This Is Not Training, This Is Abuse

This post is especially aimed at the newbie horse owners out there. I can't tell you how important it is to know about this.

Anytime you send a horse out for training of any sort, if you get the horse back and he's skin and bones, looks like something out of Ethiopia, then your horse has been severely abused. If you sent feed with him to the trainers and he still looks like this, then the 'trainer' fed his own horses with the feed.

A lot of substandard 'trainers' will starve a horse down so the horse doesn't act up with them. They are basically afraid of the horse and this is a power play to get the upper hand with the horse. Ok, so the horse runs out of energy and doesn't feel like pitching or acting up, but when you get him home and pour the feed to him, guess what will happen?? That non-training will show up and you'll have some bigger problems than you started with.

A true trainer actually TRAINS the horse to do something, not starve him down so he won't do something.

After you've sent a horse to a trainers (hopefully, you checked references and did a site check), he may come back a smidge thinner but way fitter, not a sad sack of bones. When you start riding a colt, they do tend to lose ONLY a little due to the extra work and some stress. That's normal. The breed may have something to do with it but it's not a breaking point. Even if he loses a bit, when you get him home and settled him and keep on riding him, he'll come back to normal but fitter.

I couldn't WAIT to post about this. I just found out today that a filly I used to own is in this predicament right now. There is a back-story to this and suffice it to say, I've straightened everyone out properly!! I don't think I made any friends today at all but I don't give a damn. Poor filly!!

My main point today is to let newbie horse owners know, this skin and bones stuff is NOT normal and a decent trainer will not do this to any horse. Please check trainer references and do site checks. Really, really look at the horses in training. Don't fall for a plethora of excuses such as 'he was thin when he came' and 'he's been sick for a few weeks' and so forth. There might be a horse or two who doesn't look spiffy but by and large, the majority of horses-in-training will look good.

If you have a problem with an ignorant wanna-be, refer their butts to this site. I'll straighten 'em out!!