Wilson Ruiz – Una Imagen de Triunfos

PPF: Wilson, good day, thank you for accepting this interview for Perfiles del Paso Fino.
WR: Thank you. Thank you so much to Perfiles del Paso Fino and to all the horse people for the invitation to this interview.

PPF: For those who don’t know you well, tell us a little bit about your beginnings as a horseman.
WR: Well, my beginnings as a horseman start with me not having a horseman background. There was someone who guided me in the horse world, though he died very young, Delvis Ramirez. He was the one who led me in all this, along with his brother, Tim Ramirez, and that is how my horse story began as a young boy in Puerto Rico. However, I do not come from a horseman background, I was just born with horses running through my blood.

PPF: At what point did you realize that you were interested in this?
WR: When I was around 15 years old, I saw my friends riding horses and it sparked that intrigue to have horses. I had bought some trail horses, but when I was about 16 or 17, I had already gotten on track with Paso Fino horses in Puerto Rico and that is when my career began.

PPF: When did you move to the United States?
WR: I came to the United States when Mr. Hernando Gutierrez had me called to come ride Capitan in Ocala, and that was when my career began.

PPF: With Guti! That’s great. Now, why Capitan? How old were you at the time?
WR: I was about 20 or 21 years old. I came to lend a hand to Pedro Segovia, a very good friend of mine. That was when we both began to work together in Ocala. Your horse was there too…
PPF: My baby!
WR: There were several horses there. I remember at the time there were 5 or 6 famous horses Pedro was riding there and I came to help him. That’s when I started living here in the US.
PPF: So, there was a time when you had the opportunity to learn from Pedro Segovia.
WR: Yes, yes. He is an excellent teacher. And I have always been one to take something from everything. I am never closed off to anything because I like to learn. At my age, I am still learning.
PPF: Of course, you do.

PPF: Did you ever imagine reaching the level of success you have accomplished so far?
WR: Uh… no. No! The truth is that, as a trainer, now I am with the kids more, but I still train. As a trainer, we always think about winning. But to have the success I have reached, having my own brand, my own name, my own business, having everything I have, my students – we have a very solid academy… I never thought of having any of this.

PPF: Since you began your career as a trainer, tell me how you came to be an equitation instructor.
WR: Well, as a trainer, there is always a parent with a child, and we normally start giving classes to the child. I have always liked that passion. I have always wanted to teach what I have been or what I am to the children, especially to be good showers. That’s how it all got started. I began a career as a riding instructor and now I have my own academy.

PPF: How long have you had the academy?
WR: My academy has been around for about 4 years, but before that, I had been working for other academies.

PPF: At this moment, more or less how many students do you have?
WR: Off the top of my head, I have a good 115-120 children.
PPF: Only children or do you also instruct adults?
WR: Yes, at this moment, I do. Some 3 or 4 months ago, several parents have started taking classes. At this last horse show, two of those parents already started competing. This is something that is becoming more common with the parents and their children. The kids tell their parents that they want to see them ride.

PPF: I think that is one of the most notorious characteristics of your academy. In part, we see more family unity. It isn’t the child on his/her own like at a gymnastics event, or any other sport. Rather, it’s a true integration of the entire family in the industry, as it happened to mine. Additionally, this isn’t just about sitting on a horse in the show ring, but also knowing how to work a horse. Spectators can notice which youth riders know how to handle something that perhaps was not expected in the show ring. I believe that stems from your experience as a professional trainer.
WR: There are two ways to ride a horse; riding for equitation and actually handling a horse. It’s not the same to sit and place your feet properly than to know what to do when a horse gets spooked or jumps out of nowhere. A rider needs to always be on the lookout with their horse. There are two types of riders; the rider who sits nicely in the saddle and there is the rider who can ride bareback in gait or at a gallop, knows how to saddle up, how to set a bit, how to clean a stall. That, to me, is a complete rider. A rider who only rides in equitation pose, but doesn’t know how to saddle up, ride bareback, or feel that sensation of a horse, can simply ride a horse. What you just mentioned is what I like to teach my kids. I want them to ride, but also to work next to me, to know how to correct an error the horse makes. We see some kids who immediately look to their instructors the moment a horse does something out of the norm. I teach my students to know how to stop and correct a horse when they do something wrong and show them how to do it right. It’s important for the horse to also see a trainer in the child so that it doesn’t take advantage.
PPF: Of course, and with that, the child’s trust in his/herself as a rider will grow.
WR: Exactly. There are many children, for example at this last show, who are competing just now for the first time. Sofia Rojas, for example, left me astonished honestly. Although I know what she has in her and I trust her very much, but she was in a championship with 15 children. It was her first time competing in the Pleasure class, though she prefers Fino a bit more, but she competed a Pleasure mare and I was very proud of her. When I teach these youth riders how to compete and they listen, gives me great pleasure. The end product is already being seen.
PPF: Right, and it is worth mentioning, that riders like that particular girl carry something inside of them, carry horsemanship in their blood, like you said of yourself, like I carry as well. I was raised in the middle of Chicago, I hadn’t even had a dog, and then I came to see that I love going into a stall, that I love to smell the dust mixed with horse sweat. It’s something so innate… Sofia Rojas has just that.
WR: Sofia does have that. Her mother has a trajectory with horses, she has worked with them, she has managed them, and here we have the result. Her daughter inherited it from her mother.

PPF: Which do you think is your greatest talent, the one that has brought you so much success as an instructor?
WR: I think that, as some people say, I know how to defend myself in the show ring. I know how to handle my horse, when to demand from it, when to take it to its maximum potential, and that is what I teach my students. I think that riding at the farm is one thing, but being a good exhibitor is very important. That is what I have taught them the most, how to save the horse’s energy, when to push it, when to maximize it, and they are doing it very well, honestly. The children listen to me, and they are becoming great exhibitors.

PPF: Please explain to us; what is ‘reading’ a horse?
WR: Well, all the children, every day they ride, they use a different horse. I never have them ride the same horse in a row. Let’s use your word, not all the horses are read the same way. That is why I change the children all the time; whether the horse or the style or riding bareback. Even if they own their own horse, I try to have them ride other horses because not all horses are ridden in the same way, they don’t all have the same kind of rein. A child who rides different horses and in different ways, who knows how to read it and get to know it, can be considered a child who knows how to ride and can be given any horse to handle because they will be able to connect with it. My students wet to Colombia [for the equitation world championship] without ever having ridden Trocha horses here. They rode as if they had ridden Trocha horses all their lives. That is because I constantly change them. I never keep them in Fino, Fino, Fino. I have them ride Pleasure horses, trail horses, training horses. I change them around a lot so that they learn to ride different types of reins.

PPF: It is evident that there is a culture of teamwork and support among your students. Tell us a little about your teaching philosophy in your academy.
WR: Well, thanks be to God, to this day, I have always instilled that we are a family. All the kids get along very well, the parents get along very well. My youngest student is 16 months old, and my oldest student is 69 years old, and we are all one big family. We all support each other when we go to a horse show. All the parents and children ask ‘Wilson, what can I do? How can I help? What do you need?’ I always instill for them not to see each other as rivals. When one child wins, the others should clap and cheer and provide support. And all the same even if the outcome is the opposite. That is what I teach them. This is a family, and everything is a victory as long as they behave, and we all do our best. If we don’t win today, we may win tomorrow. Every day is different and like I tell them, we know how to speak, horses don’t. Even if you get 5^th place or got excused, horses don’t speak, so we don’t know what might have happened that day, but I teach them to listen to and understand their horse. Sometimes they will tell me ‘Teacher, my horse didn’t show well today’ and they’ll understand. And we are all one big family.
PPF: And we can see just that at the competitions. We see the girls all want to have the same jacket, they want to feel identified with each other and as your students. The parents do as well. I have been observing something I hadn’t seen in a long time, which is celebrating the mere fact of having completed a class. At one time, I enjoyed that with my family, and nowadays, it is so difficult to teach this concept when everyone is just focused on getting first place or else it isn’t acceptable. But not your students! For them, if one wins, they all win. They are all watching the class, they are all waiting at the out gate to welcome the competitor, they are all posing for the picture…
WR: All of them. All the parents run to congratulate the children, even if it’s not their own kid. Like you said before, they all have their uniform which identifies them as our school. I don’t know, I mean I set everything out in my academy for my students. I don’t mean it for other academies to feel bad because Wilson did this or that. I really wish all the schools supported each other. That way all the youth riders from my school and all the others could all clap for each other. We should come closer; all these academies are distanced from each other. We should celebrate together. The future of Paso Fino is in the children’s hands.

PPF: At the last competition in Miami, there was a very emotional moment, a young girl who received her very first ribbon. I think we all cried for her because your eyes were teared up, her father was crying, she was crying, all the children…
WR: Kathi Nieves. Kathi Nieves honestly took a piece of our hearts at the last Miami show. She is a very special girl, very quiet. She had been with me for very little time, but she really stole everyone’s heart because she is such a special girl. She did make us all cry.

PPF: If as if by way of magic, you could have anything you wanted in the Paso Fino horse world, what would that be?
WR: I would like what I mentioned to you earlier. I’d like to get the riding academies to come together. We can have activities at the different schools, my school is open for any kind of activity where everyone could come. We can have a small show or any kind of activity to get the schools to come closer together. There should be more support. Not that ‘Wilson’s academy beat the other one’, no. We can all celebrate together, whether the winner is you or is me. This is a sport and we much teach the children that there is no rivalry. Any one of us can win, mine or yours, and we’re all one family. I would love for that to improve in the Paso Fino horse world.

PPF: What do you think is the most important to consider before coming into an equine sport and possibly before acquiring one’s own horse?
WR: Well, personally, I have experienced parents who don’t know much about horses and they tell me ‘Wilson, I want to buy my son a horse’. As an instructor, I usually tell parents to wait a bit in case their child still hasn’t shown to have that passion and I hold them back a while. There are other children who have more of an innate interest. I don’t have horses for sale, but when the time is right, we start searching for a horse adequate for the student. At this moment, we have 18 horses belonging to our students here at the farm. These are the kids that are experiencing more horsemanship and are at a competitor level, we can say.
PPF: So, you’re saying they should be sure of the commitment and passion first.
WR: The child should be analyzed because in the past, I have experienced parents buying a horse for their child and then the child isn’t pleased with this, or gets tired, or switches to another school and decides they want something else. So, to avoid all that, we must analyze the child and determine what he or she really wants.

PPF: What has been the biggest challenge in your career?
WR: It’s embarrassing to admit, but sometimes that is fighting against our own people. I reiterate that this is a very nice sport, but as with other sports, sometimes there is a lot of envy. I don’t feel that, as I said earlier, but it is out there. Again, I would like for schools to open up and come together like one big happy family. It has been my biggest challenge to have my academy grow in a wholesome way and be a family-oriented business among all of this. That has been my biggest challenge.
PPF: It is a competitive sport, as all the others, and lately, we have seen an increment in envy possibly with the increase in trainers, riding academies, etc, and we have had a decrease in business and in number of members in the association, so it all becomes an issue of supply and demand. That was actually one of the objectives of creating Perfiles del Paso Fino when I realized this wasn’t as pleasant as it once was, and the people in this industry weren’t so open to hear about others. Many viewers have told me that as they watch our guests speaking without any kind of pressure and in their homes, sort to speak- because for you all the farm is like your home- you must spend more time here than in your actual homes-…
WR: Yes, of course.
PPF: So, many people have let their guard down and have considered seeing another side of each person.
WR: Yes, when we are able to see a person speaking as they do on Perfiles… I have seen the interviews you have conducted and now I get to know them better. As a horseman in the United States for 21 years now, when I see your interviews of trainers who have been my friends for years, I realize there is so much I never knew about them, like when they started, how they joined this industry. The truth is it’s very nice. It’s so nice what you are doing with Perfiles.
PPF: Oh, thank you so much!
WR: It really is very nice.

PPF: What do you think has been the greatest satisfaction you have felt in your work?
WR: It’s like I was saying earlier, teaching the kids everything I know. I don’t keep anything to myself. There are trainers among trainers. At this moment, I am more of an instructor, and I am an open book with the children. I work with children from equitation to teaching how to completely handle a horse. I love that. When I tell a child to do a reverse and they do it so nicely, so perfectly. Or when they see the judge on one side and touch the horse with their foot on the other side, I think ‘that’s my student!’ I can tell they’ve listened to me and that is my true happiness. Also, when they look for you all around the show ring ‘where are you? where are you?’ and then they find you and listen to you. That is what I love about all this.
PPF: Maybe not only did you not know you were a horseman, but you also didn’t know you were a teacher.
WR: No.
PPF: But you have the soul of a teacher!
WR: No, no, but the truth is that God has blessed me very much. I thank God very much and all the families who support me.

PPF: Who has been or who have been the most influential people in your career?
WR: Really, my students’ parents, but mainly the children who have been with me since the beginning. Children like Karen Cifuentes, Angelina Gomez, Nicole Vargas, Sofia Rojas, currently. Some of these kids have been with me for around 7 years and their parents are more like family to me, very trusting with me, and they’ve followed me everywhere I have gone. They support me and give me ideas on how to do things. Aside from that, they have spread the word about me among other children at their schools and have helped my business grow. They have supported my school so much and I am very grateful to them.

PPF: What is the most important aspect of your work?
WR: The most important part of my work is when we go to the show ring and one of my students wins. That is where we see the fruit of my labor. That’s where I see I am doing my job well. Like when the other kids run to congratulate their friend, and all the parents run and go crazy, all of that! We buy food, we spend time at the barn all together. That is a big part of my happiness. That’s when I realize that I have accomplished so much.
PPF: Of course, you have. How about as a trainer?
WR: As a trainer, truly, I can’t complain. I have also done very well.
PPF: What is the most important part of being a trainer?
WR: Well, the most important part of being a trainer is something that you said just now, not all trainers have the ability to read each horse. Not all horses are ridden the same way. Some horses like their head higher, others like their head lower. Some riders want all their horses to have a low head, but their horses don’t work the same way. I think that’s very important to know as a rider. Also, having discipline. That is very important for a horse, to have a steady daily work regimen and finding what he likes too. Well, having good horses helps because without good horses, there isn’t much we can do. But I do think the most important part is having discipline and finding the way to read the horse and the horse’s likes.

PPF: What do you like the most about horses?
WR: Everything; from riding a horse, feeling him, taking him out of the stall and grooming him. Even when I just watch a horse eating, that makes me happy because I know he is eating and is happy too. I love bathing him, riding him, tacking up. I enjoy everything that has to do with horses, and even more so with a horse that I have trained, that I have taken into competition, and that has earned ribbons. That’s a beautiful thing, it’s where we can see the benefits of all our work.

PPF: Which word represents your work the most?
WR: I don’t know, I guess being a horseman. That must be the word because horsemanship includes everything. Having a farm is part of horsemanship, having horses, also. I think that is my word. I don’t know how, but I was born a horseman. I enjoy it all. I don’t do much of this stuff right now, but I did learn to be a farrier, I learned to clip tails, I learned to ride, I do it all. I do it all and that is why I have learned so much from the horse and I enjoy the horse very much. That is why I know how to handle a child on a horse and how to pass on everything I have learned to a child.

PPF: If you were not an equitation instructor or a horse trainer, do you think there would be another profession you would have?
WR: Well, before becoming a horseman, I had thought of being an agronomist. I like working with the earth, I like planting. That would be it, that was my dream. It was strange because when I was little, all children would ask for a gift and I would ask for a cow, a goat, or a rabbit, and that’s when all my animal fever got started. I insist, it’s strange because I had absolutely nobody around me with horses or any kind of animals, but those were the gifts I would ask for. I just love animals.

PPF: What do you want people to know or remember the most about you?
WR: I have always been so humble with everything. I have never closed myself off to anything. I think that’s the most important aspect of this. I have never thought more of myself than of others. I have always shared all that I have without expecting anything in return and goes for the children too. Parents truly adore me. For a parent to bring me their child and leave him/her at the farm trusting me 100%, that is very flattering to me and I like it because I can feel how much their parents truly trust me. Back to Sofi, who we have mentioned earlier, she is one of my helpers here on Saturdays. Her parents have shown me so much trust by letting her stay here and work with us and help me. I think these memories and all these details will stay with me forever because I have always been very family oriented. I respect children very much and with everything that happens in this world, I honestly am deeply grateful to these parents for trusting me in such a way.
PPF: That is so true. It isn’t something easily done.
WR: No, it isn’t easy at all. And I am referring to children that are 9 or 10 years old and their parents come and drop them off so trustingly and I admire that greatly. I am a quiet person, I don’t really express myself much, but I do observe all that and I really do thank all the parents for their trust.

PPF: Wilson, thank you very much for allowing us to get to know you a little bit better.
WR: No, I thank you very much. And I thank the website, Perfiles del Paso Fino.