John’s Training Philosophy
Teaching horses is what I have done for the majority of my life. A horses’ breeding, confirmation, attitude, work ethics, natural athletic ability and heart all influence how each horse will progress in their training and the end result as a finished horse.
I understand every horse is different. I love a horse that comes out every day and wants to please you, they have a great attitude and work ethic, these horses normally have a lot of natural athletic ability too. It is also very satisfying training a horse that is a little more challenging. When training horses, one of the most important things to remember is every horse is an individual and has strengths and weaknesses.
I think that keeping an open mind towards different types of horses is what differentiates me from other trainers. You have to understand each horses’ mind to be able to get each horse to their highest potential. Every horse takes a different amount of time. With a colder horse, you have to sometimes push them harder to get them to realize what they’re capable of doing, whereas on a sensitive horse you have to be much more careful that you take your time to build their trust first and not ask too much from them until they are ready. From many years of experience, I can usually tell the mind of the horse in the first few rides. I enjoy adapting my style to fit every horse and I believe that it has paid off throughout the years. I try to also educate a horse to the ability of the rider.
In order to do a good job training horses, you need to start from the beginning with every horse. One of the most challenging things to accomplish when training a horse is to get them really solid in their foundation and when finishing them to never burn them out or push them beyond their limits, some horses are never going to be super stars, the most important thing is that they are still happy doing their job. It is very rewarding when I can feel the horses giving me their all because they enjoy their work.
If you want your horse to be solid there are no shortcuts in training a horse.