Training your horse

I train my own horses for a variety of activities. My horses are mainly used for trail riding however, I find that the longer I own a horse and the more time I spend with them, the more things I want to try with them. I now have two arabians. One sorrel and one tri color buckskin pinto. They are both very athletic and adapt well to almost anything I ask them to do. I spend a lot of time with both of them though. It's important to develope a strong bond with your horse and trust if you want the most from them.
I know a few people who have five or six horses and don't do anything with any of them. They are not trained to even stand for tack or farrier and are not green broke to ride. I don't personally understand why someone would undertake the cost and work involved in having that many horses if they aren't going to do anything but be pets, but our relationships with our horses are different for many people. I certainly respect someone's right to have whatever animals they want so long as they are well cared for.
Of course, caring for horses involves more than just throwing hay over the fence and fillin the water tank. When an owner doesn't take the time to train a horse to trailer, stand, and ride they set the horse up to end up in a bad position. Not many people are looking for horses that are not easily handled. So if the owner comes on hard times, now they have horses that aren't marketable and they can't find good homes for them. Often times that spells disaster for the horse.
A horse that is well trained is almost always in a position to go to a good home. With the market what it is right now, you may not get as much for them as you'd like, but chances are good that there's someone out there looking for a good horse. I am in the position of having a horse that is not trained as well as he should be and that is my failure as I haven't devoted enough time to ground training. I have saddle trained him and must admit, I "cowboyed" him as I threw a saddle on him and rode him and didn't pay enough attention to ground work. So now I have work to do to get him where he needs to be to make someone a good horse.
That, or I will have to sell him for far less than he's worth to someone willing to do the needed work. I just sold a quarterhorse that I bought last year and I spent a limited amount of time on training him. He was a good horse and responded well for me with some patience and time. They are all different and some of the really stubborn ones will often turn out to be some of the best ones if you have the patience and perseverence to give them a chance. When it comes down to it, it's the owner's responsibility to make sure a horse gets the training they need to have a safe active life.