I propose that no horseman is perfect. Rather, the whole idea of exemplifying one individual over another is rather preposterous. Instead, are we at risk, with such a statement, of confusing a horseman’s skill at riding with his personality and social popularity?
Popular horsemen have existed throughout the ages while still openly abusing their horses. And, despite the conceived notion of their superior riding skills in spite of the abuses, they make the same fatal mistakes of average riders – suffering from falls and other injuries at the mercy of the horses they so “expertly” ride and abuse…
Francois de la Gueriniere wrote about horsemen in his time who placed their own ego above the welfare of the horse, pretending to have skills that they were devoid of, as well as criticizing outlets of schooling the horse which were supported by other horsemen. How much has changed since his time?
Horsemanship is much like an art, with a brave exception. Art is not normally at risk of being abused by the artist – at least not in the literal sense. Horsemanship is at its very core, the art of building a relationship between two creatures wholly opposite in nature, tendencies, habits, reactions, actions, motivations, languages, thought processes, and social heirarchy. While many art forms, martial arts for example, are best mastered by mastering oneself, still many do not require this component to be successful. Horsemanship relies upon the equestrians’ ability to know themselves, and therefore come to know the horse.
This may sound contradictory given the opposite nature of the equestrian to the horse, but quite to the contrary. To know one extreme well enough, you begin to understand the opposite extreme as well. That is how we come closest to understanding the mind of the horse. When we intentionally work towards knowing an extreme foreign to ourselves we tend to move closer to knowing only ourselves and mistaking it for who and what the horse is. Our perception becomes filled with assumptions, ego, and false confidences. The horse loses the ability to be seen for who he is because it is as though we are looking at a mirror with the outline of a horse painted on, thinking the horse outline is really the horse, when truly we are seeing only our own pros, cons, habits, actions, fears, beliefs, etc.