diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py b/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
index 28490e91c7..c37af689fa 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
@@ -204,46 +204,14 @@ def process_datasets_for_packing(cfg, train_dataset, eval_dataset):
         if eval_dataset and "token_type_ids" in eval_dataset.column_names:
             eval_dataset = eval_dataset.remove_columns("token_type_ids")
 
-    if cfg.get("drop_long_sequences") is False:
-        if "num_tokens_pre_truncation" not in train_dataset:
-            raise ValueError(
-                "`drop_long_sequences` is set to False but `num_tokens_pre_truncation` is missing from dataset"
-            )
-        plot_ascii_lengths_histogram(
-            data=train_dataset["num_tokens_pre_truncation"],
-            title="Train Dataset lengths",
-            logger=LOG,
-        )
-        num_longer_seqs = sum(
-            1
-            for seq_len in train_dataset["num_tokens_pre_truncation"]
-            if seq_len > cfg.sequence_len
-        )
-        max_len = max(train_dataset["num_tokens_pre_truncation"])
-        if num_longer_seqs > 0:
-            raise ValueError(
-                f"Found {num_longer_seqs} sequences longer than {cfg.sequence_len} tokens in Train Dataset. "
-                f"Longest sequence is {max_len} tokens. "
-                f"Please either increase --sequence_len or set --drop_long_sequences to True to drop and ignore such sequences."
-            )
-
-        plot_ascii_lengths_histogram(
-            data=eval_dataset["num_tokens_pre_truncation"],
-            title="Eval Dataset lengths",
-            logger=LOG,
-        )
-        num_longer_seqs = sum(
-            1
-            for seq_len in eval_dataset["num_tokens_pre_truncation"]
-            if seq_len > cfg.sequence_len
+    drop_long = (
+        _validate_datasets_sequence_lengths(
+            cfg=cfg,
+            train_dataset=train_dataset,
+            eval_dataset=eval_dataset,
         )
-        max_len = max(eval_dataset["num_tokens_pre_truncation"])
-        if num_longer_seqs > 0:
-            raise ValueError(
-                f"Found {num_longer_seqs} sequences longer than {cfg.sequence_len} tokens in Eval Dataset. "
-                f"Longest sequence is {max_len} tokens. "
-                f"Please either increase --sequence_len or set --drop_long_sequences to True to drop and ignore such sequences."
-            )
+        or drop_long
+    )
 
     train_dataset = train_dataset.filter(
         drop_long,
@@ -259,6 +227,11 @@ def process_datasets_for_packing(cfg, train_dataset, eval_dataset):
             desc="Dropping Long Sequences",
         )
 
+    train_dataset, eval_dataset = _drop_num_tokens_pre_truncation(
+        train_dataset,
+        eval_dataset,
+    )
+
     # drop samples with where the number of elements with labels not equal to -100 is zero
     def drop_no_trainable_tokens(sample):
         return np.sum(np.array(sample["labels"]) != -100) > 0
@@ -543,3 +516,82 @@ def setup_trainer(
     trainer_builder.eval_dataset = eval_dataset
 
     return trainer_builder.build(total_num_steps)
+
+
+def _drop_long_seq(sample, max_sequence_len, min_sequence_len):
+    return min_sequence_len <= sample["num_tokens_pre_truncation"] <= max_sequence_len
+
+
+def _validate_dataset_sequence_lengths(
+    dataset,
+    dataset_type,
+    sequence_len,
+    long_sequences_strategy,
+):
+    if "num_tokens_pre_truncation" not in dataset.features:
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"`long_sequences_strategy` is set to {long_sequences_strategy} but `num_tokens_pre_truncation` is missing from  {dataset_type} dataset"
+        )
+    plot_ascii_lengths_histogram(
+        data=dataset["num_tokens_pre_truncation"],
+        title=f"{dataset_type} Dataset lengths",
+        logger=LOG,
+    )
+    num_longer_seqs = sum(
+        1 for seq_len in dataset["num_tokens_pre_truncation"] if seq_len > sequence_len
+    )
+    max_len = max(dataset["num_tokens_pre_truncation"])
+    if num_longer_seqs > 0:
+        message = f"""\
+Found {num_longer_seqs}/{len(dataset)} sequences longer than {sequence_len} tokens in {dataset_type} Dataset.
+Longest sequence is {max_len} tokens."""
+        if long_sequences_strategy == "error":
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"{message}\n"
+                f"Please either increase --sequence_len or set --long_sequences_strategy to `drop` to drop and ignore such sequences."
+            )
+
+        LOG.warning(f"{message}\n" f"These sequences will be dropped.")
+
+
+def _validate_datasets_sequence_lengths(
+    cfg,
+    train_dataset,
+    eval_dataset,
+):
+    long_sequences_strategy = cfg.get("long_sequences_strategy", "truncate")
+    if long_sequences_strategy in ["drop", "error"]:
+        _validate_dataset_sequence_lengths(
+            dataset=train_dataset,
+            dataset_type="Train",
+            sequence_len=cfg.sequence_len,
+            long_sequences_strategy=long_sequences_strategy,
+        )
+        if eval_dataset:
+            _validate_dataset_sequence_lengths(
+                dataset=eval_dataset,
+                dataset_type="Eval",
+                sequence_len=cfg.sequence_len,
+                long_sequences_strategy=long_sequences_strategy,
+            )
+        if long_sequences_strategy == "drop":
+            drop_long = partial(
+                _drop_long_seq,
+                min_sequence_len=cfg.min_sample_len or 2,
+                max_sequence_len=cfg.sequence_len,
+            )
+            return drop_long
+
+    return None
+
+
+def _drop_num_tokens_pre_truncation(
+    train_dataset,
+    eval_dataset,
+):
+    if "num_tokens_pre_truncation" in train_dataset.features:
+        train_dataset = train_dataset.remove_columns(["num_tokens_pre_truncation"])
+    if eval_dataset and "num_tokens_pre_truncation" in eval_dataset.features:
+        eval_dataset = eval_dataset.remove_columns(["num_tokens_pre_truncation"])
+
+    return train_dataset, eval_dataset