owner is still unable to ride it. It's a trad cob and the "professional" is also seen out on her own 12hh pony with no hat on. She's a big girl and her professional experience is a Foundation degree in something horsey and being big and strong enough to cow most animals into submission. The horse has been to a show but was so appallingly behaved that it had to be taken home.

My little mare wasn't started until the end of her fourth year. We got her ready to back, bottled it and got in a pro. He worked gently with her and with my daughter who was expected to be riding her and we only ever had one battle with her one day when she decided she was NOT going to be lunged but would bronc instead. Other than that it was plain sailing. She was turned away for the winter and when she was brought back in the pro and my daughter both started her off again. My daughter took her hacking out by herself, for her first little competitions, to the beach and to Pony Club camp before we all decided that the two of them weren't the right mix. We turned her out over winter again and after that the pro took her over and she has done RC and affiliated stuff, producing some lovely double clears at BE90 and representing the local RC at SJ, ODE, and dressage. She's qualified for the dressage finals.

Our pro's qualifications? Well he's a sensitive, thoughtful and gentle young man who's been out competing for years. He's the same age as the other girl but their attitude is worlds apart. He insists gently that good behaviour is best, she tries to beat it into them.

My neighbour has suggested on numerous occasions that as "her" pro is coming over the school her horse that I should give her a ride on mine to cut down the travelling fees. No flipping chance.
 
I've wondered this as I'm not a professional - in that I don't ride full time - and would no way class myself as a brilliant rider. BUT I do ride better than a lot of the 'professionals' near me.

Plus, I find that even if you pay for a pro to ride your horse, you often end up with the stable hand exercising it, who can be fresh from school and only ridden twice a week in a riding school with little or no experience of what a horse should move like.

To be honest if it's on the advert I steer clear. A horse is either well schooled or it isn't. There's no need to beef it up.
 
Totally. Professional seems to be banded about for anyone who works with horses full time ime.

Professional to me denotes someone who is part of a recognised body for that industry, has a certain standard of morals, ethics etc and who has taken the necessary courses etc to become a recognised qualified member and also importantly somewhere to arbitrate problems.

I wanted my horse professionally backed as he was started off by an idiot so I went to the BSJA and they recommended someone who did exactly what he said on the tin.
 
professional just means paid for the job.

'professionally schooled' means nothing to me unless I know the professional.
 
Professionally schooled to me is someone who treats each horse like an individual.

Takes time to asses the horses character, the horses physical abilities, age, history etc and looks for the horses potential and then works quietly towards that.
Someone who has vast understanding and experience in handling horses and equipment with good facilities.
Someone with a calm manor and a positive attitude.
Ultimately someone who takes pride in every inch of what they do with that horse.

If you have the right outlook and the money, everything else falls into place.
 
LOL you wouldn't get that outlook from top riders in some cases and I think they would be put out to not be described as professional.

Those attributes are sadly lacking in some people who most would regard as professional.
 
To me it's got to mean that he is in full training with a professional rider, and has been for quite a while (enough for the training to have an effect! I don't think a few weeks can have any impact, long-term). By 'professional' I'd think an established rider/trainer, with qualifications (I am thinking Germany here -- outside of Germany, probably I'd define 'professional' in this phrase as somebody competing at the highest levels, nationally or internationally).

I guess I'd use 'professionally schooled' if I wanted to sell my youngster, who is being trained & competed by a GP rider (though it was his staff who backed and started him, obviously), and has never been ridden by an amateur...

But I do see it in a lot of adverts and I do agree that if the price is exceedingly low there's got to be something wrong (either the horse was unrideable, or the 'professional' is not really the standard I'd expect)
 
Indeed, money can buy you a proffesion, it can't by you good understanding, I've seen that myself, people get sucked by the winnings, posh transport and flashy horses, they don't see what goes on behind closed doors.
 
Yes you're right, I think if I was to need professional schooling I would do loads of research about the person cos a lot of them can talk the talk. Thats the beauty of forums like this you can ask for opinion's and experiences of other people.

What I would say though is that on here some people are a lot more tolerant of bad behaviour from professionals than they are from joe public. Its almost as if the actions are necessary discipline rather than bad horsemanship.
 
Also what I think a lot of people fail to understand, that professionally schooled does not mean the horse is easy to ride. Some professionals are incredibly strong riders and the horses are used to heavier contacts than say an amateur might want, or be used to.
 
It's a load of rubbish and I have found translated it means the horse is often screwed up.

I recently took on a horse from a fellow HH member who it was feared has bad kissing spines and aas a result it was thought he was knackered.

I watched the videos of the professional dressage yard in Holland where he was and there was no way that horse could maintain that level of schooling with a weak physique.

The horse duly arrived and not only was it a hatrack and as weak as a kitten, but after being examined thoroughly by a vet we were told his problem was being worked excessively which had made his back muscles sore and tight giving the impression of a bad back. yes there are xray changes but we were told that a lot of horses have them and its what they are born with and often have no probems whatsoever.

Apart from the way he looked this stunning dressage horse had no basic education in there.... you'd expect him to be nice in the hand, good from the leg etc etc.... none of that, only extreme tension and petrified of his mouth.

7 weeks on he is working much better, takes a contact and is ready for his first show.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I might be a cynic but to me "professionally schooled" in an advert for a horse under £4k hints that either the horse is a nut, the rider is a numpty or both. i.e. "We had to pay someone else to school it because we couldn't"

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Ditto, but not just for a horse under £4K.
 
The last time I went to see a horse described as "professionally schooled", it's flatwork was dire, and the lady in question was too scared to jump it!
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Ah yes, "professionally schooled". My near neighbour and I both own horses aged within two weeks of each other, both are professionally schooled. They are both now seven.

Hers was started by a "professional" aged three and is now ridden out once a week by the professional. It goes in a wonderful inverted outline possibly aided by the short running martingale on it and the three ring gag used on just the bottom rein with her constantly niggling it. It's occasionally seen fighting draw reins. It's admittedly novice owner is still unable to ride it. It's a trad cob and the "professional" is also seen out on her own 12hh pony with no hat on. She's a big girl and her professional experience is a Foundation degree in something horsey and being big and strong enough to cow most animals into submission. The horse has been to a show but was so appallingly behaved that it had to be taken home.

My little mare wasn't started until the end of her fourth year. We got her ready to back, bottled it and got in a pro. He worked gently with her and with my daughter who was expected to be riding her and we only ever had one battle with her one day when she decided she was NOT going to be lunged but would bronc instead. Other than that it was plain sailing. She was turned away for the winter and when she was brought back in the pro and my daughter both started her off again. My daughter took her hacking out by herself, for her first little competitions, to the beach and to Pony Club camp before we all decided that the two of them weren't the right mix. We turned her out over winter again and after that the pro took her over and she has done RC and affiliated stuff, producing some lovely double clears at BE90 and representing the local RC at SJ, ODE, and dressage. She's qualified for the dressage finals.

Our pro's qualifications? Well he's a sensitive, thoughtful and gentle young man who's been out competing for years. He's the same age as the other girl but their attitude is worlds apart. He insists gently that good behaviour is best, she tries to beat it into them.

My neighbour has suggested on numerous occasions that as "her" pro is coming over the school her horse that I should give her a ride on mine to cut down the travelling fees. No flipping chance.

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I cannot add anything to this...wonderfully illustrates the different approaches and results.....

I'm a slowly, slowly, gently, gently myself....I have wondered if I'm too slow/steady but actually when I look back at how our young lad was when he was 4 and how he is now at 5 the difference is amazing......with no dramas/traumas and just a snaffle
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It seems to me that if any money changes hands then people are saying 'professionally schooled'.....even if it really means ' I paid the gobbiest person person on the yard to beat the pony into submission'......
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A professional is someone who does whatever they are doing for a living (ie they get paid for it) so really professionally schooled *should* mean that they are being ridden by someone who rides horses for a living. This doesnt necc. mean that person is any good but you would hope so!
 
Someone who rides a bike to do a paper round could claim to be a professional cyclist, but that does not make them Lance Armstrong!
 
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