Tik Maynard’s memoir, In the Middle are the Horsemen, is a humble, endearing book, just like the man himself. He tells the story of his multi-year quest to define his place in the world of professional riding and training.
I have seen Tik teach and witnessed him transform nervous, high-headed horses into relaxed puppy dogs that follow him around licking and chewing, within the span of 15 minutes. He is the quintessential “natural horseman.” In fact, he is so good at it that I assumed he was born with an innate ability to understand horses and probably has had a magical effect on horses since he was a child.
Well, I was wrong. Tik did grow up on a horse farm and was headed for successful career as a professional rider. But he apparently did not have a more special connection to horses than most people. After a personal setback and an injury, he found himself at the age of 26 living with his parents, unsure what to do with his life. So he set out on a journey – a journey to experience as much as he could in the horse world. Over the next 3 years he was a working student at several stables from Germany to Texas (and a few in between) with champion dressage riders, eventers, and reiners. After a couple more years working for an Olympic show jumper, he finally had the confidence to strike out on his own. He is now a highly regarded horse trainer, eventer, and writer.
What impressed me when reading Tik’s story was his humility and eagerness to learn. He recounts his struggle to fit in in some barns, his loneliness, doubts about his riding ability, being chastised by trainers, and mistakes he made. In some ways he seemed a lost young man, yet he responded to his travails with a maturity beyond his years, seeing every experience – good or bad – as a learning opportunity. His approach to learning is very systematic. First, he sets up a plan to learn from a variety of people and experiences; then, when something goes wrong, he journals about it, examines it, and talks to others in order to use it for good. He becomes a student of life and improves his ability to listen. He pays attention to what trainers say and do, closely watches people ride, and observes horses. He seeks out information, researching topics whenever he has a question (and he has a lot of questions), often asking many people the same question in order to get different viewpoints.
The other impressive thing is that he is not dogmatic. Through his many experiences with different trainers he realizes that there are many different ways to train a horse. If you ask him if you should use treats to train a horse, Tik will say something like “some people use treats with great success, others don’t use them at all and accomplish the same result; so it’s really a personal decision and also might depend on the horse.” He is not being non-committal – he just knows that there is not one correct answer. I find this very refreshing in a world where people like to take sides. And although he has competed at very high levels, he is not a snob. If you want to go to the Olympics, he will help you get there. If you want to teach your horse to lie down just for fun, he will help you – with equal gravity and respect.
Tik’s story was not what I expected. It was so much more. If he truly had been blessed with his abilities at birth, it might have been a nice read that I promptly forgot. Instead, he was born a mere mortal, like me, and he evolved – with effort and intention – into someone that I would like to be. He used curiosity, humility, and a great love of horses to become a true horseman, which one of his mentors, Christilot Boylen, defines as “people who spend their whole lives around horses. They understand the twitch of an ear or the nod of a head. They have empathy and they understand immediately how to react. They are always aware, and they react to the first signal. They know when to hold on, and when to let go. They put the horse in a position to win, not lose.”
If you want to know what the title “In the Middle are the Horsemen” means, well, – you’ll just have to read the book. You can order it from the publisher, Trafalgar Square Books, or other booksellers.
Here is a video of Tik’s and his horse, Mr. Pleastantree’s winning performance in the 2015 Retired Racehorse Makeover Project’s freestyle division. It’s pretty impressive.
Monica
Thank you for a wonderful review!