Senior Horsemanship - Tips to Help Us Enjoy Better Years with Horses and More of Them

When I think about the potential for horses to be themselves, in all their power and wisdom, and then see photos or videos of horses who are the exact opposite, it strikes me that they've become the equine equivalent of a dull and worn-out human. Resignation isn't just a human trait. I see it in horses who've been badly handled as well.

What's the most useful response? Be a crusader? Be an example? Keep quiet and focus on taking care of our own horses? I believe the answer is a balance in all three. Acceptance is knowing that the only way the lives of horses will improve is if we educate ourselves, share our knowledge appropriately, and take meaningful actions to support those who are also improving horse's lives.

One way to do that - a way I personally practice, although not as much as I'd like - is to support nonprofit horse rescues and sanctuaries whose work I believe in.

This is a quote from Crissi McDonald in her book, Getting Along with Horses, An Evolution in Understanding.

If you'd like to help a deserving horse rescue, I recommend Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society here in Texas.

Please visit our website (under construction) at Second Half Horsemanship.

"I think we place ourselves at a huge disadvantage if the only time we work on our horsemanship is when we're with our horses."

This is a quote from Mark Rashid on his Considering the Horse Mark Rashid Classroom Facebook page.

 This was my comment in response.

"Yes, but we place ourselves at a bigger disadvantage if we work on our horsemanship mostly watching videos and reading books about horses. There’s an old cartoon, from New Yorker Magazine I think, that shows someone deciding which of two doors to open. One door is labeled Heaven and the other is labeled Books About Heaven. We have a similar decision to make. As Buck Brannamin said in his Seven Clinics DVDs, “time is a gift, give it freely to your horse and you’ll both be the better for it.”

I think the bigger disadvantage is not spending as much time as we can with our horses. Not only riding, but caring for them and watching them out in the pasture. You’ll learn a lot about your horse this way.

By the way, I made this comment on Mark’s Facebook page and he liked it. That’s one of the things that I like about Mark’s books and teachings, he’s always open to a conversation.

Here's a link to Mark Rashid's website -- https://markrashid.com/

A link to Buck Brannaman's Seven Clinics DVD set.

A link to Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society.

And a link to Second Half Horsemanship.

As the saying goes, suffering that is not transformed is transmitted.

This is a quote from The Second Mountain - The Quest for a Moral Life, by David Brooks.

We have a choice. We can transform our suffering into something else or we can transmit it to others, including our horses.

If you carry anger to the barn, you’ll transmit it to your horse. It you carry sorrow to the barn, your horse will feel it. If your ego controls the way you work with your horse, your horse will know it.

So our horsemanship will get better when we learn to transform suffering into something positive. Be that better person than your ego ideal. Shed the old self so a better person can emerge in the second half of life. When you discover your heart and soul, your horse will know that too.

Here's a link to the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society.

And here's a link to the Second Half Horsemanship website.

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.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve fallen off a horse more frequently and when I have fallen off, I’ve been hurt more often.  Why is that?  Are my reactions slower?  Is my strength declining?  Are my horses becoming more skillful at ejecting me? It’s a combination of factors. My neighbor told me it’s because we don’t bounce as well when we get older.  In this article I’ll cover the physics of riding safely with illustrations from my own experience.

Here's a link to the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society.

And here's a link to Second Half Horsemanship.

Qualities of a 'Good' Rider:

• Your horse understand you; your priority is clear communication
• You do your best to see things from your horse's perspective
• You don't act from ego
• You don't take your frustrations out on your horse
• You are able to follow that which you asked your horse to do
• Your horse sees you as trust-worthy

This is a quote from the blog post, What Makes a “Good” Rider on Karen Rohlf’s Dressage Naturally blog.

There’s nothing on the list that someone in the second half of life couldn’t do. Hopefully in the second half of life your ego is not driving the riding and training you do with your horse. You’ve learned to avoid anger and frustration in working with your horse. You have the time to build a trusting relationship with your horse. Finally, you recognize that you’re working with a sentient being and you try to see situations from your horse’s perspective.

By Karen’s definition someone in the second half of life might be more likely to be a good rider that someone in the first half of life. I’m going to be posting this list in my tack room

This is a link to the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society Training Challenge.

And this is a link to our website -- Second Half Horsemanship.

"A good clinician will do far more than teach some lessons. The best clinicians will try to explain concepts, theories, techniques, and strategies, which the good student will write down in a notebook, just exactly as though being taught in a college lecture."

"If you go to a clinic for diversion, to fool around with your friends, to chatter and gossip, to let your attention drift in and out, do not be surprised if two weeks after the clinic, you can’t remember much of what it was about."

This is a quote from the book, Begin and Begin Again - The Bright Optimism of Reinventing Life with Horses, by Denny Emerson.

In the podcast I describe some not-so-good clinics I've attended over the last 30 years and name a few that were very good. I've learned that being an auditor is the best way to record the information the clinician is presenting. It's tough to take notes while riding.

If you'd like to learn more about the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society Training Challenge, please visit their website.

To learn more about Second Half Horsemanship, please visit our website too!

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.

"In my experience with Blackie, and earlier with allegedly incompetent recruits at Camp Colt, is rooted my enduring conviction that far too often we write off a backward child as hopeless, a clumsy animal as worthless, a worn-out field as beyond restoration. This we do largely out of our own lack of willingness to take the time and spend the effort to prove ourselves wrong: to prove that a difficult boy can become a fine man, that an animal can respond to training, that the field can regain its fertility."

This is a passage from the book, The Road to Character by David Brooks. It a quote from General Dwight Eisenhower’s memoirs, about the training of a horse named Blackie, during the time he was assigned to the 20th Infantry Brigade in Panama.

I also quote from Bob Wood from his Bob Wood Horses for Life Facebook page.

“Horse training is about forming relationships. It is not so much doing something rights as it is not doing something wrong, which means taking the horse’s point of view and working with it. These damaged boys completely understood abuse, which made them effective horse trainers. I think that is the essence, seeing the process from the horse’s perspective.”

So let’s take the time and spend the effort to form trusting relationships with our horses. Take our horse’s point of view and work with it. Be flexible and have fun.

Here's the link to the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society.

And the link to the Second Half Horsemanship website.

"No matter what you’ve done up to this point, you better still be a student. If you’re not still learning, you’re already dying.”

This is a quote from the book, Ego is the Enemy, The Fight to Master Our Greatest Opponent, by author and Stoic teacher, Ryan Holiday.

Ryan also says:

"An amateur is defensive. The professional finds learning (and even occasionally being shown up) to be enjoyable; they like being challenged and humbled, and engage in education as an ongoing and endless process."

To make progress on the path to better horsemanship in the second half of life, we have to keep learning.  If we are professional in our horsemanship, there is always more to learn, even when we're occasionally humbled by our horses.

If you can support the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society Training Challenge, please visit their website.

Our website is SecondHalfHorsemanship.com.

Thanks for listening!

"The most important thing here is to take some time to work with the horse and work to resolve his resistance habit before you are actually in a position where you have to load him. This puts less pressure on you and the horse. When you are much less tense about the trailer loading process, the horse will respond positively because he senses you are relaxed and calm instead of uptight."

This is a quote from the book, Good Horse Bad Habits - Practical Solutions to Problem Behavior in the Barn, Under Saddle and Out in the World, by Heather Smith Thomas.

I had an emergency situation recently where I HAD to load my horse for a trip to an equine emergency clinic. I couldn't get him into the trailer.

He had a fever, he was bleeding from the right eyelid and the eyelid was swollen shut.  We were trying to load him at night and he hadn't been loaded for 10 years.  I didn't set myself up for success with this. I had to put him back in the stall and hope for the best.

Happily, his fever was gone by morning, the swelling disappears in about four days and there was no damage to the eye.  I was lucky.

But this was a wake up call that I need to practice trailer loading even if I have no plans to take my horse anywhere!

Thanks for listening.  Our website is under construction, but you can visit at Second Half Horsemanship.com.

"The striking horse can be very dangerous. A horse can sort of paw at you, giving a warning like a half-hearted kick. The striking horse gets his weight over the quarters and flashes one or both front hoofs as quick as the strike of a rattlesnake. The striking horse is very accurate."

This is a quote from The Book of Bad Habits - How to Correct Your Horse’s Most Annoying Vices by Dave Jones.

This podcast tells the story of my training failure.  I didn't have the time or the skills to correct striking and bucking behavior. The decision to part with him turned out to be a great decision for him and for me.

Please visit our website at Second Half Horsemanship.