(” . . . how quickly the tongue issue reemerged .  .  . “)

With enough thought, diligence, and the exploration of different modalities, we should be able to solve whatever problems any horse presents.

A while back, I attended a trainers’ conference in Wellington conducted by Klaus Balkenhol. One of the demo horses was a 13 year old Grand Prix mare ridden by a competent, second tier top professional. Her horse exhibited a consistent and long standing tongue problem—not hanging it out or getting it over the bit but visibly sucking it up and back towards her palate. Balkenhol rode the horse, and with his skills was able within ten minutes to make the evasion disappear. The change was impressive. Equally interesting was how quickly the tongue issue reemerged as soon as the owner remounted. This was not a rider with crude, unsteady hands–just not hands like Klaus’s.

It’s not hard to find similar stories (without the Balkenhol interlude) where try as one might, a training problem just never gets solved. If there IS a solution, it lies beyond that particular rider’s ability to effect it. Depressing? Well, yes, but it’s better to acknowledge this possibility than to beat your head against the wall trying to fix the unfixable.

I don’t mean you should automatically retreat from any challenge your horse presents. But face it—some horses are just going to . . . (take your pick) . . . how about shy? You may be able to minimize it with clever riding and confidence-building exercises, but there are horses who never settle enough that the behavior goes away.

Same for laziness or lack of motivation. Most horses will rise, at least to some degree, to a level of involvement when pressured. The question is how much and how often do you want to have to pressure them before theirs or your joy is extinguished?

When you have exhausted all the likely cures– examined all the possibilities of physical problems, psychologized your way to Verden and back, and used up all the tricks anyone can think of–where do you go next?

It’s simple: at some point you either have to modify your goals or you have to get a different horse. Back in the cavalry days, it was a lot easier. If a horse wasn’t working out as dressage material or as a cross-country horse, there was always a cannon for him to pull. Giving up on a horse you’ve put a lot of money into takes a different kind of courage – even more if you have to answer to a spouse or a patron. Downsizing your goals for the horse is your alternative. Neither may be the happiest solution, but if it comes to that point, remember you won’t be the first person to have run into the realities of training and riding.