06/30/2024
This is the kindest c**t, with a willing and trainable mind. I call this type of horse a 'yes man.' Horsemen the world over know the kind of equine personality I'm talking about; the one that looks at each training session, each task, with a cheerful and up beat attitude.
"Why yes! I think I can do that!" this type of horse always seems to be saying. "Absolutely! I'll get right on it."
These horses are the kind you can sell to anyone. Anyone! And they will find the right way to respond to the change of hands, of demands, of methods and styles. They will adjust to different herd mates, a change of rations; saddles, bits, riding abilities. You name it, a horse like this is kind enough and confident enough to have our very thoughtless, and very human, expectations covered in even the scariest of situations.
I think.
But I wouldn't bet on it.
Because at the end of the day, he is still just a horse...and a young one at that. For all his unicorn like qualities, he is a baby flight animal whose defense is survival of the fleetest...and he's motivated by freedom! A release of pressure in all situations. He has this instinct in his DNA, and the athletic ability to fight for it.
I asked myself this week, in light of recent events, what would it take to blow this gentle young horse up? How much of a change of all things familiar to him would put him on edge? Shake his confidence? Put a ball in his belly that only a bucking horse knows how to work out?
I think a lot.
But I wouldn't bet on it.
Because at the end of the day, after all is said and done, he's just a horse...and a young one at that. And I've learned over the years that young horses are like young people...they act on impulse now and then. They don't always think. Even those ones that folks truly believe they've filled all the holes in, built up a mighty foundation, put in all the proper training. Even sometimes, when we think we got it right, we got it wrong.
That's life.
And if all of us were honest (at least with ourselves)... all of us horse trainers and horse traders, horse buyers and horse lovers...we'd all keep our tongues still and our hearts empathetic, because what happened to some folks this week, could happen to any one of us. And anyone who has ridden, trained, bought and sold, and made a living with horses, knows that sometimes the biggest mystery in this business is the horse himself. On the other hand, people usually prove to be fairly predictable. 🤷
Have a good day folks.
