It's What We Do

From a recent Facebook post:


Kids--my throat hurts. Sometimes when you are in the middle of things you are not in a good position to appreciate what is really going on. A young couple came out to the horse lot to hear about what we do at Mill Swamp Indian Horses. I told them about preservation of the Corollas, and Baccas and promotion and breeding of the Grand Canyons, and Shacklefords. And the promotion of Marsh Tackys, Choctaws, Galicenos, and SMR horses. And the riding program. And that we teach people natural horsemanship and the taming and training of wild horses. And that Kay will be teaching painting to benefit the horses starting Saturday. And that we have built an early colonial settler's farm just to put the Colonial Spanish Horses in their proper historical frame. And that we built a Chickee, a traditional summer Choctaw home, beside the Choctaw horses to put them in their historical setting. And that we have rare heritage early colonial strains of chickens and goats. And that the 20th of June will be our first night of living history dramatic programs to promote the horses. And that patients in the local Veterans Hospital PTSD program come out every single week to work horses in the round pen. And that some of our riders and their families learn ancient songs and how to play obscure historical instruments. And that Ashley Edwards, of Road to Repair, uses our horses and our facility to teach professionals who deal with severely traumatized people how to better communicate with them. And that we ride at night. And that we sometimes ride very far. And that our riders range in age from about 10 to about 65. And that we have never turned a participant away for inability to pay. And that none of us get paid. And that we work together as a team. And that our horses are as healthy and happy as horses get.

And by the time I finished telling them all of that my throat was worn out. But it did give me a chance to think about how far our program has come.