Ripped off by a natural horsemanship trainer

V

vont

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5 September 2012
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near inverness in bonnie scotland
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Hi all,
Just thought i would put a post up to warn you all about fake people out there.
I have had a trainer come to me and do natural horsemanship training with my horses for a year now, one of my mares was ready for backing and i put my trust into this person to do the right work. Which saved me time to spend with my other horses.
My horse was at this persons for 12 weeks, i had to constantly ask when progress she was making as i was never kept updated.
My horse was an absolute angel when she left me, to the stage i could lay across her with rugs on and do anything around her, so could kids.
When i went to collect my horse i got told when i was an hour away that she was lame, when i got there she had a crack on her back hoof up to her coronay band but a big crack. My horse travels perfect but she was an absolute nervous wreck travelling and when i unloaded her she started carting me around the place.
I left her to settle in and just watched her. Over the next few days i spent every minute with my horse, she was shaking everytime i went near her, coward her head away from me. I couldn't lift her feet up with out her rearing up, half her mane was missing, she had a white mark about an inch below her withers where something had rubbed her badly.
I've spent every waking hour with my horse since, crying my heart out that my gorgeous horse has ended up so upset and not the horse that left me.
We are now after several weeks finally starting to make progress and she is letting me touch her again and give her cuddles.
Amazingly enough this so called qualified trainer will not answer my messages now, knowing that they have done something to my horse.
Just a BIG warning to anyone that is even considering putting there horse to someone. Please don't get ripped off like i have and have the upset of seeing a different horse come back to you.:mad:
 
I feel so sorry for you and for your horse. We have only ever sent one of ours away and that was for some western training.. we were lucky, he was treated so well and we could visit any time. I wish you had the same experience.

Give her time, she will learn to trust you again. Maybe take some legal advice? I imagine someone could help.. BHS helpline? It won't help your girl right now but might save some others.
 
Did this person take money up front from you for this service? What progress were you told she had made with it?Too many people out there trying to make a quick buck from genuine horse lovers.
 
Yes this person took money for it.
Also told me that she was making excellent progress and was done daily to the stage she was ready to sit on her, but in 12 weeks i could of done it myself and be riding her. Like i said i near had her but needed someone on the ground daily to help.
We are taking it everyday as it comes, doing small amounts that the horse is happy with.

Thanks guys xx
 
Op don't name the person here, it will get the thread pulled, and you an infraction at least.

Sorry you and your mare have had such a horrible experience. If you are a Bhs gold member I would definitely ring them for some free legal advice.
 
What exactly did this person tell you they had done with your mare? Was there any written contract between you?I have recently had to contact BHS lawyers about a matter and they were very helpful.Good luck this shouldnt happen.
 
Did you check out their credentials as a trainer and go check their place out ?
It freaks me out the amount of people i see advertising, the most recent being backing and training £65 per week, with a pic of this pony going round a muck school with debris lying all around it :eek:
 
Sorry won't name or shame on here. But i am thinking of taking legal advice.

The person told me that they were picking up her feet daily, which was easy to do anyway, lunging her, tacking her up and lunging her and also said that they were desensitizing her by jumping up and down beside her and around her.
That bit i found a bit strange though. x
 
In 12 weeks they should have been riding her in all 3 paces, hacking out and you should have been able to go and see her working and ride her a few times before she came home. Even if she was fairly unhandled 12 weeks should have been enough to achieve all the above.

To return in the state you describe is appalling, I hope the mare recovers and suffers no long term trauma that affects her ridden future.
 
Thanks, yeah I thought she should of been ridden in 3 paces and out riding to. I've backed all my horses myself, but thought this time i would put my trust into someone else to do it.
I did go down to visit her, but was not shown any work that was done, was only shown her in the field with a mature colt,which i wasn't to happy about and told the person to remove him, as i didn't want a foal.
It was hard to go down all the time to check on her down to the distance and mileage.
 
She was seriously turned out with a colt:eek: There may be another little problem ahead then, is this natural horsemanship being taken rather literally:confused:
 
Seriously she was turned out with a mature colt. I near died, she is a sweetie but wow she is a flirt to. ha ha
No worries about any arrivals as she is in season finally now.
Oh yes the colt could of covered her very easily, they are both welsh sec d cobs.
 
I feel for you.

There are many people like this in the horsey world unfortunately. Not just natural horsemanship people. My mare is due to be rebacked, and I hate the thought of passing her on to someone else (she's challenging and I don't have enough time). We got burned the first time we sent her off (long story).

It seems to me that many horse trainers can't swallow their pride when they can't deal with a horse. They are prepared to ruin it instead!
 
The person advertised as a natural horsemanship trainer and was coming out to train one of my other horses for a whole year. I had spoken to several other peope that use the trainer.
Had been to view the premises my horse was going to.
Plus they used bitless bridles which i like to use myself as more humane form of treatment.
 
Vont appears to be in Scotland.
Vont, if this trainer is affiliated to any organisation you could make a complaint.
Apart from that, I must admit my mare would have been straight home as soon as I found her turned out with a colt. Why didn't you ask to see what they were doing and check progress? If you've started your own horses in the past I find it a bit hard to understand why you wouldn't want to see how they were approaching things. It takes a long time for a hoof to crack up to the coronary band, didn't you notice her hooves becoming bad? If the mare was too far away to visit regularly maybe it wasn't such a good idea to send her so far away, but surely you could have got there at least every couple of weeks. She was there for 3 months!
 
Close friend send her very sweet easy going youngster to trainer recommended by very large NH group (tip in the wording there). Went to see him every other weekend, never saw him ridden without buckstop which they claimed was essential as he was a 'difficult' case. Got so p155ed at them, poor condition of animal & lack of progress (due to him being so dangerous) took him home. Formerly happy horse just stood at back of field by hedge for 2 months until he learned to trust humans again.

Left to recover. Sent to local nagsman for a month about a year later, backed him no bother. He has never bucked, reared, or put a foot wrong, Everyone thinks he is the most generous willing nature ever. I've ridden him, not long after being backed, he was such a gentleman.

Makes you wonder what they tried to do to him to force him into a place where he had to react. Wont name names to anyone, just never recommend him to anyone else.
 
pip6 said:
Close friend send her very sweet easy going youngster to trainer recommended by very large NH group (tip in the wording there). Went to see him every other weekend, never saw him ridden without buckstop which they claimed was essential as he was a 'difficult' case. Got so p155ed at them, poor condition of animal & lack of progress (due to him being so dangerous) took him home. Formerly happy horse just stood at back of field by hedge for 2 months until he learned to trust humans again.

Left to recover. Sent to local nagsman for a month about a year later, backed him no bother. He has never bucked, reared, or put a foot wrong, Everyone thinks he is the most generous willing nature ever. I've ridden him, not long after being backed, he was such a gentleman.

Makes you wonder what they tried to do to him to force him into a place where he had to react. Wont name names to anyone, just never recommend him to anyone else.
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I just don't understand this at all. If you send a horse to a trainer - whatever the label - you keep an eye on things. If they won't allow that, then that's a big clue not to use them of course. See the horse ridden once with a buckstop? Big questions to be asked, but probably wouldn't leave the horse there for it to happen again, as even Monty himself says it is a "tool of last resort".

I sent one of mine away once, for a couple of weeks practise with traffic etc when I didn't have the opportunity to do it myself. It was a 1.5 hour round trip and I was there at the first training session and every other day. If at any point I'd had concerns I'd have told him to stop work and she'd have been out of there.
 
Usually people go and see their horses progress and get involved with the ground work and then eventually the riding process.

Have not heard of many cases when you just pick horse up without seeing what has been done. Perhaps people do ?
 
no matter who you send your horse to i think you should have a pretty good idea what they will do when the horse is there, have reccomendations, or know them personally, and be involved through out the period.

I sent my horse away for 3 months - but i knew th NH trainer, i had every confidence in him, I had seen what he had done with others horses, he had given me lessons, I was able to visit as often as i liked, and he involved me esp. towards the end in the training. A completely different experience to you, because my horse came back looking and being $1 million dollars.

but you do get rogues in every industry, including horses, I hope she turns out ok.
 
I think some people just want to hand a horse over to someone else, and then be given back the finished product. Sorry if that upsets some people, it's just my personal opinion. I organise clinics and other training. I regularly get enquiries from people who need various help with horses but when I've explained that they will be learning to deal with the horse themselves I never hear from them again. It's not that the trainer won't help them, but they aren't going to take the horse from them for 4 days and then hand it back "fixed".
I can't understand anyone sending their horse or pony away and not visiting regularly enough to ensure it is cared for properly. Nor can I understand why you'd send it to a trainer if you didn't know how they worked extremely well, but at least you'd need to be able to go and see what was being done to your animal.
 
Tinypony said:
I think some people just want to hand a horse over to someone else, and then be given back the finished product. Sorry if that upsets some people, it's just my personal opinion. I organise clinics and other training. I regularly get enquiries from people who need various help with horses but when I've explained that they will be learning to deal with the horse themselves I never hear from them again. It's not that the trainer won't help them, but they aren't going to take the horse from them for 4 days and then hand it back "fixed".
I can't understand anyone sending their horse or pony away and not visiting regularly enough to ensure it is cared for properly. Nor can I understand why you'd send it to a trainer if you didn't know how they worked extremely well, but at least you'd need to be able to go and see what was being done to your animal.
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I agree totally with this! Years ago I sent a young gelding of ours, who I considered dangerous, to a IH trainer. He never displayed the behaviour with her that he did with me other than in the first few minutes of her handling him. It was absolutely essential that I had training in how to handle him, I had caused his problems and when he came back I used that training to ensure the bad behaviour didn't return. He was away 3 weeks and came back started and what some would consider ridden away, it was his last chance before I would have had him PTS as dangerous. I was mortified when I realised it was my fault. We have just started one of our own youngsters, he went 2 weeks from start of training to his first show in a lead rein class. He is not ridden away yet because we don't have the jockey to do that with but he will be soon as we can sort it. This pony was well grounded and that makes all the difference, sounds like OP's was too and should have been an absolute doddle. I really hope that you manage to get her back to normal and I would perhaps consider starting her yourself with professional help if necessary.
 
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