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
Senior Horsemanship for the Love of It
I’ve also become increasingly aware of how challenging it is to age. Our bodies change, grief finds us more frequently, we listen as our doctor tells us about invasive health screenings we must endure. Health insurance goes up and energy goes down.
But along with all of that, I also notice the frost on a horse’s whiskers in the winter. How on a chilly morning, the wind catches the mist of their breath. How standing beside them allows me to calm down and experience a grounded sense of peace. The rhythmic sound of horses chewing. Watching them gather hay into their mouths. Feeling their warm huffing breath on my hands or face is the best self-care of all.
For me, horses are sacred. In their veins, whether pureblood or born of unknown dam and sire, the horse carries memories of battles and races, kindness and cruelty, nobility and work.
This is a quote from the book, Getting Along with Horses: An Evolution in Understanding, by Crissi McDonald.
Perhaps you’ve also evolved in understanding your horse. Hopefully your experiences over the years, in working with horses and in doing other things, have changed and improved your horsemanship.
My hope is that many of you will share those experiences on the podcast so that the rest of us can learn from your successes and your mistakes. Some folks on social media are more than willing to share advice based on little or no experience. My goal with the senior horsemanship podcast is to foster the sharing of experiences that might be helpful to other folks and their horses.
You should know your horse better than anyone else. You’re in a better position than anyone to apply or discard the possible lessons learned from these experiences.
One of my goals is to better prepare for the possibility that I might have to give up my horses or that one or more of them might outlive me. I have three horses and they’re all different. But their prospects for a good life following me could be improved if I take the time to train them to be easier to handle, easier to ride and easier to care for.
My plan is to do a series of videos demonstrating my training progress and problems with these horses. The videos will help me share my experiences with you, and they’re also document where these horses are in their training. What they know, what they can do and what they have issues with doing.
I hope that you’ll share your horse journey with me and with other listeners to the podcast. I appreciate your interest in the podcast. And I hope to continue to provide information that interests you in the days ahead.
I've also become increasingly aware of how challenging it is to age. Our bodies change, grief finds us more frequently, we listen as our doctors tell us about invasive health screenings we must endure. Uh, health insurance goes up and energy goes down. But along with all of that, I also notice the frost on a horses whiskers in the winter. How on a chilly morning, the wind catches the mist of their breath. How standing beside them allows me to calm down and experience a grounded sense of peace. The rhythmic sound of horses chewing. Watching them gather hay into their mouths. Feeling their warm, huffing breath on my hands or face is the best self care of all. For me, horses are sacred. In their veins, whether pure blood or born of unknown dam and sire, the horse carries memories of battles and races, kindness and cruelty, nobility and work. This is a quote from the book. Getting Along With Horses: An Evolution in Understanding. by Crissi McDonald. Welcome to the Senior Horsemanship Podcast. Which was the Second Half Horsemanship Podcast. We'll be talking about better horsemanship in the senior part of life. For most of us that means horsemanship for the love of it. I'm your host. Paul Sherland. If you haven't read Crissi McDonald's book yet, I recommend it. Crissi's evolution in understanding horses, and horsemanship, mirrors much of my own evolution in understanding. But she describes those changes much better than I could have. Perhaps you've also evolved in understanding your horse. Hopefully your experiences over the years, in working with horses and in doing other things, have changed and improved your horsemanship. My hope is that many of you will share those experiences on the podcast so that the rest of us can learn from your successes and your mistakes. Some folks on social media are more than willing to share advice based on little or no experience. My goal with the senior horsemanship podcast is to foster the sharing of experiences that might be helpful to other folks and their horses. You should know your horse better than anyone else. You're in a better position than anyone to apply or discard the possible lessons learned from these experiences. One of my goals is to better prepare for the possibility that I might have to give up my horses. Or that one or more of them might outlive me. I have three horses and they're all different. But their prospects for a good life following me could be improved if I take the time to train them to be easier to handle, easier to ride and easier to care for. My plan is to do a series of videos, demonstrating my training progress and problems with these horses. The videos will help me share my experiences with you. And they're also to document where these horses are in their training: what they know, what they can do, and what they have issues with doing. I've mentioned before that I volunteer with an equine rescue here in Texas. Nothing is known about most of the horses that come into rescue. I adopted one of the rescue horses, and I know nothing about the first 10 years of her life. Doing a series of videos about each of my horses will ensure that their next owner, if that happens, will have a history of my horses, and hopefully that will make their lives easier down the road. I think most seniors involved in horsemanship are doing it because they love horses. A few of us are still competing and some are competing successfully. But hopefully they're doing it because they love the time spent with their horses. If ego is the primary motivation for your horsemanship journey, then senior horsemanship is probably not for you. I'd like to end the podcast with another quote from Crissi McDonald in her book, Getting Along With Horses. It all started with a dappled pony. Inside somewhere is that girl who still sneaks grass to horses through fences. I don't know how, or when my horse journey will end. I do know that I will always love and be grateful for horses. For me, the journey started with a black pony. And I still talk to my horses as I did when I was 10 years old. I also don't know how or when my horse journey will end. But I also will always love and be grateful for horses. I hope that you'll share your horse journey with me and with other listeners of the podcast. I appreciate your interest in the podcast. And I hope to continue to provide information that interests you in the days ahead. Thank you for listening.
