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
Share Joy in Horsemanship in the Second Half of Life
We can decide to live with joy. Or we can allow ourselves to live looking back with bitterness. We can be bitter about all the things we wanted to do, but felt too constrained to risk. We can be bitter for all the hours we gave to a company that was able to say goodbye to us, without so much as remembering to send a card at Christmastime. We can be bitter because we chose security and independence rather than depth and companionship. We can decide to be bitter because at the end, only the end is left. But whichever we decide, bitterness or joy, decide we must. The rest of our life depends on it.
It can take a while before we begin to realize that retirement really plunges us into joy. But if we decide to live this new, unscripted time with joy, then life will come pouring into us, almost more fully than we can sometimes bear.
This is a quote from the book, The Gift of Years - Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister.
So I hope that you are feeling joy in working with your horses. I hope that you are at a place in your life where you are content with your life and the new freedoms that retirement may bring to you. I hope that you can convey joy, peace and contentedness to the horses you work with and the people in your life.
This is a link to the Business Insider article.
And a link to the Descript video and audio editing software.
Here's a link to the Second Half Horsemanship website.
We can decide to live with joy. Or we can allow ourselves to live looking back with bitterness. We can be bitter about all the things we wanted to do, but felt too constrained to risk. We can be bitter for all the hours we gave to a company that was able to say goodbye to us, without so much as remembering to send a card at Christmastime. We can be bitter because we chose security and independence rather than depth and companionship. We can decide to be bitter because at the end, only the end is left. But whichever we decide, bitterness or joy, decide we must. The rest of our life depends on it. It can take a while before we begin to realize that retirement really plunges us into joy. But if we decide to live this new, unscripted time with joy, then life will come pouring into us, almost more fully than we can sometimes bear. This is a quote from the book, The Gift of Years Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister. 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. Our horses can read our moods. If we’re bitter or angry when we’re working with them, they know it. If we’re joyful and at peace, they know that too. The second half of life can be a joyful time for us if we can take advantage of new freedoms and perhaps new wisdom to put the past behind us and look forward to the future with joy. The magazine Business Insider recently published an article about happiness. Studies have found that when it comes to their financial situation, people are least happy between 45 and 54 and happiest after age 55. People are least happy with their physical appearance from 55 to 59 and happiest after age 70. Overall happiness peaks at two ages, 23 and 69. Most studies agree that the acceptance of aging promotes contentedness and happiness. Your second half of life can be the happiest, most joyful part of your life. So I hope that you are feeling joy in working with your horses. I hope that you are at a place in your life where you are content with your life and the new freedoms that retirement may bring to you. I hope that you can convey joy, peace and contentedness to the horses you work with and the people in your life. 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, second half horsemanship dot 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!
