Everything Horsey

you have to engage your horse. look, while you were jumping, your horse was on a beach in Mexico ordering a pina colada

“He’s going to be brave for you at the big jumps, so you need to be brave for him when he thinks he hears aliens

I was drawn to horses as if they were magnets. It was in my blood. I must have inherited from my grandfather a genetic proclivity toward the equine species. Perhaps there’s a quirk in the DNA that makes horse people different from everyone else, that instantly divides humanity into those who love horses and the others, who simply don’t know.

Sometimes as a rider, you really have to focus on what the horse does right, & not always look for the things to fix. Because when you over manage the details you really keep scrambling your own puzzle

Let’s bail on the word respect; face it, horses are not advanced enough to understand a psychological, sociological and philosophically advanced concept of respect. What we need are definable behaviors, something they CAN DO. For example, “Stay two feet away from me and then I will walk towards you to make contact,” or “Back up when I come into through the gate to feed you dinner.” These are things that can be trained and they’re easy for the horse to understand. Train these behaviors specifically and let go of all the baggage that comes to mind when we think of the word respect. By letting go we won’t get frustrated or angry because the horses is not “respecting us” or following some concept he doesn’t understand anyway. Get real, define the behaviors and train your horse. You’ll both be happier.

Some people ask what I do besides horses. I do nothing beside horses.

Bad riding looks like bad riding. But good riding looks like no riding.

“Champions aren’t born. They are built, little by little, day by day, with patience and love for the sport.”

Ride the canter like you are having the sex standing up.

Life is short, buy the breeches

American Pharoah ran the final quarter-mile – a stretch that has dashed numerous Triple Crown dreams – in 24.32 seconds, faster than Secretariat’s time of 25 seconds in winning the 1973 Belmont.

Sometimes as a rider, you really have to focus on what the horse does right, & not always look for the things to fix. Because when you over manage the details you really keep scrambling your own puzzle