California Riding Magazine • February, 2010

Affinity Training: Serena Moring
Training program built around bond of understanding between horse and rider.

There is no convenient label for the training that young professional Serena Moring provides. She’s well versed in the english riding styles and the hunter/jumper and dressage show circuits, but her real gift is helping horses and riders understand each other.

With horses, Moring uses her knowledge of herd behavior, equine psychology and horse health to help them work past issues that often manifest as behavioral problems. With riders, she is a master at explaining the whys behind her instruction, and helping them see how their horse interprets their actions. “I want to help people know why their horses do certain things,” Moring notes. “I want to help them enjoy their time with their horses by becoming better friends with them and building a bond with them.”

Moring is happy to take students to shows, she just won’t be overly attached to the outcome because she is more interested in the process. “I am open to whatever my clients enjoy most from my teaching,” she says. Whatever her student’s goal, Moring has a teaching philosophy that centers around the rider’s position and body awareness. “That’s something the professional riders do themselves, but don’t always teach,” she observes.

Now 30, Moring began riding at 10. She worked for a combined training trainer in the Bay Area as a junior, then went to U.C. Davis as an undergraduate and also earned her license as a veterinary technician. From Davis, she took a post as assistant manager of the big Thoroughbred breeding and training farm, Harris Farm, in Central California. Supervising a crew of attendants, she oversaw the pregnant and foaling mares and youngsters, gaining a first hand education in herd behavior and herd health along the way. “I learned a lot during those years about how to read a horse from a non-riding standpoint,” she says. “I wound up with a very well rounded history with horses, which has made it easier for me to train them. I can look and see behavior, versus pain, anxiety or a horse that is fundamentally a certain way.”

When she missed riding, Moring sought work in Southern California. San Diego breeder Jenny McLaughlin hired Moring to work with some of her young hunters and jumpers. At the same time she started her mobile training business with Affinity Training, working with riders at their home barns. Private trainer Denise LeFleur was impressed with Moring’s work and encouraged her to start her own training stable. She is doing exactly that at LeFleur Farms, with plans to expand to Discovery Valley Equestrian in San Marcos, while also continuing with her mobile clientele.

Many of Moring’s training techniques are rooted in an understanding of herd behavior. “Whoever moves the herd is in charge of the herd,” she explains. She was called upon to work with a 5-year-old who reared whenever a rider tried to mount. “For some reason the horse had a lot of anxiety,” Moring explains. “She had convinced herself that it was never fun when she got ridden so the best thing instead was to scare everybody.”

The trainer began working with the horse on the ground, getting the mare to stand still in whatever spot she requested and reinforcing compliance with treats and positive cues. “Eventually they realize there’s no point in moving and that I’m the alpha member of the herd,” says Moring. “If I’ve told them to stand there, then they can just calm down and stay there. You are teaching the horse that you are going to look out for them and that they can trust you.” The concepts carry through to every level of horse handling and riding, she adds.

Along with her belief in treats, Moring considers it essential to avoid overkill in any aspect of training. “As soon as the horse does it right, move on. Give him a carrot and get off. You will end up with a horse that trusts you.”

Moring’s veterinary background comes in handy, often allowing her to see problems before they become serious issues. With many, many hours of emergency horse care under her belt, she can manage many of her horse’s health issues on her own. “Unless my horse is hemorrhaging, I can usually handle it myself,” says the licensed vet technician.

For more information on Affinity Training, call Serena Moring at 760-710-1604.