Taken for a ride by a dressage trainer - sorry, rant coming up!

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amandathepanda

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I am so cross, I'd like to warn other people to be wary as I have been stung for a rather large sum of cash for training of my horse.... which wasn't done!

I had to turn my 17 hand warmblood away for 3 months due to an operation that I had. As a result when I brought him back into work he was a bit above himself & unfortunately I don't have access to an arena & do all my training on 1000 acres of open common land so I decided it was safest to send my horse away for some training with a professional to help get him back on track. The first week my horse was away, I had no problem contacting the trainer at all. I went and rode my horse, all was fine. After that, it became impossible to contact the trainer. I left countless messages (well probably about 4 a week - I wasn't stalking him as I could understand that becoming annoying!) on his landline & mobile answering machines. On the occassions I did eventually get hold of the trainer, I was assured that my horse was progressing well but there was always some reason why it was inconvenient for me to see my horse - the trainer was going to a competition, his daughter had a birthday party, the groom was on her day off etc etc. I got to ride my horse a total of three times (due to the incommunicardo of the trainer & his endless excuses) in the 6 weeks he was at the yard, each time he went extremely badly & the trainer happily pulled my riding apart making me feel utterly hopeless. Eventually I got so frustrated with the situation I turned up with my horsebox unanounced & removed my horse, paying a bill that was best part of 1K - much to the trainers horror as his easy little income disappeared out of the yard.

I took my horse to my new trainer who is appalled by the lack of work the horse has had over 6 weeks. It is obvious from his way of going that the horse had minimal training (it wasn't my riding when he went badly at the original trainers yard!). Before my operation my horse was happily working at medium in a soft outline & the intention of sending him away was to bring him back to this level quickly. Now my horse wouldn't be capable of getting a half decent mark at prelim. My new trainer finds him difficult to get on the bit & submissive - let alone me & the new trainer has won at the Nationals!

The best bit is yet to come.... A groom at the original trainers yard turned up at the new trainers yard & recognised my horse. She informed my new trainer that my horse was sat on THREE times in SIX weeks by the original trainer, and maybe worked 4 days a week by the trainers other girl groom who is LESS capable than I am. When I dropped my horse off at the original trainer, I explained that he needed to be ridden by a man for a few weeks as he was very fresh & as a warmblood standing at over 17 hands is a big powerful lad to control when he gets a bit lively! Instead he was ridden by a young girl who certainly wasn't worth the high fee that I was paying and my horse is now resistant, dead to the leg and going far worse now than before he went away. I refuse to call what he had training, more a case of poor quality exercise as he hasn't even started to build up any muscle.

I have since discovered that the trainer in question went on holiday for a week of my horse's training period & also had the best part of another two weeks away buying horses in Germany. It would have been nice to have been informed that he wouldn't be around for half of my horse's training before he went!

I am so cross, I feel I have been completely ripped off & my horse has clearly suffered as well. Please, if your horse is away having training and you can't get hold of your trainer - turn up at the yard more quickly than I did & find out what's going on. I'm going to be kicking myself for months now and have a horse to sort out which is going to take months to retrain. Thank god I have now found a decent trainer who does exactly what he promises - helps me train my horse to go correctly!
 
Are you happy to name & shame on here - sounds like people need to know about this one? Really hope your boy turns a corner and progresses really well from now on, good luck x
 
what a complete nightmare. i wish we could "name and shame" on this board... there's a few people i'd warn everyone away from, too.
what county is this trainer in, please? just so i can be on my guard...
hope he improves rapidly. i bet you're gutted that you paid, now you know what really happened.
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sounds like he seen u comin , i would of rode him 4 u every day, fresh or not fresh 4 half the price..sorry but some of these big trainning yards are a bit up there selves and get cheap labour to ride the horses, then the trainners ride at the shows,
 
Mucho sympathy, and not doubting your situation at all, but I gotta say I have known some 'girls' could have ridden your boy a sight better than some 'men' - 17hh or not, I don't think it's a guy thing, sorry! - but apart from that yes, I agree name and shame. And ask for your money back ... or maybe ask for your money back and threaten to name and shame!
 
yes please at least name the county the trainer is in . There are too many of these types around and it is disgusting what they get away with. Good job you turned up when you did so he couldnt take the P*** any longer.
 
agreed, it doesn't take a big man to ride a big horse.
i'd say to try to get in writing from the groom (former groom?) that he didn't ride the horse as promised, and threaten to go to the Small Claims Court to get most of your money back. worth a try, perhaps?
 
Hey, I'm not saying girls can't ride big horses - I'm only 5'8", wiegh 9 1/2 stone & normally have no problems, but when the horse is as fresh as my chap was sometimes the extra bodyweight of a male rider can help - particularly on a powerful warmblood! If I had an arena at home I'd have been sorting him out myself but sadly I don't have that & there aren't any decent livery yards with arenas in the area. I wish I could name & shame the trainer but don't want to get blocked. I guess i might get away with saying that people should be ware of South African dressage riders in the south west though!
 
That's completely puzzled me, I'm in the SW and have never heard of any!
I could have warned people off a SW show jumping trainer who has USA origins, he took us for a ride when the horse went to him to be sold. After six weeks he said his groom adored it, but had little money. It shames me to say we fell for that story and sold said horse to her at a loss.
Sure enough a few weeks later it was sold for three times what she paid us for it.
I'll keep my eye open tho, there can't be many trainers fitting your guy's description around here!
ps I would threaten him with Trading Standards if I were you, saying you have proof he was away and eveidence the horse wasn't trained by him more than three times. You never know, threat of exposure may get you some money back..
 
I hate people like that they have no regard for the people that love and care for their horses and are willing to pay well for a job well done. I'm glad things are starting to improve .Good luck
 
Surely if you had a contract and he provided a service you could take him to court and get your money back as you paid for HIM to school your horse, or at least someone of a same or higher level as yourself, which is not what u got! I see that a bit like someone putting their car in for work at a dealer, and the local hobby mechanic fixing it!

You paid for a service that was not provided!! I know people say that its always about suing etc now adays, but you have genuinely been ripped off!
 
Every time I got there after work the yard gate was locked... His grooms finish for the day before I get out of my day job and then I was working extra hours at weekends to finance my horse's training!!!! Gutted.
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oh i wonder if this is someone similar to someone who nearly ripped my boss off like ten years ago? Actually, the horses on that yard, as far as I could see, none of them got much in the way of real work........ lot of sweet talking went on. Not much hard graft.
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I think your story is probably more common than we think, I also had a terible time with a SJ trainer and unfortunately I think the bigger the name the less they feel they need to do and the more they can get away with, Its only since I have come on here that I see others have also had a tough time using him.
 
I would love to have not paid the bill... however I wanted my horse back! No cheque, no horse. Ok, closest I'm going to get to name & shame is Cotswolds. I really would love to tell you all exactly who is though!
 
I know a dressage trainer similar to that - well 2 actually - both charge top whack to school horse for you - horse gets ridden by students/wp's most of the time in one case, all the time in the other.

When you go to see the horse you are told the student will ride it so you can talk more easily to the trainer - student has been prewarned to ride horse badly and 'trainer' tells you horse needs to stay for longer
shocked.gif


Personally after hearing these horror stories I'd rather pay the same amount to be trained on the horse myself and be prepared for it to take longer.

Really sorry you were 'had' OP - it's a shame when it gets to that.
 
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What made you feel that this trainer was qualified to do the job properly may I ask?

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That was going to be my next question.

BEFORE I would have sent my horse anywhere, if I would have known that I would not have got a chance to see it, I would have made sure that I could have seen him out of hours at least once a week. I dont think this is too much to ask and know trainers that do it for clients. I would also have called daily to see what the horse had done.
 
I was in a similar situation until recently so you have my full sympathy. FeuFolet, you come across as a very, how can I put it nicely, er, "assertive" person and no doubt you would have done everything perfectly and had a brilliant end result if you ever had to send a horse away. Unfortunately, in the real world there are plenty of people out to con innocent victims and it is not always easy to spot who they are. Some people, like myself and no doubt the OP, still retain a touching faith in people and expect them to be as honest and decent as we are ourselves and fully anticipate that they will do the job for which we are paying them handsomely. I was conned by someone in Yorkshire by the way.
 
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If it's who I think it is, you'd be convinced he was worth top dollar. Until you learned otherwise.

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But I would not even leave my horse with Vicky Thompson or Jenny L-C or the like without at least a weekly visit, and a daily phonecall!

I just dont see the mentality.
 
but ... if it's the person I think .. we were very, very nearly taken in, there was a lot of gloss, and it's a biggish name, and a nice facility and ... I can see where you're coming from, ff ... but there are some people you just trust, that's kinda the nature of a con.
 
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