Why You Can’t Use Top Riders As Your Goal

You shouldn't try to ride like the top riders. You can't use them as your goal. 

Why? Because they ride 8+ horses a day and can do things none of us will ever be able to do, unless we also go full time into riding and ride 8+ horses a day. Bernie Traurig once said: “Don’t be a bad copy of a genius”. Just because Boyd Martin or Phillip Dutton can do something, it doesn’t mean we can.

This is one of the major reasons I started the Equine Academy. Too often I see people attempt to ride like an Olympian even though we have absolutely 0 reasonable chance at doing so. And unfortunately there are not enough instructors who can guide students on that line of knowing how and what to improve, as well as knowing what, in reality, is even capable of being done in each student’s personal scenario. 

Did you ever see Olympic gymnast Simone Biles do her insane flips and rotations and think: yeah, if I do some gymnastics 1 hour a day, 5 days a week, I'm going to do what she does in a couple years?

No, of course not, because that's absolutely insane. It takes WAY more time and work to get anywhere near that point. It’s 8-12 hours per day, 7 days a week of practice, strength training, education, coaching, diet/nutrition, and so many other things to get to that point. As a normal rider, we just cannot fathom all of the athleticism, education, practice, and ability that goes into things that Olympic caliber athletes possess. So then why do you think you can imitate Olympic equestrians?

I don’t shoot a basketball around a few hours a week and expect to play like Michael Jordan. Yet many riders ride a few hours a week and try to emulate the riding and position of Boyd Martin. And it just doesn’t work. Now, I’m not saying that we should abandon all correct riding fundamentals, but there are really fine details separating riding like Boyd and riding like a really effective and competent amateur.

So we need to be realistic about what the best is that *we* can do with our situation. 

This goes for many things. Emulating position is a big one. I see way too many riders attempt to be light and sensitive because the top riders can do it. But we don't have the muscle or ability to do that, or at least do it effectively. So what happens is that we may be light, but we aren't able to accurately and effectively influence the horse in that position. We let them get long, we let them get heavy on the front end, we let them get too fast or too slow. 

So sure, I'm not saying you can't use top riders as inspiration. But as far as realistically setting goals that you *can* achieve and realistically riding, look to those who are more in your situation. Yes, this means we may never ride as perfect, light, and fluid as Phillip Dutton, but we never were capable of that in the first place. So throw that out the window and figure out how you can be the most effective rider you can be, given the amount of time and fitness that you have in your situation. 

I see too many people try to emulate the way the top riders ride, but end up causing more harm than benefit because even though they may think they are really close to mimicking that, they just aren't. And the problem is that you can cause way more problems by being close but not quite, versus just riding like a really good amateur. The positions are just different. The riding styles are just different. Again, because we don't ride 8+ horses a day. We don't have that Olympic level finesse and aren't capable of getting there unless we ride 8+ horses a day, get countless hours of lessons from the top coaches, and so much more.

So what should your goal be? I don’t want to just leave you with the negative of dissuading you from doing something. I want to leave you with optimism and a game plan of what you CAN do. And what you *can* do is that you should aim to ride like a really good amateur. Not a bad replica of an Olympian.

Sure, that means you will not be perfect. It means you’ll still make mistakes. But you’ll be doing your horse a service by improving and riding to the best of your abilities and the best that your situation allows.