Anticipation

My riders, both little and grown, are becoming giddy with excitement over the experiment that we are going to try this Saturday. One of my grown riders just told me that she is afraid that she will not be able to sleep Friday night. Parents of my riders are assisting in every way imaginable. It is possible to have team work without competition. My little riders and I train horses as a team. We do so year round but most of our focus is on the long days of summer.
This summer we trained Persa and Wanchese, our Shackleford mare and stallion, well enough so they ae now regularly ridden in the woods. Amanda did a great job on her wild Corolla mare, Secotan and she is now a completely reliable trail horse. Swimmer has learned faster than any horse that we have ever handled and will soon be ready for beginning riders to start out on. Chance has put many miles on our most beautiful Corolla stallion, Trade Wind this summer. Lea's horse, Washikie, is coming along well and I expect him to be in the woods soon.
Conventional wisdom is that young riders should own ancient horses who are "bomb proof." I will agree that a child may be a bit safer on an old horse, but the old horses are more likely to die. Broken arms do not hurt as much as watching one's first horse be buried.
Kids can learn natural horsemanship and they can learn to handle young horses. My riders who purchased colts and broke them with my help develop very strong bonds with their horses.