In the Middle Are the Horsemen Book Review

Perseverance, Hope and Horses could be an alternate title for In the Middle Are the Horsemen, the engaging horse memoir by Tik Maynard, son of Canadian horse trainers–dad is a show jumper, mom a dressage devotee. Tik is now a horse trainer in his own right, having won the 2015 Thoroughbred Makeover freestyle competition along with spending years as a working student for luminaries of the horse world from several disciplines.

Thank you Trafalgar Square Books for sending this copy to review. This post contains affiliate links.

Hailing from British Columbia, Tik grew up in Pony Club where he achieved his A rating. After a stint as an international level pentathlete, he fell in love with eventing. He later fell in love with an eventer–Sinead Halpin, the USET rider who is his wife. The couple, now expectant parents, have a horse farm in Citra, Florida near Ocala where they both train.

You might already be familiar with Tik as he’s written for a number of equine media outlets ranging from The Chronicle of the Horse to Practical Horseman.

Quick-ish Summary of In the Middle Are the Horsemen

In the Middle Are the Horsemen is Tik’s chronicle of three years spent as a working student under some of the world’s preeminent horse folk. Tik navigated several major life decisions while learning from both the horses and humans he met, all the while exploring the the answer to this question: What is horsemanship?

Once I got past my jealousy (just being honest here) of his having the connections to seek out such positions, the carefree life stage and financial means to have the ability to come and go, I really became invested in devouring In the Middle Are the Horsemen.

Tik’s first working student position was in Germany with a legendary dressage trainer whose no-nonsense style bordered the line of brusque and cruel. For example, the man barely spoke to Tik, told him he rode like a rabbit (with more colorful language I’m not going to repeat here), and criticized Tik’s anatomy saying his back was too long and leg too short.

This is why I give Tik an A+ for perseverance: he stuck it out with an aloof, insulting boss working loooong hours with zero kudos. I would have crumbled. For example, I didn’t want to return to ride the second day in a clinic with a prominent California trainer because he degraded my horse on Day One. And as a teacher myself (albeit middle school) I was indignant that he communicated in such a condescending, gruff style. But I digress.

When Tik was abruptly let go for not being good enough–ouch–(the dressage trainer’s opinion), he found a soft landing at the barn of German eventer Ingrid Klimke who sounded like the exact opposite–warm, encouraging, generous. On Tik’s first day he rode four of Ingrid’s horses–one of them her 2008 Beijing Olympics team gold medal winning horse Abraxxis! Tik continued for a short while at Ingrid’s and then returned to North America.

After his experience in Germany, Tik worked for Karen and David O’Connor and was introduced to the O’Connors’ version of natural horsemanship along with more eventing training–obviously. (I had no idea the O’Connors partnered and presented with the Parellis. Tangent: I saw Pat Parelli at Horse Expo last year and left scratching my head at why he wanted to bridle a trained horse while kneeling on the ground–that didn’t seem natural.)

After time with the O’Connors Tik went to work for fellow Canadian Ian Millar who is a show jumping legend having competed in nine Olympics. (I remember Big Ben!) Sadly, Captain Canada was not comfortable with the fact that Tik was writing about his experiences as a working student and the work was being published online and in magazines, so he cut him loose after one day. Here Tik demonstrated more perseverance and hope. Hope that his quest to train under the revered horsemen and horsewomen would guide him into understanding how to best partner with each unique horse he was able to ride and train. Hope that another situation for being a student of horse and horseman would work out.

Tik’s next stop was Texas where he rode alongside Bruce Logan, a real cowboy. There Tik enjoyed the rare experience of being with a herd of horses, witness to their natural setting and lifestyle. During this Western era Tik got interested in learning who taught whom in the horse world–where trainers received their training–and began focusing on thinking like a horse, rather than trying to influence a horse to think like we humans think. He is a bibliophile (which you can tell by the quality of his writing) and all along he was reading the canon of horse books on training–ranging from Anne Kursinski to the Pony Club Manual 

I’ve blogged about many, many horse books. You might also enjoy 5 Horse Memoirs to Add to Your Reading List.

Speaking of Anne Kursinski the Olympic show jumper. . . following his ranch tenure, Tik was mentored by Anne Kursinski. Upon arriving at Anne’s barn, Tik wondered what her secrets were, but he realized she does what everyone else does with horses, but better. She gets up early, has the best vets, the best farriers. Anne used some techniques from Linda Tellington-Jones and is very into feeling what her horse is feeling. From his description, I now believe Anne possesses empathy “on steroids.”

Tik describes Anne’s riding in glowing terms–that even walking she looks fantastic on a horse. Anne shares she has one thousand legs meaning she supports her horse in every possible situation with her legs (this is pretty esoteric–I think I have maybe three legs: on the horse pressing into the barrel, not on the horse because I’m weak, one on one off–you get my point).

All throughout, Tik draws you in to his story so you will feel like a fly on a wall while he attended a George Morris clinic, was denied entry with two of his horses heading into the U.S. and endured three tragedies which I will let you read about. 

Scenes You Will Enjoy in In the Middle Are the Horsemen

There are several scenes, I predict will make you smile while reading In the Middle Are the Horsemen.

• You gotta love George Morris barking instructions at a clinic.
• The scene where Tik runs through his Thoroughbred Makeover routine with Remarkable at home with Sinead and their dog as audience and then later during the actual performance.
• The successful entry into the U.S. with horses in tow and the wistful border agent.
• The ranch goings-on in Loving, Texas.

Quotes to Ponder from In the Middle Are the Horsemen

Lauren, another working student Tik meets along the way shares this gem: “All good trainers are trying to achieve the same thing. There are different paths to that goal. There are many ways to accomplish it. My advice to you is not to forget what you learned before, but instead throw yourself wholeheartedly into the system into which you find yourself. Only with total immersion can you hope to really figure out what someone is trying to teach you. And then when you are home again you can pick and choose what you liked about each trainer’s methods. ”

From Tik: “There was also the joy of training. I was fascinated by the ways we could learn to nurture daily habits in ourselves and our horses. I liked the trying to get from point A to point B. And the challenge, the puzzle. . . and realizing that it might take a lot longer than completing a crossword or putting together an Ikea table.”

Also from Tik: “A horse’s cost never reflected how much he was worth.”

As I read this book, I kept bending back the pages in the corners if it contained a quote or passage like the ones above that made me think or just resonated with me. I lost track of how many pages I bent.

Final Thoughts and Unanswered Questions

As I read the final chapters I went on YouTube to watch Tik’s performance with Remarkable during the TB Makeover. The joy on Tik’s face as he romped and played with his beloved horse was apparent. You definitely should watch it. What was remarkable about Remarkable was how chill he was in a huge indoor arena with sponsors’ banners hanging every few feet and the crowd in the stands spectating and clapping.

I have to confess at the end of Tik’s ride I cringed when I saw him lean down to give the handsome chestnut a treat from the saddle as Remarkable craned his copper neck around. The gelding was bridleless at the time so nothing bad could have happened, but I still experience stress from my harrowing bit-meets stirrup freak accident where my horse turned his head and got caught on the stirrup and I shot out of the saddle as he whirled like a top and then fell on his back.

At the end of the “journey” with Tik I wondered, “How is Remarkable doing?” and “Do you have any plans to partner with a future Thoroughbred Makeover horse?” 

Tik mentions studying the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. As a fan of Bonhoeffer, I wanted to know more about how this impacted Tik’s world view/faith. If you’re not familiar with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he was a German pastor who lived during the Nazi era. He publicly spoke out against Hitler’s views and the genocide. He began an underground seminary. At one point he joined the German secret service and was a double agent! His resistance group planned to assassinate Hitler, but before that could be carried out, Bonhoeffer was discovered and imprisoned. He later was executed at age 39, less than a month before the Nazis surrendered. Bonhoeffer’s writings live on and inspire Christians around the globe today.

I understand that a book about horses and horsemanship is not a book about history and theology, but it did pique my interest in that Bonhoeffer was mentioned at least three times throughout the story.

Conclusion

If you’re a fan of horse books and love memoirs, then In the Middle Are the Horsemen is for you. If you want to learn vicariously from a smattering of some of the world’s most lauded horsemen and horsewomen, then you will like this book. If you just want a story to enjoy in which horses figure prominently, you need to read this book. It’s not a training manual, it’s not a book on riding philosophy, but it is one man’s thoughtful study of horses and their people and what it takes to truly partner with them on the horse’s terms. Isn’t that something we equestrians are all striving to do?

Click here to pick up your own copy of In the Middle Are the Horsemen. It’s available in paperback and on Kindle.

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