Q&A with Tik Maynard

 

 

 

Tik Maynard is the author of the new memoir Starting in the Middle: How Horses, Those Who Study Them, and 265 Minutes with One Colt Helped Me Find Myself at Midlife. He also has written the book In the Middle Are the Horsemen. An event rider, he is from Southlands, Vancouver, Canada.

 

Q: What inspired you to write this new memoir?

A: I was invited to compete at “Road To The Horse, the World Championship of Colt Starting,” in Lexington, Kentucky, in 2024.

This was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I wanted to take notes, remember key moments, learn a ton, and to share my experiences with others.

I enjoy working with horses, but I also enjoy writing, researching, reflecting, and editing.

We had a tight deadline, in order to release the book at RTTH 2025, but it was a work of passion, from start to finish.

Q: How would you describe your relationship with horses?

A: One where I am trying to constantly understand them. To teach them; to learn from them. I’m trying to continually seek out new and better methods or interacting with them. How do horses learn, feel, and play? What motivates them?

I have no expectations for what horses will offer me. They aren’t going to be a friend, or perform, or let me on their back, just because I love them or I feed them, but they may do those things depending on how I teach them and how I make them feel.

There is no “they should do this,” there is only what they know and how they feel.

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

A: Rebecca, my amazing, amazing, editor at Trafalgar Square Books, came up with the title. I loved it right away.

The idea of the “middle” is tied it to my first book, In the Middle Are The Horsemen. On one end of the spectrum is the person that loves horses, but doesn’t understand them and has no boundaries with them, on the other end of the spectrum is the person that uses force or fear — the horseman is often found in the middle.  

The horseman, or horsewoman, is regularly looking for the middle path — they are happy to compromise.

The middle also refers to mid-life. I’m 43 now. And while I have been around horses my entire life, starting horses was a shift in career for me. (Starting used to be called “breaking.” Starting is the process of taming them and preparing them for a life with humans, both from the ground and under saddle.)

The middle also refers to the middle the round pen. Just because we are in a pen doesn’t mean we are entirely relying on the rails to keep the horse with us. We want to keep coming back to the middle. And to have them join us there.

Lastly, the middle might also refer to the horse’s life. Even though the horses at RTTH are still young, 3 years old, they have those three years to have their own experiences, their own friends, and their own likes and dislikes. Even though they might be a blank slate in terms of their relationships with humans, we still need to meet them where they are at.

Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: I’m not the kind of person that journals every day, but by committing to writing this book I committed to being a diligent note taker. That helped me keep my thoughts in order. I took notes right up to, and during, RTTH 2024. I then spent the next year writing the book while simultaneously preparing for RTTH 2025.

I hope what readers take away from it is that each of us have our own ingredients for how we interact with animals, and how we teach. I learned from a lot of people, but in the end I did it my way.

 

Two keys for me were “High Involvement, Low attachment,” the idea of being focused on the process more than the end result, and that one definition for love might be “being totally present.”  

Q: What are you working on now?

A: A lot of working to pay the bills, but also playing. Playing with my two kids, aged 3 and 6. Playing with the horses. And playing with different ideas for the next project, and the next book.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: If you’re feeling motivated today, please buy this book directly from the publisher or at your local tack shop or bookstore. If you’re not, there is, of course, Amazon. Thanks everybody, I appreciate you.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb