Through the Eyes of a Young Horse Handler
Almost every time someone hands me their young horse, there is a moment of significance, a moment of emotion. Often this is their baby. This could be a horse they bred, foaled, and raised, and I am often the first stranger to handle it. 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. In almost every case, everyone is anxious to see how their baby is going to handle this new experience. As someone who has raised my own very naughty baby, and who handles and develops other people’s babies for a living, I know how important this moment can be.
No matter the circumstance, my most important job is to keep myself, the other handlers, and the horse safe. After that, my job is to make this a positive experience for the young horse, and then present it to the judge the best that I can. Depending on the circumstance, I am focused on the one horse I am there to handle, or if I am handling at a show, I am reading each horse as it comes in. If I am handling only one horse, I have the luxury of knowing the horse and knowing how I need to set it up for success. If I am handling at a show, I have to “read” each horse on the fly. If I can see the horses that are queued up at the in-gate, I am keeping an eye on how each horse is handling the atmosphere and taking mental notes: which horse is rearing, which horse came to the ring with a buddy, and which horse is standing quietly.
As soon I have a horse in hand, I am making my next set of calculations. The horse world talks about having “feel” when you ride, but let me tell you, “feel” is the most important part of my job when I am handling horses on the ground. As soon as that young horse is next to me, I can have a feel of that horse. The amount of anxiety, belligerence, nerves, excitement, or fear is immediately apparent to me. Some young horses need to just stand and take it all in while I pet them. Some young horses need to come in and immediately power walk around and sniff everything. Only very rarely do I have babies come in and decide they don’t want to play this game. With those young horses I have to draw a line in the sand about what is acceptable and unacceptable. I don’t bring every horse into the ring and think “I have to make sure this baby knows I am the boss”, that’s just not my approach. At the same time, I am not permissive or afraid. To do this for a living, you cannot feel anger or fear, the amount of control you have over your emotions is your most important asset.
PC: Bethany Pastorial, Courtesy of Marian Michalson
Standing up the babies for the judge can honestly be the hardest part of the whole experience, no matter if its a show, keuring, or inspection. Even the quiet babies don’t necessarily want to stand quietly for 5 minutes in the appropriate sport horse stance for the judge. They wiggle around, they use their head as a weapon, they stand up, they run backward, almost anything but stand still. It’s a hard thing to ask a young horse to stand perfectly, and I often see the mistake made of demanding stillness at the cost of the horses’ best presentation. When I set a horse up, I am doing my best to get them to relax their back, stretch their neck down and forward, and show their best topline. After all, we are showing sport horses, not Arabians. What I do not want is to get this baby so upset by yanking on its face or pushing it around, that it raises it head and imitates a giraffe. Now, I will tell you, there are times where relaxation of any kind is just not going to happen and I all can do is damage control. With those babies I have to use every tool in my tool box to keep that horse from leaving the area, rearing, or trying to bite me. After all, these are young horses in a very stressful environment, and I, and anyone who does this, has to be prepared and capable of handling bad behavior. The thing is, whether this is a show or inspection, it is not a moment for training. I will correct a horse if it is being downright belligerent, or if it’s putting itself or me in danger, however I consider it ugly and inappropriate to “get after” a horse or try to “teach it a lesson” in a show ring. After all, I am here to give each baby a positive experience and if I end up in a situation where I am fighting with a horse, all I will end up doing is making that horse scared or angry.
Then comes walking or trotting the triangle, depending on the format of the event. Most babies are just happy to be able to move and not stand still, and if I can keep it straight and forward enough to show the walk, I am happy. The walk can be tricky because with any amount of tension the walk will be distorted. I think for the vast majority of young horses, it’s really hard for them to show the full extent of their walk in a tense show environment. When I jog a triangle, I am literally running the fine line of trotting forward enough to show off this horse’s gaits, but not trotting so forward that the baby takes off. I also try to keep my own jog steady and rhythmical to help the horse do the same. For the jog, the hardest parts are the turn. Keeping that baby horse balanced and still flowing forward on the turns really takes practice. Some events have an at-liberty portion where the horses run loose. This gives the judge the best chance to see the true gaits. Having a good team is so important during this portion. The team keeps the horse moving and stops them from getting “stuck” in a corner. Inevitably, some horses only want to trot and some only want to canter, and let me tell you, trying to get the horse to show the gait it really doesn’t want to, can sometimes be impossible. The handlers try their best, and some arenas make it easier or harder than others, but there is only so much that can be done.
One of my favorite things to do, even though it is one of the most physically taxing jobs, is to be the handler releasing the horses into the jump chute. Different breed associations, different organizations, and different shows all run their jump chutes differently. I have been fortunate to work with a handful of different breed organizations and shows, and although there are differences to each format, there are some strong commonalities in how I do my job. There is so much “feel” in the release, just as there is so much feel in riding the right distance to a jump. As I approach the chute with a horse for the first time, I am completely focused on that horse, how it’s approaching the chute, what it’s looking at, and how it’s responding to pressure. I actually have a decent idea of how that horse will go through the chute just by standing it up and watching it during the free portion, but sometimes I am surprised. I am in constant communication with the team that is working the chute with me. I talk to the handler at the oxer, I talk to the person who is supporting me into the chute about how much pressure to put on the horse as I release, and we do that all very quickly and quietly.
From the outside, many people don’t actually realize how much the whole team is strategizing for each young horse. Every single person is trying to give that horse the very best chance to show off in the chute. I watch how each horse takes the chute. I watch to see if it gets its distance to each jump, I watch how it paces itself, I watch to see if its straight, what shape makes over each jump, and then on the 20 second walk to collect it from the catcher, I think about what I can do to make its next time through even better. I really have to be flexible with my plans though, sometimes a horse gets tired by its second time through, and that horse that was surging now needs more support to move off me and jump. Conversely, sometimes the “sleepy” horses get woken up, and start to anticipate the jump. That’s why the feel is so important. Every horse has to be handled a little differently and I have to adjust accordingly.
There are many many reasons I handle at young horse events. I love to see quality of horses we are breeding in the U.S., I love getting to connect with breeders and other people who are passionate about producing young horse, but first and foremost I do it because I love young horses. I love their curiosity, their playfulness, and their incredible capacity to learn and willingness to try. Every group of babies makes me laugh, surprises me, and makes me excited for the future. Working with young horses is too hard, too risky, too underappreciated to do it for any other reason than love. But if you love it, it’s worth every second.