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
Your Invitation to Future Horsemanship
A burden of these years is to allow all the stereotypes of old age to hold me back. To hold me down. To stop the flow of life in me.
A blessing of these years. Is that they give me the chance to break the bounds of a past life. And to create for myself, a life more suited to what I now want to be.
This is a quote from the book, The Gift of Years, Growing Older Gracefully, by Joan Chittister.
- Do you want to be able to ride for years into the future?
- Do you want your horse to be healthy for years into the future?
- Do you want to be able to care for your horse as you get older?
- If you can’t ride for some reason, would you like to be able to remain involved with horses?
- If for some reason you can’t care for your horse, to you want your horse to go to a good home where she’ll be loved and appreciated for the rest of her life?
If your answers are "yes" then you may be interested in what I'm calling Future Horsemanship.
Many of us set our schedules and build our task list for the day based on what other’s need done rather than what we need to do for ourselves. We never seem to have enough time to exercise, train our horses, ride as much as we’d like or need to, and develop horsemanship goals based on what we’d like to be able to do a year from now or five years from now.
With Future Horsemanship, we’ll set goals for exercising to build the strength and fitness we need to ride our horses for years to come. We’ll set goals to work with our horses to build their fitness and train them to be horses that would win friends wherever they go. We’ll set goals to develop our horsemanship to enable us to work with our horses for years into the future. All of these goals drive the habits we form today to achieve those horsemanship goals in years ahead.
Future Horsemanship will be one of the topics we’ll cover in Senior Horsemanship.
As I mentioned last week, I want 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.
As one of my Future Horsemanship goals, I 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 also document where these horses are in their training — what they know, what they can do, and what they have issues with doing. Those videos should be very helpful in finding my horses good new homes if they ever have to be moved from my care.
Thank you for listening!
A burden of these years is to allow all the stereotypes of old age to hold me back. To hold me down. To stop the flow of life in me. A blessing of these years. Is that they give me the chance to break the bounds of a past life. And to create for myself, a life more suited to what I now want to be. This is a quote from the book, The Gift of Years, Growing Older Gracefully, by Joan Chittister. 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. Do you want to be able to ride for years into the future? Do you want your horse to be healthy for years into the future? Do you want to be able to care for your horse as you get older? If you can't ride for some reason, would you like to be able to remain involved with horses? If for some reason you can't care for your horse, do you want your horse to go to a good home, where she'll be loved and appreciated for the rest of her life? I'm making some assumptions here. I'm assuming that you're involved with horses because you love it. It may also be a business for you. But your love of horses is at the foundation of what you do. I'll also assume that you'd like to be involved with horses for years into the future. For as many years as possible. You'd like to be healthy enough and strong enough and mentally aware enough to continue working with horses. Finally, I assume that you'd like to do everything possible to ensure that your horse will be loved and cared for, if you can't be there to do it. As seniors, we know that things can happen, that will require our horses to move to new homes. I'm assuming that you want your horse to be loved and cared for in her new home, as she was with you. If you're still with me. Then you're interested in what I call, Future Horsemanship. There's a tendency for many of us to live for today and not pay too much attention to what may happen tomorrow. Many of us set our schedules and build our task list for the day based on what others need done rather than what we need to do for ourselves. We never seem to have enough time to exercise, train our horses, ride as much as we'd like or need to. And develop horsemanship goals based on what we'd like to be able to do a year from now or five years from now. With Future Horsemanship, we'll set goals for exercising to build the strength and fitness we need to ride our horses for years to come. We'll set goals to work with our horses, to build their fitness and train them to be horses that would win friends wherever they go. We'll set goals to develop our horsemanship, to enable us to work with our horses for years into the future. All of these goals, drive the habits we form today to achieve those horsemanship goals in years ahead. About two years ago, I developed a condition called piriformis, which is much like sciatica. It crippled me and lasted for months. For the first time in 30 plus years, I could not feed and care for my horses, and my wonderful wife pitched in for me for several weeks. That wasn't a horse caused injury, but it affected my ability to ride and care for my horses for months. I made some changes in my life, which have healed the piriformis. And I've returned to riding and caring for the horses. I've lost 40 pounds, and I've kept it off. I feel much more secure in the saddle. And I'm able to do a vault dismount again at the end of a ride. I'll be talking about what likely caused the piriformis and what you can do to avoid it. Future Horsemanship will be one of the topics that we'll cover in senior horsemanship. I hope that many of you will share your experiences on the podcast. So that the rest of us can learn from your successes and your mistakes. As I mentioned last week, I want 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 now to train them to be easier to handle, easier to ride, and easier to care for. As one of my Future Horsemanship goals, I plan 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'll also document where these horses are in their training; what they know, what they can do, and what they have issues with doing. The videos should be very helpful in finding my horses good new homes if they ever have to be moved from my care. I think most seniors involved in horsemanship are doing it because they love horses. If that's you, I hope you'll share your horse journey experiences 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.
