Have you ever gone out to train your horse something new, and nothing seemed to go right? One of the things that can go wrong when training a horse is that once you have gained a horse’s trust, the trust is taken for granted. When you start focusing on performance training, you can lose harmony and trust by focusing on the horse’s performance. “Trainer’s mind” takes over by pushing for results. When this happens, the “equis-tact” is lost.

Chuck Grant (Author of American Dressage) had six grand Prix dressage horses he had trained. I admired his approach in training them. I had a chance to ride several of his horses over a two-day period. He offered me a coaching position for an exhibition dressage drill team. I didn’t take the job because I had a training center of my own, but it let me know he liked my approach. We connected deeply. I had gone to his ranch to meet him to see if I could get him to endorse my ability as a trainer. I was looking to expand my dressage business. I had no i...