Reno, Nev.—Oct. 12

On the final day of the Young Horse Trainers’ School, clinicians and participants put together pieces of the puzzle they’ve been working on all week, and started looking toward the future.

In the classroom clinicians Linda Allen, Jose Alejos and Julie Winkel discussed marketing young horses and marketing oneself as a young horse trainer. Allen led the discussion, comparing systems set up in Europe with options here in the United States. Among other differences, Allen pointed out that most European young horses attend fewer shows a year, and mostly one day affairs. Ludger Beerbaum estimates that most German 5-year-olds, for example, typically attend six or seven days of showing during an entire year.

“The further the horse has the potential to go in the sport, the more emphasis there should be on the education of the horse at their own pace, rather than immediate competition goals,” said Allen. “Not too many young horses that are going to be great 1.60-meter classes are going to be winning speed horses at 1.10-meters, and making that a priority at 4- or 5-years-old lessens their chance to be able to win down the road.”

Allen emphasized that young horse trainers must think carefully and thoughtfully about why they are competing, and not get distracted. If you’re going to train, for example, don’t get distracted by the possible championship and run in unnecessary classes for the sake of ribbons if the horse doesn’t need to.

Winkel explained that she shows in several different areas during the year to give her young horses and sales horses exposure in different markets, and she and Allen traded strategy tips for helping young horses attract good buyers. They ended the classroom session with a conversation on professional ethics, urging the young professionals in the room to take a long-term view and do the right thing by their clients. Alejos and Winkel traded stories about potentially unethical horse deals they’d backed out of and been better for.

One attendee thanked the presenters for their stance, glumly saying she’d been discouraged to see so many unethical business practices in her short professional tenure.

“In the long run, life will pay you back,” said Alejos.

Start To Finish

Yesterday Winkel’s son, professional trainer Kevin Winkel, designed a course for the the afternoon’s riding session, keeping things relatively simple with mostly long broken lines. He included an unfilled liverpool (which all the horses had already jumped) and a plank-to-oxer one-stride. Kevin demonstrated the course set at 1.20-meter on Osophia, a homebred mare he competes at the 1.30-meter level, then pairs of riders took a turn over the track set a few holes lower. Riders warmed up on their own with occasional input from the clinicians, and everyone chimed in after the course, and again watching the video over lunch.

All the horses (and several riders) looked much better over the week of solid practice, and a few wre dramatically improved.

Ana Forssell’s 7-year-old partner for the week Let’s Talk is in the process of being re-trained as he’d developed a habit of getting very heavy in front. Today Forsell kept him light and avoided a fight by distracting him by changing the bend for a stride then straightening him and adding half halts when he started to lean. While participants commented at his development, Forssell was most impressed that he felt, in her words, “extremely happy.”

Likewise, Wendy Hoff’s 5-year-old Concertina looked like a different horse from even three days ago. That mare, who tended to drop down and behind the bit showed entirely difference balance. Her round was hardly mistake-free (Julie didn’t think she’d ever jumped a course) but the mistakes didn’t repeat themselves.

“Too often we get so into fixing mistakes when what we need to do is carry on and play with it later,” said Allen. “She fixed things to the next jump.

“Every school doesn’t have to end perfectly,” she continued. “But it needs to end with the feeling that you will be better next time.”

Looking Ahead

The horsemen who completed the week in Reno took home a certificate to demonstrate their accomplishment, and Hoff, who’s completed two sessions so far, had special mention. Alejos, Winkel and Allen are toying with the idea of some sort of merit system for a formal endorsement following a certain number of sessions, but with such a new program they haven’t worked out the details yet. They’re looking forward to the next session in South Carolina next June (dates to be announced) and brainstorming ideas for improvement.

While this week had a heavy riding emphasis, the previous two clinics had been different.

“It depends on the participants,” said Winkel. “If we have more breeders, we do more about conformation and young horse handling. If we have several unbroken colts, we could focus on those all week. We’re talking about bringing in other experts if we have people really interested in, say, hunter breeding.”

Most of this week’s participants heard about this school by word of mouth, but Allen’s looking to change that. She and Winkel want to raise the level of all aspects of horsemanship with young horses in the United States, and they’re trying to spread the word about the program and encourage farm managers and owners to sponsor aspiring or current professionals for a week. While no riders brought their own horses for the school this week, that’s also an option.

“If anyone had an unstarted 3-year-old this is the best buy of the century to be able to bring it here,” said Allen. “Bringing one here is probably the equivalent of 90 day of training at so many other places. They get a lot of different kinds of experience. The point isn’t to send them too fast, but put good quality experience on them and get them confidence, and Jose is a genius at that.” 

Catch up on what happened at the Young Horse Trainers’ School yesterday and Thursday. 

For a full report from Young Horse Trainers’ School check out the Oct. 27 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.