Anyone can ride a horse; a blind person, a paraplegic or a terrified housewife and even my husband - everyone can ride! Riding gives us a feeling of working with something ”greater than ourselves”. It takes us away from our worldly woes and moves into present time and space.  Riding is the ultimate human-animal cooperative task. And yet…riding no longer impresses me. I believe we can take our relationship to horses MUCH FURTHER than simply training yet another generation of riders to “bend the horse’s will” to our own. This is not the way things are done here.  Want to impress? Show me someone with a whole-horse approach in every equine interaction.  There is a bigger picture with horses, and simply arriving at a barn, brushing, tacking, riding, untacking and going home does not make you a horseperson. Show me your horse in a frightening or new situation and then show me a handler that is willing to take the time to bring understanding to their horse rather than run them through a situation because the ride is more important than the adaptation of the horse, then maybe you’ll get my attention. Show me a trainer that is willing to take all the time in the world to break a green horse or to guide a student in understanding equine behaviour in conjunction with their training and maybe you’ll get my attention.  Other than that, it’s all old school and traditional trainers have some catching up to do.

I get kids all the time from two local riding schools in particular, who come in absolutely clueless about what their horse needs.  Oh,  they can be nifty little riders, able to leap a tall fence with an unwilling horse. But when I take their saddle away, they find they have no balance or capacity to judge their horse’s actions and move with them. In the saddle they are permanently poised in 2 point position, as though they have never been taught anything but the be ready for the first jump.  Their legs are hiked up short in the stirrups and land somewhere up around their ears. They have no balance or equilibrium and it is obvious that they have been taught that their main concern should  always be in getting their horse to do what they ask of them no matter the circumstances.  These are often the students of traditional show trainers, and I know this because I was that kid. Let me save you some trouble.

I have worked with horses for a very long time now; about 5 1/2 dogs years to be exact, or 35 human years.  It was at about the 25 year mark where a thinly disguised veil was lifted and I  realized that for all of my years of training and hard work  I had come out lacking in basic and fundamental principles of the horse.  Oh, I had read a plethora of books and I had spent hundreds of hours in the saddle, with a variety of well intentioned coaches barking orders at me from the ground while I would effectively grip my horse inwards and move them through excercise that were meant to develop fluidity and muscle tone.  In all those years, i only had one coach who would make us stop half way though the lesson to gently reinforce our horses. But now, here I was with my own farm and my own school, and all those hours of classes melted away and I was faced with the stark realization that I still had a great deal to learn, not about riding, but about the fundamental principles of equine behaviour.   This was a stark and humbling realization, and as most seasoned horse people for a long time I thought I had all the answers and if it was done “my way” then that was the only correct right way to do things.  I was so convinced of this, having been taught the right way of doing things by well-intentioned schooling barns, riding schools and personal trainers over 30 years, that I had forgotten about what my horses needed and found that this mentality only asked what can the horse do for me, and knew only that I had a schedule and a way of doing things that they must adhere to.  I can’t even begin to count the number of people have crossed my path or come to Willowcreek claiming how they haven’t ridden in 20 years always because of some horrific trail riding experiences they had at various ( but usually one) trail riding facility. great adventures replete with being launched into the air unceremoniously,  being clothes-lined in the forest and running home at break neck speeds, all with no helmet. It was enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

Back in those days, we were just beginning Willowcreek Stables and so I took a huge ego swallowing gulp and began to ask basic questions again to people who I saw dealing with horses in a unique manner.  I was introduced to a group of horse trainers that held a more forgiving and understanding and flexible mentality with horses. It was easy to for me to see the immediate and pervasive effects of relating to horses and humans on a basis which emphasized effective ground communication prior to riding. In other words, it wasn’t all about riding.; this was a huge awakening for me. It’s like it gave me “time and space” to try new things and not feel rushed that each horse I trained become a perfect balanced riding horse.  This was in fact, no longer even the goal and the new thinking was incredibly refreshing for me.

But horse people are funny. Everyone thinks they’re right and that what they know is pretty much everything that needs to be known. Every horse trainer will tell you “there is always something to learn” with horses, but I can tell they don’t really mean it.  A statement like this amongst most traditionalists is simply a cover up for false humility. At the end of the day, the majority of these types of trainers are looking for the potential output and workability of a mount, and rarely will they adapt their own program to suit the physical or psychological needs of the individual horse. It’s all about how “useful” an animal can be.

But “usefulness” is relative only in the terms of which you can apply it to a client and how you view the horse-human relationship.  Trainers must ask themselves what they are trying to bring to clients: I would say to these ineffective traditional trainers that they can look past the immediate and obvious and become aware of the deeper and more important effect horses have on their clients.

Beyond taking little girls to competition level riding, beyond launching themselves over wooden posts for our entertainment and beyond the constricted and difficult fancy moves of a dancing dressage performance, horses bring something more. It’s just that these trainers have not incorporated that awareness into their training program.

Admittedly we all do our best, but there is a stepping up that has to occur. A widening of the mind when it comes to how we interact with the natural world on a global level, and the very fact that we have horses available to the public can enable this greater empathic approach to the natural world on a grand scale; horse really provide a fast track tool in helping people reconnect with nature on all levels.

I have found a great untapped market in the world of people who want to interact, understand and bring affection and care and help to the horses here at Willowcreek. When I am thrown out into the off farm “real world” I am sometimes shocked at how far some people still have to go to become aware of the power they hold in guiding human interactions with these animals.  It’s not about the ride. Anyone can ride. That’s the easy part.

In my case, we have a great variety of clients with a huge spectrum of needs. Of course riding is indicated as the ultimate partnering up between the horse and client, but it is not the first priority.

It’s our job to help each other be better. Think big! Don’t let anyone tell you that you are incapable of ANYTHING. That’s the bottom line.  I take comfort in the fact that there are others like me out there and they have been great teachers for me.  Maybe one day we will see a greater cooperation between barns but for now I’ll leave those old school thoughts where they belong which is anywhere at all..but here at peaceful WillowCreek.