Change
Training ethically, is it such a simple idea?. Lately there’s much conversation about the top riders, the top trainers and top breeders. Unpicking the bad practices and who is responsible for it. How do we make sure we’re looking after the industry from our own little corner. Are we exempt from those problems and practices? Can we truly say we’re part of the solution just because that elite level doesn’t touch our lives except as spectators. Making a life and business with horses, makes you examine it from many angles often revealing uncomfortable things. As a trainer I need enough clients to pay my bills. Not just enough clients but enough returning clients. Amid a rotation I’ve found myself spending energy not teaching a simple ethical system but a tempered version. Defensive by nature or at least damage limiting. Time between lessons teaching resistant riders who’ve chosen to wait till there’s a problem to book a lesson. Time spent breaking down at best the often unconscious re...
