Use Social Media to Become Closer To Your Horse

The internet can be a tremendous source of useful information to learn first rate horsemanship. It can also spread misinformation like wild fire. How can a young person avoid jumping into that fire?

First of all , start with both feet on the ground. Social media is not the first place one should go to to begin to understand the mind of a horse. "The Soul of a Horse" by Joe Camp and "The Evolution of Natural Horsemanship", by Dr. Robert Miller are two great books that lay the foundation for understanding the mind of a horse. Understand the principles set out in these books before you decide to accept the advice of anonymous, self appointed experts on Facebook.

Is the information presented in a way that makes you feel good about horses or is the emphasis on being snarky? You can find an array of groups and websites whose purpose is to denigrate people and horses. Stay away from those groups and web pages. Solid information is not to be found in hate filled "rants".

Now here is a much harder one--Is the information given supported by objective facts or the consensus of those who adhere to a particular set of beliefs? This is a tremendous pitfall for all new horse people, but especially for young people. One of the hall marks of adolescence is the drive to "fit in" and be accepted. Be very careful of teachings that are supported by claims that "everyone knows..." instead of demonstrable facts and solid reasoning. That is one of the reasons that it is so important to be grounded in the reality of solid research before going to social media. For some people horsemanship consists of learning a set of "rules" and working vigorously to force others to accept both the "rules" and their status as "experts" because they know these "rules". It can be hard to refuse to simply follow the crowd, but you owe it to your horse to be willing to do what Manny, a wonderful Choctaw horse, is doing in this picture--hold your head up high and walk away from that crowd.

When you do find a source of solid knowledge on social media, pay close attention to what that source provides. Learn everything that you can. Study that source closely enough so that you understand not only what is being taught, but why it is being taught. Learn underlying principles, not merely techniques.

Lastly, constantly ask yourself, "is this information making it possible for me to get closer to horses"? Does the information drive a wedge between you and your horse because it teaches you that your horse is inferior because of its conformation, lack of registration, size, color, or pedigree? If it does those things, walk away.

Posts that tell a 12 year old to abandon his or her best friend and replace him with a stranger in order to win a strip of ribbon of a brighter color is information that will not bring you closer to your horse.

You Seem Like You Would Be a Good Father For Daughters

That is something that Rebecca told me many years ago. She had not been married too long and it was way before she had any children of her own. It stuck in my mind because that is something that I worked hard at being. The successes that my three daughters have achieved are things that please me much more than anything that I have accomplished.

Though I cannot claim as much of the credit for the achievements of the girls and young women that have been in our program over the years, I am very proud of those achievements.

I refuse to make a list of those achievements because I can be assured of failing to list some of them. I wrote "And a Little Child Shall Lead Them: Learning from Wild Horses and Little Children" at break neck speed. I wanted to have it completed before Momma died so she could read it. It is loosely structured around various problems that kids overcame with horses. It was only after the book was printed that I realized that I had written an entire book and failed to even mention Rebecca or Lydia. To this day I have not read the full book again. Every time I even see the cover my only thought is the fact that it has such a glaring hole in it.

So I am not giving a complete list in this post! Just a few samples. When a violent wild Corolla stallion kept charging the team that was trying to provide veterinary help to a mare and foal I was told that it took "thirteen grown men to keep the stallion back." I really was not trying to be rude or flippant, but the words just shot out of my mouth, "You could use thirteen men or Ashley Neighbors." Ashley was about fourteen and that was the first thing that came to me as I visualized the scene--Yes she could have dealt with the stallion by herself while I checked on the others.

I will not forget a veterinarian telling me that my riders were not "like" other riding students they encountered--my riders were "all grown up even if they are ten years old." Nor will I forget the call from a vet's office advising that they were going to advertise for a vet tech position but first they wanted to see if any of my girls wanted the job before they advertised it to the public. Nor will I forget Jordan at about age nine telling her mother that she was going to bring her helmet out to a clinic on wild horse taming that I was doing,just in case I "needed some help if the horse got rough." Will likely always remember the look of shock on the face of an adult rider who asked me during a difficult and complicated movement of stallions and various bands to different pastures why we were moving the horses. I told him that I did not really know--Lydia thought it was something that we needed to do and I did not ask her why.

Or the young teen who, scoffing at the idea of me ever going into a nursing home said, "You won't do that. When you get old you can come live with me and whoever I grow up to marry."

And this morning I woke up to find this picture on my computer. Abigail and Tam--both around sixteen years old refreshing the training of a beautiful Colonial Spanish mustang stallion who had had very limited training in his life. And they did it completely controlling their emotions. And they did it completely controlling his emotions. And they did it correctly. And they did it so that the horse was relaxed. And they did it much better than I would have at their age.

And they made me very proud and truly happy.

And then I checked my e mail. The person who is doing research on historically appropriate tree species to plant around the settler's farm sent me a copy of her email to, and response from, the senior state forester in our region. She is going to develop a plan to determine what we should grow, how and when to plant, where to purchase the tree stock and any other points on soil requirements for the planting of the trees.

Audrey is eleven years old.

I have a tremendous amount of things that I should be doing right now. I had to set those things aside for a while. Couldn't really get much work done until I told you how proud I am of these girls.

Breeding Conservation Principles

Like many other strains of Colonial Spanish horses, the Grand Canyons appear to be gone as a pure strain. There are a handful of horses that have a significant amount of Grand Canyon dna left. Scoundrel, who was bred a Karma Farms is one of them. He is in our pastures now and is one of the most beautiful horses that I have ever encountered.

I can, and will, breed him to a significant number of mares of different strains. But what, if any thing, can I do to preserve his Grand Canyon-ness for the future.

Though experience should have taught me otherwise, I remain an optimist. Might there one day be found a small band of Grand Canyon horses on the ranch of some eccentric old guy who likes the kind of ponies that his granddaddy used to have? Not likely--but the Livestock Breeds Conservancy has made many such finds with other strains of Livestock over the years. If such a find is ever made I will have an unrelated, relatively high percentage Grand Canyon or two around that can be used to help resurrect these incredible little horses.

Of course, that will mean that I will breed him to a close relative a time or two. Not the perfect option. When the perfect becomes the enemy of the good breed conservation is doomed to failure.

Music in 2018

The following post is the text of a note that I just sent out to participants in our music program. Our program at Mill Swamp Indian Horses is unique. To learn more about what we do and how it all fits together take a look at our blog www.millswampindianhorses.com



This spring we are ready to move into our own. We are going to have some requirements for participation in the music program. First of all everyone who participates has to agree to practice every week. There is no way to get better if you only play during our Monday night sessions. Very soon Pam and I will make a disk that you each can practice with.

My goal is to not have to sing the lead parts on any song. That means that you all will have to be ready to take different parts and do different songs on your own.

Dulcimer players and mandolin players will have to learn to play the melody on most of the songs that we do. Instruments are to be played loud enough with confidence--confidence comes from practicing.

Each week one person will be assigned a performer to give a presentation of about five minutes on. The presentation will include information such as personal background, their contribution to their type of music, influences on their style of playing, etc. I will be assigning you people that you often will not have heard of and you will have a week to become familiar with who they were and why they matter.

I plan to get us on stage more this spring with an eye toward having regular performances this summer.

We may have to find a larger place to have our Monday night practices if we continue to expand.

Keep this in mind about Monday night sessions. On Mondays I am in Juvenile court standing up trying cases for at least 1/2 the day. The Friday, Saturday and Sunday before that Monday night are generally taken up with a great deal of physical work and I get limited sleep on Sunday nights. When we get together on Monday nights I do not care if you are tired or have a headache or any other malady. It is simply irrelevant. Get yourself together, focus, and do a first rate job. That is an important part of growing up. When you are a toddler you can get away with anything if you "have not had your nap today." The older you get the less that is true.

The sooner you learn to get the job done whether you feel like it or not the happier you will be as an adult.

Lastly, I have been giving a lot of thought to what contributes to some people's ability to quickly learn to play various instruments. Some are beyond one's control. Some are genetic. If you are not genetically predisposed to music that cannot be used as an excuse--It just means that you have to work harder.

There are other important factors that you can control. In separate interviews conducted years apart Dale Jett, (A.P. Carter's grandson) and Mike Seeger, performer and musical preservationist, both mentioned one factor that I can really see in my life. Jett said that we "had the music around us very night when we went to bed and every morning when we woke up." Seeger says that to learn to play old time music one must listen to it, a lot. You tube and other computer resources make it possible for you all to access more authentic music in an afternoon than Seeger and Lomax and other great preservationists could access in months. Don't waste that opportunity.

I hold the minority view on this point but I do not believe that learning to play an instrument means learning to play it the way other people play it. One can play when one can make music that sounds good. Too often music has been considered good not because it sounded good, but because it looked difficult and was very hard to do. Modern bluegrass is filled with banjo licks and mandolin expositions that are nothing but very difficult noise to make. It takes a lot of skill and practice to make that noise. Most people cannot make that noise.

Why would anyone ever want to? Remember, the test of music is "does it sound good", not "does it look hard to do". Of what value would a banquet be if it tasted absolutely horrible but looked like it took a tremendous amount of work to put together?

Listen to the music. Listen to the words. Understand the social context that the music grew out of. Understand the difference between commercial success and artistic achievement. Old time is bluegrass with a heart. Americana is modern country music with a brain. Gospel is church music with a pulse and blues is hi-hop music with a soul.

The flower is the part of the plant that everyone sees but it is the root that keeps the plant alive trough the winter.

This spring we will build on what we have done musically.

And we will have fun.

A New Horse For Christmas-A New Corolla Breeder For The Future

Yesterday was an important day, both for Michelle and for the hopes of those of us working to prevent the extinction of the Corolla Colonial Spanish mustangs. Michelle learned that her parents had purchased Lefty for her for Christmas. Michelle has been riding with us for several months and she and her family have thrown themselves enthusiastically into our program. She is a good rider, a great singer, a talented young actress, and simply a first rate kid.

Lefty is Pancho's half sister--the grand daughter of Croatoan and the daughter of Tradewind, HOA 2011 National Pleasure Trail Horse of the Year. She is highly intelligent and powerfully built. Croatoan's body and mind in a beautiful little filly.

After Michelle got over the shock and surprise I talked briefly with her about which stallions, in years to come would be good to breed to Lefty. I have no doubt that Michelle will be carrying on the work of saving these horses for years to come. She will do her part and so will Lefty.

Any of you out there reading this who own a Corolla or Shackleford mare can do your part this spring and summer. There are only a handful of these horses domesticated left in this world. If you own a mare we have several stallions that are available at no cost for breeding. Don't worry if you would like to do your part but feel that you cannot afford to have another horse. We will accept the foal at weaning to use in the breeding program.

There are a lot of people who wish these horses well but there are only a few people who can
directly impact their survival. This summer we produced three foals for the breeding program. Each have now been purchased or claimed. My beautiful little colt, Tsenacommacah, will be going to Colorado next summer. We established another satellite breeding program a couple of hours north of here this fall with a mare who is bred and a unrelated weanling colt.

The candle is burning brighter. Do your part to keep it glowing.