“Certifications” and Horses

I remember about 12 years ago when I first heard of these certifying courses being offered to horsemen & women I thought, “Well, horsemanship has turned into fast food”. And today, I still view it as such. Many of those who own just a horse or two maybe could benefit from learning from these courses and further their knowledge, but on the same note anyone who is of the opinion that they are going to begin to train horses for a living full time are living in a stall with no windows. First, all one gets from these courses is a piece of paper certifying them in one person’s opinion, that’s it. Of any method on the market today, when you strip away the hype and glitz of them, it all boils down to what one person has determined that works best for them or has worked. With some marketing efforts and a few DVD’s one can come across as the best trainer ever, but it doesn’t work that way in the real world, with real horses!

Any clinician (that has any smarts about them) isn’t going to use just any ‘ol horse in their clinics or on video, their horses have undergone hours and months of training to get them used to the way the clinician works and how he works with them. This is the key here. You will hear comments like, “I trained this horse using XX method….” Or “it is really easy once you…” Many times after watching DVD’s horse owners attempt what they have seen and just as many can’t reproduce what they saw….why? Factually, the average horse owner isn’t a trainer or clinician and does not possess the experience to do so at a productive level. There are exceptions but the vast majority do not. Owning horses isn’t a qualification to begin to train horses. But after watching or reading any of the, what I call, “do it yourself training” books or DVD’s one comes away with the notion that anyone can train their own horse. Once again, these may be good for the horse owner who owns a horse or 2 and spends all of their spare time with them but for the beginning trainer who wants to conduct business on a full time scale, it requires, note the word… requires, more than a sheet of paper and one way!

Any of us who have been in this business for any notable period of time knows that one way or any sole particular method does not work with every horse that comes along. Each horse is different with varying personalities, temperaments and a very wide degree of backgrounds. The equine industry is a great one to work in and also one of the most wide open career fields to work in as well. This is one of a handful of industries that one can claim experience from simply sitting on a horse when they were led around as a child as actual “working experience”! And many do but those of us who have worked as professional trainers can tell these types from a simple 5 minute conversation. My personal rule of thumb is if anyone begins a sentence with “I’m certified by…” then I just change the topic or end the conversation as I do not want or need to hear that they have wasted their money on someone else’s opinion and now think they are a horse trainer. Operating at a productive and consistent level requires years of on the ground, in the saddle (and sometimes in the dirt) experience. An apprenticeship doesn’t hurt either, but our society today expects things much too fast and many times, unrealistically.

There are those who live for certifications and many times, doing whatever to attain them and tout them as “look at me”, I’m certified! Yes, in many cases they are certifiable but in another sense. With horses, the horse don’t care if your certified in anything other than a kind hand and common sense, I have never had a horse turn to me in the corral and ask, “now, are you certified to teach me this?” There are many trainers who produce well trained horses and are not certified by anyone other than the horses they have met in their past. Certifications in horsemanship are a human thing to tout among other humans that are mis-led via the one method mentality that has permeated the equine industry.

I have been asked by some do I give a certification in my program, Practical Horsemanship? My reply is always the same, “ do you really want to go around in life with another’s brand on you always being asked about me instead of yourself?”

“If you were your horse, would you want to be your horse?
Michael Ketner

www.buckarooequineservices.com