Tik Maynard; Dancing with Horses

Forgive me. I didn’t know Tik Maynard was such a big deal! I was asleep for a couple of decades, immersed in my work in the energy conservation field and a proud disowner of technology, literally living in the woods at the end of a dirt road, while Tik Maynard lived a big juicy life and became a big deal in the horse world.

Since we met at a horse trial in Altoona Florida I have been catching up with what the rest of the world already knows about Tik, and sifting through a treasure trove of information about him on that Interweb thing you young people use!

I met Tik this April at Rocking Horse Spring Horse Trials on a hot, breezy, sunny afternoon, the day after a storm broke and we all ran for cover.

I was there helping an old friend Nicole Parkin; with three out of her four young horses competing over two days, she had a lot to juggle! Nicole’s youngsters were great; all coming home with good experiences. One of them even won their division!

After Nicole and her husband Frank left with their horses, I decided to stay, soak up the sunshine and enjoy watching athletic horses as they galloped across this manicured park. It had been 30 years since I was last there with my old horse O'Reilly, and although I had retired, many of my old friends were still at it. It would be fun to see them in action again, after all these years!

I positioned myself in the shade of a grove of towering mossy oaks where the first question on the course was – two skinnies related to each other on a line in the shade – and I saw one pair make it look like poetry! Yes, many others made it through the same combination successfully, and yes, this gorgeous dark horse was nice to look at, but it was something else. There was something about their expressions - the looks on both the horse and rider's faces - that could be felt. It was pure joy! They were having such a sweet ride! I stopped to listen to the announcer, waiting to be told who this young magician was, and wasn’t surprised when I heard him say, ‘Tik Maynard’.

“Yep!” I thought! “That makes sense!"

I had heard that Tik was into liberty work, so, it stood to reason that he would have a special connect