I recently invested two months of training on my 4 year old gelding with Pic and could not be happier. Zeb was love at first sight for me, unfortunately he would do everything for me but go forward without his head disappearing completely and giving me a good toss. Zeb was also afraid of anything and everything that did or did not move. I have had horses for 20 years and still did not have the experience to train this horse. I needed professional help to break my young gelding so I contacted Pic for help. He returned my call immediately and I took him to his farm soon after. I went from having 16 hands of total bronc to a willing relaxed best friend and without bringing him home with a broken spirit. Pic and his wife Jackie have to be the nicest most down to earth people I have ever met. They answered all my questions and returned all my calls promptly. I truly feel that this was the best investment I could have made for Zeb and I. I was encouraged by Pic and he was eager to show me new things and was patient with me while explaining techniques I had never used. I would recommend Pic for anyone who needs a trainer. He is not only a wonderful trainer who completely turned my horse ( who I was ready to give up on) into a wonderful trail horse but is a kind and honest man who knows his trade. Thank you!!!
Sarah Tilden
Six years ago we were introduced by an Arabian Horse Trainer to Pickles Dillman. We had a Half-Arabian horse that no one else could ride. Pickles worked with the horse and successfully broke him. That horse is now a three time U.S. National Top Ten Amateur Horse. We send all of our horses to be started at Dillman Training. Pickles honesty, professionalism, and friendship are greatly appreciated. He always gets the job done.
Todd and Jennifer Glomski
I sent my 4 year old Arabian filly to Pickles to be broke. Within 60 days she not only was walking, trotting, and cantering under saddle, but she was also totally bombproof on trails . It was very easy for her to make the transition to a Country English show horse prospect. I was impressed that she came back with a wonderful attitude and Pickles always kept me updated on her progress.
Ann Jegers
I bought the nightmare horse, I was told to get rid of him before he kills somebody by the vet that gelded him or bring him to Pickles. We attempted to train him ourselves and then had professional training for 60 days, which improved him a lot. The horse was still hard to work with on the ground – fly spray, brushing was a nightmare. After pining my daughter in between him and a wall he was on his way to Pickles. I still have that horse 3 years later. Pickles worked miracles in 60 days. You can now ride, he is great at picking up his feet, spray, washing, trailing. He worked miracles with my horse. Pickles can train any of my horses! He knows his horses and is very professional and honest.
Peg Crumpton
I sent my 3 year old gelding to Pickles based on a referral from a friend. Pickles was kind enough to pick up and deliver my horse for me. All I wanted was a steady trail horse. I asked Pickles to put the best neck reining on him he could in 60 days and trail miles! I am so impressed with the results, I plan on sending all of my training prospects his way! My horse came back almost completely neck reining. I also recently purchased a horse from Pickles and was very comfortable doing so knowing it was trained by him. I am glad I have had the opportunity to get to know Pickles, it is always a pleasure doing business with him!
Jennifer Hansen
My name is Peggy Morrisette and I own a boarding facility just outside the metro area. I had the opportunity to obtain a foal from one of my boarders and, against my better judgment, I became the proud owner of a breeding stock paint who turned out to have a very stubborn streak. Although I have owned and ridden horses since I was five years old, I knew this colt was more then I could handle. That was when I had the wonderful fortune of meeting Pic Dillman.
Pic came highly recommended by Anoka Equine. He took my colt for four months and turned a stubborn, spoiled, hard headed baby into an extremely trustworthy trail horse. I love Pic’s laid back, calm style and the fact that he uses a common sense approach when he works with horses. He knows that on the trail you can encounter a multitude of obstacles and he tries to put those obstacles in their way while he is training them. He also knows that even the most dedicated rider doesn’t ride every day so a part of his training process is to give the horse a couple of days off to see if he forgets any of his lessons. I thought that was a great idea! He always involves the owner in the training process and made sure that my horse and I were working as a team before he left us on our own.
In short, I would tell anyone who is looking for a solid, quality trainer to go to Pic Dillman. As a matter of fact, I have done just that. Since my baby came home everyone has been so impressed that I have three other people from my farm that want to take their horses to Pic!
Peggy Morrisette
I sent off my horse “Stormy” to Pickles in April of 2003. She was a 3 year old then. I have been around horses my whole life, but this was my first experience with a youngster. Pickles had been recommended to me by a friend who had used him several times in the past and had only great things to say about her experiences with him.
Pickles is truly gifted when it comes to horses and is a wonderful person to work with. He paid special attention to my eagerness and desire to do “right” by stormy and informed me often of her progress. He encouraged me to come up as often as I could to work with both him and Stormy. In the beginning it was mostly ground work, not just for Stormy, but for myself as well. Stormy and I were both nervous and apprehensive, but Pickles soon put us both to ease.
He gave me the knowledge and the motivation I needed to work with a young minded and strong willed horse. He was never condescending or critical; rather he was inspiring and very informative. My horse is a foxtrotter/walker cross so he did spend quite a bit of time working on her gate, while teaching me how to encourage her to gate. I will forever remember the first time I gaited with Stormy and what an exhilarating feeling it was.
Even after training was complete, Pickles guided me through a couple of situations that I knew I needed some assistance with. He was always prompt at answering phone calls, listened closely to my problem and gave me the best advice.
Stormy is truly my best friend. We have already experienced so much together. She is quite an exceptional horse and I believe Pickles has something to do with that. He gave her a solid foundation in which I am adding to daily. This I believe is what so many trainers are lacking and what Pickles excels in. I would highly recommend him to anyone.
Ann Fouty
You were actually one of the first influences that made me want to become a horse trainer myself. I was 12 years old when my mother sent our Appaloosa “Dusty” to you for training. You really helped out my mother, by charging her a low fee and offering exceptional training! With the little training my Appy had when we sent her to you. She came back absolutely AMAZING for only being out there with you for a little over 30 days! She was very grateful, and planned to send all of our horses to you, but she ended up passing in 2001. She was fighting an idiopathic pulmonary disorder as well as being a single mother to 5 kids, and working 60+ hours a week at Children’s Hospital as a RT to give us everything we could ever dream of I am very grateful for the break you gave her, and not charging us any extra for those extra weeks when dusty was being so stubborn about coming around. Or for trailering her to and from our place. It made it possible for us to have a wonderfully trained horse!
I always looked forward to coming out and seeing Dusty at the ending weeks of her training as you told me about all of the other horses you had there, and which horses Dusty got along with and who she bullied, etc. It was very informative, and it really opened up my eyes to some interesting horse behaviors.
You gave me some hands on advice on how to work with Dusty, and how to gain control of her because she knew she could bully me around and that was one thing that was hard for me to get control of back then. She thought she could walk all over me, or ride where ever she wanted to- because she knew she was bigger than me, and she had reared up at me before and scared the heck outta me. So she knew I was intimidated by her. You gave me the courage to get over my fears, and bully HER into listening to me!
I just wanted to thank you for the work you do and to tell you that you are an inspiration to me and my work today! I think you are a great trainer, and I have come across many people who have things to say about your training and Enjoy hearing their success stories as well!
Amber Lopez