Whether you closely followed the story or not, it was hard to miss the buzz surrounding the on-course death of Andrea Leatherman's 7 year old Thorougbred mare, Neveah. The pair had a rotational fall on a tabled oxer after Neveah hung her front legs while going Intermediate in Florida earlier this month. While the necropsy eventually found that the mare died of a heart attack and not the fall, there was plenty of time for armchair enthusiasts to speculate in the meantime, and one of the thoughts discussed on the CoTH forums, that of a pro vs. ammie rider for bringing up a young horse, caught my eye on a personal level.
Essentially, the poster said that sometimes young horses that are brought up by professionals are not given a bad ride to a fence often enough to figure out what to do when things go wrong, and never have a chance to develop that "5th leg" it's said horses possess when they figure out how to save themselves at an XC fence. If a horse always gets a good ride to a fence at home, and then something happens at the show and the rider gets distracted or gets a bad spot, they won't have a frame of reference for that.
You guys know that I am barely qualified to be bringing up a green horse, and there but for the grace of a really good and patient trainer go Connor and I. Even to those
ground poles last week I was getting some bad distances - jumping is not something I have done a lot of - and I felt bad. But reading that put it in a different perspective for me: I'm still aiming for a perfect ride to every fence, but if I don't get it, I'm not going to get down on myself for being a bad green horse rider. I'm not a pro, I need to train him to save my ass when I mess up just as much as I need to train him to be a rock star over fences. He has to be able to assess the situation and do what he needs to do to keep us safe, first, and hopefully make it to the other side of the fence, second. It's so important when riding fixed obstacles at speed on cross-country that he possesses that confidence and independence. I make sure to keep jumping safe, fun and never over-face him, and if I occasionally get the bad spot, that's a learning moment too.
So many times since owning Connor I've had this complete rewiring of things I held to be true before I owned a green bean, like when
Solo & Encore's mom posted about green horse contact last year and blew my mind. I love having what I currently hold to be true challenged and changed, it makes me a better person and a better horseperson. What training philosophies have you changed your mind on through the years?
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