11/20/2025
"About a year and a half ago, a client approached me and said that they were ready to buy their second horse. Their current horse was a little Thoroughbred mare that had taken their daughter, now 16, from cross rails to the .85 jumpers. With a heart of gold and a rodeo-worthy spring buck, they were still very happy with her, but understood the value of more time in the hunter ring and wanted the chance to move up to the 3’.
As we all know, a 3’ Children’s horse can cost more than my first house. With only 3 years left before college, we talked about leasing and what holes we were willing to live with on a horse on a much smaller budget. After watching countless videos and weighing our pros and cons, a casual conversation with my first trainer pointed us in the direction of a possible candidate.
The videos were nice and the horse had recently done the Junior’s. Looking at this horse’s show record was telling enough for me. From some time in the 1.35 jumpers and success in the 1.20, somewhere along the line, he was made into a hunter that looked more suited as an Eq horse. But his most recent record showed that he either won or DNP, even in classes with few riders. Without being told, I was pretty sure he had a stop. But we went and tried him anyway.
The ride went well, and when he vetted almost perfectly at 16 years old, I was pretty sure I was accurate about this horse’s hole. After explaining my concerns to my client and rider, but appreciating his good attributes, we went ahead with the purchase with the understanding that if he couldn’t confidently do the 3’ in the next two years, we would keep him where he was comfortable and lease a 3’ horse for her Senior year of high school.
The first summer was a little rough with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. There were tears asking me if we had picked the wrong horse. I kept explaining that her jumper is like riding a 2×6 fence rail, and this new horse had so many buttons. He was the equivalent of going from a farm truck to the NASA space shuttle. She thought the green button meant go “straight”, but it actually meant “please do a tempi.”
Mom and Dad did all the right things. We trailered him to shows where he just schooled or got shown by me in the pro classes. We started in the 18”, but when that didn’t feel good, we even did the crossrails. And in a few months, we were doing the 2’3” with adds, then the 2’6” with adds or maybe the numbers if we were straight. Our farrier helped correct his biggest flaw—his feet. By the following spring, we were doing a soft 2’9” division here and there.
I am the type of trainer who jumps 2 to 6 schooling fences at the show, and you go in the ring. I do not lunge and school them to death. I do not want my horses hating life by Sunday and coming home from the shows sore and miserable. So, I told her to ride better. No more leaving the show having done 16 classes. In a time when our industry is talking about limiting classes, why don’t we step back and have a talk as horsemen and do it without being asked?
This summer, we picked and chose which classes we did. This horse loves a good Medal class and doesn’t want to be treated like a couch in between classes. So, we started only doing the Classic trips, or the Medal or a Derby. Showing him in 1 or 2 classes each day when it was 100* out.
I told my rider she better get on a good canter and make it count because we weren’t jumping 50 fences. And you know what? The horse got even better. The rider rode better because she challenged herself. And the parents were understanding that in order to do what was right by the horse, we needed to do more shows with fewer classes—even though in the end, it cost more money. Because it was the right decision for the horse.
It’s not always perfect, but it is always a learning opportunity. Fewer classes became more beneficial to horse and rider. Less money for our horse budget gifted us with more opportunities to learn. To become a better rider and a better horseman. To set an example for other riders in the barn that everything we do with our horse is a learning experience, be it good or bad.
We joke that this horse is the easiest horse in the barn to ride because he is so educated, but the hardest to ride because he feels any change from the rider and doesn’t always trust that we are going to keep him safe. I do not think that will ever change. But like I promised a year ago when we were crying in the crossrails, we look back and laugh about the things that used to make him nervous that no longer do. And we remind ourselves that with horses, more often than not, less is always more. "
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