03/15/2023
A great story and an even better lesson in good horsemanship from legendary eventer, trainer, coach, author, leader, and activist Denny Emerson.
Sixth Sense Spookiness
Many years ago I was riding in the indoor arena at the former USET headquarters on Bridge Street, in South Hamilton, Massachusetts.
In those days, with Jack Le Goff as coach, each rider was assigned a small string of horses to school, and for some reason the one I was riding that day was part of Tad Coffin's normal string. Maybe Tad was away, or sick, or something, doesn’t matter
I was just riding the horse around the ring, and I heard Jack say something like, “Look at that. Denny doesn’t know this horse always spooks in that corner, so the horse didn’t spook.”
I asked Jack what he meant. Jack said that Tad knew the horse usually got tight coming into one particular corner of that specific indoor, so as the horse and rider approached, Tad got ready, in anticipation of the horse shying. The horse felt Tad tightening up, even that little bit, and it was like saying to the horse—“Red light! Danger ahead!”
Because I didn’t know about the horse’s normal reaction, I hadn’t prepared myself against it, so the horse just trotted on by. There are any number of situations like that, where the horse and rider get into patterns, each setting off alarm bells in the other, creating situations that are self perpetuating.
If we, as trainers, can figure out these patterns, we might be able to ease off and change the reactions.
