1.) IN THE STALL: Visit him or her in their stall. A relationship starts from the ground up and horses make it known if they find you appealing or not. Give the horse a few treats (ask for permission… you never know if they have a special diet) and take a selfie. Also, if you have the opportunity, visit the horse at various times throughout the day to see if his personality changes.

2) GROOMING: Take notice if the horse is annoyed or content while getting groomed. Is the horse girthy? Does he or she seem antsy? Do I make them nervous? This is a good time to converse with the trainer and grooms to get the straight talk regarding shoeing, bitting, any special tack needs, pre-ride preparation and other pertinent details for your ride.

When trying Epic, I learned that he usually enjoys a short lunge and specifically wears only smooth black ear plugs because the “golf ball” style annoy him causing him to repeatedly shake his head.

3) TAKE A WALK Is he paying attention to you or does the environment distract him? Does he spook at anything, like a bird flying by? If yes, does he jump, spin, run, etc. and is this a quality you can live with?

When I first rode Epic, I walked him at length in both directions. I noticed he loves to keep his ears forward and look around, but he does not find things scary, just intriguing.

4) RIDE MULTIPLE TIMES. Schedules these rides throughout the day so you can see if time of day affects his attitude. Does he/ prefer morning rides, or is an after 3 pm ride a bother for him because it’s close to feeding?

I tried Epic once during the week after his Open High Performance Hunter class and then again on the weekend in the junior hunters. I noticed after he had been ridden in his two open classes he was a little quiet and tired, which was understandable due to the fence height. I was fortunate that the jr. hunters went at different times of the day including both midday and after sunset. I was pleased to see that Epic was enthused to be out and his energy level stayed consistent regardless of the time.

5) MONITOR EACH RIDER. Take consideration on how each ride is going. When I get on, I ask myself is the horse responding to my aids? Does he understand what I’m asking? As I start jumping, I make sure to take note of my distances. Where is their preferred take off spot? If I get into a sticky situation, will they help me out? I know I’m not a perfect rider, so I want to know what the horse needs from me to maintain a confident mindset.

My first-day riding Epic completely surprised me. I usually chip the first jump on a trial because I’m trying to gauge their stride while going to the jump, yet Epic was different. I learned that he loves to find the distance, especially the hunter gap. When I dismounted, I was amazed at how well the trial went. THIS was the beginning of knowing that he was the ONE. The rest of the rides throughout the weekend went exactly as planned. We “clicked.”