The Value of Having Your Own Horse
Over the past couple weeks, Terral and I have been discussing the value of having your own horse. Through the years, it has become very obvious that the purchase of a horse is often the springboard to a rider improving their horsemanship skills. There are many reasons we believe that this happens - here are a couple to ponder.
Having your own horse changes your commitment level and your perspective. As the primary rider & trainer of your own horse, your mistakes are revealed much more quickly and acutely. You are forced to recognize your weaknesses and understand their impact. Due to the long term nature of most horse-owner relationships, you also notice when you are improving those weaknesses.
Having your own horse allows for more unsupervised riding hours and overall time in the saddle. Our horses are always our best, most honest educators. Nothing beats the feedback that our horses give us on the effectiveness of our communication. In this same thought, lessons can be opportunities for introducing new concepts and exercises. Then, your rides in between, can be conversations between you & your horse that explore and further your understanding of those concepts and exercises.
When you are working with your own horse, you get to see through long term training concepts and goals. This allows you to build a long term relationship of mutual understanding. In talking to other trainers, many of us agree that you don’t truly reach your full potential with a horse until you have been riding them for about two years. There is a level of familiarity and comfortability between horse and rider for which there is just no shortcut.
Having your own horse requires a level of involvement in daily, monthly, and yearly management that is hard to achieve with a lesson horse. Understanding how to balance your horse’s weekly exercise & rest schedule cannot be fully appreciated until you experience it firsthand. Proper management of body condition/nutrition, socialization, and services such as shoeing can have a major impact on your horse’s lived experience, and in turn, can have major impact on your horse’s training.
Finally, appreciating the cost of all aspects of a horse care routine, from vaccinations to dental care to dealing with long term health conditions, can also really shift perspective on what it means to be responsible for your own horse.
This is not to say we don’t recognize what a privilege horse ownership is. In fact, one could easily argue that there is nothing like horse ownership when it comes to fully appreciating the time, money, and energy these four legged beasties require. Those are all resources not everyone can afford, and we are so grateful each day for gift of life with our horses.
That said, we do feel that horse ownership should be the long term goal of all devoted equestrians - otherwise, your involvement will always have a more limited scope.