Yes, But Who's Counting?

I have done a little math on my current crop of riders. The figures below only include those riders.

1. Number of riders that have completed at least one 50 mile in a day ride: 12
2. Number of riders that have completed at least 36 miles in a day, but not yet 50: 2
3. Most distance ridden in two consecutive days: 98 (Lydia and me)
3. Most distance ridden in one day:69 (Emily, Lydia, and me)
4. Number of riders that can give competent natural hoof trims: 7
5. Number of riders that have read Joe Camp's "Soul of a Horse": 8
6. Number of riders that have taken a sole or at least a large role in training a wild horse or colt: 14
7. Number of riders that have participated in a clinic, show, or parade: 16
8: Number of first time horse owners among my riders: 14
9. Number of broken bones suffered by riders during training or riding in the last decade: 4 (This is for the entire length of the programs existence, not just current. However, it does not include any of my hospitalizations.)
10. Youngest rider to do 50 miles in one day: 9
11. Oldest rider to do 50 miles in one day: older than me.

A few weeks ago there was a very big photographic shoot at the horse lot. For one of the scenes we saddled up several Corollas and Shacklefords for pictures of the horses being ridden though a heavy swamp.

1. Number of riders who wasted even one second getting their horses primped and polished for the scene: 0.

I am a bit uncomfortable with applying the term "rescue" to the underpinning of a horse/human relationship. The term seems a bit self congratulatory to me. However, several of the horses that we have are what could be termed "rescues", if I used such terminology. In that category would fall BLM horses, sick or injured Corollas and horses whose owners could no longer care for them.

1. Number of horses currently on site that could be termed "rescue" horses as defined above: 11.

2. Number of horses and donkeys donated to outside non-profit riding programs in past 3 years: 9.

Finally, total number of lives, both equine and human, altered inexorably for the better by the program: Plenty.

(In the event that the stats above do not impress those in the established horse world we are now working on a new facet to our program. If I am able to teach this goat(a rare Spanish goat of the Baylis line) to properly catch and saddle our horses, then surely even Mrs. Drysdale will have to admit that we are doing something right.)