‘HORSES ARE THE REASON I GET UP EVERY MORNING’
Equestrian talks with Aleesha Harris about horsemanship, his book and how he got his life back on track.
Q What made this the right time to write this book?
A The right time? (laughs) I’ve been working on this book for 10 years. In 2008, I started writing about my adventures with horses for Gait post magazine. Then, later I wrote for Chronicle of the Horse, a magazine based out of Virginia. In 2012, after I had 20 or so articles, I pitched the idea of collecting them into a book to a few publishers and agents. None of them replied.
Fast forward four years: I won a horse-training competition in Kentucky, then wrote about it for a popular American magazine, Practical Horseman. It was a pretty good article, I put a lot of time into it. At that point, one of those book publishers I had emailed years earlier reached out to me. “Let’s do a book together,” they said. I didn’t tell them for ages that I had pitched them the same idea years earlier. I just wanted them to be happy. The book begins with those articles but has become so much more.
Q What role have horses played in your life?
A My grandfather on my father’s side left a job hauling coal in Toronto and drove my grandmother most of the way to Vancouver. Then, as there was no road yet, they left the car in Summerland and rode horses the rest of the way. Both my parents have ridden since they were children. My father is 75 and still rides every day. My mother rode until the day before I was born, and rode right up until she had both hips replaced. My two brothers and I all grew with horses. We enjoyed all kinds of riding: riding for fun, riding to compete, jumping, dressage, trail riding, relay races, even riding on vacation. It’s actually crazy that I don’t think I started to understand horses until I was 30. But, who knows, maybe I’ll say that again in 30 years.
Q And now?
A Horses are the reason I get up every morning. Not just to ride, or compete, but to understand them. It’s become a way of life. It is a big leap from riding horses to really getting to know a horse, but that’s the journey I’m on.
Q You became a “working student” at a pivotal moment in your life. What can you share about that?
A A working student position is like an apprenticeship. There are a lot of early mornings and long days. There is mucking stalls and cleaning tack and sweeping and more mucking stalls. There are sweaty shirts and calloused skin on cracked hands. I was in my mid-20s, a little old to become a working student, but I’m glad I did. It set me on a journey that took me to Germany, Florida, New Jersey and Texas. Looking back, there were so many places where my path could have gone another way.
When I started I was at a low point in my life, but a lot of hard work sure helped get me back on track and help me find my passion. There is an expression
I’ve heard for difficult horses: A problem horse is usually just a horse without enough work to do. I think it applies to more than just horses, though.
Q Did you ever imagine it would develop into a lifelong career?
A At the beginning, no. Horses were fun, and a sport. It wasn’t until I started learning about starting horses and dealing with behavioural issues that I thought, whoa! This is really interesting. This is intellectual. Here are some questions and riddles that could keep my mind occupied for a lifetime. Even if I could never ride a horse again I would still love to do what I do, which is to look at situations with horses and try to figure out how to make it work out for everybody. Take for example a horse that refuses to go on the trailer. The easy part is getting them on. The hard part is looking at the situation first and figuring out why they don’t want to go on. Is the ramp slippery? Is the ceiling low? Do they not lead well? Are they leaving their friends? Have they had a bad experience?
The answer to one problem may make another problem worse. I try to approach horse situations with the same curiosity and passion as Sherlock Holmes or Oliver Sacks.
Q What has been the feedback to this book so far?
A Well, I read recently that the last Harry Potter sold 11 million copies in the first 24 hours, so I’m a long way off that, but the people that are reading it have given me really positive feedback.
A few people have told me it’s the “best horse book” they have ever read. That is a pretty nice compliment.
Q Is it a read that’s best-suited for “horse people?” Or can everyone read it?
A I think it would help to have a passing interest in horses, or animal behaviour, but I tried to write it so anybody could read it. Into Thin Air might be more interesting to a climber, but I know I still loved it!
Q Lastly, what do you hope people take away from this book?
A Somebody asked me that question right when the book was coming out and I thought: Take away from it? I just hope somebody besides my parents will even read it! But now that it has been out for a while and I know a few others are reading it, I need to come up with a better answer, so here goes: For those that are horse people, I hope they will think about the difference between control and communication. For everybody else, I hope they will be inspired to understand more about the world around them. In my case it was horses, but it could be dogs, or trees, or literature, or shoes, or water. Whatever you want. Having a passion is fun. Hard work — but worth it.
Even if I could never ride a horse again I would still love to do what I do, which is to look at situations with horses and try to figure out how to make it work out.