Laura Martlock

Its all in the Consistency

Laura Martlock has been teaching riding and training for 25 years. She started out in the British Society of Pony Clubs, attaining the Instructor's level.  For a time after this, she competed at Hunter/Jumpers, reaching the the Adult Amateur level 9 for a season.  Unfortunately, near the end of that season, she was kicked in the side of the knee by a horse and the ensuing year off from competition was enough for her to realize that she wanted to make more of a difference in young riders' and young horses' lives, so she began focusing more on instruction and training. 

She worked for a few years as a free-lance instructor/trainer, before taking a job as trainer for Three Springs Farm, a Hanoverian breeding/training/lesson barn and AHA inspection site, which at that time was standing the number 1 and the number 5 rated Hanoverian stallion in the U.S. For the next five years, she worked with all aspects of the farm, from breeding the stallions and mares, assisting with births, to working with foals as newborns through starting under saddle and taking them to their first shows. Three Springs Farm was also a racetrack lay up and retraining facility, and Laura worked with many off-the-track Thoroughbreds, retraining them for new careers, as well as other breeds from the surrounding area, as the facility accepted all breeds for starting under saddle and correcting problems.

 After moving on from Three Springs and relocating to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, near historic Staunton, .Laura spent the next nine years working with one of the region's premier veterinarians as the trainer/instructor of his riding and boarding stables. At Cabin Creek Riding Stable, she became involved with a therapeutic riding program (Ride With Pride, Inc.), as well as working with more OTTB's, since the owner's daughter was a jockey who often rescued horses at the track that were for sale. Cabin Creek Stable was eventually sold and is now known as Cedar Creek Stables.  Laura now works there as the Volunteer Coordinator for Ride With Pride and helps with the program's horses.  During the summer months, Laura also works as an instructor at her home or travels to clients homes, and as well as instructs at various local barns and camps. 

Philosophy
Learning to be an equestrian is like learning a new language. You can learn on your own, but having someone who is fluent in the language teach you is far quicker and can help prevent needless mistakes and misunderstandings. But, even more important than instruction, is spending time with the ones who's language you are trying to learn. Nothing promotes a better understanding and gives a greater grasp of the nuances of communication more than spending time with horses and constantly using and developing your new communication skills.

Consistency
"Consistency is key to working with horses. To gain their trust and respect, they must know that they can count on you to be the same way, to treat them the same, to discipline the same, to reward the same way every single day. A horse won't understand that you've had a bad day, they only understand consistency."

Laura's Articles

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