09/09/2026
There are horses who make you look good, and horses who make you get good.
I have certainly ridden horses who, from the word go, just felt like MY horse.
My type of ride. My strengths suited their weaknesses. Their strengths covered for some of my weaknesses. The communication came easily, and it felt like we spoke the same language immediately.
These are amazing horses to ride.
BUT.
Let me tell you about the opposite horse.
The horse who needs support in places that are YOUR weaknesses.
The horse who doesn’t naturally understand the aids you tend to give. The horse who needs you to be quieter when you tend to do too much, quicker when you tend to wait too long, softer where you tend to brace, or more confident exactly where you are inclined to doubt yourself.
Those horses can be unsettling.
Because suddenly, the things that have always worked for you don’t work particularly well anymore.
You can’t rely on your favorite tools. You can’t hide quite as easily inside the things you’re already good at. The horse keeps shining a giant, often irritating spotlight on the parts of your riding that still need work.
And if you’re willing to listen, they make you better.
They force you to develop tools you never needed before. They make you more adaptable, more creative, more precise, and ultimately more capable of helping a wider variety of horses.
I will always appreciate the horses who make me feel like I know exactly what I’m doing.
But some of the horses who have taught me the most are the ones who made it abundantly clear that I didn’t. 😂
Some horses make you look good…
Be grateful for the ones who make you get good, too.
