INTERVIEW WITH JOSE LUIS TORRES
Vida y Esperanza and Club HÃpico Trebol
INTERVIEW MAGAZINE TALENTOS Y MARCOS
Club Hipico Trebol is led by a professional horse trainer with 35 years of experience. His name is Jose Luis Torres, and he has trained professional jockeys, such as the well known Oliver Parra, among many others. This Bolivian trainer has a special talent and technique. He combines psychology with his training of riders and horses in order to obtain a good relationship between the horse and the rider.
Although Jose Luis admits that new horse training techniques are needed in Bolivia in order to elevate the quality of such training, he explains how every horse and rider are so unique that individualized techniques are needed to obtain better results. These individualized techniques are used to increase one's skills in accordance with one's ability, by overcoming weaknesses.
Jose Luis not only works to ensure the wellbeing of the riders, but also does much to support the horses. Just as he does for the riders, Jose Luis respects the time the horses need to learn. He does this because he understands that a mistreated horse can be dangerous.
In the competitions, there is usually a lot of pressure, demand, and risk. Because of this, both the riders and horses spend time in training working on the psychological aspects of their character.
During the interview, I got the chance to meet Andrea, the adoptive mother of a young woman with serious problems of aggression and low self-esteem. Andrea's thankful eyes expressed her total support for Jose Luis and his project Vida y Esperanza. During the daughter’s training with Jose Luis, she obtained better self control, reducing her aggressiveness, and learned how to deal with the nature of situations by accepting their consequences.
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| Jose Luis and a Student |
The outcome of Jose Luis's work could not be more positive. Through this training, the young riders obtain the tools to work and form a strong character. He emphasises that the characteristic that defines this work is a spirit of sacrifice.
Translation from Spanish by Sarah Young
