Mary Beth Puryear's Puryear Stables

Great words of advice: One of my all time favorite pics, "The Savage" and the story behind it. Horse on the left was in the lead, horse on the right was closing... in the gap and starting to pass. Instead of the horse on the left putting forth more effort into gaining and keeping the lead, he reaches over and bites the horse on the right. Meanwhile the horse on the right has his ears laid back and his eye on the prize. Moral of the story... Never entertain foolishness. Have a purpose in life, stay focused and never let others bring you down. Winners are not people who never fail, but rather people who never quit. There‘s an old saying: a champion is someone who is willing to be uncomfortable & rock bottom has built more champions than privilege has. It's about hard work and the drive to do it. Determination to keep pushing forward when others would love to see you fail. Winning isn't the score on the board, it's seeing something through to the end and congratulating your opponent. If you win through bad sportsmanship there is no real victory. Favorite quote: "It’s not about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward."- Rocky Balboa FYI: The horse on the right won.

Horses don’t learn from pressure. They learn from the release of pressure, which is their reward for doing what we ask. And a little praise is a good thing too.

"If a horse says no, you either asked the wrong question or asked the question wrong. An average hunter course has 100 strides. Only 8 of them are jumps. Don’t sacrifice the 92 for the 8. On approaching a fence: good riders wait until it’s time to go. Great riders go until it’s time to wait. Don’t squat with your spurs on. It is NEVER the horse’s fault. Yes, sometimes a horse may take advantage of a situation, but there is ALWAYS something the rider could do differently to ch...Continue reading

A comfortable horse is a happy horse. And a happy horse makes for a happy rider.