Senior Horsemanship - Tips to Help Us Enjoy Better Years with Horses and More of Them
The podcast name is changed to Senior Horsemanship and I’ll be building the senior horsemanship website over the next few weeks.So why the change? Probably the most important reason is that I’m certainly a senior horseman at age 71 with three horses. I’m very interested in riding, caring for, and training my horses as long as I can. I’m also very interested in making as long as I can to be as long as possible.That’s my goal in horsemanship. I don’t have any goals in the competitive arena, Not that competition is bad, but I just want to enjoy my horses. If you compete, then I hope you do it for the joy of working with your horse.So what will we talk about? How about the following.I’d like to talk about horse training, first because a well trained horse makes life safer and makes our time with our horse more enjoyable. A well trained horse also has better prospects for a good home if for some reason, we can’t continue to keep our horse. So for the good of ourselves and our horses, horse training for seniors is a great topic.I’d like to talk about horse care. I care for my horses myself and I’ve learned some things in the process that I’d like to share. I also hope to learn from others about ways to make horse care better and easier as we grow older.I’d like to talk about riding fitness and safety around horses. I’ve lost about 40 pounds over the last year and a half and it’s made riding easier for me and my horses. But with the weight loss has come a loss of some strength. I’ve also suffered from my share of horse-related injuries over the years including a broken arm, broken ribs, several concussions and most recently broken toes. What can we do to be safer with our horses. I’m not as nimble as I once was.I’d like to talk about the mental aspects of horsemanship because we need to rely on the mental more than the physical as we get older. When I was younger, there were ways of handling horses that could be characterized by “make them do it” and “don’t let them get away with it”. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that there are better ways and I’ll talk about them.Finally, I’ll talk about how horsemanship can be much more than riding a horse. I’ve been a volunteer with Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society here in Texas for a number of years and there are some volunteers who could be examples for all of us. Several volunteers can’t ride anymore, but they foster horses and give them a great start on a new path in life. Other volunteers work on the admin side to give the organization the ability to help as many horses as possible. All of those activities count as horsemanship. We’ll talk about those and more.Again, I appreciate all of the topic ideas I’ve received from members of the Equestrian Seniors Facebook group. I appreciate your interest in the podcast. And I hope to continue to provide information that interests you in the days ahead.Thanks for listening.
Senior Horsemanship - Tips to Help Us Enjoy Better Years with Horses and More of Them
Horse People and Their Horses Have One Job
Horse people have only one job. And horses have only one job. It’s the most important job and it's the job that supersedes all other jobs. Nothing is more important when it comes to training. The job is to be focused and connected. That’s it. That’s the job. Even when doing other jobs, staying focused and connected to our horse and our horse to us overrides all other jobs in importance.
The one condition to the “one job” principle is that focus and connection are only important if you want a good relationship and a partnership. If you only care about a horse being an employee and doing a learned job, then focus and connection are less important provided the job gets done.
This is a quote from Ross Jacobs on his Good Horsemanship - Ross Jacobs Facebook page. If you’d like to learn more about Ross Jacobs and his teachings, check out his book, The Essence of Good Horsemanship. I think it should be on the reading list for all of us on the second half horsemanship journey.
Thinking back to my 30 plus years of riding as an adult, I can name the horses I had good focus and connection with and others where the focus and connection were infrequent or missing. The latter group of horses were the ones I was riding when I was thrown and injured
Here's a link to the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society.
And another link to the Second Half Horsemanship website.
Horse people only have one job. And horses only have one job. It's the most important job, and it's the job that supersedes all other jobs. Nothing is more important when it comes to training. The job is to be focused and connected. That's it. That's the job. Even when doing other jobs, staying focused and connected to our horse, and our horse to us overrides all other jobs in importance. The one condition to the One Job principle is that focus and connection are only important if you want a good relationship and a partnership. If you only care about a horse being an employee and doing a learned job, then focus and connection are less important provided the job gets done. This is a quote from Ross Jacobs on his Good Horsemanship Ross Jacobs Facebook page. Welcome to the Daily Second Half Horsemanship Podcast, where we talk about using your mind more than your muscles on the path to better horsemanship in the second half of life. The podcast features a thought for the day, six days a week, and a more in depth discussion or interview on Saturdays. I'm your host, Paul Sherland. I've just returned to Texas from a Ross Jacobs clinic in Minnesota, and I have to say that this clinic was the most useful clinic I've ever attended to make progress on my second half horsemanship journey. Ross emphasizes and demonstrates acquiring, retaining, losing, and regaining focus and connection with your horse. His clinic demonstrations are with the horseman and horsewoman participating in the clinic, and sometimes with Ross working with a horse. Thinking back to my 30 plus years of riding as an adult, I can name the horses I had good focus and connection with, and others where the focus and connection was infrequent or missing. The latter group of horses were the ones I was riding when I was thrown and injured. One horse would be more focused and connected in the ring, and then when we left the arena, he'd tuned me out. I wish I'd known about Ross Jacobs then, because he could have helped me connect with this horse. If you'd like to learn more about Ross Jacobs and his teachings, check out his book, The Essence of Good Horsemanship. I think it should be on the reading list for all of us on the second half horsemanship journey. The Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society Training Challenge is coming up this weekend here in Texas. This is an event where professional and amateur trainers spend three to four months training rescued horses to give them a new start in life. If you'd like to donate, I'll have a link to the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society website in the show notes. Thanks for listening to the Second Half Horsemanship Podcast. If you're also on the second half horsemanship journey, please leave a comment on our website, second half horsemanship.com. We're always looking for topic and interview ideas. When I use links to books, products, and services in the podcast, some of those links might be referral links. As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I earn a small commission when you purchase something through those links, but you will not be charged more by using the links. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Your reviews help the podcast reach a larger audience. Thank you very much.
