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
Compete IF the Horse Comes First
Sports only have meaning because a certain group of humans ascribes meaning to those activities. Think about the passion demonstrated by groups of adults on Saturday fall afternoons sitting in front of television sets. From listening to the screams of ecstasy and wails of despair you might think the survival of earth was at stake, instead of whether some other human carried a ball across some line drawn on some field.
In horse sports, it seems to me, that the FIRST question to ask is whether or not it does harm to the horses.
The horse has zero interest in the hopes and dreams of humans. The horse doesn’t wake up on Saturday morning thinking, “I sure hope I can make my little owner proud of me today.”
On Saturday morning, just like on every other morning, the horse hopes to get something to eat.
This is a quote from Denny Emerson’s Tamarack Hill Facebook page. For more from Denny, I recommend his latest book, Begin and Begin Again - The Bright Optimism of Reinventing Life with Horses.
Here's a link to Lynn Acton's book, What Horses Really Want.
This is a link to Descript, my recommended audio and video editing software.
And a link to the Second Half Horsemanship website.
Sports only have meaning because a certain group of humans ascribes meaning to those activities. Think about the passion demonstrated by groups of adults on Saturday fall afternoons sitting in front of television sets. From listening to the screams of ecstasy and wails of despair, you might think the survival of the earth was at stake, instead of whether some other human carried a ball across some line, drawn on some field. In horse sports, it seems to me that the first question to ask is whether or not it does harm to the horses. The horse has zero interest in the hopes and dreams of humans. The horse doesn't wake up on Saturday morning thinking, I sure hope I can make my little owner proud of me today. On Saturday morning, just like every other morning, the horse hopes to get something to eat. This is a quote from Denny Emerson's Tamarack Hill Facebook page. For more from Denny, I recommend his latest book, Begin and Begin Again, the Bright Optimism of Reinventing Life with Horses. 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. Does your horse sport do harm to your horse? If you've been around horses and horse sports for a while, I think you have to agree that some of them certainly do. Recently, two horses died at the Bramham International Horse Trials in England on cross country day. Two riders were admitted to a hospital. Does eventing do harm to horses? Yes, it does. The fatalities prove it. Competitive jumping over large jumps also does harm to horses. I remember watching a video by George Morris years ago when he recommended practicing over low jumps because each horse has a limit to the number of three foot or higher jumps in his life time. In an earlier podcast episode, I mentioned someone at my boarding barn who would prep for Arabian shows by spraying aerosols at the horse while working at liberty in the barn's ring. What's the effect of that practice on the horse? Quarter horses in halter classes were rewarded for looking like Vienna sausages on toothpicks as one veterinarian described it at a Virginia Horse Council meeting years ago. The horses were being bred to be unsound. My friend Lynn Acton talks about doing agility and obstacle work with her horses in her book What Horses Really Want. Does that harm her horses? Nope. I've worked cattle with horses and those horses love the work. They'd pin their ears back to communicate the need to move to the cow. I've also ridden horses in local gymkhana events, and those horses seem to enjoy the opportunity to run. So in the second half of life, I hope that whatever you're doing with your horse, it's always in the best interest of the horse. That's the thought that Denny closes with in his book, and I'm sure it's something that second half horsemanship can support. 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.
