How do you answer the question, “What do you
do?” If the answer is, “I’m in the horse business”,
you are only telling part of the story. Because more
accurately stated, you are in the recreation business
for
people who like horses. I’ve said it before: the
horse
is not your customer, people who like horses are your
customers. They pay for the board, the training
and
the riding lessons.
So to take this idea a bit deeper, one of the things
you do every day is teach. Now, if you give
riding lessons it’s obvious you are a teacher. But, if
you sell horses, train horses or board horses are you
a teacher, too? I sure think so.
If you sell horses and have a sense of duty
to the buyer and the horse, you try to do a
professional job matching up horse and owner. This is
true especially when the buyer is inexperienced in
the horse world. This involves educating
the owner about safety, temperament and
suitability of horse to the intended purpose. The
teaching process is necessary for the buyer to make
an informed decision about the purchase. The
education you provide as a professional horseman is
often an unappreciated service. Thankfully, there is
no “lemon law” for horses, but operating your horse
sales business as if there was is a good philosophy.
If you know that a horse is
not the right match, do your best to educate the
buyer about the problems and put her on a horse
that makes sense. People want to buy fun, not
trouble.
If you train horses for others, you’ve noticed
that often your hard work and the horse’s hard work
may go to waste if the owner is not educated
in how you trained the horse, how to use the
aids to get the most performance from their horse
and why it is important to keep a steady program for
reinforcement of the training. Often, trainers teach
the horse exceptionally well but have no skill in
teaching the owner
how to take advantage of their professional training
investment.
If you board horses, you may never consider
yourself a teacher. But stop and think about what
you are paid to do. You are charged with the
responsibility of caring for your customer’s horse in
their absence. You know when the symptoms of
colic start to show up, you recognize stocked up legs
and you know when the farrier is overdue for a visit.
The owner looks to you for education for
health issues, general horse care and guidance with
all types of problems. After all, you are the expert
and have an obligation to your customers to teach
them how to have more pleasure and less pain with
their horses.
Good teachers recognize the different types of
learners: audio, visual and hands-on, and the best
ways to help them. They read body language, listen
carefully and sense frustration. Good teachers
encourage continuing education and help those who
want to be helped.
Best of all, good teachers are the most Profitable
Horsemen. Don’t give up filling the role of teacher to
those who want to learn more, but you can
forget
about taking the summers off.
