I used a similar practice with my hounds. I raised a lot of young dogs but also took on many formerly great hounds whose age put them past their best hunts. But they were great teachers for the young hounds and often their experience allowed them to bring a deer out of a thick, tangled swamp that the young dogs would have never found.
But even Molly, even Fox, even Cajun reached a point that they could not pull it off any more. They stopped running deer. They simply shut up.
It is not age that has brought me to that same point. It is experience. Experience has taught me what I can bring out in people and what I can't. Sometime it has lead to a very unpleasant surprise. Gordon Lightfoot really put his finger on the worst difference between winning and loosing (Sometimes I think it is a sin when I feel like I'm winnin' when I'm loosin' again.")
And with that this blog ends. it has been around for along time and it has a search button on it. So if one, for whatever reason, would want to know what I think about an issue you look back at what I once thought, because what I once thought can generally be counted on as what I still think.
It occurs to me that if I don't have anything left to say for the blog then I don't have anything left for Facebook and will be leaving that platform. If one must contact me I can be reached by email at msindianhorses@aol.com
I believe you are mistaken, Steve, there are few truly experienced and CARING horse people in this current world. What you have accomplished with young people AND adults needs to be told. I've learned a good deal just by reading your blog - and I had some horse experience myself. But NO ONE PERSON will ever "know it all" concerning horses or for that matter anything else. The kids that have learned from you will,I'm sure, pass that on to many others, which is as it should be. But as you have said, the present horse "world" is still loaded with people who think they know it all - some of which are nothing more than bullies & abusers. Whats happening right now with our Wild Horses in the West mainly is nothing more than eradication of a species. You have done so much to make it clear what wonderful animals these horses are - its still necessary for people like you to keep on talking.
ReplyDeleteI have wondered how the clinic in PA went? My daughter used to live in Va & she & Isabelle, my granddaughter, did make the trip to your farm years ago - she was unable to do more than visit at that time but was so impressed. I hope you & your "volunteers" continue your work into the future.
Maggie