18/07/2022
I have something to say. It has been burning a hole in my brain for a while, but I am slightly cautious for fear of coming across all wrong.
Before I get into it, I want to be really clear that the following is NOT a whinge. It is a genuine advocacy for the small yard, the lesser known rider, the one who keeps trying and keeps learning, but who somehow never quite catches the break. So with that said, I shall begin.
As I see it , there are three obvious tiers in the sports horse industry. The early producer, the bringer-onner and the top level rider.
There are many sub tiers, of course. Some riders can and will do it all, from breaking right up to the top level. Lots of bringer-onners may not necessarily do the early work, but they can do tier two and three no problem. Many early producers are also top class bringer onners, but who-for many varied reasons-may not pursue a career into the upper levels.
The bringer-onners and the top level riders are beautifully skilled craftspersons, and they will deservedly take the credit for the successes of the horses they have trained. But there’s no doubting that the successes are a hell of a lot more easy to achieve, if the early producer has done their job well. Here is where the horse is made or lost, inspired or disheartened, well trained and happy, or difficult and corrosive.
The early producer doesn’t tend to-nor look for-any credit. ‘Paid to do a job’, knowing how to do it very well, and then completing the assignment, is their everyday. However, although the early producer does arguably the most important work of all, he will often be the one most in need of a good recommendation. He is the one most likely to need the business, the one charging the least-per-week, and the one likely to be struggling the most to keep going. Horses doing well one, three, eight, twelve years later have long since learned more from someone else-and of course the rider in the spotlight earns the applause. But the early producer still deserves recognition, and a word of acknowledgement from a well respected rider further up the ladder, can do great things for the early producer.
Recently, I have heard a couple of bringer-onner-upper-levellers claim that they had started a horse from scratch, and brought the horse up to whatever stage it had since arrived at. They completely wrote the early producer out of the story. The person who taught the horse to carry a rider, who taught the horse the basic aids, who taught the horse to go on the bit, to go off the leg, to wait, to think, to load and to travel, to be clipped and shod, to handle the show warmups, to learn how to do shows and events, to learn how to be brave, be confident, be easy.
The person who handed over a horse that has jumped nicely around plenty of shows, that rides very well, that understands the questions, and that is ready to go to work. It isn’t quite so
impossibility difficult to do well and to look good on that horse, when you get it.
But don’t claim the credit. Be fair. If you can’t pay it backwards in life, then at least try to pay it forward. It doesn’t take anything away from you, but it may really give something to somebody else.
