Originally in Category J3 Imports - Unsorted

Associated to the article ID 4336 Real School Horses ~  A Horse That Isn't Affordable

No Beginner Riders Can Get on My Horse

It has long been acknowledged that if I have an advanced horse and I want to keep all the subtilties that we have together, the fastest way to loose if permenanlty is to let someone else ride him.  Only if the rider has your skill set should you even consider letting someone else ride.

This is old maxim that was common knowledge for centuries.

Too many of us quickly learned the reality of that maxim the first time we choose to ignore it, thinking what can it hurt, or more likely thinking how much can I help another rider if they only could get the opportunity to feel what it feels like on a horse so superbly trained, so sensitive to the aids, and so incredibly balanced.  While it may not happen in a single ride, there is almost perhaps there is a hundred percent chance that what you had with your horse will be diminished. And you will never get it back again.  It's gone.

We can and will discuss why and how this happens, but the point I would like to make today is, since this is true then this directs our attention to the fact that if it can be destroyed forever, how does this fit in with the concept that we can plan on doing anything but what is right for the horse from the very first step.  We can heal.. to some extent, I have seen miraculous changes in horses.  And no horse's body is born perfect, he needs careful cultivation to enable his body to find full potential with a rider on his back.   But there are some things that just can never be undone.  Which is why we place such a heavy responsibility on the rider to be as perfect as they can be from the very beginning.  

This is the price as instructors that we pay.  That our school masters will be diminished by the very purpose that we use them for.  We can't train back what is lost.  We can try to fix, what gets undone, but it is never the same.  There is a fineness that is lost, connections that no longer can be found, and the concept of progress beyond this level of riding can be forever halted.  The horse now living in what he has now.  It is hard knowing this is going to happen, but we know as instructors that we have no choice.  As careful as we can be, as many preparations that we take, no matter how carefully we teach, the reality is that what will be undone in all likelihood will not be found again.   It is a heavy price.

The more advanced our horses, the more we want to share, so that others can experience what we are experiencing, knowing that it is only through the horse that riders can learn.

A good school master is invaluable.  An advanced school master priceless.