How Long Does It Take to Become a Good Horse Person?

How Long Does It Take to Become a Good Horse Person?

Short answer? A lifetime.

Long answer? Still a lifetime.

This isn’t a pottery class. This isn’t soccer practice or summer ballet. It’s not a “drop the kids off and pick them up after” kind of activity. It’s not a hobby. It’s not a phase.

This is a calling.

A commitment.

A way of being.

Becoming a true horse person takes years of showing up…through mud, snow, heat waves, heartbreak, and healing. It takes standing in the cold long after your fingers go numb, mucking out stalls when your back already aches, and staying curious even when your ego wants to shout “I already know this!”

I’ve been with horses since I was eight years old and Im currently 54. That’s a lifetime of calluses, tears, wonder, and manure. And still, to this day, I learn something new every day when I seek the knowledge. Sometimes I unlearn more than I learn…shedding old ways in favor of better science, more compassionate methods, deeper understanding. The horses demand that of me. That I grow. That I listen. That I never assume I’ve arrived. 

Some folks start young. Some start in adulthood. Some start and quickly realize it’s not their jam, and that’s okay.

Some come galloping in because they watched Heartland and fell in love with the dream. And sometimes, it is the dream that sticks. But only if they stay for the work. The boring parts. The quiet parts. The frustrating parts. The “I messed up and have to try again” parts.

The ones who last? They fall in love with the process, not the finished photograph.

They’re the ones who show up when no one’s watching, hands deep in a bucket of soaked hay, eyes soft with awe watching a horse nap in the sun.

They’re students of the subtle.

They ask “why?”

They notice shifts in breathing, blinking, posture.

They strengthen their bodies not for aesthetics, but for balance and harmony.

They respect the horse society more than their own timeline.

But even in this world…this sacred, lifelong path of learning…there are those who will exploit.

Not every barn is a sanctuary.

Not every mentor is a teacher.

There are people who prey on a student’s ignorance, spinning half-truths to keep their own dreams alive at your expense. They may push the hard sell, insist on the fast track, pressure you into the “buy now or be left behind” mentality.

No one can protect you from that but you.

So learn this early: You don’t need to buy the saddle, the horse, the trailer, the dream package all at once.

Use your hard earned money to invest in experience, in education, in time with horses.

It’s not a piece of sports equipment…it’s a living, breathing dedication to learning.

There are a thousand ways to be with horses.

Follow the one that feels right.

And if something feels wrong to you…even if it comes from an “expert”....trust that whisper inside.

Learn from many people.

But most of all, techniques aside, learn from the horse.

Because the horse is always honest.

Always present.

Always waiting for you to slow down enough to hear them.

This journey has no final exam.

No belt to earn.

No finish line.

Only the ever-unfolding art of becoming.