Principles, Goals & Timelines — Why You Can’t Hold All Three at Once (Part 1)

Horsemanship isn’t one thing. It’s three.
 

Your principles, your goals and your timelines all pull on each other, and every rider struggles with keeping them balanced. Most people try to juggle all three at once, and that’s when horses get confused, pressured or misdirected. 

That’s why I’ve broken this into three parts.
Part 1 is about the principles you stand on.
Part 2 is about the goals you choose today.
Part 3 is about the timelines that make it all work in the real world.

Put together, they shape the horse you end up with — and the rider you become.

Part 1 — Horsemanship: Principles

There’s an old saying in printing: speed, quality, price — pick any two.
If you want it fast and high-quality, it costs more.
If you want high-quality and affordable, you’ll wait.
If you want it fast and cheap, don’t expect quality.

Horses aren’t any different.

In horsemanship, it becomes principles, goals, timelines — pick any two.
You can have big goals and solid principles, but you’ll need time.
You can have fast timelines and big goals, but you’ll give up principles.
You can hold your principles and tighten the timeline, but your goals will shrink.

So here’s the honest question:
Have you picked where you sit? What do you want for your horse—and what are you willing to give up to get it?

The Pendulum Problem in Today’s Horse World

After criss-crossing Canada and the US this year, it’s clear the horse industry is swinging on a wide pendulum and the horses are the ones left swinging in the balance.

On one end, you’ve got people doing anything — to make a horse “listen.” 

On the other end, you’ve got folks who think a little incense, a few clicks and a bucket of treats will fix everything.

I’m not in either camp.

I want a horse that wants to be with me. But I also need a horse that can do something — ranch, chase cows, jump, travel, meet me at the pasture gate with a good attitude. That takes grounded, practical horsemanship. The kind I grew up on.

What I’m seeing out there is tough:
The “do anything training” horses look shut down, afraid to make a move — like horse bots.
The treat-dependent horses look sticky, tense and disconnected.

While I have admired the work of some of the trick trainers… neither one looks like a ranch horse — alert, strong-bodied, steady and ready to get down to business.

Firm, Soft and Everything in Between

Tom Dorrance said it well:
“Never be softer than a baby or firmer than another horse.”

There’s a lot of room between those two. Horses live in that space every day.

Some horses can only handle standing still for a few seconds.
Some need a long canter to settle their mind and body.
Some are ready to gallop down a sidehill behind a herd and go to work.

That’s horsemanship. It’s not theory. It’s not tricks.

Groundwork That Matters. Riding That Connects.

I’m not interested in being trapped on a tiny piece of property doing parlor tricks that impress the neighbors but don’t build a usable horse. Everything I do on the ground connects directly to the saddle. I won’t waste a horse’s body or mind on things that don’t matter to me.

Even my liberty training ties straight back to riding — it’s the truth-serum test that I’m actually doing it right for the horse. It shows me one thing: is he just obedient… or does he truly understand?

I’m not chasing the show world right now, but I respect the competitors who do it right, where the horse still has a bright eye, presence and their dignity intact. I think of some of my mentors and the bridle horses they rode on the range. Those horses had a very cool look about them — a power and a kind of pride only a horse living up to its potential with a human can carry.

At the end of the day, I’m after honest horsemanship — firm when needed, fair always and rooted in real work, real feel and a horse that wants to be with you.

I’m a purist at heart. I’m guided by classical principles of horsemanship and healthy biomechanics and I care deeply about the long-term mental and physical well-being of the horse.

My commitment is simple: help people become better with their horse and better for their horse.

So ask yourself:
What principles guide you?
What will you put in, and what will you give up, for the good of you and your horse?

If this doesn’t resonate, my program isn’t for you, and that’s okay.
If it does, join me in Course 1: Leadership to Partnership or inside the Open Field Membership.

Thanks for being inspired by horses and joining me this far.