I often wonder if the world of the horse industry has more than it's fair share of highly ignorant and illiterate computer users. Just putting in the word "horse" and adding "training" to it in a search on YouTube will get you the most idiotic selection of dumb asses riding and "training" horses with some of them adding links to their training websites. There are now spin offs of YouTube that also have videos so you can watch all the stupidity as these people are willing to up load on the internet.
Of course I was mostly referring to the backyard trainer that usually has no liability insurance or even a business license to do professional horse training. Those two little items has never stopped them from putting up a sign and getting people to pay them for "horse training". What about the big name professionals? Are they just as dumb as the backyard trainer when it comes to the internet? Yes they are! I found one trainer that has a big following and probably has someone do his website for him. It seems that Tommy Garland joined the band wagon to have a blog (just like everyone else on the planet) but failed to realize that you need to write in it to make the blog worth while. His blog was started back in February 2008 and ended the same day. The man has over 16 comments left on the blog, most of them wanting his advice. I can't blame them for leaving comments like that after all the blog is named Horse Training Help. The top of the blog reads "Welcome to our site. This site was created to help horse lovers solve some common problems in training their horses." My guess is the only help he is giving is to himself with the links in the blog to his website so you can "purchase" his help.
Another horse trainer named Deb Bull in Virgina has fairly decent website but I found her review of her own website more interesting to read. In her review she admits that she has not gotten many calls for her services from her website. Looking at the website again I noticed that she does not mention her fees or have pictures of her place which would be a huge deciding factor in sending a horse to her for training. Since she claims to specialize in reining training, a few photos of her in action might be appropriate. It looks like her "website" is just a one page affair that was done for her (evidenced by the "designed by" at the bottom of the page). At least the website did not have any music or teenage graphics that would remind you of "pretty ponies".
Both of the trainers that I mentioned are not trainers from hell but are just not aware that the internet can work for them as well as against them. Just think how many clients Tommy has lost because he has not bothered to interact with his blog visitors. How many clients did Deb not gain because of the lack of information on her site? If potential clients can't find the good horse trainers out there then they are sometimes forced to use the mediocre or bad ones that do advertise and get the word out. How many times have I heard someone say "I only wish I had knew about (insert name of horse trainer here) before I sent out my horse to that idiot horse trainer down the road." It then becomes the jobs of the good horse trainers to undo the work done by the bad ones. You might say that bad horse trainers make good horse trainers have a secure job future, but with the economy as it is today those horses that have had bad horse training will more then likely sit in a pasture for the rest of their lives (if their owners can afford that) or end up as dog food.
