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Sunday, July 4, 2010

Done Misplaced My Bower and My Scraper



I am continually confronted with the tension between the need for the survival of the nearly extinct Corollas to be seen and displayed to the public and my disgust at the suggestion that we must seek the approval of the established horse world for these horses. Everyone interested in the survival of any strain of Spanish mustangs faces this tension whether they realize it or not.

I do not invite confrontation and seek to avoid it if possible. I always invite intelligent discussion of all matters equine. However, I simply find it impossible to pretend that there is any value whatsoever in the conformist creed that passes for knowledge of those in the established horse world.

I cannot get excited when a show breeder or trainer of modern horses pronounces my horses worthy of continuing to exist. Perhaps worst of all, I cannot scrape and bow and seek their approval.

Mustang preservation is less likely to be accomplished with the help of the established horse world than it is by bringing new people into riding and horse ownership. They can learn real horsemanship without having to unlearn generations of absurd beliefs about the horse/human relationship.

Riding a Spanish mustang deep into the woods in the darkest of the night is an intoxicating experience that will never be felt by 99% of current horse owners. As new riders come into the mustang world it is important that we not allow that new wine to be placed in old wine skins.

That is not to say that I am never interested in the opinions of others. For example, I would love to know what Old Joseph, Ollikut, Looking Glass, or Thunder Rolling in From the Mountains would have thought of this colt.

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