There are very many things I want my horses to be good at. I want it to be a good and safe horse to ride. I want it to be brave. I want it to be calm and confident. I want it to be steady-minded. I want it to have a strong desire to try anything I throw its way. I work at helping my horse be the best it can be at all these things (and more) every minute I spend with them.

There are many things I want my horse to be good at, but there are a few things I need my horse to be brilliant at. There are some things that I feel I can’t compromise on. Being good at something is not the same as being brilliant. Some things I work hard at helping my horse be brilliant at doing some things. Some things require me to work at being the best they can be.

I can live with my horse not being the world’s most talented riding horse. But I can’t live with my horse not being brilliant to catch.

I can live with my horse's club foot, but I can’t live with my horse not being brilliant at loading and traveling in a trailer.

I can live with my horse struggling with straightness and balance. But I can’t live with my horse not being super-easy to dress wounds, give injections, stand to have its feet trimmed, or receiving a worm paste.

I can live with my horse being ugly and having imperfect conformation. But I can’t live with my horse feeling troubled to hang out or work with me.

I can live with my horse having blue eyes (even though they creep me out). But I can’t live with my horse not being brilliant to lead in every possible way, being untroubled to be bridled, saddled and mounted in different situations.

The things that are not perfect with my horse, but that I can live with, are just things. To me, they are like having a car. I need a working car, but I don’t need a luxury car. Owning a luxury car is a lower priority than owning a reliable working car. A working car is a must-have.

I see more value in training a horse to be the world’s best horse at trailer loading than in being the world’s best show jumper. Being an amazing jumper is great and I appreciate the talent and training that goes into that. But it loses its ability to impress me if the horse is hard to catch or needs to be cross-tied when saddling or the rider has to dismount to open a gate.

I have seen horses excel in competition, yet freak out when presented with their blue ribbon. I have seen kids ponies that couldn’t load into a trailer. I knew a “steady” riding school horse that needed sedation to have its feet trimmed. I met a competition endurance horse that needed a chain noseband to be led anywhere.

In all the years I was a professional trainer, and all the countless horses I encountered, I can recall only two horses that led brilliantly. Why is this? I believe it is because people figured their horse led “well enough” until they didn’t. They led well enough until they tried to load into a different trailer or until they had to mount from the right side or until they needed to back through a gate or until they went to an unfamiliar venue or until somebody approaching smelled like a veterinarian.

We often train the basics to a standard that we can live with and then stop short of training brilliance into the basics. I believe we can’t afford to compromise in the training of the basics. Every horse needs the basics to be brilliant. If you want to compromise in the training, do so with things like levels of collection or extensions or how high a fence they can clear or how smooth are the transitions or how agile it is at working cows. But don’t compromise on how well it leads or ties up or feels about being caught or receiving injections, etc. Every horse needs to be brilliant at those basic necessities.