Is a horse trainer, training the horse or the owner?

Ingrained habits. My horse does..., many conversations start this way. When asked about training such and such horse who does such and such a thing, try saying that three times fast :-). I try to ask the owner understand that ingrained habits take time to change. First is the getting the horse to stop following the old habit and start creating good new habits. The longest time is actually taken up with helping make those new habits ingrained, and training the owner to only accept the new habit.

The owner is always comparing different trainers, to the person down the street that promises 30 days at a (cheap price) and a fixed horse. 30 days is usually enough to change a bad habit but in many cases it takes training the owner to continue helping the horse to make the new habit ingrained. Without training the owner, the horse can slip back into the original ingrained bad habit.

Best suggestion? Look for a trainer who would like you to be included in the training process once or more a week if possible.

How does this concern Val II? Well he is creating brand new good habits and I have been helping him understand and ingrain these good habits.

Michelle