Arrows Falling Like Rain Drops In a Storm

Yesterday we started mounted archery again. Sure it is fun, but it also is a great tool to become a better, safer rider.

Archery requires concentration and focus. It provides instant reward and recognition of the success of that focus by seeing the arrow hit the target.

Riding, at its best, involves the control of the horse simply by focusing one's concentration on the task at hand. Few young people have the amount of focus needed to achieve what Dorrence called the power of "feel" in horsemanship.

I Have Resisted Posting This for Years, But Now..

... I have decided to do so. Horses make lives better. They improve the quality of human existence. They improve one's physical and mental health. They can allow one to become more empathetic and compassionate.

As important as these things are, they are not at the top of the list of wishes for many young people, especially teenagers. Working, riding and training horses do something else though.

They can make one better looking.

There, I said it--perhaps the most shallow of reasons to ride, but a reason nonetheless. For years I have had visitors to the horse lot tell me how beautiful my riders were. Of course, everyone looks better in a beautiful setting but the attractiveness is much more than the setting.

Across cultures definitions of human beauty seem subconsciously tied to appearing healthy, happy, and confident. Sunlight on the skin, the muscle toning effects of riding, (particularly on the core muscles), the mere fact of being healthier by having an immune system fired up by constant exposure to the microbes of the horse lot--all evidence of good health.

The smile of riders--the happiness of a rider handling and taming a scared horse, the lack of stressed expressions--these are all things of beauty.

And the confidence. Few things are more attractive than a confident carriage and demeanor. A deliberate stride--a sense of movement with purpose, the ability to make quick decisions, all the things that result from having real self confidence make one more attractive.

Male or female, young or old, riding, working horses, trimming hooves, and carrying buckets of water make you better looking.

So if all of the deep spiritual reasons to mount up are not sufficient to get you to go buy some boots, consider the fact that you will look much better in your prom pictures if you become a serious rider.

Reality Matters

I care nothing for appearances--even less for other's ideas of how a thing should appear. I do not care if a horse looks like it has great endurance or wonderful gaits. I care even less if a horse's grand mother looked like she had great endurance or wonderful gaits.

The test of a hammer  is in the driving of the nail.

I happen to find Feather to be exceptionally beautiful. That is of little significance to me. Holland is one of the greatest horses that I will ever ride. Others might consider him otherwise, but I find him to be no better looking than a rumpled brown paper bag. But he glides. He carries me where I want to go, at the speed that I want to go, through whatever terrain I want to go through, in what ever weather I want to go in.

And then the next day he does it again.

This is how Feather will be. Jen and KC rode her yesterday. They gushed when describing her movement and willingness. A winter of trotting and gaiting with me on board will build muscle and bone that will make her body lean and hard.

She might even become as great a horse as Holland.

She is about 13.2 hands and regardless of what a superstar she becomes there will be many who will feel that she simply "looks" too small for me to ride. Worst of all, many of those people will actually believe that because she "looks" too small for me I should not ride her.

And the odd thing is that many of these people do not "look" ignorant. In fact, if they kept their mouth's shut no one would ever know how little they know. Forrest Gump's mother had it right. She did not say that "Stupid is as stupid looks."

No, "Stupid is as stupid does."

If you must judge yourself or your horse judge based on reality, not on appearance.


Spectacular is as spectacular does.

The Full Picture--It Is Happening

Hope, planning, and conviction are coming together. Mill Swamp Indian Horses is now a program of our recently formed and organized non profit corporation, The Gwaltney Frontier Farm, Inc. We are creating an educational and livestock preservation effort that will bring meaning to the lives of riders, young and old. The catalyst to this development was Tom Crockett's idea that we could convert to a non-profit in order to be able to acquire the funds to expand everything that we do.

Over the past two years we are making it happen and are on the verge of explosive success. Our key purpose is to prevent the extinction of the Corolla Colonial Spanish mustangs. We also seek to preserve and promote other nearly extinct strains of historic Spanish mustangs such as the Baca and the Choctaw and the Marsh Tacky and the Shackleford. We teach natural horsemanship and we teach young children to tame and train wild horses and start colts under saddle.

Ancillary to that mission we provide programing, at no charge, to veterans who are at the local VA hospital being treated for PTSD. We will be providing training to local law enforcement on using the round pen as a way to learn better communication skills. We make a special effort to work with young people (and adults) whose backgrounds have been filled with complications. We are reconstructing a small farming operation from the mid 1600's when my ancestors first came out to the area around my horse lot. We are working to include the type of rare and nearly extinct livestock that would have been found there during the early colonial years when Smithfield, Virginia was, in fact, on the frontier of the British Empire.

We teach horses to be gentle and happy. We demonstrate how healthy horses are when allowed to live in a natural horse care setting. Many of our kids learn to give natural hoof trims. Several of my kids go on to pick up a little cash training horses for other people. We prove what these little horses and little kids are capable of with rides of fifty miles in a day, night rides,and even a ride of 109 miles in 17 hours, mounted archery, hog butchering and smoking of hams,....


...and music. Music with meaning. Music that has stood the test of time. Music played on ancient instruments telling ancient stories and eternal truths. And we are all volunteers. And I have some of the best kids and best adults to be found out working in our program nearly every day.

And we teach kindness. And we teach compassion.

And we always remember that the purpose of natural horsemanship is to make better people.

And, at age 54, I have the very rare privilege of seeing something that has existed in my head for years come into being.

Few things give more satisfaction.

Few things give more peace.

Read The Comments

Lloyd often posts comments after blog posts. They are always worth reading. He thinks deeper than do I and writes nearly as well as I do.

If you just read the blog post without studying the comments you simply are not getting your money's worth from this blog.