Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: ISO a “Safe” Horse

Aubrey Graham, Sponsored, , , , , Comments Off on Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: ISO a “Safe” Horse
“What annoy[s] me so much about ‘safe’ is that it is unclear and massively subjective. My version of safe is not my client’s version of safe is not your kid’s trainer’s version of safe.”

Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers insight and training experience when it comes to working with Thoroughbreds (although much will apply to all breeds). This week ride along as Aubrey shares her logic on what makes up a “safe” horse.

Anyone who sells horses these days spends a fair amount of time looking at ISO (In Search Of) ads on Facebook. These list-y short posts usually have a photograph and then a set of requirements and aspirations. They include the budget, age, breed, height, gender, color (insert eye roll here), experience level, temperament, and other little extras that the rider is looking for/will put up with for the right horse to do the assigned job. That should be all good. Easy enough.

Nope.

When helping our sister site, SportHorseNation, revamp their sales website for eventing horses (check it out here!), I did some quick market research on what people were shopping for — what were those other little extras in the ads that could help filter them to the right horse? There were things like “the sound, no maintenance upper level prospect must also tolerate my non-riding husband/kids/neighbors… for low fours” (good luck), or that it can’t wear shoes and must live outside full time. All of those things are OK if you have the horse that tolerates that. Cool. Mine just don’t.

New sales horse, Bowing Snowman. Is he “safe”? Can super green be “safe”? He’s polite and kind, so I’ll take that as a start. Photo by Lily Drew.

And then there was this one word that came up in nearly every ad: “Safe.” The horse must be safe. I thought about this one for a long while. These are 1000-plus pound animals. They’re often well described by this tweet that’s been making the rounds various forms:


The thing is, they don’t usually make particularly bad decisions (and mostly there’s a good equine logic for all the decisions they do make) but the sport — a predator willingly handling and swinging a leg over a prey animal nearly 10x their size that (mostly) allows them to do this — is inherently not safe. Sure, we make it safER with better protective gear and better training, but… I digress…

Apparently, anytime I have seen ISOs looking for safe horses in the past I bypassed them. I do the same thing for other red flags, like “no maintenance” or “must be barefoot” or photographs of a rider on a poorly conditioned critter. What annoyed me so much about “safe” is that it is unclear and massively subjective. My version of safe is not my client’s version of safe is not your kid’s trainer’s version of safe. Was it possible to be clearer — and therefore help sellers direct buyers to the right horses?

Louis (Unbridled Bayou), arguably one of the most ammie friendly horses I have produced, showing that horses will horse. Photo by Lauren Kingerly at the 2021 RRP Makeover.

So I asked. I put a post on my Facebook and queried what “safe” meant to riders. You can read the full thread here — it actually has great answers:

And I also asked a similar question in a reseller’s group, and got overlapping but equally interesting responses. Before diving into a distillation of the answers, let me just say this: If you are looking for a horse and you want it to be “safe,” please please please describe exactly what that means to you — very specifically. I promise the horses sent your way will be so much more appropriate and sellers will be so much happier to work with you.

I prefer words like “kind” and “goober” to “safe”. Photo of Alfredo (Making Amends) being ridiculous by author.

So here’s what “safe” meant to those who responded (which ranged from folks riding Intro to those with Advanced experience and professionals in the industry):

On the ground: Most folks seem to associate the term “safe” with good ground manners. Many noted that a “safe” horse does not bite, kick, rear, strike or bolt away from the handler. I mean, given enough reason, they’ll all do this, but OK, fair enough. I like horses that are polite and easy to handle on the ground, too. But I have a few of those that I would not consider “safe” in the saddle who have excellent ground manners and others who, like Wolf (Louisiana Moon), have debatable ground behaviors (threatens to bite/kick but does not actually bite/kick) but are some of the “safest” rides on the property. So… perhaps there are trade offs…

Ramen (Plamen) is indeed safe on the ground — he’s one of the easiest I have had through. Photo of Ramen with Liam Newell at the 2024 RRP Makeover by Lauren Newell.

In the saddle: The biggest thing that was considered unsafe across the board was rearing/flipping over. Agreed 100%. Anything that stands up regularly as a response to dislike, fear, or any reason would never garner a “safe” title from me either. Many others noted that they don’t want it to buck or bolt or spook, or the like. Others linked unsafe with the feeling of equine anxiety. Some drew in the moment of actually swinging a leg over and noted specifically that “safe” meant it would also stand at the mounting block quietly. Fair enough.

All of that is OK… kinda.

The nitty gritty: And this is where it got interesting. Because horses will horse. They have evolved to have a rear, bite, kick, buck, spook etc. to keep them safe (remember, prey animal). So the question then becomes about frequency, predictability, and size. When they buck, is it in random unpredictable ways? Is it a gentle porpoise movement or a huge, back-cracking, unending chain? Is it a first day jumping in the chilly air, lands off fence two and throws a proper weeeeeee in there, or is it at any given point the horse might just try to put you on the ground?

Similarly, are the spooks reasonable? Like someone suddenly snaps open a tent next to the ring and the horse jumps sideways. How many strides is acceptable? Some folks went so far as to note “no more than three strides in the spook” or a spook needs to be about slowing down rather than speeding up — looking as opposed to running. And recovery time was important. “Safe” for many was linked to the ability to swiftly “get a horse’s brain back.”

Coragescontender has a steady way of going that I think will translate well to what folks are asking for, but he’s still green so it might take a minute. Photo by Lauren Pollock

“Safe” also showed up in relation to predictability. For a bunch of folks who responded (though not all), horses were allowed their foibles, but everyone wanted to be able to have a good guess at when they’re going to happen — knowing what was going to set them off and what type of response the horse would choose. I loved responses that mentioned self-preservation for both horse and rider — the idea that “safe” meant it’ll stay on its feet in general, and if you’re going to be on a horse that feels the need to get out of Dodge, they want to get out of there with you, not without you.

I mean, if I had to use the term with my critters (honestly, it’s really not in my vocabulary with horses…), I would probably consider Rhodie (Western Ridge) one of my “safest” rides because he is one of my most predictable — he will spook at all the expected things, he will run sideways, and he might toss a small buck in there. But I can always feel it coming and it doesn’t upset me because that’s just who he is. So if I’m having a bad day and need a ride to get it back together, I guess I grab the “safe” horse — the horse I know best. (Would Rhodie be safe for your average rider, or would I ever advertise him as such? Absolutely freakin not, and it’s not because I’m some 10:10 rider — it’s because I know him far too well (and he’s an ass to almost everyone else at anything above the trot and maybe a quiet canter down the long side)).

The dragon himself (Rhodie – Western Ridge) clicking around Stable View. Photo by Adela Narovich.

The commonality of responses matched with the additional hyper-specifics were fascinating. Taken together, I realized that folks are pretty sure they know what they can and can’t handle and what they want to deal with. Those who responded were able to differentiate what they personally mean by “safe” and what it might imply when looking for a good-riding, confident client, what they might need if the horse is for an older rider or a child. Kid safe/husband safe (sorry guys, I’m sure some of you can truly ride) are different things from plain old “safe” — “kid/husband safe,” according to the respondents, was more about placid temperament and kind, forgiving responses to less-than-always accurate rider aids — more about what the horse can tolerate and ignore than anything else.

The fun arises in those differences. As I read their descriptions, horses would come to mind — oh, that one would be good for my coming-three-year-old Alfredo (Making Amends), who is goofy and green but kind under saddle and quite predictable and steady. Others, I would have pointed towards Forrest (Don’t Noc It) in, as Anna Sasser put it, “his on-property self.” For others I was like, oh, they could handle Neil (Lute’s Angel), a tricky, sensitive ride, but they wouldn’t like Ramen (the smart, kind, easy-going on the ground, but super strong ride who will wear you down in a ring guy).

The big point here is that those are very, very different horses, but I can’t point people to the right one if all I have to go on is a generic “safe” and your favorite coat color.

Alfredo showing off his quiet on the ground nature. Photo by Sarah Hepler.

Going back to the pro-page responses, there are things to be wary of with the idea of “safe.” Notably, horses are different for each rider and each stabling situation. They receive different boundaries, different stimuli, different levels of confidence. And all of that makes it very dicey for a seller to ever advertise or confirm that a horse is “safe” or even has “no buck, bolt, spook, etc.,” because what if Fluffy turns into a nightmare at the new place? Summarizing a good trainer friend of mine, they noted that they are always specific when selling a horse — things like “it never bucked here” or “it never bit me,” because you can’t control or guarantee what happens later. Such careful statements are accurate to the horse and hold space for things to change should the horse leave the property and find themself acting differently in different situations.

I could keep writing on this for days, but here’s the take away: “Safe” seems really important to folks in an innately unsafe sport. That said, better more specific descriptions and clearer understandings of the horse/the horse a person wants help make better matches.

Maddie (Madison Blues) was one of the most family-friendly mounts to come through. By that I mean she was easy, kind, tolerant of mistakes and not usually a freight train under saddle. Photo by the Kivu Team.

So, be wary the advertised “safe” horse (or ask how they are safe) and, for the love of all things holy and equine and the like, please use more words in your ISOs. Be super clear about what “safe” means to you. Because I’ll be honest, next to none of us like riding the “survive-a-ride” type. But what “safe” is to me, to my fellow trainers and Thoroughbred folks, to my advanced riding clients, and those just getting going might be composed of a totally different set of criteria and thus need totally different horses.

So go ride folks, and enjoy reading those ISOs and sale ads with a more critical eye.

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