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
What's a Good Horseman or Horsewoman
It comes back to whether or not we accept that definition of a good horseman or horsewoman: “A good horseman or horsewoman is someone who, in an educated way, always puts the best interest of the horse first and foremost.”
This is a quote from the book, Begin and Begin Again - The Bright Optimism of Reinventing Life with Horses, by Denny Emerson.
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. That means horsemanship where we always put the best interest of the horse first and foremost.
I'm your host. Paul Sherland.
Denny goes on to say the following:
So any aid applied strongly enough to create nervous tension is an aid applied too strongly. There’s part of my problem, I realized. A kick tells the horse what I want, but it also creates tension, so I have to teach my horse to respond instead to a nudge, a tickle, some pressure that allows him to stay below his anxiety threshold.
Everything I had been doing was based on too much — too much force, too much pressure, too much too soon, too much assumption that my horse knew what I wanted but was simply not doing it right, too much, too much. I wasn’t teaching, I was forcing. And force always escalates, because force creates anxiety in the horse, anxiety creates resistance, resistance elicits more force from the rider to counteract it and down the rabbit hole we go.
It is a fundamental truth that I wish I had learned half a century earlier, and if it can help some riders and trainers — at any age — on their journey, I believe it will help them create stronger bonds with their horses.
I’m working on the website for Senior Horsemanship with the goal of getting it up and running by the new year. If you have comments or feedback about this podcast or any of the podcasts, please visit one of my other websites, SaddleUpAgain.com, and contact me there. I appreciate your comments.
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.
It comes back to whether or not we accept that definition of a good horseman or horsewoman. A good horseman or horsewoman is someone who in an educated way always puts the best interest of the horse first and foremost. This is a quote from the book, Begin and Begin Again, The Bright Optimism of Re-inventing Life with Horses, by Denny Emerson. 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. That means horsemanship where we always put the best interest of the horse first and foremost. I'm your host. Paul Sherland. Denny goes on to say the following. So any aid applied strongly enough to create nervous tension. Is an aid applied too strongly. There's part of my problem I realized. A kick tells the horse what I want, but it also creates tension. So I have to teach my horse to respond instead to a nudge, a tickle, some pressure that allows him to stay below his anxiety threshold. Everything I had been doing. Was based on too much. Too much force, too much pressure. Too much too soon. Too much assumption that my horse knew what I wanted but we're simply not doing it right. Too much, too much. I wasn't teaching. I was forcing and force always escalates because force creates anxiety in the horse. Anxiety creates resistance. Resistance elicits more force from the rider to counteract it. And down the rabbit hole, we go. It's a fundamental truth that I wish I had learned half a century earlier. And it can help some riders and trainers at any age on their journey. I believe it will help them create stronger bonds with their horses. For me. I learned this fundamental truth 60 years ago when I got my first horse at age 10. At that age, I don't think I could apply too much force because I wasn't big enough or strong enough. My horse threw me frequently during the first month or so of our partnership. But my determination to keep going with him made me a better rider. My mother remembered my horse returning home without me many times. I would straggle home on foot sometime later. The horse bucked off my father the one time he tried riding him. But I knew that this horse was my one chance of having a horse, and I was determined not to give up. I had a horse for a couple of years and then was forced to give it up by a family move. When I returned to horses 30 years later I did use more force when I felt the situation required, it. I attended clinics where more force was used, sometimes to the point where flooding techniques were used to make the horses more compliant. Other riders at my boarding barn used more force. I sometimes rode by the rules of making them do it and don't let them get away with it. Finally one horse reminded me of what had changed in my horsemanship. He had thrown me three times over eight years and each time I returned with more groundwork and more tension in our relationship. I finally tried a radically different approach in the round pen and he responded in a radically different way. He responded to an absence of pressure in the round pen with an absence of tension. That one remarkable episode changed our relationship and set me off in a different direction with my horses. And I believe it helped me create a stronger bond with my horses. Horse human relationships are as varied as horses and their humans are varied. But if you've used techniques that create nervous tension in your horse perhaps it's a good idea to try less force and less pressure with more patience applied over more time. You may be surprised at the results. I hope so. I'm working on the website for Senior Horsemanship, with the goal of getting it up and running by the new year. If you have comments or feedback about this podcast or any of the podcasts, please visit my other website. Saddle up again. Dot com. And contact me there. I appreciate your comments. I appreciate your interest in the podcast. And I hope I continue to provide information that interests you in the days ahead. Thank you for listening.
