The Horse Fix
The Horse Fix
Courage, Care, And Your First Mount Later in Life. (Age is a detail. not a deadline)
Ever wonder if there’s a smarter path to the show ring than buying a horse outright? We open the barn door on leasing—how it works, why fit matters more than flash, and what happens when a trusted trainer pairs a talented mare with the right rider. Nora shares Mercedes’ leap from a new program to all-around wins and Congress placings in a few short months, and we break down the nuts and bolts: care leases, amateur eligibility with AQHA and APHA, and the private contracts that protect everyone when the unexpected hits.
The story doesn’t end at the rail. We talk about starting or restarting a horse life later on and why age is a detail, not a deadline. Janine’s decision to buy at 75 becomes a blueprint for courage: learn the basics, lean on a community, and choose joy even if the calendar disagrees. We also tackle the practical side of ownership—budgeting beyond the purchase price, major medical and colic insurance, boarding expectations, and the seller red flags you should never ignore. If the horse doesn’t feel like your favorite pair of jeans, you don’t have to force the fit.
Training with music is our secret weapon for better rides. By matching gait to rhythm, riders relax, transitions smooth out, and lateral work turns into a dance rather than a debate. Use ballads to soften and settle, then bring in mid-tempo tracks for bend and contact before lifting energy with upbeat playlists for extension and forward. It’s a simple shift that builds feel faster than any lecture.
Whether you’re exploring a lease, eyeing your first purchase, or finding your way back to the barn, this conversation blends heart and hard-won horse sense. If it gave you clarity—or courage—subscribe, share it with a barn friend, and leave a review so more riders can find the show. What’s the next step in your horse journey?
May all your blues be ribbons
Hello everyone and welcome to the horse fix, where you can get a horse fix, you can fix your horse, and perhaps even help yourself along the way. I'm Dr. Sandra Holt, and I'm coming to you from my studio here in Longview, Texas. And guess what, guys? Nora's back. Yay! Have her just jump in here in a minute. So today we're going to talk about a few things. One will be about what it's like to lease your horse, lease your horse out to someone, what on that side of it, and what it's like to be the person who leases the horse. And then we're going to touch on the subject of buying a horse at a later age in life for the first time. And what the ramifications are there. The good, the bad, and the ugly. From there, knowing Nora will probably go off on a tangent or two. Anyway, let's get started. Nora, welcome. I'm so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_02:I'm so glad I'm here. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:We've had a nice couple of days. Yes, we have. Yeah. Yesterday we drove out to where my new horse, Cyrus, is. Nora's horse happens to be there as well. And so we had a grand time. She visited her horse and I rode mine. We went to lunch. We had lots of what's the word I want?
SPEAKER_02:Good conversation.
SPEAKER_01:Good conversation, yep. That's the word. Yeah, it was a great time. Uh sure do feel good about the decisions I've made with my new horse and keeping him in Alan's place. And how did it feel to put your arms around Mercedes?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, it was wonderful. What can I say?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You know, I had a hug her and smell her, and of course she knows she always acts like a diva. I get a kick out of that. Wonderful horse. It was so spiritual, and I'm I'm just she's just uh one of the loves of my life. It was wonderful. Last time I saw Mercedes was in September.
SPEAKER_01:The reason Nora hasn't seen her horse for a little bit is because her life got a little bit on on the hectic side, and she wanted to do her horse justice. That coupled with the fact that where where she's living right now is completely changed. It no longer is a horse country USA around there. She decided to lease Mercedes out and let Mercedes be the show horse that she is meant to be. How did that how did that all kind of come about for you?
SPEAKER_02:It got to a point to where, you know, there wasn't any trainer because you moved away. You know, I lived three hours away f and you know, it didn't wasn't doing Mercedes any justice for just for me riding her, which I could have anyways, and I still have, you know, but not to be able to show her or have a trainer or get her up to a level that she's capable of. And so Sandy and I were talking about it, and I said, Well, it'd be nice to find someone that I could trust, and that would be great for leasing her and maybe putting her in some shows. Yeah. Now, Sandy found Alan, her trainer, and he has a daughter named Alexis, and she spoke with them. I'll tell you something. It was hard for me at first, but now, wouldn't you know? This young lady and her dad trained this horse and work with this horse. And look at listen to the dates. July 13th is when they took the horse. In October, we had a show at Sulphur Springs, Texas. And would you know, Mercedes won the AQHA All Around Force Award? That's right. And that was just mind-blowing to me for just a short time. Well, then in November, they took her to the Congress in Oklahoma. And Mercedes won a few ch championships and then also a couple two reserve championships at the Congress, which I'm telling you, made me lose my mind with tears of joy.
SPEAKER_01:It was great. Nora and I couldn't be there, so was streaming live on the computer. So she and I got on the computer and we were watching it from our own homes. So, but we would be contacting each other every second.
SPEAKER_02:It was wonderful to watch and also the competition against Mercedes. Yes. So what I would say is if you're gonna lease your horse because of what's maybe going on in your life at the time, be patient. And if you have a great trainer and a great relationship and trust is most important with your trainer.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You trust their lead, as they know more than you do, right, of who to contact and what would fit and what would work out, and that you would be okay with that your horse is being taken care of very well.
SPEAKER_01:And I think uh the key word that you just said is fit. You want one that fits their personality, fits the rider's personality, and that you know they will connect and they will gel and they'll be successful, and the horse and the rider will be happy. And we we lucked out there for sure.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my goodness, I can't tell you it's the prayers were answered. And here's another thing. Sometimes we have to step away and not be maybe so-called selfish and hold on to the horse because we don't want to share the horse. But you have to say to yourself, what is the best situation for my horse? And Mercedes is so happy right now. Right. And she's a show horse, she's not a horse to stand around, only be rode once in a while or once a week and be in a pasture. That's not who she is. And once you recognize that, then you have to do what you can and what's best for the horse. And I feel the decision's been so great that I'm now gonna extend the lease because she'll be in the June Pinto World and Oklahoma. So I'm excited that that's gonna happen. And, you know, it's just all positive and it's wonderful. And most importantly, I found people that take really good care of her and they're good horse people, so I don't have to sit back and worry and wonder. She she looks great, and then you you have to find folks that are really gonna do what they say they're gonna do. Yeah, yeah. At the end of the day. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I can say, and I've probably said this before on other podcasts, that Alan Shaw has a great work ethic, and his word is golden. And I knew that when I recommended them to you, and and I'm glad it's turning out the way it is. On the other side, there are so many benefits for somebody who's not quite ready or hasn't found the exact horse for themselves to buy, but they want to show and they want to have that relationship with another horse. It's a great thing to try and discover a horse that you can lease. I even thought about that be when I wasn't finding the right horse to buy before I bought Cyrus. I thought, well, maybe I'll find one to lease for a while because I love showing and I didn't want to give it up. But luckily I did find Cyrus. But but I wouldn't be opposed to leasing a horse myself. For your knowledge, if any of you are thinking about it, there are several ways to lease a horse. Your your program, your lease program with Lexi is basically she takes care of the horse completely. Correct. All of its physical needs, financial needs, the whole thing. I think it's called care a care lease. So she doesn't pay you anything monthly to lease the horse.
SPEAKER_00:No.
SPEAKER_01:Now I do know there are a lot of people that do charge to lease a horse and above the care part. And that seems to be the English world a little bit. People seem to tend to do that a little more in that respect. But with every breed, there is a lease program within the breed so that you can show that horse in that breed. For instance, uh AQHA, if you want to lease a horse, you fill out a form, you pay them$100, and the lease is for a year, and uh you can then you can show that horse without being the owner. Now, if you're a professional and you're a trainer, you can show that horse anyway. But if you're an amateur, like Lexi is, like I now am, then you must show AQHA that you're leasing that horse in order to be able to show it and and garner points and be able to qualify for the world. Same thing with Paint Horse or Pento or Appaloosa or Palomino, and they all have their programs. I think Paint Horse is$30 for a year. They're all different. I suggest if you're interested in it, go online to that breed association and there'll be a section there that says leasing program, and I'll tell you all about it, and it'll give you the, you know, the formalities of making that happen. But aside from that, I think it's a good idea and I recommend that you have a private contract between yourself if you're the horse owner and the person that's leasing the horse. I think you have one, W.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, we did a contract together with what we expected and anticipated and what would work for both parties involved. So there's a clear understanding.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But I do recommend, you know, if you're out there looking for a horse, try leasing the horse for a while. So that way you know, do you really want to have this financial commitment? As it is a financial commitment, you know, and and then that way you could see do you want to stay in the sport? Yeah. Do you want to show the horse? I mean, so many factors. And then that way you can make the best decision. Yes, I want to start searching for one that I want to which, you know, a lot of people own them the minimum is what, 10, 15, 20 years at times, you know? Yeah. That's what I would recommend. There's a lot of good horses out there, but it has to be the right fit.
SPEAKER_01:It does. And it's it's so generous of the horse owner to lease the horse out. Like Nora said earlier, it's hard, but to be unselfish and to share your horse is important. And it helps that rider, the amateurs or the the novice riders, the 4-H kids, all of these kids that might not have access to a good horse, a good show horse, now suddenly do. And that teaches them how to own a horse. So it's a great program for anyone to get involved in.
SPEAKER_02:I think it would be nice if some of your listeners on this subject matter would share their experiences if they've ever leased a horse. Yes, I'd love to hear about that. And what breed and what they did with that.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Yeah, that that would be a great topic. And maybe we can carry that on to another podcast. I'd love to hear about all of your experiences and your your journey in doing so. So speaking of journeys, many have decided to fulfill their bucket list. I personally know a lot of people that have waited till they're 40, 50, 60 to get involved in the horses and to ride and to own a horse and to buy a horse. Nora and I share a good friend, Janine is her name. Hi, Janine, if you're listening. And she just bought a horse and she is in her 70s, I believe, isn't she?
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Let me, if I could tell you a little bit about Janine. Janine moved into my neighborhood, I think it was three or four years ago. So just to give you a little bit of insight about her, I saw an RV and a camper and a red, flushing red Camaro, and two huge four by four trucks, one of them with the big wheels that they have at the shows. This was all in her yard when she was. Now, mind you, perception, right? Yeah, yeah. I was thinking, oh, that's a big family that may have done how to be a couple boys and you know, maybe a few boys and all that. And so when I met her not too long after, walking my dog, I said, Oh, I said, uh, nice to meet you. I'll be looking forward to meeting your family. She goes, Oh, I live alone. And I thought, oh my gosh, and she goes, and I'm 73. Now she's 75. She'll be 76 in January. And I thought, holy moly, I better get my game on, you know. And this lady does Pilates. She's a hypnotherapist, she's spiritual. She was for 44 years as a hairdresser in San Francisco. That's a story all itself. You gotta have her on a podcast to talk about that situation. Oh my god. But uh who else she met and whose hair she did. Yeah. Back in the day. And what happened was as of three years ago, I started having her come with me to the ranch. So I just started showing her how to groom and how to clean and how to walk and how to halter. Yeah. All these things, how to lend your horse, everything.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And so she focused on my two.
SPEAKER_01:So Janine got refamiliarized with horses because of you. Right. You you brought her over to your play where you had your horses. You taught her to clean the feet and to to lead the horse and to, you know, communicate and how to touch the horse. Everything. And then she showed up at a couple of the shows that and watched the shows with us. Yes. And got real excited. And she's just just to be around the horses, you could see her energy was just overwhelming. I mean, she's just just uh well, you have to know her. She's like a hummingbird on crack.
SPEAKER_00:Right. That's a good way to put it. She's uh she's just she's delightful, and she just just just a go-getter and and reinventing herself every moment, basically, and and happy to do so, and just lots of fun.
SPEAKER_02:And you know, because she was always saying, Hey, um I love your horses and I don't mind grooming them, and you know, that you give me the opportunity to be around them, and I'm so grateful. But I would never buy one. I just, well, not at my age. And I said, Well, I understand. You're 75, you'll be 76. So she started taking lessons, and after a few lessons, she fell in love with the horse. So Janine thought about it and thought, I'm gonna buy this horse. I'm gonna ride this horse for my pleasure, learn the technique again. Yeah, and I have a daughter who's 42, who I'm gonna get her involved in riding him as well, because I know she will. He's so excited. So now she bought the horse, and her daughter just met the horse because this just recently happened, and they're gonna have a wonderful journey together as mother and daughter. Cool. And I think that is so exciting, and and you know what you need has stated, and I think everybody can really learn from this statement. It's not because I'm 75 going on 76, but if I have only one year of my life of joy from this animal, yeah. One year, if that's all that's God gonna give me, yeah, and I'm being blessed, yeah. That is a great attitude. It's not about age, it's about what you want to conquer in life, yeah, and what you want to trial.
SPEAKER_01:So I admire her for that. And you know, it's it's sad, but there are a lot of people out there that are judgmental. And again, perception. Uh uh people perceive you as at your age that why would you do that? Why would you venture into something brand new and difficult? And we are here on this earth. God wants us to enjoy our life, He wants us to prosper. And if you if you can have the opportunity to do so, why not? I've gotten quite a bit of criticism from different people about my buying of new show horse. Horses are pretty expensive these days, and at my age, you know, I'll be 74 in in a few days. And I've gotten some criticism about that. Paying that money for a horse and spending the time, you know, to show the horse and uh and competing against 30, 40 year olds or 20 year olds. And what am I doing? You know, do I really think I can win? Ha ha ha. Seriously, you think you can beat these kids? It's not about beating kids. It's about the joy, like Janine says. And if it's one year, two years, ten years, whatever, why not?
SPEAKER_02:I think sometimes mentally we stop ourselves. We do. And I I I I mean, I'm gonna be 66 next year. I don't ever plan on stopping to ride a horse. I mean, if God has given me the opportunity to have my health, I'm gonna do so. And I think that creates good a good life and good choices bring great energy. Yes, they really do. And and then and that energy just flows with you and stays with you and who you surround yourself with. Yes. There's always gonna be someone that's gonna say, Why would you do this? Well, maybe we should say, Why shouldn't we do this?
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Yeah, yeah, for sure. If you stay busy, if you stay active, it creates longevity. We also know that about our horses. We keep our horses active, keeping your horse in a stall and then just turning around every once in a while and just keeping them in a stall, and don't give them any reason to to connect with you. They get old faster. I've seen it time and time again. People get old faster when they lay down. When they let the old girl in or the old man in, they get they get old faster. And my mom, 92 years old, she would do my laundry. And I'd say, Mom, you know, you don't have to do my laundry. Oh, honey, I've got to keep busy. You know, this is what keeps me going. I gotta keep my legs moving, I gotta keep busy. And at ninety two, for her birthday, I I uh I took her to a place where they do therapeutic riding and they had the ramp where you could walk up the ramp and mount the horse easily and so she rode a horse at ninety-two years old. She used to be quite the horse lady. So, you know, I mean and she was all for it. You know, there was no, oh, I can't do that at my age. She was like you said, North, why not?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Why do we stop ourselves? Another thing, 'cause I think that if you haven't experienced this yet, a couple of years ago, I've had Mercedes Emma six years now, but I think when she I've had her like the second or third year, I got into I drove Sandy crazy. I had to talk her into it a little bit, bear with me. But I said, you know, it would be nice if I borrowed my boom box and I would do a playlist of like Italian music or Elvis or Johnny Cash or Loretta Lynn or Michael Booblay, Michael Blaine, all that, just a playlist and and ride in the arena and with my trainer and do different techniques with that music going. Boy, I'll tell you what, honey, you gotta see me on an extended trot. This 65-year-old can do an extended trot. You put some Jackson 5 music on or Motown, I'm going. Even Sandy would like, are you ever gonna sit down? Are you are you gonna stop? And you know what? That's a wonderful time because the cell phone's not on, there's no distraction, there's beautiful music playing, you're bonding with your horse, your horse is having fun too. And when you're done, you know, after that hour of riding and all that, and the music blaring and all that, it's like wow, you've accomplished something, and you feel so good inside. And I honestly feel it's great mentally and physically for your health.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. And you know, there's there's a lot of horses that music is really good for them. Now, and as a person, if you're musical at all, now Nora's very musical, and songs can bring her to tears, can bring her to laughter, can get her move in her body. I mean, Nora can dance, man. She gets down. And I I realized that when we put the music on, she forgot all the all the little things that she was trying hard to do in the saddle instead of trying hard. She just did them when the music played. She got out of her head and got into the movement with the horse.
SPEAKER_02:So true. Yeah. Where I have my insecurities. You know, because Mercedes is not that easy, you know. She's uh very touchy. And I got to the point of teasing Sandy, say, Wow, this is so good, I could probably ride her blindfold, you know, with the music playing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's fun, guys, if you've not done it before. And if you don't have a, you know, a speaker player or anything, just turn your phone on some music and stick it in your pocket or front pocket or somewhere. One of the my favorite songs to write to, and it does and it kind of gets me to well up. I get a little sentimental about it, is uh Hallelujah. And and another one is It's a Wonderful World. And, you know, some of those, some of those real soft um storytelling type songs can really get to me. But I feel so good with a horse when I'm doing that. And then another one of my favorite songs is Splish Splash.
SPEAKER_02:Oh gosh.
SPEAKER_01:Splish splash. I'm taking a bath. Some it just has a cool beat, you know. And uh Nora actually learned how to two-track, I think, with music. And then she started feeling like she was dancing with a horse, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, that was actually a couple of Frank Sinatra songs. Right. I it's so crazy. It's like you're listening to this music and it's like you're overcoming that insecurity. And I thought, okay, I can side pass or try. I had I was okay on one side, but the other side I had a little difficulty on, but I kept working on it. And the music will make you get through it. I can't explain it. Yeah. It's fun and it's enjoyable, and you have a positive outcome. And it I feel really helps you with your skill set.
SPEAKER_01:It does, it it helps a lot with transitions because and I I used to use this all the time with my students, put music on and have them change in their in their speed control and their transitions from a lope to a trot or back to the lope or to a walk as they listen to the music. So they start feeling the music and feeling their horse, transition up and down and faster and slower, stopping spinning, you know, and and just getting the horse to flow, you know, in those transitions, it it's a it's a good technique and it's it it is a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_02:Very enjoyable.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. So that's one of the tangents I was talking about that that we would probably get on. And here we are getting on that. But I you know, I I do think that's a good thing to try. So I want to talk a little bit about buying a new horse for the first time and you are older and and and not knowing everything. It's a it's a touchy situation. My advice to you is to really do your homework before you invest your money, your time, your commitment, your soul into something. Do your lot of homework because, first of all, financially, there's a lot to it. When you go out searching for a horse and and as a buyer, the seller may not be ethical as as much as you'd hope they would be. They may kind of get you to think that it it's easy to own a horse. They may get you to think that uh it's not too expensive and that you'll get along with the horse immediately. You know, anything to get that horse sold. But what you want is you want to find an owner of a horse that you're thinking about buying or or an agent. And I'll give you an example. You know, I looked at a lot of horses and one guy said, Oh man, this horse at sixty thousand dollars is a steal. And it's done this and that, blah blah blah. And I got on a horse and I thought, I didn't feel like the horse was well trained. But, you know, I thanked him very much and left. When I went to look at Cyrus, the guy that was showing him to me, his name's Mark Dunham, wonderful man. Anyway, he said to me, he goes, Now look, you get on this horse, and if it doesn't feel as good as your favorite pair of jeans, don't buy it. And I thought, you know, that that's a good thing to say. Because you do want that connection. If it's not even getting on a horse, like when you bought Mercedes, you bought her not having ridden her. I didn't get to ride her because I was had surf shoulder surgery. But you had that feeling. You said, Sandy, I I know I have this feeling.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I had a good intuition. You did, and you know, you'd have to follow your intuition too, men and women. You have your intuition, use it. Yeah, you know, let it guide you. Yeah. And if you have to take another few days to think about it, take another few days to think about it. Yeah, you know, don't rush in anything because like I tell folks buying a horse in my mind is like having another child. You have to feed them, make sure they're secure, well taken care of, shots, if they get sick, shoeing, everything. And and be okay with that. And be able to afford that without it bleeding you.
SPEAKER_01:Right, right. One of the things that is hard harder for me to swallow, and I saw it all the time having I ran aboarding, you know, stables in Winterhaven Ranch, and of course trained. When people, when the horse would get deathly ill, and the person would say, Oh, well, I can't afford colic surgery. Well, you know what? You gotta plan ahead, guys. Get horse insurance. Look at your budget and say, What if this horse gets critical critically ill? Can I take care of it? Like you said, like a child. Very yeah, that's a good analogy. And then your relationship with a horse is like getting married, you know. And uh if you don't get along, where do you go from there? Yeah, so there's a lot to think about when you when you're a first-time horse buyer, whether you're younger or older, it's it's not something you you want to jump into on a whim. You know, you really want to take your time and and then think it over. What else, Nora?
SPEAKER_02:I mean, we could talk all day. Well, I just think that I think down the road it would be nice, hopefully, if somehow Janine can be part of a podcast and give her experience and what she feels and what's made her decision.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, she's very entertaining, so it'll be fun to have her on the podcast. Well, guys, I think that's about it. I think we covered what we wanted to cover. I I really appreciate you, Nora, for for doing this for me. She's getting kind of a head cold, and so I she's not feeling 100%, and so I appreciate her for doing that. But thanks everybody for listening. I I hope you had a Merry Christmas. I'm wishing a very happy new year and a and a happy new beginnings, whatever they might be. And Nora, I hope you enjoyed yourself.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I I enjoyed everything. And folks, let me tell you, hug your families, hug your loved ones, hug your horses. Enjoy them. Enjoy them. They will guide you as they have for me and my family.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:I'm very grateful.
SPEAKER_01:Well said, well said. Well, that's it, guys, and until next time, may all your blues be ribbons. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.