Tik Maynard joins us on the USEA Podcast this week to discuss his new book, In the Middle Are the Horsemen, out this month from Trafalgar Square Books, how he develops a partnership using horsemanship techniques, and how that translates to riding horses in competition.
Maynard begins by talking about how he first began writing, first for a small British Columbian magazine and then for the Chronicle of the Horse. He was approached by Trafalgar Square Books about writing a book and was enthusiastic about the opportunity to tell the story of how he got to where he is today and how he has developed his training philosophy.
Then, Maynard discusses some of the techniques he employs when working with a horse who is new to him or a young horse just beginning work. He stresses the importance of getting to know the horse, including what motivates him, and being patient, because some horses will need more time than others. Working with the horse to teach him how to yield to different types of pressure will help teach him now to think first and react second, which is an important skill for an event horse. Finally, he discusses different techniques for helping your horse build confidence. Maynard closes with some tips and takeaways for how to ensure your horse is successful in competition.
How competitive have your Novice results been? What’s a good final score? What’s a good dressage score? What does it take to win? In our third installment of this series, EquiRatings showcases the Novice level. Use these graphs and statistics to help evaluate your Novice game.
Conditioning makes the horse fit and increases his endurance performance with less wear and tear on feet and legs. The idea is to work his heart and lungs in short intervals, let him recover a bit, then work him again. The following schedule for Training level horse provides an introduction for the horse and rider at the lower levels to the principle of interval training.
Within their first few years of being born, young horses have the opportunity to get a taste of U.S. Eventing through the USEA’s young horse programs. The USEA Future Event Horse Program (FEH) evaluates the potential of yearlings, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, and 4-year-olds under saddle to become successful upper level event horses while the USEA Young Event Horse Program (YEH) evaluates the potential of 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds to become successful upper level event horses.
If your farm has the space to set up a cross-country schooling course, it can be to your advantage to have cross-country jumps available for schooling purposes. Safety should be the number one priority when designing and building cross-country jumps, and an expert should be consulted whenever possible.
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The USEA is the official sport affiliate of U.S. Equestrian
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