"There is no way a 100lb rider can make a 1000lb horse do thing against its will"

- Mark Phillips

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Horses competing at top level love it, there is no way a 100lb rider can make a 1000lb horse do something against its will. - Mark Phillips

Now this caption was with a article on the H&H website, the article was fairly unrelated to the quote itself but after being promoted on social media and a lot of people disagreed with the quote itself, likely without reading the article itself.

I agree and I don’t agree with it, this is my view, now remember there is no right and wrong in this its an opinion of an individual, and how they see things.

The first part of the quote, Horses competing at top level now these horses that are fit as a fiddle, vetted before and after rounds, kept in top physical fitness. These horses are also breed with the top level in mind, example you don’t breed an unknown pony mare and unknown pony stallion to go and jump over 1.30m show jumps and win against 16hh horses, nor would you expect the cob from the local riding school to go do dressage, show jumping and cross country at top level and win around Burghley say, this is TOP LEVEL, breed and selected for there talent, trained through the levels to get to top level, not the run of the mill horse, they could be a happy hacker but they would likely be sharp, classed as naughty or dangerous by most every day riders. Take my TB for example he was breed to be a flat racer, he did not feel like this was a good option for him and he was sold as a riding horse, this also does not suit his desires, he is a very useless lawn mower at the moment, but he was breed to race, he is sharp and requires special management, most people would have given him a bullet by now because he is far from easy to deal with if not treated or pandered to in the way his mind thinks he should be treated.

These horses at top level are fit, confident, have talent and ability and can get themselves out of trouble quicker than we can closer our eyes, you watch top level and you see a rider walk and say I’m going to do this and that, the horse has never walked that course but has its own opinion, sometimes right sometimes wrong, but they have the ability to think quick and get there legs and body in the right place to get out of a sticky situation. My TB can’t stay on his feet cantering in the field let alone over a huge jump, that just watching it on TV makes me reach for the gin.

These horses have buttons that if I pressed I would have no idea of what they did, bit like trying to fly a plane, I would be well out of my depth and likely crash, same with these horses, I have ridden many competition horses, race horses who are at top level and it’s like riding a whole new world, the horses are sharp, witty, full of character, unbelievably brave but my god they can have an attitude and that is what gives them their abilities too, they can be cranky, hot headed, temperamental, sensitive, delicate and hard as nails, forgiving, composed and level all at the same time, they are truly athletes in there own right, these are the horses that are being referenced here, not your every day happy hacker, grass root eventer or school pony.

Now to the second part of the quote Love it, Now this part is interesting, how do you know a horse loves it? If a horse does not like something there is likely little chance they are going to do it, ears pricked, bouncing to go and ready to as there riders asks them, example, I see this a lot with ex riding school horses, they are begrudging to go forward, they don’t want to be messed with they want to do trot round, become lazy or start bucking, ex dressage horses who basically refuses point blank to go in the school and naps and spins but will hack all day, showjumpers who will jump to a height then refuse to jump anything over that, there not horses who love it, they are horses who do it or don’t but they don’t love it. A horse who loves there job go forward, ears pricked, willing and even use there own brains to think about the next movement or next question asked, they basically enjoy there job. I don’t believe horses jump or compete at top level of any discipline because of force I do believe they do it because they love it and enjoy it, much like we do.

The last part of the quote, There is no way a 100lb rider can get a 1000lb horse to do something against its will. Now I agree with this but I also disagree with this, it’s a very individual horse and person approach, I believe you can train a horse with fear but at some point they are going to fear something more than you and your going to be in poop street. If you have ever worked or seen a horse that is so fearful that it will do almost anything in its ability to escape the situation or the person you will know force will not improve that situation at all, and you will not force that horse to be comfortable with you and accept you. You can force a horse to pick a leg up or go forward by using force and a whip but you take a typical horse and try to get it to jump a huge scary ass fence and I can almost bet my life that horse won’t jump it, even if you whip, kick and shout, that horse will not jump that fence. A lot of trainers, riders, owners, businesses still use out of date pressure methods to make a horse perform, but there is only a certain amount of that until a horse sours and kicks back, then the horse is deemed “sour” or “out of love with the job” this normally is not true it’s the horse fighting back after being forced to do something they don’t have the ability or love for.

I often read on Facebook about people buying ex showjumpers that won’t go near a pole, or a school master that is so sour in the school it naps and rears and kicks at the riders leg, these are horses forced and forced until they become so angry they fight back and it takes a lot of work to get them horses back to general calm and drop the defensive.

Now I own a Shetland, and I can tell you if she is not doing it she is not doing it, there will be no forcing, shoving, kicking, food rewards that will make her do something she does not think she should do, this is sometimes fear related, stubbornness or just because she can, but there is no way I can fight her to do what I want her to do, I just have to change the question, move the goals and work with her until she decides I am worthy of doing what she thinks she now wants to do.

These top level horses are trusting there riders to put them over huge fences, hard dressage moves and complicated combinations, listen, think, help each other out, it’s a team, but you watch some of the rounds, there messy, horses fighting and riders getting flustered, these teams don’t get top results, and rarely get clear rounds, because there is not the team work, communication and understand the top - top level riders have with there horses.

I do believe that if them horses don’t want to do something they really won’t because its part of there character being bold and slightly opinionated, this makes them top horses, you sometimes see the top riders ask a bit much or get it wrong and the horse ducks out or refuses, or sometimes the horse gets it wrong and tries to rectify it, but fail and then the team have a bit of a tumble or it takes a few jumps to get back in a team, this happens.

Horses are not machines, they have their own brains, characters, and abilities. At any level horses can be difficult and hard work and naughty, that is horses.

We should also not be thinking “we can’t make them do something they don’t want to do”. We should be working with our horses to make sure we are not constantly putting them in situations they can’t cope with on a daily basis and forcing them to accept it until they do, we should be working with them to trust us that what we are asking them to do is not dangerous or going to harm them and we can rely on each other when we need to, a partnership, a friendship and most of all trust. We own horses because we love them and enjoy them they should feel the same and there will be a lot better working relationship with each other.