Young-horse trainers are a critical link in the dressage pipeline
This article is reprinted from the July/August 2024 issue of USDF Connection.
Horses develop so much in the time from youngster to competitive dressage horse—from how to be handled by humans, all the way up to learning how to go to shows and perform in the ring. Teaching these skills to a young horse, whether the goal is high performance or being a solid citizen for a client, takes a special touch (and sometimes a dose of courage), which is why good young-horse specialists are in high demand.
In this article, two trainers with a niche in developing young dressage horses share what it takes and how they came to this area of expertise in their own careers.
Keep It Simple
The most crucial qualities in a young-horse trainer are patience and consistency, says John Mason, whose mounts have won numerous
championships, including Adequan®/USDF Horse of the Year titles.
“These two play hand in hand with each other and are key to starting young horses overall, whether handling or riding,” says Mason, a German-trained Bereiter who is the head trainer at TexOver Farms in Conroe, Texas. “This way, the horse understands the expectations in a clear, fair, and positive way. I could break that down into a hundred sub-bullet points, but patience and consistency are what I preach the most.”
A correct foundation sets the stage, says Mason, who cautions that “mistakes early on can follow a horse forever.” Like many trainers, he has seen his share of “horses that didn’t receive that correct start” and arrive for training “with all sorts of issues.”
“In my opinion, it is incredibly simple to get a horse started the right way, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy,” Mason says. “I think it’s so important that you have someone experienced and unfazed by normal behavioral issues, who can bring the horse through those significant developmental years as smoothly, consistently, and as drama-free as possible.”
Simple everyday interactions play a critical role in starting young horses, says Michael Bragdell, head trainer at Hilltop Farm, Colora, Maryland.
“Horses are very smart, and every time you interact with them, you teach them something, whether good or bad,” says Bragdell. “I spend a lot of time doing ground work with the young horses; I think it’s very important in laying the foundation for them. By teaching them the aids from the ground, you can break down the process of the training into its simplest form: pressure and release. It’s important to make it clear to them that when you apply pressure, you’re looking for a specific response. When they give that response, they get a release. This gives them an expectation and understanding of the work, which in turn gives them more confidence in the rider. When you break questions like this down to the simplest form, that translates later under saddle. It’s about simplicity and clarity. Break each skill down into simple pieces.”
Slow and Steady Wins the Race
Like Mason, Bragdell says that patience is key in training horses—and it’s also a virtue he works to instill in his charges.
“I emphasize patience with everyone on my team,” he says. “You have to allow the horse to grasp the question, to pause, before you continue with what you are doing. For example, when horses first start wearing a bridle, when you go to untack, just take a moment. The horse may be impatient to have the bridle off and you may be thinking about all the other horses you have to ride, but just take it slow and easy. This way the horse learns to stand and be patient.”
Most experienced trainers have learned that trying to rush a horse usually backfires. This is why “patience is a big thing,” Bragdell says. The slow approach may take a little more time in the beginning, but “just because you are patient doesn’t mean it’s going to be a long process.”
“Don’t have an agenda,” says Mason. “Let the horse dictate what they can do, whether physically or mentally.” He notes that “we live in a culture of immediate success and Instagram posts and following horses on social media,” but “I think it’s really important to not feel any outside pressure on what your horse should be doing compared to what some other horse is doing. It’s like kids in school: Everyone has a different pace at which they learn. It’s always better to take more time than try to rush it. I am not a believer in sixty-day or ninety-day starts. I don’t want the expectation that a certain amount of things can be done in a certain amount of time. There are horses that can handle that situation, and then there are horses that just aren’t ready for it.”
Mason gives what he calls a perfect example of how horses can develop at very different rates.
“Two three-year-old chestnut mares that are almost identical in every way arrived in my training program on the exact same day. Both had very similar backgrounds and were in the same spot as far as getting ready to start. Now, one horse has already gone to a show and competed in Materiale with great scores, and the owner is also now riding the horse. This horse is ready to show Training Level after about six months of training. Whereas with the other horse who started on the same day, we are really happy if we trot off the lunge line! She’s a more sensitive horse and is taking a bit longer. It doesn’t mean she’s not going to be as successful—and maybe will be even more successful, however you want to quantify success—but she’s just taken longer to trust me, to trust the process, to get comfortable in her own skin, to learn that work is a fun and positive thing.
“It doesn’t mean one horse is better than the other; it’s just the way the journey unfolds,” Mason concludes. “I think it’s really important that you listen to the horse and don’t rush anything.”
A Natural Progression
Stacy Lynne Photography photo
So how did young-horse training become an area of expertise for Hilltop Farm’s Michael Bragdell and TexOver Farms’ John Mason? Like much in life, one thing led to another.
A native of Sweden, Michael Bragdell trained jumpers and young horses in Sweden and England before joining famed Hilltop Farm in Maryland, where he has worked for nearly three decades with countless horses, from foals to stallions, and from handling on up to Grand Prix-level CDI competition.
Numerous of Bragdell’s mounts have earned top placings at USEF Young/Developing Horse National Championships, in Adequan®/USDF Horse of the Year award standings, and at the US Dressage Finals and in CDIs. As Hilltop’s head trainer, Bragdell is a regular at breed inspections, breed shows, dressage competitions, and in presenter roles in events such as the USDF Sport Horse Prospect Development Forum.
Growing up a self-described “barn rat” in Texas, John Mason took the ride on any horse offered to him, from lesson horses that needed schooling, to boarders’ horses that were being naughty, to youngsters no one wanted to ride. “That taught me to be versatile and willing to get on anything,” he says.
Later, when Mason went to Germany to pursue his Bereiter credentials, “I was the lowest of low on the totem pole in the barn,” he jokes. “That meant starting the babies, riding the ‘feral’ ones, and eventually showing the young horses.” His grit opened doors: “This is where my true passion for the young-horse program manifested. I was lucky to be one of the main young-horse riders in the barn and had opportunities to show in the young-horse classes at some of the more competitive and popular competitions in our region.”
Returning to Texas to launch his own business, Mason partnered with local warmblood breeder Mary Nuttall of Southernwood Farm; training and campaigning her horses solidified his niche with young horses. Most recently, Mason nabbed Adequan®/USDF Dressage Horse of the Year titles in Materiale and Training Level with client horses.
Realistic Expectations for Every Horse (and Trainer)
High performance is just that. “It’s easy to forget that the horses doing the high performance are the best of the best—the most talented of the most talented,” Mason says. “For every horse that can make it to Lamplight [the US Dressage Festival of Champions for the Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage National Championships], thousands of horses are not ready to do that. That doesn’t mean they are any less quality; that doesn’t mean they are any less talented; that doesn’t mean they are any less of a horse. There are just so many different paths in this sport. In this sport, you are competing against the standard, not against other horses.”
The high-performance ranks are prestigious, and so naturally many owners and riders of young dressage horses dream about competing in the Young Horse divisions. But they’re not for every horse, cautions Mason.
“I think the Young Horse classes are integral to the future of our sport—to promote riders with those horses, to keep the top of the sport alive,” he says. “But I think we have to be very careful as trainers not to put unrealistic expectations on horses. It takes a very special horse in both quality and mentality to compete at that level at a young age. As with any part of the sport, you have to make sure you are doing it the right way. I think we have to be very honest with our clients that we are not cutting corners or sacrificing the well-being of the horse to make success in those classes a reality. Not everyone is going to get into Harvard, and we have to have the same expectation with our horses.”
Likewise, “I see a lot of the pressure on young-horse trainers that if they are not performing at Lamplight every year, they must be doing something wrong,” Mason continues. “I think it’s important that this isn’t the end goal in young-horse training. It’s an added bonus, in my opinion. You can sacrifice so much ridability for the owner—and then, in the end, everyone is out of luck.”
“I think there should be a delineation between young-horse training and young-horse performance,” Mason adds. “I think much gets
lumped under the high-performance umbrella, yet there is a lot of young-horse training going on in the country outside of that distinction.”
Make Connections
Do you have a young horse and would like to find a reputable trainer? “Talk with people who have worked with that trainer in the past, watch the trainer ride, and look at how they interact with their horses,” Mason recommends. And look deeper than show results: “I think it’s more important to see their success out of the ring—because with young horses, showing is a small part of it. The overall horsemanship is sometimes even more important than the performance part of riding. There are a lot of riders who are very talented at showing, but that doesn’t always translate into the day-to-day interactions. Go and watch them work at home if you can. I have an open-door policy if anyone wants to come and watch me. I think everything needs to be transparent and out in the open.”
For trainers interested in getting started working with young horses, Bragdell suggests connecting with an experienced young-horse trainer whose style of handling and riding they admire. Options include going to work for that trainer, taking lessons, or simply having someone willing to serve as a mentor to offer advice and answer questions.
The best places to do this important networking, Bragdell says, are breed-registry inspections and sporthorse breeding shows.
Sport-Horse Expert Perspective: Q&A with Kristi Wysocki
Photo courtesy of Penny Hawes
In our sport’s earlier days, sporthorse breeders and young horses received scant attention. Today, dressage enthusiasts are keenly aware of bloodlines, and the USDF offers programs and awards geared toward young horses (see “USDF Sport-Horse Resources” below). A good measure of the credit for the changes goes to Kristi Wysocki.
Wysocki, of Coupeville, Washington, is the current chair of the USDF Sport Horse Committee and a US Equestrian “R” dressage sport-horse judge. USDF Connection asked her thoughts on the ever-changing face of the sporthorse industry.
USDF Connection: How have dressage breeding and young-horse training in the US developed and grown in recent years?
Kristi Wysocki: In the time I’ve been involved, the quality of breeding has grown exponentially. The breeding in our country now compared to twenty-five years ago is on a whole different plane. We have breeders in this country who are breeding horses as good as any horse anywhere in the world.
How do initiatives like the USDF Sport Horse Prospect Development Forum support the sport as a whole?
This program was created to bridge the gap in education between the USDF Sport Horse Seminar, which is focused on conformation and movement of dressage horses; and the US Equestrian (USEF) Young Horse Program, for four-, five-, and six-year-olds that are advanced in their training and exceptionally talented. The forum was designed to provide consistent education for trainers starting three- and four-year-old horses as future
dressage horses.
Tell us about the Markel/USEF Dressage Emerging Young Horse Program.
This program is for the elite four-, five-, six-, and now also seven-year-old horses. These horses are elite in talent and excelling in their training at an advanced level. As judges we evaluate the horses’ gaits, their submission relative to their age, and their potential as future FEI horses. In contrast, the Materiale classes for three-, four-, and five-year-olds have a much lower standard in training expectation and are more to evaluate the horse’s basic gaits and ridability. These classes are ideal for the younger horses that are not as advanced in their training.
What challenges do American sport-horse breeders, trainers, and owners face?
For breeders, the biggest challenge is the train of thought that US-bred horses are not as high quality as European-bred horses. Breeding has also gotten astronomically expensive. I think the day of the big breeder in this country is gone forever. It’s just too expensive to run a farm that has twenty to thirty foals per year.
Another concern for the breeding industry is the lack of young people showing interest in this area. We don’t really have a pipeline for our youth into the breeding world like we do for riders into the FEI ranks. The USDF Sport Horse Committee does have a youth-education program that unfortunately was sidelined for a few years due to COVID; this year we are starting up again at Dressage at Devon (Pennsylvania). Participants will learn about handling and judging. We also do youth programs held at breeding farms.
[Bringing young horses along is] tricky for trainers. There’s a lot of pressure from some of the owners, and even the sport itself, for horses to go into the Young Horse Program. I think trainers have to be very careful about each individual horse, to know whether it is honestly talented and sufficiently advanced in training [to be successful]. A horse might be totally ready for it at five—and even win—but the next year needs to sit it out. Or a horse may be too immature at five and blossom at six. A horse shouldn’t go in just because it’s five, for example. If it doesn’t have exceptional gaits, it should show at First and Second Levels and get high scores there instead.
Let the horse excel wherever it is ready to excel. We need to set these young horses up for success, whether that be the Young Horse Program, lower-level dressage classes, Materiale classes, in-hand classes, or even staying home and maturing more before venturing out.
For owners, the expense is huge. I do worry about the sport because of the expenses involved with the horse industry these days.
Any final thoughts?
The US breeders are the unsung heroes in our sport. We rarely see breeders listed on the day sheets at shows; every other country includes them. I would love to see this become a norm here. It’s important to recognize the breeders at a national level so there is incentive for them to continue. USDF as an organization and [current USDF president] George Williams in particular have really supported the programs developed by the Sport Horse Committee over the years. Their support is greatly appreciated.
The Future’s Looking Bright
Both sport-horse breeding and training in the US showcase quality, says Bragdell: “I’ve been to so many inspections over the past thirty years, and the quality of foals born in this country just gets better and better.” Bragdell, who attended his first Young Horse Championships two decades ago, says that “every year you see a bigger group of really nice horses that are presented really well. It’s really exciting. You also see more trainers that train young horses year after year, bringing them along and progressing in the training.”
Natalie DeFee Mendik, MA, is an award-winning journalist specializing in equine media. Visit her online at MendikMedia.com.
USDF Sport-Horse Resources
Mary Cornelius photo
The USDF offers an extensive network of educational programs, competition opportunities, and recognition for sport-horse enthusiasts, breeders, handlers, and, of course, breeding stock, young prospects, and young dressage horses. Start your journey here.
Sport-horse education
Competition
Awards:
USDF Breeder of Distinction
Adequan®/USDF year-end awards (Dressage Sport Horse Breeding Horse of the Year, Materiale Horse of the Year, USEF Four-Year-Old, FEI Five-Year-Old, FEI Six-Year-Old, Dressage Breeder of the Year, Dressage Sport Horse Breeding Breeder of the Year)
Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Dressage Sport Horse Breeding year-end awards
