After instructing multiple horse-and-rider pairs all day Friday, legendary trainer George Morris took a well-deserved seat on a stage at William Woods University and talked from the heart.
"I do a lot of clinics," Morris, who turned 79 in February, said. "If I get a couple (students) that are inspired - and I (teach) 20 to 24 usually - that's all you can hope for. What these clinics do is maybe give people a vision. Most people can't do what I'm talking about in there, but it gives them a vision."
Morris didn't start off with a silver spoon in his mouth, nor did he have a barn full of Olympic-caliber ponies. He started like many dedicated riders: Taking lessons at a local barn.
"I had a difficult childhood. I was timid, very nervous and socially insecure," he said. "After three months of lessons, the trainer told my mother, 'He's built for tennis.' But I loved it. I was nervous, but I just loved it."
Six months later, the trainer talked to Morris' mother again.
"He said, 'Alice,' - by that time he knew our names - 'Alice, he doesn't have it,'" Morris said. "After a year, he said, 'Well, he's working hard. Maybe we'll make something of him.'"
Another obstacle: Asthma. Morris said he'd groom one horse, then have to leave the barn. While riding, he takes a lot of walk breaks just to catch his breath.
At the unlikely age of 14, Morris won two very prestigious medals. He went on to represent the United States on the gold medal-winning Pan American Games team in 1959, and the silver-medal Olympic team at the 1960 Rome games. He wears an Olympic ring on his right hand.
He rode on eight winning Nations Cup teams. He trained multiple Olympic teams with riders including Melanie Smith Taylor, Anne Kursinki and Peter Leone. He is considered the founding father of hunt seat equitation, and to many, he's a god.
"It's been exciting," said Michele Smith, William Woods' associate professor of hunter/jumper equestrian studies. "He's a super clinician and kind of the epitome of what the hunter/jumper world is all about."
Morris is known for being a blunt, no-nonsense kind of teacher throughout the equestrian world - people who adore him anyway.
"He's kind of strict," Smith added. "It's good for these students to see what he's all about."
One student participating in the three-day clinic was Vonla Glassman, a junior majoring in equestrian administration and business. She'd taken her first class with Morris on Friday and was looking forward to riding with him again this weekend.
"Everybody knows him," she said, adding he didn't make her cry. "But I still have two more days."
The road to horsemanship
Morris emphasized five points to becoming a true horseman.
Ambition. "People think they have ambition; they talk about their ambition. They think they're all going to do the Olympics, but very few people go to the Olympics."
Emotion: "You should be cool or cold. You'd think Beezie (Madden, American show jumping competitor and Olympian) has ice water in her veins? Yes. You can have no temper with a horse - or a dog. It's OK with people (laughter). I love to practice my temper with you."
Management: "Most people let themselves down. You have to take care of the horse from top to bottom - also the rider. That's where most people fall short."
Selection: "Some people just have an eye for a good horse. They might be novices or kids or adults. And then some great riders, they always pick a bad horse."
Talent: "Talent is a distant fifth. I'm very lucky I've had a long career in the horse business. I started out with no talent."
Morris said what's gotten him through his career are these five points.
"I still have enormous ambition," he said. "I personally understand ambition. I personally understand ambition and nerves. I particularly understand being adamant about the management of the horses."
Dressage rules
Of all the disciplines of riding, Morris said dressage has captivated him.
"In the 1940s and 50s, we'd heard of it but it was exotic. We didn't know what it was," he said. "I was very lucky in my formative years to be indoctrinated with dressage."
As time has passed, dressage - an Olympic sport that focuses on precise, gymnastic flat-work - has become even more important to Morris, he said.
"As I've gotten older, I've gotten more and more interested in the classical principles of dressage. I am fascinated," he said. "I've got 400 books in my house and half are dressage books, the older ones."
He told the crowd, which included a variety of riders of all ages and disciplines, they'd do well to study classical dressage principles.
"It irritates me that 20 percent have an understanding of flat work and 80 percent jumping," he said. "They don't know shoulder fore, leg yields, straightness. You have to work at it. It's called horsemanship."
He has a book published by Trafalgar Press, "Unrelenting: The Real Story: Horses, Bright Lights, and My Pursuit of Excellence."
"In this book, if I can help a boy or a girl if this book adds confidence and helps some kid, it's worth it," he said of his biography. "Probably 20, 25 years ago, I couldn't have written this book."