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Originally Posted by ShadowRoll
Not sure I fit your specifications, since I'm as much of a fan as a handicapper, but here goes.
Before last summer, I'd never been on a horse before, was even a little scared of them. But I live in a county in Pennsylvania that's real horse country -- more thoroughbreds than any other PA county, plenty of farms with connections to famous horses (e.g., Barbaro, Smarty Jones), I even think Michael Matz lives in my township -- so I thought it incumbent upon me, given all the opportunities, to find out what it was like to ride.
I signed up for this short (8 weekends?) riding course at one of the local farms. Although the actual teaching was conducted mostly by teenage girls, which didn't instill me with a lot of confidence, they had us doing low jumps by the third lesson. I generally rode a retired racehorse, which was pretty cool. I never fell off, but came close a few times. There were a couple of things I thought I undertsood, intellectually, about horses, but which I came to realize that I could only really appreciate, viscerally, by experiencing them.
First, horses listen only because they want to listen. They can be as obstreperous and resentful or as obliging and content as any person. They won't do, and you can't make them do, anything they don't want to do.
Second, jockies are crazy mf'ers. Horses are so big and powerful, and their reflexes so much quicker than humans, that any feeling of being secure in the saddle is only an illusion. A jock is really no more in control than a leaf riding a dust devil.
As far as handicapping, I guess I'm a lot more aware that these animals aren't black boxes, and that their performances can be as much a result of the vagaries of their mood as of their ability. This has made me more willing to discount isolated bad performances and more willing to give further consideration to horses I might have otherwise cursorily written off as non-contenders. It's also made me appreciate how a good trainer -- one that keeps the horse healthy and happy -- can improve performance. No matter how bad the recent form, I pay close attention when a horse is claimed back by a trainer that was more successful with the animal in the past, especially when there's a little time off before the next start. Also, as was said above, being able to observe at close range the body language of horses, which I'd previously only read about, has been helpful.
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