POINT OF VIEW
Do you have any specific qualifications, or experience, that you would recommend other trainers interested in working with young horses should also acquire?
Lauren: Learn from someone who has already been success- ful with bringing on young horses. Learn as much under their guidance as possible. Every horse is different and the more guidance you have, the fewer mistakes you will make. Patience is key; never put a deadline on a young horse’s development. The slower you go the faster you will get there.
Nicki: In other parts of the world, there are riding schools where you become certified to be a trainer. We’re just starting to have some certification programs but still no riding schools. Because there is not a specific education program at a riding school in the United States, young riders and professionals must seek out apprenticeship or working student opportuni- ties to gain experience. It’s hard to find farms where they breed, start horses, travel
to top-notch shows and compete at the Grand Prix level to learn from. I think that if you want to work with young horses, it is important to learn from an expert in all those fields of the business. You have to understand breeding, bloodlines, break- ing and starting, the Grand Prix ring and the heights associated with different classes. To get that kind of experience you need to be a working student for at least three years under a success- ful Grand Prix rider. Older athletes and breeders who have 20 plus years of ex-
perience—what they know, you can’t learn in a summer. You need to spend years out there. Frank’s stable was two miles from Spruce Meadows, so I could do young horses all morning, compete in 1.40m classes in the afternoon, and then I would interview riders for Phelps Sports about the 1.60m classes that evening. And I’m still learning!
Marjory: In France it’s like in Germany or England—it’s a two-year education where you learn every aspect of horsemanship, including basic vet and farrier skills. After this you go to Saumur, where they have the Cadre Noir; they have a lot of school horses. You ride about Third Level dressage, jump 3’6” or 3’9”, do basic driving and vaulting, and you learn to teach as well. I think it’s very useful; even after 12 years being here in the U.S., I’m still surprised how anyone can call themselves a horse trainer without specific credentials.
What do you find most rewarding about working with young horses?
Lauren: There is something very special in being a part of a horse’s life from the beginning and helping them develop into the career they are most suited for. Every milestone is a huge accomplishment and only that much more gratifying
90 March/April 2014
Lauren Bliss Kieffer and Cosimo at the 3-star at Fair Hill International in 2013.
“Patience is key; never put a deadline on a young horse’s development. The slower you go the faster you will get there.”
by knowing you and your team have been a part of every step. It’s very much a fam- ily affair from birth to everything beyond and takes a very spe- cial group of people to have the patience and vision to produce the next generation.
Nicki: The most re- warding part about young horses is they are a blank canvas. If you take your time and think about them as
an individual and structure their training and shows to fit them, you will turn that blank canvas into a beautiful piece of art. I have a young horse that did the six-year-old finals; I broke
him after I bought him as a three-year-old and took him all the way to the five-year-old finals (he placed tenth) and six- year-old finals (twelfth overall). It’s exceptionally rewarding to literally take a horse from the time they haven’t had anyone sit on them to jumping one meter 30. Coming away from the finals in Kentucky and doing the young horse competitions throughout the past year, my horse just did his first one meter 35 in Scottsdale at the end of 2013. Now in his seven-year-old year I feel like he’ll be ready to start doing smaller Grand Prix, because the young horse competitions prepped him well. It’s a great experience for a young horse.
Marjory: The thing that is really cool about young horses is that early on the progress is remarkably quick—a few days af- ter you sit on them they are trotting and a week later turning. Later as you go up the levels, the progress is very subtle and takes time to achieve. You can spend weeks trying to improve one small thing. With young horses it’s immediate reward—it’s like, “Yeah, I did a good job and he learned to turn!” It’s wonder- ful how quickly they learn. Everybody has their own methods, but I believe in teaching them and when they get it, I finish the lesson pretty quickly. I think many people tend to drill too much on the young horses; it’s a very fine balance. They’re like preschoolers or toddlers and have the attention span of a goldfish. If they get something right on the left side, do the other side the next day. Don’t
Amber Heintzberger
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