11/06/2026
Which stage of horsemanship are you in?
🚨The Dunning Kruger Effect in Horse Owners🚨
There are 4 Stages of horsemanship:
1. Unconscious Incompetent - doesn’t know what they don’t know. AKA The Peak of Mount Stupid.
(**this is who 50% of your unsolicited FB advice comes from. Mostly well meaning, not malicious, just trying to show off that they know something)
2. Conscious Incompetent- is aware of what they don’t know. AKA The Valley of Despair
This is the sink or swim moment. They will either swallow their pride and ask for help and progress to stage 3…. OR
They will be stuck in stage 2 and be super bitter about it because they have too big of an ego to admit what they don’t know.
This is where silly “rules” start… never hard tie your horse, no rope halters.
They don’t know how to teach a horse to not set back. So they condemn rope halters and hard tying.
They don’t know how to get the horse to stop bucking. So they blame ulcers with no vet exam.
Every behavioral problem is blamed on “pain”
Etc etc
And if they see you being successful with your horse…. You are going to get some nitpicky, not-so-nice comments on your post.
3. Conscious Competent- Learning and improving. AKA The Slope of Enlightenment.
This is the BEST stage for a horse owner (IMO). They have learned that they don’t know everything and that they can be wrong.
They become thirsty for knowledge and stop trying to PROVE what they do know and instead find what they DONT- and then learn it !
4. Unconscious Competent - skilled and experienced. AKA Experienced Horseperson.
Primarily trainers who have worked with tons of horses, multiple disciplines, and over many years. Confident in their abilities. (Most) feel no need to give unsolicited advice. They enjoy training horses and helping others reach stage 3.
Which stage are you at? What’s the craziest comment you’ve gotten from someone at stage 1?
**Please note, I’m a horse person and a writer, NOT a graphic designer. I used ChatGPT to create the chart below as a visual representation of my words.**
