A Home School Mystery

Mill Swamp Indian Horses, in Smithfield, Va is part of a nonprofit breed conservation program that works to prevent the extinction of rare, historic strains of Colonial Spanish Horses along with other heritage livestock. Among its many programs are the weekly Homeschool programs. The program offers unique educational opportunities that promote physical, intellectual and ethical growth for young people (and their parents). Here is a brief description of the events in last week's program. The morning started at 9:00 am with the collection and weighing of organic material that participating families brought in for the program's vermicomposting projects The program, which is a certified wildlife habitat site, uses no chemical herbicides or commercial fertilizers in its pastures. The compostables were added to the 250 gallon container that houses the compost and composting worms. Later in the morning approximately 300 pounds of horse manure was added to the compost. 

 The families then got together on the tack shed porch for a discussion of the impact that the study of philosophy had on the Founding fathers and how Madison's view of the limitations of individual virtue lead to the growth of the two-party system of government in America. The kids then used the boards from an old pallet to paint bits of song lyrics on them to place in and around the pastures. The short lines of lyrics will serve to prompt questions from guests for years to come--e.g. "What song is that from?", "Who wrote that?" "What does that line mean and why is it in this pasture?" 

 With a bit of time on their hands two talented young musicians in the Mill Swamp Indian Horses music program pulled out a guitar and played a handful of songs. 

 As that project was wrapping up the van pulled up from the Hampton Veterans Hospital as it has done weekly, weather permitting, for over eight years. Those who are in the in-patient PTSD program at the Hampton Veterans Hospital come out to learn about trauma's impact on communication, behavior, and trust and to then work a horse in the round pen applying the lessons that are discussed in the beginning of each session. Program participants quickly catch two or three horses and bring them over to the round pen to give our guests an opportunity to meet the horses and brush them down before the program begins. 

 Support from the community is vital to keeping our programs alive and growing. The Smithfield Rotary Club is constructing a wonderful building to serve as a library to house all of our books and educational materials. Beside that construction is a cement pad for the statue of the Hardy Elementary Mustang that we are having restored. The statue has had a long role in our local history and was donated to us by the leadership of the local historical society.

 Tonight, many of our program participants will be attending a lecture by Dr. Helen Roundtree on the Powhatan Indians who lived here before my family first came over in 1635.

 The homeschool program has to remain flexible because we never know exactly what the day might bring us. A tree might have fallen on a fence, and we might have to spend hours dissecting the tree and restoring the fence. We might need to assist the vet who is coming over for shots and dental work on the horses. We might be surprised by the birth of a calf, lambs, or goat kid and need to move some of the livestock around to get the best use out of our pastures. 

 Our last session required a big adjustment in plans and tremendous flexibility. We had been invited by the PTA of Hardy Elementary School, whose mascot is a mustang, to ride a couple of mustangs in the home coming parade. The invitation came about 72 hours before the parade. I was joined by Audrey Teller, mounted and in costume, for the parade. The other program participants helped us get the horses together, tack up, get trailered and then walked along with us on the parade route--keeping an eye out for any potential danger that could come up on the parade. I knew that I could count on them to remain focused and ready to step in in case something spooked a horse or if a child ran out from the sidewalk in uncontained excitement at the sight of two beautiful Colonial Spanish horses--one a former National Pleasure Trail Horse of the Year for his registry, and the other a formerly wild horse from Shackleford Island who recently completed the prestigious Old Dominion 55 Mile Endurance event. Those who walked along with us have used their time in the program to learn to train horses to saddle and have joined in on group rides, including 7:00 am morning rides in the woods before I have to get into the office. These kids, most younger than fifteen years old have already learned principles of natural horsemanship that give them better understanding of the mind of a horse than most lifelong horse owners. 

 And all of these programs (and I have barely scratched the surface of the range of programs that we have) are all carried out with no paid staff. that is why we can offer these programs for only $160.00 per family, per month. 

 Which leaves us with a big mystery. We have room for many more homeschool families in our program. What is holding other homeschool families back from giving their kids one of the most significant opportunities for growth that they will ever have? 

 Perhaps it is because people do not know how to make the initial contact--if so, send me an email at msindianhorses@aol.com and we will arrange a time for you to bring your family out and see how we do things

When the Community Is With You

We could never do the range of programs that we have without the enthusiastic support of the community. The Smithfield Rotary Club not only gave us this large contribution to fund the construction of a building to house all of our education materials, they are even supplying the expertise and the labor to get the "Library" constructed. 

The building will house our records and memorabilia and the educational material that we use in our program. That will include books on microbial farming, music, history, horse training, livestock conservation, and philosophy and other topics that we will be teaching in the future. 

As it stands now these books and documents are in several different houses and are not accessible to program participants. This will change all of that. 

 I want to begin to highlight more the contributions that we receive from community organizations. Those contributions matter. They keep our program growing and they keep our volunteers encouraged.

 And they are deeply appreciated.

When Is Our Next In House Endurance Event?

Young people have a hard time understanding it, but our next in house endurance event is today, tomorrow, and every day that I can make it happen. We will have the event just before Turkey season comes in in the spring--likely early April. But that event itself is a bit anticlimactic for me. I love the preparation--the conditioning--the honing of my horse and myself. I love the feeling that riding when I don't feel like riding gives me. I love the freedom that self discipline gives me. 

The event itself will be great. The best part of that will be watching riders demonstrate their increase in riding skills--especially kids and new riders. I love watching how much better horses move when their bodies are rock hard from months of conditioning. I love seeing healthy horses and no horse is healthy unless it is well conditioned.

 Endurance work is the only kind of equine competition in which I have any interest. It is the only form of equine competition that I know of that has been good for the horse. And conditioning a horse is spectacular exercise for the rider. The increase in balance, and core strength that comes from spending hundreds of hours in the saddle is a great benefit to older riders.

 But most of all, it is the self discipline that is needed to get up early, morning after morning to ride that transfers over to every other challenge in life. Where one finishes compared to other riders is of great interest to younger riders. I am not being condescending when I say that. Twenty years ago it would have been of great interest to me. I stopped competing against others years ago. Now I only compete against myself and endurance riding has made me a very worthy opponent of myself. For me the formal event is desert--likely a wonderful desert--something that I really enjoy--but not sustenance for for living.

 Training and conditioning are my main meals--they keep me growing--even at my age.

Why?

Why is it worth it to put so much time, effort and money into our program at Mill Swamp Indian Horses? It is because of days like today. I showed up in the dark this morning to find other riders already here for the rides that we do before I go into the office during the week. We had fourteen riders today. As the sun came up we set out on Corollas, Shackleford, Choctaws, a Spanish mustang, Horses of the Americas, Grand Canyon lined horses, a Marsh Tacky, a Marsh Tacky/Rocky Mountain cross, half Chincoteagues, and even a Tennessee Walking horse. 

As the sun rose we headed into the woods with four riders in for their first morning ride, three mothers riding with their children, me and Terry and three very experienced teen riders. 

 I love the ride. I love being able to provide this experience for families in our program. I loved seeing the horses working so flawlessly together. But the best thing is what I got to see this morning--I got a chance to see kids grow--and grow very fast. I watched confidence being earned and being applied. I watched parents and experienced teens teaching and encouraging those with less experience. I watched effective intergenerational communication.

 I watched kids not merely learning, but loving the experience of learning. I have been doing this long enough to know that this morning I had the privilege of watching life changing events. There are very few old men out there who had that privilege this morning. 

 That's why.

Best Book For Horse Trainers?

This is an easy question. I often see people arguing about which celebrity clinician they follow. Some people get nearly religious about it. They have found their training savior, and they try to warn others of the heretics out there who do not preach the true gospel of natural horsemanship. 

 Just about any person experienced in natural horsemanship can sufficiently teach the basic techniques of the art. Ray Hunt and Dorrence, to my eye, had the best ability to comprehend and explain the concepts that underlie natural horsemanship. I have learned from many great trainers over the years. However, for the people who have seen the techniques demonstrated countless times and have heard all of the concepts that are the underpinning of natural horsemanship, yet still find themselves disappointed in the results that they get with their horse, there is one writer that I would go to every time, Ryan Holiday.

 Specifically, his great work, "Stillness is The Key". 

 When one knows the techniques and the concepts and is tempted to blame the horse, that is the time to rush out and buy each book that Holiday has written. Of course, these books only mention horses in passing, if at all. They are not horse books. They are people books. That matters--it is very rare for the problem to be a horse problem and it is mind numbingly common for the problem to be a people problem. 

Holiday's scholarship forces the reader to confront one's own vast range of "people problems." Consider this from "Stillness is the Key": 

 "So much of the distress we feel comes from reacting instinctually instead of with conscientious deliberation. So much of what we get wrong comes from the same place. We are reacting to shadows. We are taking as certainties impressions we have yet to test. We're not stopping to put on our glasses and really look." 

 Yes, that is it. That is why you do not have your horse under control. You must first get yourself under control. You must control your emotions and instincts before you can expect a horse to abandon his instincts and put his life in your hands. 

 Ryan Holiday's works teach how to achieve that goal better than anything that I have ever come across.

Easy Things To Find

A firm rope halter--now that can be hard to fine. Western girths without tongues--I can't help you find one of those. Fly spray that actually works for a four hour summer ride through the woods--Nope, can't find that either. 

 Many other things are not as hard to find. In fact, it is hard to avoid fining them. They will come at you. They will seek you out. 

In the horse world one will never have any problem finding someone to tell you that: 1. You and your horse are just not a good fit. 

2. Your horse is too young or too old to train.

3. Your saddle does not fit. 

4. Your horse seems a bit "off" today. 

5. Your horse is too small for you. 

6. Your horse needs to be evaluated by a specialist who can tell you why you fell off when he spooked. 

7. Your horse needs whatever supplement that they give their horse. 

 In fact, I only know of one way to avoid such people. Get on your horse and ride. Ride long and ride hard. Ride your horse enough so that both you and your horse are in good shape. Keep moving. You are not likely to find these experts actually riding.