CASE IN POINT A “WANNABE” TRAINER

Amanda was a beginning rider who had watched several DVDs featuring one particular trainer and had gone to many of his clinics around the country.

She bought a green filly and found a small facility to board her. Unfortunately, Amanda felt that she knew more than the other people at the barn. It wasn’t long before Amanda was telling everyone how she thought they should ride and train their horses. She even criticized the conformation of boarded horses and the tack other riders used.

The barn owner, Jessica, saw the other boarders becoming more uncomfortable and decided to intervene. She scheduled a time to talk to Amanda in private. She listened to Amanda’s concerns about the way other people were training their horses. She then asked Amanda to listen to her in the same manner. She did not criticize Amanda’s newfound knowledge. She explained some of the training techniques used by other boarders to Amanda, and why those techniques had been chosen instead of others.

Amanda found it hard to listen at first but Jessica was careful to avoid putting her on the defensive. As a result Amanda listened and, while she told Jessica that she thought she would stick with her own training method, she understood that there were many valid ones to choose from so she wouldn’t be judging others for their decisions. When Amanda’s unsolicited critiques stopped, the other boarders didn’t immediately warm up to her, but the tension in the barn eased significantly. Ultimately, everyone got along.