
ROBIN GERBITZ
FREQENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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HOW DID YOU LEARN YOUR TRAINING TECHNIQUE?
I learned a lot of my training techniques from watching my mom who is also a trainer. I spent all my spare time outside of school in the training barn watching her train from the hay loft that looks down on the arena where she started all the colts. Or playing trainer myself with my little pony Emma. I rode a few older horses of moms growing up, that already had a good handle on them I spent a lot of time on them learning what a feel was and learned how to get my timing right when asking for different things. As I got older and got good at those basics with those older horses mom would give me little projects with her training horses. Those little projects with her training horses is where I learned how to apply a feel to create a feel in the horses.
WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY COLT WHEN I GET THEM BACK?
Yes, sending your horse especially your younger horse for training gives both you and your horse a good start. But after training it is up to you to maintain and further develop your horse after training, but the question is how do we go about this? When a horse is in training with me I offer and recommend you come out once a week to watch me work your horse and take a lesson with your them. So you as well can learn my style of training so when the two of you go home after training you can go right on with your horses education. After the horse is out of training you need to continue working with them every day on anything you can five days a week. Also, seek out further instruction with someone either through lessons or clinics to make sure you are staying on the right track with your horse.
WHAT MADE ME WANT TO BE A HORSE TRAINER?
I always found myself drawn to the horses for a lot of reasons but the biggest for me was their minds and willingness to put up with a human. It still blows my mind that a 1,200 lb. or more horse will let us get away with so much, I still wonder sometimes why it is that they want to get along with us so much. The horse's willingness was one of the biggest things that made me so curious about training, also that I just love moving though the training process and seeing the changes from day to day and watching the horses develop a sense of peace and security from the relationship they develop with the human.
WHY IS THERE A 60 DAY MIN ON YOUR COLT STARTING PROGRAM?
When I take a colt into training, I want them to leave with the most amount of education, in a reasonable amount of time. I can get a lot done in a 30-day colt start yes, but one month of training (30 days) is only 20 - 23 days. In that time your horse is getting worked 5 days a week for 1 hours at a time, usually the horse won't be ridden till the 5th day of training so that's only 15 - 18 rides. Horses are very smart, and kind so yes I can do a 30-day colt start but personally I like to know that I can give the horse the time needed to get the repetitions in needed to build as solid of a foundation as I can for both the horse and the person I am training for. A 60-day colt start will give you 40 - 43 days of work with 30 - 33 rides and since there is more time for me and the horse, I can introduce them to more things like riding out, obstacles, hobbling, tying, and trailer loading if needed. I give a 60-day minimum because I want to set the horses up to succeed as best as I can before they leave my training barn.