diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/data/rl.py b/src/axolotl/utils/data/rl.py
index 9f5c726ab..22c6a6194 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/data/rl.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/data/rl.py
@@ -163,23 +163,26 @@ def load_prepare_preference_datasets(cfg):
                 # "prompt", "chosen" and "rejected" already preprocessed
                 split_datasets[i] = data_set
 
-            drop_long = partial(
-                drop_long_rl_seq,
-                rl=_cfg.rl,
-                tokenizer=tokenizer,
-                sequence_len=cfg.sequence_len,
-            )
+            if not cfg.skip_prepare_dataset:
+                drop_long = partial(
+                    drop_long_rl_seq,
+                    rl=_cfg.rl,
+                    tokenizer=tokenizer,
+                    sequence_len=cfg.sequence_len,
+                )
 
-            prior_len = len(split_datasets[i])
-            split_datasets[i] = split_datasets[i].filter(
-                drop_long,
-                num_proc=cfg.dataset_processes,
-                load_from_cache_file=not cfg.is_preprocess,
-                desc="Dropping Long Sequences",
-            )
-            dropped = prior_len - len(split_datasets[i])
-            if dropped:
-                LOG.warning(f"Dropped {dropped} long samples from dataset index {i}")
+                prior_len = len(split_datasets[i])
+                split_datasets[i] = split_datasets[i].filter(
+                    drop_long,
+                    num_proc=cfg.dataset_processes,
+                    load_from_cache_file=not cfg.is_preprocess,
+                    desc="Dropping Long Sequences",
+                )
+                dropped = prior_len - len(split_datasets[i])
+                if dropped:
+                    LOG.warning(
+                        f"Dropped {dropped} long samples from dataset index {i}"
+                    )
 
         combined_datasets = concatenate_datasets(split_datasets)
         combined_datasets = combined_datasets.shuffle(seed=cfg.seed)