Ask Colin

SO YOU WANT TO BE A HORSE TRAINER AND CLINICIAN!

Ruth, G'Day.

Thanks for your note on your friend Buddy Uldrikson. He must be very good for you to make this effort, so, naturally, I am interested! This area of clinicians is quite crowded but, having said that, many of the so-called experts I see are far less than expert. So, for a real expert, the field is quite narrow. At this point it comes down to promotion and exposure. The horse industry is quite small, and word travels real fast. If somebody is really good, and he exposes his expertise to, say, 100 people one Saturday afternoon, they will tell five of their friends, which means the universe of this expert has now increased to 500 people, who will tell five of their friends, which mean his universe has increased to 2,500 people..and so on and so on.. So...somebody working quite hard, in two years, would have a following of several thousand people, all buying DVDs, etc, which means that in threee years such a person would be at least making a living. Sadly, there are no short cuts. This is not Hollywood. Nobody is going to tap Buddy on the shoulder and say, "I can make you a star". If they said that, in the horse business, they are a straight con. The wonderful thing about the horse business is that, if you are good, you will very quickly get a following. If you are not, you will not be in the horse industry very long. I am the proof of which I speak. I am good at what I do. I look after my clients, and they look after me. I have been very successful now for 30 years, but nobody tapped me on the shoulder. I did it myself, with true passion for what I do. If Buddy is as good as you say, people will beat down his door to get to him, once they know he exists. The enormous gap I see in the horse business is getting people to understand the horse. There are SOOOOO many people out there who can ride a horse, and therefore make the (incorrect) deduction that they can now teach other people to train/understand/ride/husband/ horses; they can even design saddles, fit horses, etc. etc...goes on and on. Of course, in the end, all they can really do is ride a horse, maybe. So Buddy has a row to hoe, as they say. But if he is dedicated, and determined, and if he has the heart and soul of a horse, he can get there. I will look at his site. And I will offer my help, because you have asked.

 Cheers, Colin D.

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