One of the most alluring aspects of our sport is that we’re almost never too old to learn something new whenever we sit on a horse’s back. Every horse can teach us something about riding and about training and horse care. From one we develop a new sense of balance or feel. Another teaches us a training technique that we’ve never used before and, indeed, may not have even considered. And since every horse is truly an individual, each one will react uniquely to a wide range of environmental factors, providing us with a new piece to the unsolvable jigsaw puzzle we call horsemanship.

A quick, tense Thoroughbred teaches us to find the rhythm of his stride on the flat and between jumps. A big-moving horse (and it’s not always a warmblood) teaches us to sit the trot and the canter, almost forcing us to be supple in our hips and backs as we pursue that goal of a truly independent seat. A bold horse teaches us to wait for the jumps (instead of charging at them or jumping up the neck), while providing us with the courage to tackle big or complicated questions and loaning us that awesome feeling of flying.

A patient, generous schoolmaster teaches us how to use our aids correctly because he knows the right aids and won’t do the movement until we ask him correctly, in the right order. A sensitive horse teaches us to be discreet with our aids and corrections and to ride softly and quietly. A thick-skinned or slow-witted horse teaches us to be direct and firm with our aids and to think ahead, to prepare him for the next jump or movement. A horse who’s a chicken over fences teaches us two things