Suwannee Young Riders 4H Club Supporters

https://www.facebook.com/share/18uWYxyrUo/

Can we talk about our young people and their horsemanship skills for a minute?

I firmly believe that horsemanship is a learned skill that should be evident and judged in every event from peewee to the pros. We, as adult horsemen and women, should be teaching these skills to our young people that come to us to learn.

I also firmly believe that we should NEVER stop learning about horsemanship ourselves as adults. No one claims to know it all and if they do then they are a golden liar. No one is perfect, myself included. What I’m finding is that some trainers, coaches, instructors, don’t have the skills to teach our young learners the skills they need to learn.

Here’s the thing. We are expecting these horses to be on their game 100% and not toss their heads, refuse a jump, spin out at the barrel, anticipate the lead change, or buck the kid off even. We’ve taught the horse to just accept their fate and punish them when the run goes badly as if it’s their fault somehow you can’t teach the kid not to yank on their face or jab a spur into their ribs.

I don’t claim to know it all but I do know enough to teach my riders about softness and how to get the horse to be responsive and supple to the slightest request. So if you think I’m wrong here I invite you to comment where you think I’m wrong and why? I am curious to hear your side. I won’t argue with you or be offended. I’d genuinely like to know. Or if you just think I’m full of s**t and have no idea what I’m talking about because I’m not a professional barrel racer you can tell me that too lol. I won’t argue that point either because hey, I’m not. Anyway, moving on.

Do not mistake where the fault truly lies here. It is with us! Grown-up trainers and coaches! Moms and dads! Everything these kids are doing has been learned and taught by us!

We are teaching young children to guide these 1200 pound animals at top speed around a barrel and yet we can’t even teach them how to sit the turn without yanking the horses bit through their teeth. Can’t we see how uncomfortable these horses are at events?

The horses eyes are usually wide open you can see the whites from the stands. Their mouths are gaped open while the bits are being pulled through their teeth to the other side of their face. They aren’t even following their nose around the turn because they’re just trying to find the answer that gives them the release of pressure and run straight past a barrel.

Did we even bother to teach the youngster, how to teach the horse, to rate and do the turn himself? We don’t know how to teach the kid, to teach the horse, so there it is then isn’t it? And we, or the poor kid, wonder why the horse bucks as they come out of the turn? Or why they’re shaking their heads whenever they pull left or right? Or even why they refused the first barrel? Was slow work not even attempted? Any rollbacks on the fence? Or did we just turn and burn all day until all of us were exhausted?

Parents, trainers, coaches, instructors, etc. we have to do better. We HAVE TO. For the sake of our horses health and sanity. For the safety of our children. We just have to do better. Take a lesson yourself from a professional, go to a professional clinic or ten, watch a zillion and one YouTube videos on softness and fundamentals of horsemanship, there is so much FREE information out there to learn from there simply is no excuse anymore for our horses to look as if they have just run off the side of a cliff and we are pulling them back up by their mouth.