I get asked this question often. Why do I focus almost so much on the brains of the horses I import? Though it typically gets asked in the form of a different question, one that makes more sense in its own context, and that is, why don’t you import more horses that are more alike each other? Or some variation on that question. Because it is true that my sales horses are often vastly different from each other. I’ve had hunter types and jumper types and even some that were a touch on the unconventional side of things.
One thing every horse I purchase has in common, though, is the brain. My instructions to my German breeders and trainers are to find me horses that they would put their grandmother on. I want horses that are kind and trustworthy and intelligent and predictable in how they will react to stimuli and odd situations. And because of that instruction, I have no requisite physical package beyond sound + clean x-rays because I understand that the one-in-a-million brain doesn’t occur often enough to give me a huge selection in any one type of horse.
My focus is so firmly on the temperament of the horses for a host of reasons. I’ve watched many many friends over the years buy horses that have been stunningly beautiful and typey, but not rideable. I’ve seen horses that competed brilliantly under a strong European male rider, but were never rideable by an amateur rider here. I’ve seen horses that flourished under a great trainer here, but were dangerous and unpredictable when the chips were down (e.g. when the snow slides off of the roof in the indoor or when a tractor zooms by out of nowhere at a horseshow). I’ve seen horses that showed up with issues contrary to the x-rays handed to the buyer by the seller (i.e. x-rays of a different horse). And I’ve seen horses with neurological deficits obvious from the moment the check was handed over. And I’ve had friends who were literally bankrupted by purchasing unsuitable horses that turned into unsuitable and unsaleable horses.
Having said that, I have purchased many horses with potentially questionable temperaments. I’ve always figured that I would find a way to manage the horse regardless of what it threw at me. And for the most part, I did. But flying to the East Coast every week for many years started to change the way I felt about my horses. I had always conflated a talented horse with a quirky personality. The truth that I had never been in a financial position to purchase anything but a “diamond in the rough” had left me often picking from the “least worst” issue. But when I found my Cassiana SR mare, a whole new picture came into focus for me. And that was that a horse *could* be both supremely talented AND easy to work with (insert “mind blown” emoji here).
I’ve now had the honor of working with my team of breeders for many years. I’m still surprised at the utter consistency with which they’re able to source horses with these brains for me. Which brings me to the next point. Why is a good brain so important?
The answer to that is that a good brain is what allows moments like this to happen without causing a rider’s stomach to leap into her throat; my just-turned-4yo horse was at one of his first shows and had the large sprinklers in the adjacent arena turn on – something he had never seen/heard before – as we jumped fence 1 – his “reaction” (i.e. no reaction at all) starting just a few seconds into the start of the video:
In short, I don’t want to have to lunge my horses (beyond a quick 5-10 minute lunge in the morning to let them move freely and shake off the confines of the stalls at shows), I don’t want to have to be continually searching for ear plugs, and I don’t want to even consider reaching for a calming agent.
So what do I want? I want a horse that is a partner and predictable (as much as anyone or any animal *can* be predictable). I want a horse that doesn’t want to hold a grudge. I want a horse who is looking for ways to please the rider. And I want a horse that wants to do the job as much as I do. And when someone who makes mistakes more frequently is on board, I want the horse to be as kind and forgiving as FF Clintaro and Charley were with Sadie:
And I want a horse that will do it’s job as nicely and kindly as my Cormorant horse has done with his young buyer, taking her into her (and his) first ever 1.20m courses in a high pressure situation with aplomb and grace:
In other words, I want to help create a perfect team that doesn’t require a perfect ride. With each horse I think to myself, “would I let my mom ride this horse?” “Would I let my daughter ride this horse?” And the answer to those two questions guide my recommendation and description of the horse in my ads and on my website.
To read the ads in any classifieds board/magazine/website, you would think that these special and kind horses are a dime a dozen. But they are not. And what I absolutely guarantee with my every breath, is that what you see with my horses is truly what you get. That doesn’t mean that my horses are “perfect” or will never set a foot wrong. But it does mean that they have been evaluated by several extremely gifted horsemen between their breeding farm, my training farm in Germany, and my buyer on the East Coast before they reach me. It means that I have put a handful of amateurs and kids on board to see how they respond to mistakes. It means that I have evaluated the horses under stressful situations away from home and at shows.
I have had multiple trainers make suggestions to me regarding calming supplements I could put my young horses on. And perhaps it’s to my marketing detriment, but I refuse to put a 3/4/5yo horse on any supplement that could affect them in any way. I want to honestly gauge what I’m sitting on, and if someone thinks my coming-4yo looks a little tense around his first baby green hunter course? Well, OK! I will not “lunge it out” or attempt to mask it. I want that horse to learn how to do his job without any crutches. And perhaps more importantly, I want a potential buyer to see the horse exactly as he is.
My point is that your job as a rider is the same whether the horse is easy, quirky, or difficult. Your job gets a whole lot easier and the end results come a whole lot faster when the horse is trying to help you get there rather than fighting you every step of the way.
I recently read an article written by Kyle Carter on a very similar line of thought. It’s titled “Don’t Just Be Good at Riding Bad Horses” and can be summed up in this quote: “But what I think I’ve concluded – after a lot of trial and error, and probably a lot more to come – is that in order to be competitive in this sport, you have to ride horses that you’ll be competitive on, end of story.” (the rest of the article is in the link below)
That’s an awfully long rant on the simple subject of brains, but there you have it. Brains are the absolute focus of my program because I think the shortest path to having the most amount of fun on horseback is by being mounted on a horse that’s trying to make it fun for you.
