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Friday, December 19, 2008

With All Due Modesty



We pause now from our discussion of natural horse care to reflect a bit on the last year at the horse lot. I am a very poor keeper of records. By January 1 we will have all eligible horses registered with the Horse of the Americas Registry and the American Indian Horse Registry so that my little riders (and the grown ones) can receive credit for their accomplishments with their horses. For now I will search my memory and list some of those accomplishments for the year 2008.

Training:
Brenna, Riley, Jacob, JK, Amanda and Lea all got horses broke and in the woods this summer. In addition,we broke Persa and Wanchese, (Shacklefords)and two other Corollas. Danielle greatly improved her knowledge and skill in training over the year.

Rider Accomplishments:

Sarah Lin, Theresa, Chance, Kay, Jacob, Jordan, Lea,Rylee and Amanda each advanced to the Hard Riders who ride longer, faster and through rougher conditions than those new to riding.

Robert and Katie, and another Katie, Wendy, and Loretta canter confidently.

Liz rode a Corolla mare forty six miles in one day, less than thirty days after the horse was captured. The Forty Six Mile ride is detailed in a previous post entitled "On Glory Road."

Five of my riders acquired new HOA or AIHR horses.

Press:

One TV interview regarding my book and the Corollas.
Feature article in Virginia Sportsman.
Articles in several papers concerning the birth of the first pure Corolla from the offsite breeding program.

Promotions and Events

We took several Corollas to the Dare County July 4 Parade and rode the wild horses quite well.
We did clinics and demonstrations at the Delaware Horse Expo and the annual meeting of the Horse of the Americas Registry.
We took Corollas out to events at two tack shops.
Kay Kerr developed a great program in which she has taught several riders to produce beautiful art works whose sale proceeds will go to the Corolla Wild Horse Fund.
Some of my riders were in the local Christmas parade and most of my riders rode on the September 20 Forty Six Mile Ride.
Of course, we continued our policy of holding open house colt starting sessions on Saturday afternoons in which the general public gets an opportunity to see natural horsemanship at work.
Chas is getting his Eagle Scout recognition for construction work that he is doing to assist in our efforts to keep the Corollas in front of the public.
Katelynn continues to use her tremendous writing skills to promote the Corollas.
Rebecca put a great deal of work into designing our horse training enclosure that Sarah Lin named the Amusement Park. (I hope that you will be seeing great pictures of the Amusement Park in use this Spring)

Awards and Honors

For our work to protect and promote the wild horses of Corolla we received the Keeper of the Flame Award from the American Indian Horse Registry and Brent received a miles ridden recognition from the AIHR.

Team Work

The kids love the horses and riding. I do too, but what touches me the most is the amount of enthusiastic support and hard work that we get from the families of my little riders. They are the answer to the question, "How do you run all this by yourself?" I do not. And that means an awful lot to me.

I am absolutely certain that I have forgotten to mention many significant accomplishments of a lot of my riders and their families. For every one in our program, if I left you out, please set the record straight with a comment.

Remember, according to that wii machine, I am too old to be expected to remember any of this stuff.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm one of Steve's "big" (i.e. old) riders but I feel like a little kid when I think of riding in the 46-mile ride. In my Christmas letter this year, I want to include riding on the newly caputered Corolla mare in the 46-mile ride. But I'm afraid my city slicker friends and relatives won't believe me! -- Liz Marshall

Anonymous said...

Mr. Steve Edwards
You accomplishments and outstanding dedication to teaching and training your riders and your strong willingness to advocate for mustangs and most importantly the Endangered (Corrollas) is totally PHENOMENAL! Keep doing what you're doing!!!

Anonymous said...

of coarse you didnt menchion me and bird women!!!!

Steve Edwards said...

And of course Danielle started Bird Women to saddle on her own.

Anonymous said...

Each one of us has a special place but hey we couldn't have gotten there without Steve so way to go Steve and all of the other riders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

(You did say Steve to comment on areas/accomplishments that you may not have mentioned, so.....)

Jacob entered the HOA National Essay contest and was a co-first place winner. He is the proud owner of 'Uncle Harley', an athletic Spanish Mustang. With a little more training, he will be riding him in the woods on the 'hard rides'.

Anonymous said...

While you have mentioned the little riders who trained their horses this year, you seem to have forgotten to say that one of the horses, a corolla, is exceptionally beautiful and outshines every single equine you own. : )