When they met in 2010, Mark and Miranda Lyon were each already professional horsemanship instructors, or “clinicians.”
They ended up getting married, and still work in the same field, but now ply their trade as a well-known team. They call their business M&M Horsemanship, and teach horseback riding enthusiasts and horses almost year round at clinics and events all over the U.S., as well as at their own property.
Last week, the pair trained a group of about 25 horseback riding enthusiasts at Golden Hills Trail Rides and Resort near Raymondville. This was the third straight year they’ve been at the facility for an extended horsemanship clinic.
“I really like the infrastructure here,” Mark said, “and it’s a beautiful place to do this.”
Renowned horsemanship clinician Mark Lyon and his horse, Diesel, demonstrates riding with one hand on the reins using a garrocha pole last Thursday at Golden Hills Trail Rides and Resort near Raymondville.
The Lyons live on a ranch in Whitesboro, Texas, about an hour north of Dallas. Mark, 42, is a Nebraska native, while Miranda, 30, grew up in Rogersville (Mo.). Mark first took fees for training in his early 20s and has been a full-time professional horse trainer (and people trainer) for about 12 years. Miranda first got paid to train when she was 15 and progressively improved from there.
When working with riders and animals, the Lyons focus on “natural horsemanship.”
“It’s about trying to communicate with horses in a way they understand,” Mark said. “If you’re going to teach a child, you can’t explain to a 2 or 3-year-old that they need to do something just because you said so. It’s the same with a horse; you have to use some psychology the way a horse understands it and from a standpoint of how they see the world.
“Natural horsemanship is being able to effectively communicate what you want a horse to do with the least amount of pressure.”
The Lyons would rather educate a horse than bully it.
“It comes down to teaching them something rather than wearing it into them,” Miranda said. “A lot of people repeat something until the horse finally figures it out, but we kind of look at the aspect of wanting to help horses succeed by actually teaching them how to do something.
“You just try to understand how they operate and how things work with them.”
“Again, it’s similar to how it is with children,” Mark said. “You don’t bully them into cleaning their room, you teach them how to do it. You give them requirements and guidelines, and you have rules and show them ‘this is how we operate.’
“You train them how to have a better relationship with you rather than bullying them into what you want.”
As a youngster, Mark lived in town and his family didn’t have horses.
“When I was about 18, I made some friends who had horses and really enjoyed it,” he said. “I got better and better at it, and I started attending some clinics and learning and getting even better.”
Miranda more or less always had an interest in horses.
“I had a pony when I was a kid,” she said. “I showed goats and rabbits and traveled to different states quite a bit doing that. That kind of paid for my way into horsemanship. Then I studied horses a lot and tried to learn from everybody I could.”
The Lyons both saddle up quarter horses when at work – Miranda’s is a 4-year-old named Hemi and Mark’s is an 11-year-old named Diesel.
“We’re not really prejudiced,” Mark said. “We don’t really care what breed a horse is as much as how athletic it is and what its temperament is like.”
The Lyons have upcoming appearances scheduled in Wisconsin, Illinois and Nebraska, before traveling to Africa for a six-week stint in Namibia. They then come back to the states to work in Texas, Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia and other locations.
These married business partners have no problem being around each other as much as they are. On the contrary – it works well for them.
“For me, it’s been a real blessing,” Mark said. “I want to spend as much time as I can with my wife, and being able to work with her allows me to do that. I love her and being able to hang out with her, and I love horses, so being able to spend my day doing what I love with the person I love – that’s heaven.”
“That’s what it’s about,” Miranda said. “It’s been a long learning experience, too, because we had to learn to work with each other. We have different styles in some concepts, and you have to realize that the biggest thing is to just do what you do and not what the other person does.”
That together-but-different aspect of their partnership creates a broader range of learning for the Lyons’ students.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve explained something to somebody five or six times and they just don’t get it,” Mark said. “Then Miranda will explain it to them and they’ll go, ‘oh, that’s what he was talking about.’
“It’s nice for people to get that second view, and it’s really fun to help people like that.”
Renowned horsemanship trainer Mark Lyon is easily recognizable thanks to his well-groomed handlebar mustache.
“I like the old-fashioned cowboy kind of stuff, and I thought it was cool when I was growing up,” Lyon said. “My beard and mustache grow pretty fast, and when I was living in Nebraska I typically would grow a beard in the winter for warmth. One spring, I shaved off my beard but didn’t shave of my mustache.
“My mustache was pretty long, so I was kind of already there. I just started curling it a bit, and I liked it, so I kept it.”
Now Lyon has a registered brand, Mustache M.
For more information about Mark and Miranda Lyon and M&M Horsemanship (including a schedule of clinics and events where they will teach), log onto www.mandmhorsemanship.com.