09/12/2026
Why can’t a good horse have a bad day?
I think sometimes we forget that even really good horses are still horses. Somewhere along the way, we’ve started expecting a good, well-trained horse to be perfect 100% of the time, and I’m not sure that’s a fair expectation.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about a horse that is chronically dangerous, constantly bucking, rearing, bolting, or regularly putting its rider in unsafe situations. I’m talking about the good horses. The ones that show up, train, ride, try hard and are dependable the vast majority of the time.
And then one day they spook. Or jump sideways. Maybe they throw in a little crow hop, get worried about something they’ve seen a hundred times before, or just have a moment where they aren’t quite as confident as they normally are.
Why does that suddenly make them a bad horse?
They’re still horses. They still have instincts, and they can still get worried, scared, overwhelmed, distracted, fresh, tired or unsure. Even the quietest, most trustworthy horse can make a poor choice in a moment. For me, what matters much more is what happens after that moment.
I don’t need my horses to never be afraid. I want to know what they do when they are afraid. When something worries them, can I feel them come back to me? When they aren’t sure what to do, do they look to me for direction? Can they have a moment, get themselves back together and continue on without completely unraveling?
And I think we also have to look at ourselves in those moments. If my horse tells me they’re worried or unsure, what do I do with that information? Do I get upset and punish the reaction, or do I stay steady, give them direction and help them work through it? I want my horses to learn that when something scares them, I’m still there and we can figure it out together.
A good horse can spook. A trained horse can make a poor choice. A quiet horse can have an off day, and a trustworthy horse can occasionally do something unpredictable. One imperfect moment shouldn’t erase hundreds of good ones.
For me, the goal has never been to have a horse that never reacts to anything. That’s still a horse underneath me, and I never want to forget that.
What I want is a horse that, when something does go wrong, comes back to me and looks for direction.
Because maybe the measure of a really good horse isn’t that they never have a bad moment.
Maybe it’s how well they recover from one. ❤️
