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
Our Horses Are Always Communicating with Us
Every once in a while somebody will ask me how can we know what a horse is thinking and feeling since they don’t talk. My answer is always that they do talk. They never shut up. They just don’t verbalize a lot. But they are definitely chatterboxes and I for one am glad they can’t verbalize their thoughts. Problem is that we confuse our inability to hear them with their inability to talk.
This is a quote from Ross Jacobs on his Good Horsemanship - Ross Jacobs Facebook page. Here's a link to his website .
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.
Here's a link to check out Descript, the tool I use for almost all of my audio and video editing.
Here's a link to the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society.
And a link to the Second Half Horsemanship website.
Every once in a while somebody will ask me how can we know what a horse is thinking and feeling since they don’t talk. My answer is always that they do talk. They never shut up. They just don’t verbalize a lot. But they are definitely chatterboxes and I for one am glad they can’t verbalize their thoughts. Problem is that we confuse our inability to hear them with their inability to talk. This is a quote from Ross Jacobs on his Good Horsemanship Ross Jacobs Facebook page. Welcome to the Almost 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 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and a more in-depth discussion or interview on weekends. I’m your host, Paul Sherland. I’ve just returned to Texas from a Ross Jacobs clinic in Minnesota and the communications skills I saw demonstrated there are already having an impact on me and my horses and our relationships. Ross emphasizes and demonstrates working in communication with our horses. After years of learning various pressure response techniques with various clinicians, this is a paradigm shift. I’m more attentive to what my horse is doing to communicate with me. As Ross says in the same Facebook post. So when your horse has something to say, they need to know you are listening even if your plan and their plan differ. They need to know somebody is listening and not be discouraged from talking by our deafness. 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. I’ll have a link to his website in the show notes. The Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society Training Challenge is coming up tomorrow 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 Almost Daily Second Half Horsemanship Podcast. If you’re also on the second half horsemanship journey, please leave a comment on our website, secondhalfhorsemanship.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. One more note. I’m not in a place where I can record the podcast today. So I’m using the auto dub feature of Descript to convert my script to voice. If you do any video or audio editing, you should check out what Descript offers. It is an incredible tool for creatives. I’ll also have a link to Descript in the show notes. 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!
