By Diane Deffenbaugh

As someone who has spent years riding and showing in both English and Western disciplines, I’m always intrigued by riders who are open-minded enough to explore outside their own “arena.” That’s what first drew me to Tik Maynard’s memoir, “In the Middle Are the Horsemen.” Part travelogue, part coming-of-age story, and part horsemanship journal, the book follows Maynard’s journey as a working student for top riders across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. His goal? To learn from the best, no matter the discipline.

And that’s what I admired most about this book: his willingness to immerse himself fully in each experience, whether mucking stalls in Germany or trying his hand at working cattle. Few riders are willing to put ego aside and learn from styles outside their comfort zone — and even fewer can do it with the kind of curiosity and humility that Maynard brings to the barn aisle.

The behind-the-scenes look at the life of a working student was fascinating, especially for those of us who’ve spent our own share of time stacking hay bales or cooling out sweaty horses at shows. Maynard’s chapters about his time with legends like Anne Kursinski and Johann Hinnemann — and cameos like George Morris being, well, George Morris — offer valuable insight into the intensity, discipline, and sometimes chaos of high-level barns.

That said, the book isn’t without its flaws. Structurally, it jumps around at times in ways that made it hard to follow, at least in the audio format that I used during my commute to Blacksburg each day. And while Maynard’s open-mindedness is often his strength a horse psychic brought in to uncover the reason behind a trailering incident — and the reason she uncovers — was maybe one step too far for me.

One thing I couldn’t ignore is the level of privilege that made this journey possible. Most of the riders featured in the book are not first-generation horsemen, and neither is Maynard. The ability to work for weeks or months unpaid, to travel internationally to ride with elite trainers, and to take the time for such an extended apprenticeship is out of reach for many aspiring horsemen and horsewomen. It’s important to recognize that while the grit and sweat were real, so were the resources that made it all feasible. And while Maynard deals with a lot of criticism about his riding ability along the way, no one gets into those barns as a working student without being a dang good rider already.

But I do acknowledge that his journey for knowledge paid off big. Maynard has built his own very successful training business based in Citra, Florida, and just recently won Road to the Horse for the second time. While he may have gotten there anyway as a talented rider, his experiences detailed in this book certainly made his more well-rounded and self-aware of not only his strengths but his weaknesses.

“In the Middle Are the Horsemen” isn’t polished literature, but it’s an honest and thoughtful account of one rider’s search for meaning through horses. If you’re curious about different approaches to horsemanship and enjoy a good barn story, this book offers plenty to chew on.