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Sunday, August 21, 2016

Valley Forge?



Realism for preservationists is a must but pessimism is not. We will always be a very small minority of horse owners. We are not fighting a conventional war. We are guerillas--under the radar-one person at a time, one horse at a time.

Yesterday a little girl trotted for the first time without fear. A young lady demonstrated Doma India to a small group of horse people who were in awe of how deeply and quickly the jumpy horse relaxed. Two Corolla stallions bred two Choctaw mares. A couple in Carolina were able to look in their pasture and see their beautiful yearling filly who will carry on the effort to prevent the extinction of the Corollas. A retired gentleman and first time horse owner showed his gentle and sweet natured young Corolla stallion to small groups of visitors. A young teenager took his first ride in the woods and he was riding a formerly wild Corolla. A little four year old girl from New York gently petted a young Colonial Spanish stallion. A first time horse owner, who has been riding less than a year, calmly saddled and mounted the previously untrained Marsh Tacky stallion that he purchased about six weeks ago. The horse and rider moved gently and confidently around the round pen.

And as I type this a young family is asleep here in our house. They came from about four hours away yesterday to meet Valor, a Corolla mare bred to Wanchese, a Shackleford stallion. In a few weeks my big girls will be delivering Valor to their home where they will begin their own satellite off site breeding program.

As long as we keep the spigot dripping the water will not freeze and the pipes will not burst.

1 comment:

Mary Batten said...

What a wonderful morning we spent with Steve Edwards at Mill Swamp Indian Horses. I'm the grandmother of the four-year-old who petted the stallion. We walked among the beautiful, gentle horses, and learned about the remarkable program Steve runs on so many levels: training horses and riders, helping veterans with PTSD, and children with disabilities, conserving rare breeds, and educating riders and non-riders about the roles these horses have played in American history. And all done with such love and sensitivity to horses and people. Thank you Steve.