The Devil is in Brown M&Ms

There is a famous story about Van Halen. In their (very extensive) contracts, they specified that there were no brown M&Ms to be found in the backstage area. Otherwise the promoter would forfeit the entire show at full cost. While on the surface, this can be dismissed as mere “rock star antics,” David Lee Roth explains that the reason was something entirely different. It was a safety insurance. They traveled with what was at the time one of the most elaborate technical shows, carrying a large number of huge, heavy lights. The technical specifications to accommodate those lights needed to be met in order to ensure that no one got hurt. At the time, some promotors weren’t making sure they fully read the contract, and therefore endangering the band and crew. The no-brown-M&Ms clause was an indicator of whether proper attention to detail was being paid.

Part of being a trainer is to be a guardian of details. Safety for all involved is our first responsibility. Everything else is secondary. So when we hear about the “olden days”, when boots and spurs had to be spotlessly clean, bridles completely taken apart for deep cleaning, when straw in the mane or tail was a punishable offense, and tack rooms looked like the one above, it’s not so much an antiquated notion that no longer fits in our busy, modern schedules, as it is a brown M&Ms clause for red flags. Like lunging in sneakers and without gloves. Not closing the arena gate. Not running up the stirrups when leading the horse out of the ring. Letting a fully tacked up horse standing freely while “quickly” doing something else.

\Where does it stop? Are the stall cards correct? Do you have your shoeing schedule straight? Vaccinations? How about the riding? Does the horse get proper time to learn and understand or draw reins? Does the horse get a proper warm up or is he asked to trot off from the mounting block?

I realize that attention to detail is no longer really in fashion in a world of 140 characters, and photos and hashtags to be plastered about our social media of choice. It’s no wonder we now have folks showing up for a clinic with an international clinician with a filthy horse and dirty tack (but a $100 shirt). It’s no wonder we have folks taking lessons for years without it ever occurring to them to pick up a book about riding, let alone reading one. We have folks not understanding the most basic needs of the horse and thereby miserably failing in the management of the horses in their care.

People (about one in five riders will get a severe injury) and horses do get hurt, and a lot of those injuries are preventable. A recent study showed that equestrians a fairly bad at risk management. In other words, we’ve gotten certifiably bad at details. That’s a pretty scary thought when we’re dealing with 1200 lbs prey animals.

I don’t have the answer. There is no turning back the clock to old military-style riding instruction. And I don’t know if that would even have the desired result. I see brown M&Ms everywhere though. Daily. But I do know that all of us as professionals need to do better in speaking up for details, because they matter. And we need to set better examples.

*Picture is of the track room at the SRS. No brown M&Ms there.