AHSA Horseman of the Year, Manager of the prestigious Chagrin Valley Hunt Club, Vice President of the Horsemen’s Association of America, USA Equestrian Honor Roll of Distinguished Officials – Howard Lewis’s impressive list of accomplishments are precisely what legends are made of. But behind each winning statistic, each award, the real story is about a lifetime of hard work and skill. It is about talent and diligence and respect for the horse. Whether you are a student, an instructor, trainer, or competitor, Howard says ultimately it all comes down to the horse, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He is the ultimate horseman.
Howard began riding as a young boy, when his father surprised the family and bought a riding horse. He and his brother rode that horse double everywhere, and eventually they even got a saddle. When Howard tells this story, he laughs. His dad led the horse home while driving the car; the horse on the lead shank and walking alongside, nine miles to home.
Howard is eighty-five years old, or should I say young, and can’t even imagine counting all the horses he’s schooled and ridden and shown and hunted in his lifetime as an equestrian and trainer. I was sitting behind the ultimate horseman in the grandstand at a show last summer and listening to him telling a friend about a filly he had ridden at the “Gardens”. This was a world class horse that he’d shown at Madison Square Garden and to hear him tell the story, it was as commonplace as talking about a backyard hack.
Howard has spent the majority of his career as a renowned horse trainer working with hunter-jumpers. I asked him of all the horses in his life, did he have any favorites? “Two,” he said, his eyes lighting up. “One was an Irish Bred horse called Sweet William. Now he was fun.” The other one was a Thoroughbred name Chesman. “They were both fun to ride and both very competitive. Tough to handle at times, but they were great horses.”
Howard and his wife Betty Jane were married for almost 50 years. His face saddens as he says, “She passed away just before our Golden Anniversary.” They were life partners. Even though she was not a horseperson and happened into the life of horses by way of Howard, they were a team. He says she only rode once that he knows of. He’d talked her into going on a trail ride with him. Her horse started acting up and she bailed by way of grabbing a low branch on a tree. Howard chuckled, recalling the incident. He said, “She couldn’t ride, but she sure knew how to dismount.” Over the years, Betty would braid the horses’ manes and tails for shows, but that’s as close as she preferred to get to the horses otherwise.
Considering Howard’s winning record and international reputation as a legendary horseman, I asked him what he looked for in a horse. I expected him to say breeding, confirmation, size…. No, he said he liked manners, good manners and a plain head. He said no matter what, if a horse had good manners, he always felt he could work with them. “I’m a little leery of a horse with too small or too pretty of a head,” he added. “I don’t know why, but I just am.”
When asked about his training methods, he was very direct. He said horses can really only concentrate for about fifteen minutes at a time. So, if you’re working a horse, and you’re working him longer than that you’re probably not benefiting the horse or the rider either for that matter. A horse will start fretting if you work him for too long a period of time. He said, “I like a good warm up period, and like to have a good long cool down, but the actual work, works best if you don’t wear the horse down mentally.” He feels this is the best method of accomplishment for the horse and also for the rider or trainer. “Don’t drill them too long. You’ll do more harm than good. Walk them in between, let them relax, let them stretch, let them look around.”
“What do you like best about the business of show horses?” I asked.
Howard didn’t hesitate. “Working with the horses, choosing them, training them, challenging them.” He said, “Don’t get me wrong, I loved showing, I loved instructing. I had some great students. But training the horses, sitting in that saddle, asking a horse to do something they’ve never done before, and going on to perfect that jump, that movement, that stride. To me, that was the best.”
Howard has pretty much seen it all over the years. When he recalled the barn fire at Dorchester Farms, he paused and shook his head. “That was a hard time,” he said. He was at a show out of state when he received the news. He left the show immediately and when he arrived at the barn, he had the arduous task of helping get the horses buried. “It was so heartbreaking,” he said, with a catch in his voice. “It was devastating.” Since Dorchester Farms is where I learned to ride, I recall this incident vividly, and we both welcomed a change of subject.
Howard Lewis was tough to beat in the show ring. When asked who his fiercest competitor was, he said very humbly that there were many but without a doubt Cappy Smith and Max Bonham stood out the most. They were each others’ nightmares. One would win one day, and the other, the next. This went on for years. Speaking for myself as the author and an upstart back then, whenever I went to a horse show, I personally would gage its importance by whether or not Howard Lewis was there.
Ken Smith, who worked under Howard’s tutelage at Chagrin Valley Stables and now an A-Circuit Trainer, credited Howard with his foundation for success. “I was a young professional right out of the Juniors, and he let me show between ten and fifteen horses. He gave me a lot of opportunites and a lot of freedom to learn by the seat of my pants.”
Though Howard’s lovely wife, Betty Jane was not an equestrian, Howard passed on his love of riding and training horses to just about everyone else in his family. His sons Jerry and Tom, his daughter Sharon, daughter-in-laws Betsy and Carol, and granddaughters Cody and Brittany are all renowned accomplished equestrians and trainers in their own right. Granddaughter Jessie is also an accomplished rider, granddaughter Tiffany rode when she was younger and competed in horse shows. Son-in-law Tom is an Equine veterinarian, grandson Sean is attending veterinarian school. Howard’s love of horses is in their blood.
I asked Howard when he’d ridden last and he laughed. “A few years ago,” he said. Friend and well-known dressage trainer, Gretchen Singleton had a horse that Howard was admiring at a show, and as is the case with most horsemen and horsewomen one thing led to another and before long Howard was in the saddle. “This was a very nice horse,” he said, which meant it probably was a champion. “And I enjoyed the ride.”
I love that.
Gretchen herself says what sets Howard apart from the rest is the ability to try new things. “He is tremendously open to that type of scenario. Though he had always been strictly hunter-jumper, when I came to him one day and suggested that we field a dressage team from his students, he was all for it. He opened his barn to me and allowed me to teach the juniors who we ultimately took to the Prix de Ville.”
I spoke with many of Howard’s students from over the years and it was all praise. His students adore him.
“Mr. Lewis was the best.”
“Grandpa Horseshow, we called him. We loved him.”
“He was always fair.”
“I loved training with him.”
“He made me the rider I am today.”
“There’s no one better than Mr. Lewis.”
“He stressed sportsmanship.”
Sportsmanship – This is a term that is practically synonymous whenever there is a mention of Howard Lewis. His students were winners more times than not, but they also knew there was always something to be learned even from losing. And there was no taking anything out on the horse. He wouldn’t stand for that in any shape or form. They’d have to dismount and put their horse away. That’s all there is to it.
Howard is known for his kind hand with a horse. “If you abuse a horse, you’re tearing down more than you can ever gain. You have to know when to quit. You need to use good judgment.”
I asked Howard if there was an improvement in the way hunter-jumper horses were trained and shown now as opposed to when he first started in the business, and he said yes. He likes that horses aren’t rushed as much as they were in the early stage of his career as a trainer. “A horse going over jumps went from two foot to three foot six almost in the blink of an eye, because those were the major classes back then. Now you have jumps at heights in between and it’s much better for the horses. It’s a better way of bringing them up.”
Howard’s at the horse shows most every weekend, and if one is lucky, they’ll get to sit next to him for a few minutes and just listen to what he has to say and see what he’s seeing. When his eyes rest on a horse warming up and a smile crosses his face, settle back and watch along with him. Chances are he’s just picked the champion.
A portion of this article originally appeared in the November 2010 issue of Practical Horseman.