Between a horse and rider, there should be a bond of trust.  This is especially important for those who jump, asking horses to take off from a particular spot before each fence.  Most riders connect that having a “bad eye to a fence,” (i.e., not having the ability to determine the proper take-off spot before a fence and putting the horse either too close to or too far from the fence for a safe take-off ) causes the horse not to trust the rider. However, many riders don’t connect other aspects of their behavior to the issue of trust.

For instance, when a rider “gets left” over a fence and bangs the horse in the mouth and back with his hands and seat, this action destroys the horse’s trust.  Anticipating the abuse, the horse will start adding a stride at the base of the fences to minimize the size of the jumping effort in an effort to lessen the impact of the hands and seat; or it will stop in front of the fences or “run out” beside them as it tries to avoid the abuse altogether.

Another action that breaks the trust is the rider being too lazy to wash the horse’s face with a sponge that has been wrung out properly and, instead, using a garden hose to spray water onto a horse’s face (and sometimes up its nose!); or using bath water that is too hot or too cold.  Not paying attention to where you’re asking the horse to go and causing it to bump into or step on objects is an additional way to break the trust.

Finally, behavior that will completely damage your relationship with the horse is to punish it for your mistakes.  I have often seen riders become frustrated or embarrassed in the course of a clinic or horse show and start beating or jerking on their horses, as if to indicate that the bad performance is all the horse’s fault.  The truth is that horses are some of the most docile, sweet-natured creatures on earth, and they respond consistently well to kind handling and good direction from the rider.   They really deserve better than to be abused by the untrained, ill-tempered, or untalented.

With time, your horse will become very much like you, so take a look at your horse’s progression or regression and acknowledge that what it has become is what you have made of it.  The act of accepting responsibility is the first step toward changing the situation for the better.

Welcome to the first entry of my new blog. This will be a great way to communicate anything and everything related to hunters and hunter seat equitation. Most of what I’ll offer will be insights gained from teaching riding clinics around the country. For instance, in a recent clinic, I found myself saying “put your heels down and grab the mane” to almost every rider. Sometimes they would successfully go for the mane, but forget to put their heels down, so that the horse’s thrust over the fence would almost launch them.

When you’re learning how to jump a horse, you have to have the basics, which include both legs on the horse (your glue), heels pressed down (to exert downward weight to help hold you on), seat out of the saddle (to free the horse’s back), body inclined forward (to balance over the horse’s center of gravity, which is at the withers), eyes up and looking through the ears of the horse (to keep you centered on the animal so that you won’t fall off sideways), and both hands pressed on the neck in a crest release (with mane being grabbed in at least one hand if you have any balance problems at all). By “balance problems,” I mean if you can’t always place your horse at a good take-off spot and sometimes find yourself behind the motion in the air, or you have a weak leg position that moves when the horse jumps so that you can’t keep your upper body in a stable position.

This reminds me of a conversation with George Morris. I hadn’t seen him in a long time, so I said, “What have you been up to?” He answered, “Just teaching the basics.” He had already taken the position of chef d’equipe (the manager of a national team) for the United States Show Jumping Team, so I found it amusing that he considered himself “just teaching the basics.” When I thought about it, I realized that no matter how difficult a course may be, the underpinnings of success are always “the basics.” When you make a basic error, the results are never good, whether you’re in the show ring as a beginner, or are an advanced rider competing in a world-class event.

So that’s my “food for thought” this week that I hope will be helpful as you strive to be the best rider you can be.