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Modify for Mares with Jared Leclair

A good training session with your mare is built on understanding, compromise and trust.

Article and photos by Ross Hecox

Jared Leclair says training mares is a continuous mental game. You have to be able to look in their eye and know what they’re thinking.	Leclair usually keeps the first 10 minutes of a training session low-key, giving the mare time to relax and focus on him.

There may not be a book titled Stallions are from Mars, Mares are from Venus, but reining trainer Jared Leclair certainly understands the differences between horse genders. He says his female pupils require a different approach in the training pen.
Leclair, who has won most of his lifetime earnings on mares, uses the same training methods on all his horses. But whenever he’s schooling a mare, the application of those methods often changes, and the session becomes more of a mental game.
“In general, your whole approach is different,” Leclair said. “With a stud, you can go about things quicker. You can push him a little harder. But a mare will tell on you if you mess up—if you pulled too hard or put too much pressure on her. You’re on a fine line. If you make a mistake, she’s gonna let you know.
“The mare Dun It In Tinseltown—sometimes I’ll give her treats after I ride her. This might sound funny, but there was one day I trained on her pretty heavy. Well, she wouldn’t eat her treat. She was mad at me and didn’t want any part of it.”
Leclair knows all too well how temperaments affect progress, so he works to keep his mares receptive to training. It’s not just what you do, but how you do it.
“You have to find different avenues to go about training,” he said. “You’ve got to be a little creative.”
Leclair turns out his mares regularly and usually doesn’t work them on Sundays and Mondays. Their first couple of days back in the training pen are relatively low-key, and Leclair makes sure sessions don’t develop into fights.
“You come to a compromise more than you would with a stud,” he said. “With a stud, you probably feel more like you need to conquer him. With mares, it’s a different feel. You’ve got to trust them more.
“You got to know what they’re saying to you. Do they not want to get trained and don’t want to be nice? Or do they just have a little more feel, and you’ve got to let them relax on their own?
“I don’t want to make it sound like you shouldn’t train on them. But you got to pick your times of when you need to push them and how hard you need to push them. With mares, you’re always walking a fine line between what’s too much and what’s not enough.”
Leclair makes sure his mares have the right mindset before he begins training.
“When I get on, for the first ten minutes I’m not really training them at all,” he said. “I’m just gonna let them walk around and kinda look around. It takes ten or fifteen minutes for them to mentally prepare themselves to allow you to train them. If you get on and in the first five minutes you start pulling their head around, they start getting high and nervous. Just take ten minutes and do nothing, let them relax, and then slowly you can start training.”
Recognizing that tractable attitude is simple.
“You can see it in their eye and feel it in your hand,” Leclair said. “When you take ahold of their face and pull them around, are they relaxed through their body? Are they looking at you or at something else, still worried about what’s going on?
“You got to be able to look in their eye and know exactly what they’re telling you. A lot of people think they’re reading their horse, but they’re not. They think, ‘She’s not being good. She doesn’t want to be trained.’ But really, she could be just a little nervous and trying to figure it out. Or she’s trying so hard that maybe she messed up.”
If a mare needs an intense schooling session, Leclair always tries to rebuild her confidence.
“Whether it’s turning, stopping or circling, you have a foundation where they’re comfortable at that speed,” he said. “Once you step them up, you take them out of their comfort zone and try to get them comfortable there. But with mares, you always bring them back to their comfort zone.
“When you train on them heavy or get after them, always follow through and make sure they’re relaxed and confident.”
Some mares also have their quirks, and Leclair says that sometimes it’s best to simply leave them alone.
“We had one mare that would not let you put a knee boot on her,” he said. “You could fight with her for ten minutes trying to put it on. Finally, it was just, ‘Hey, you don’t want to wear one? That’s fine.’”
Leclair believes that mares are generally honest and willing to please. The key to success with them is having patience, building trust, paying attention and maintaining a willingness to compromise. It sounds like good advice for another relationship known for its classic gender clashes.
“My wife said, ‘You should say that it’s just like being married. It’s just a compromise,’” Leclair said with a grin. “It’s hard. But I like it best because it’s more of a mental game. You have to get inside their head and figure them out.”

Jared Leclair began showing horses at a young age, competing in a wide variety of events. Reining was his favorite. He grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, and learned much about horsemanship from his uncle, Toby Tyler, a local trainer. After attending the University of Findlay for three years, Leclair began working for reining breeder Steve Simon. A few years later he accepted a job as assistant trainer for Tim McQuay, where he has worked for the past two years. In 2004, Leclair won the Intermediate Open at the All American Quarter Horse Congress riding Wowsanic. In 2005, he finished reserve in the same division at the NRBC aboard Dun It In Tinseltown. This year, he and the mare won the Intermediate Open title at the NRBC. Also in 2006, Leclair debuted in the Open finals of the NRHA Derby on Especial Diamond (PH). So far, he has earned more than $76,000 in reining competition. Leclair and his wife, Heather, live in Tioga, Texas.

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