Disclaimer: our thoughts:

 Possibly unwanted and unwarranted - feel free to stop reading now...

We all talk about 'schoolmasters' ... but many people don’t actually understand what that means.

A true schoolmaster isn’t just an older horse.

 It isn’t simply a horse that has competed.

 And it definitely isn’t a horse marketed as “been there, done that.”

A real schoolmaster is a 'set' horse.

Penton Maximus was that horse for our girls - the kind of horse that stays ‘set’ - trained, safe, polite and confident - regardless of who is riding them.

A rider loses confidence? The horse copes.

The rider isn’t particularly skilled? The horse copes.

The horse has a lighter workload? The horse copes.

Their feed changes? The horse copes.

Management changes? The horse copes.

They go to an ag show - do hack class with a nine year old and then go and jump around a metre with a teenager? The horse copes.

Pretty much nothing unravels a schoolmaster.

And that is incredibly rare.

Because the reality is most buyers cannot replicate the riding and management that a horse had in it’s previous home.

Many horses are wonderful… in the exact system they came from.

Professionally ridden 4 days a week.

In full work.

Managed meticulously.

Ridden by confident adults who can smooth over quirks.

Then they move to a junior, amateur or busy family home and suddenly things fall apart.

That’s not always because the horse is ‘bad’ or not honestly described.

It’s because it was never truly a schoolmaster.

And this is exactly why genuine schoolmasters carry a premium price.

And that value doesn't diminish because the horse is older, has management needs or hasn't won everything in the last year.

Schoolmasters retain their value because they are incredibly hard to find - they are safe and they protect rider confidence.

They teach.

They forgive mistakes.

They create positive experiences.

For the majority of riders, that is worth far more than a younger horse who is jumping higher and winning more.

Younger horses aren’t ‘set’ and they don’t build confidence.

The right schoolmaster does.