The Red Bulletin April 2020

Trick riders
energy. As riders, we literally have to lay
the reins down – we’re backward or
upside down – and they have to do their
part on their own. Horses are characters;
they need praise. We only talk about
positive things in front of them. They
learn how to brace, much like an adagio.”
(In acrobatics, an adagio pair has one
person as a base, the other as a flier.)
Tad credits his father Dick with
revolutionising trick riding via force,
direction and timing. “The horse leads
the dance, they control the cadence.
You’re either working with it or against
it. My dad discovered that when you’re
vaulting, if you think about going up
instead of getting on, the horse can throw
you to places you couldn’t get to any
other way. Use the power of the horse to
send you up and getting back on takes
care of itself. He also showed how to use
the timing of the horse. Every stride, for
an instant, you’re weightless – that’s
where you make your transitions.”
During Dick Griffith’s long career,
he mastered more tricks than any other
rider before or since, but the grind took
its toll. He performed through the pain
of repeated injuries to his wrists, ankles
and feet, and would apply frozen ether
as a numbing agent. Towards the end of
Dick’s life, Tad says, “he started having
major seizures and headaches from all
the concussions and hellacious crashes,
and back then they didn’t have pain pills,
so alcohol was the painkiller”. When his
The Griffith brothers perform
a repertoire of spins, swings
and stands at Vasquez Rocks
in Agua Dulce, California.
Opposite: a poster showing
their grandfather Dick as
a nine-year-old prodigy
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