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
Reward the Trust Your Horse Gives You
As the little horse stood quietly with his head in my arms, a lady in the crowd who owned a local Arabian farm of her own spoke up. “Buck, now that you’ve gotten this horse coming around the way you have, when would we be able to start with the whips again? Would we be able to start tomorrow or would we have to wait till next week?”
She had no idea what she was saying. It was the most bizarre thing I’d ever heard, and from a woman who appeared to be so sophisticated. How could she say something so uncivilized?
I couldn’t take it, not after what the little horse had been through. “Some of you can go to church on Sunday and claim to be holier than thou, but the other six days of the week you’re torturing horses and committing crimes against them. You make me ashamed to be a human being.”
But that wasn’t all that bothered me. That little horse had made a friend that day. He appreciated what I had done with him — I know he did. Yet I went away with a sick feeling, wondering if maybe I had done him wrong. On one hand, I had helped him, but I had also showed him there was something good in life that he would always miss.
I later learned that he went back to his same life. In that world of barbarians, defense was his only means of survival, and I worried that I might have taken it away from him.
This is a quote from the book, The Faraway Horses, by Buck Brannaman.
Your horse will respond to your kindness. Build a trusting relationship with your horse with your horse’s relaxation as your goal. You and your horse will both be the better for it.
This is a link to Descript, the audio and video editor I use and recommend.
And this is a link to the Second Half Horsemanship website.
As the little horse stood quietly with his head in my arms, a lady in the crowd who owned a local Arabian farm of her own spoke up. Buck, now that you've gotten this horse coming around the way you have, when would we be able to start with the whips again? Would we be able to start tomorrow or would we have to wait till next week? She had no idea what she was saying. It was the most bizarre thing I'd ever heard, and from a woman who appeared to be so sophisticated. How could she say something so uncivilized? I couldn't take it, not after what this little horse had been through."Some of you can go to church on Sunday and claim to be holier than thou, but the other six days of the week, you're torturing horses and committing crimes against them. You make me ashamed to be a human being. But that wasn't all that bothered me. That little horse had made a friend that day. He appreciated what I had done with him. I know he did. Yet I went away with a sick feeling, wondering if maybe I had done him wrong. On one hand I had helped him, but I had also showed him there was something good in life that he would always miss. I later learned that he went back to his same life. In that world of barbarians, defense was his only means of survival, and I worried that I might have taken it away from him. This is a quote from the book, The Faraway Horses by Buck Brannaman. 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. In this section of his book, Buck talks about working with an Arab show horse, which had been imported from Europe for more than a million dollars. At that time an Arab had to show spirit to win a halter class, and trainers and judges interpreted terror as spirit. There was an Arab halter horse at one of my boarding barns years ago, and the owner used to take this poor horse out into the arena at night to spray aerosols at him to induce this kind of terror. Buck talks about other tactics, including using cross ties to make a horse stand in water, and then hooking electrodes to his neck. These terror tactics had made this horse unsafe to work with. In his book, Buck describes how he worked with the horse to get him to turn loose of his fear. He says, The horse became so quiet and relaxed. Some of the crowd began to worry that he couldn't win a halter class looking the way he did without the look of terror that's often confused with what they think is spirit. Hearing them say that made me realize how hard it was to understand how seeing a horse in a relaxed frame of mind could be any cause for worry. These people were as different from me as any people I'd ever met. In the last podcast I mentioned going on that riding vacation in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. I did that for two years and during the second year, my mount was a big paint horse. Our relationship had a bit of a rocky start when he tested me by crow hopping on our first ride. But he proved to be a dependable and sure footed partner over five days of riding through rough country. Because he had white skin around his eyes, he had developed sun burn. So every day I treated those areas with sunblock to help them heal. I also dismounted and walked with him periodically to give him a break, and when we had to climb hills thick with boulders, I walked with him to make it easier for him to navigate through the rock fields. I think he recognized what I was doing and appreciated me for doing it. On the last day of the ride, we camped at a fairgrounds outside of town and the next day held a barrel racing competition between all the riders. I hadn't barrel raced for more than 30 years, but the paint and I won. We even beat the trail guide on her personal horse. The trail guide told me my horse wasn't the fastest horse, but he handled the turns better than any of the other horses. I believed he performed the way he did because he appreciated the way I had cared for him on the ride. I tried to buy the paint, but the owner of the trail ride wanted a lot of money for him, and I was unemployed and a graduate student in Virginia. I wish I could have done better for that horse. Your horse will respond to your kindness. Build a trusting relationship with your horse, with your horse's relaxation as your goal. You and your horse will both be the better for it. 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.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 use Descript for editing the podcast. If you do any video or audio editing, you should check out what Descript offers. It's 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.
