I handle everything from foals to 5-year-old stallions at inspections, keurings, shows and jump chutes. For many of these babies, it is their first time off the farm, first time away from their buddies, and their first show. Some owners can be nervous handing me their young horse, and others are just grateful to have someone else hold on to their fire-breathing dragon.

My most crucial job, as someone who prepares and rides young horses through all of those important firsts, is to give each horse the most positive and correct ride possible, and put everything else aside. If there is ever a time to put aside your ego, its the moment you step into a show ring on a 3-year-old.

Nice horses are not just bred, they are made, or they are unmade. And we need to understand that. No matter its bloodlines, a horse needs to be developed, trained, and conditioned to live up to its potential. By the same token, if a horse is not developed, or developed badly, that horse cannot reach its potential, no matter its raw talent. The U.S. horse industry talks about wanting to improve the bloodlines in this country, but we need to change that conversation.

Training young horses, or backing young horses, or developing horses, or breaking young horses, or whatever you want to call it, is not like anything else you do in the equine industry. What you expect of young horses must be so different, the victories are so much smaller, and your patience has to stretch much longer. There are skills you must nurture if you want to be the first person to sit on a young horse’s back

There are many right ways to start a horse, and I know my way is not the only way. This is half science, half art. There are things every horse will need to know and understand if they are to succeed in this world. How each horse goes about learning those things, however, can be entirely different. I have the way I understand horses, the way I was taught to ride and train, and I have my experience with previous baby horses.

His name was Dale. And before you know anything about me, you need to know about him. He was and still is the other half of my soul. I knew he would be special the day I went to look at him. I knew he would be special in the way only a nine year old girl can.

Today was the day. Everything was set and Conner and I were as ready as we could be. It was just over 30 days since I had “officially” started working with Conner. It was July 12, 2017. We had done a lot in those 30 days, with varying degrees of success. We had learned to lunge (imperfectly), we had done some ground driving (he only drug me once), and I had ponied him around the arena (which was mostly successful).

The month before I started Conner I was so excited I literally had trouble falling asleep at night. I would lay awake thinking about all the things I would teach him, the things I wanted him to know, and how I would go about it. The first week of June, 2017 marked the next chapter of the journey for me and Conner, and my excitement turn to trepidation as I quickly figured out what I was in for.

My first young horse was difficult in many ways. I didn’t know he was going to be “mine” in any sense of the word, I was just doing my job. I was there when he was born. I was up until 2am to make sure he could stand, pleading with him to nurse. I was the one who halter broke him, who taught him to lead, who was unlucky enough to try to medicate, deworm and groom him.