The Horse, The Herd, and the Hoof

We are now ready to offer a very special service that has been years in the making, our on line class, The Horse, The Herd, And the Hoof. Mill Swamp Indian Horses has become a center for teaching Natural Horsemanship, Natural Horse Care and Natural Hoof Care. In the past decade my little riders and I have started over 45 colts and wild horses. Nearly all of those horses have been ridden at least 45 miles in a day. We did this without injuring a horse and the only injury that any of our little riders have had while training was one broken finger. Our on line sessions are designed to cover about 20 weeks with 15 written classes. However, the class is taken entirely at the student's own pace. The next lesson is not sent until the student has completed the previous lesson.

Beginning November 1, 2010, we will be offering an on line class on the techniques that we use to train and keep our horses healthy and happy. The sessions will cover our colt starting and riding methods. It will explain how kids as young as 10 years old have trained their colts under my supervision. The sessions are presented in simple terms without a lot of complicated new vocabulary for students to learn.

Further lessons will show how natural horsemanship ties in so well with natural horse care. Those sessions will cover a horses nutritional needs, and will give a solid understanding of why natural horse care might just be the best gift that you could ever give your horse.

Lastly, we will delve into the mysteries of the hoof and will show how to keep it in great shape for movement and how to use movement to keep the hoof in great shape.

Students will be expected to acquire and closely read Joe Camp's great book, "Soul of a Horse," and Pete Ramey's wonderful book on trimming the natural hoof. The lessons that I send out will not be lengthy and will be written in clear, easy to understand language, the same language, and the same themes, that I have used to teach children to train wild horses.

I expect that most students will enjoy the one on one aspect of the instruction. All students will be strongly encouraged to share their opinions and questions with me via e mail. Students will receive tests to insure that they understand the material being covered. In short, I hope that this on line experience will be as close as one can get to spending the summer with my riders and my horses and learning directly as they do.

Students will be required to obtain Joe Camp and Pete Ramey's book on their own. The only other required material is our training DVD entitled, And a Little Child Shall Lead Them, which can be ordered by mail from Mill Swamp Indian Horses for only $15.00.

The program will only cost $160.00 and of that amount $30.00 will be donated to the Corolla Wild Horse Fund and $30.00 will go to the Horse of the Americas Registry's "Lido Fund" which is used to rescue Colonial Spanish horses.

Those who are interested should contact me right away. Sessions will be ready to sent out in the first week in November. Because I anticipate spending a great deal of time corresponding with students one on one, I have to limit class size to 15 students at a time. I will take on students on a first come first serve basis.

Followers of this blog know that what we do is much more than simply giving horses some trips around the round pen. My little riders learn to understand horses even before they know how to ride them. This course will be a no frills discussion of the insights that we have developed over the years from working our horses and working with my little riders.

The picture taken above is on one of fifty mile rides. Every horse in that picture was trained by me and my riders. If this is the kind of horsemanship that you desire, register for the classes today.