Strength and Endurance to Stay in the Saddle--Power and Balance to Say Out of The Hospital

Physical training and sports physiology is a field in which more information comes in weekly. It is hard to stay on top of the latest science. Of course, the single best exercise for riders is to ride, and ride, and ride. But there are other things that can be done depending on the difficulty of one's riding goals. My goal is simple. When I am in my seventies, I still want to ride 800-1000 miles each year. The two main things that can keep me from achieving that goal are becoming turned off from riding because of chronic pain and weakness or succumbing to a riding injury that makes riding much more difficult.

 There is no way to completely control either unfortunate outcome, but I can increase my odds of still being in the saddle in my eighth decade by working hard to build a body that can do so. Planks and other forms of isometric exercises help build endurance in the muscles of the core that make riding a pleasant experience. Without muscular endurance rides become painful for me after about the 50th mile. Conventional weightlifting with several compound movements adds strength to that endurance. These exercises make me strong enough to better remain in the saddle. 

 However, it takes more than strength and endurance to stay on a horse that spooks sideways at full speed or stops and reverses direction in the blink of an eye. Power, (which is not the same thing as strength) allows my body to respond to such movements with a lightning-fast counter move that usually keeps me in the saddle. Kettle bells, and backwards weighted sled drags have given my riding muscles strength, power, and a great deal of endurance. 

 But power from those fast twitch muscles, by itself, often is not enough to keep from being slammed into the trail. One also needs balance. there are scores of exercises designed to increase one's balance but too many of them are very difficult for an older rider to master. I found, (from studying the practices of an exercise innovator who operates under the logo of, "Knees Over Toes Guy") a simple, progressive practice that has greatly increased my balance in the saddle. I walk backwards a few miles each week in the dark. I walk a few hours before the sun comes up in my driveway. I started very slowly and very carefully. I have not yet fallen down. I now move much faster with deep, long backwards strides. I balance the movement with my arms. These practices have made riding easier than it has been since I was a kid. 

Of course, don't try any exercise routing without your doctor's approval. I am not a doctor. I am just an old man who has trained his body to ride longer and harder than I could when I was a high school athlete.

Wendell's Best Idea

Our pastures used to produce two products--dust and mud. I knew as much about pasture management as the average owner of a few acres--soil test, lime the soil, apply 10-10-10 fertilizer and hope it rains. 

That is not a formula for success. 

Wendell was the first person that I knew that had knowledge of organic fertilizer. I was skeptical. It certainly never occurred to me that we could drill an artesian well and get sprinklers on our pastures. 

We raised the money for the well and Wendell made and purchased sprinklers. Before the virus we were rather religious in making sure that the sprinklers were moved so that we produced optimum forage, regardless of the rainfall. 

The end result is that in one of our pastures in particular, which is only a bit over an acres we can maintain up to five horses with minimal hay expenditures throughout the summer. Our soil is so biologically active, especially with earthworms and dung beetles,  the manure disappears into the soil very quickly. Instead of mud and runoff, we have nutritious grass for the horses.

Now that we are climbing out of the virus we need to get back into using the sprinklers to maintain as much healthy forage as our land can produce. 

Happy Birthday Wendell. 

Philosophy in Action

I am not a scholar of philosophy. I was a government and religion double major at William and Mary. I never took a philosophy class. I have no memory of ever reading a secular philosophical text. Within the last few years, I have come to understand that the people in my life who I admired the most were all practitioners of Stoicism. None of them knew it.  I doubt if a single one of them had heard of Seneca, Epictetus, or Aurelius. Yet their actions, not merely their words, constantly demonstrated courage, wisdom, justice, and temperance.

I try very hard to teach through action instead of mere words. It is not always easy to do so, but I have to admit that having the eyes of so many young people boring holes into me does keep me focused on working to live an ethical life.

Often it bears out. Saturday we had a big event scheduled at the horse lot that was to be highlighted by having a professional sheep shearer come in to shear the sheep with modern equipment. Friday night we found out that she would be  able to make it out, through absolutely no fault of her own. I was concerned about rescheduling because of the amount of wool that some of the sheep had on them--too much wool to face summer heat waves.

I decided that we would assemble the sheep and explain to our guest that we would not be shearing but would be doing a presentation on the heritage breed sheep and their role in Colonial America. That was not a good solution to a teenager who believed that we had work to do and simply had to get it done. She thought that Tractor supply sold hand shears, or that maybe we could find some that Lydia owned that we had done a bit of work with, or that she would get out her sewing scissors if that was the best that we could do.

Tractor Supply had one set left. They held it for us as we rushed into town. We returned and the kids caught a Hog Island/Leichester cross ewe and gently laid her down on the blanket. Audrey got the kids in to hold the ewe down and showed them how the hand shears worked. The older kids even took a hand at using the shears. It was a tremendous learning experience. It was fun. It was hard work. 

Marcus Aurelius taught that the obstructions that are in our way can be turned into more than just something to be avoided. They can be turned into the path itself. They can be used to improve the road. As he phrased it, "The obstacle becomes the way."

And that is what happened Saturday. Instead of setting aside an educational opportunity we created a better educational opportunity. 

And at its best, that is how our program works. And at their best, that is how my young people work.

A New Wednesday Night Program Starting June 22 (And You Are Invited)

Taking a walk in the country, seeing some of the nation's rarest heritage livestock, learning some local history that you likely have not heard--and maybe even a ghost story or two from Moonlight--a great way to spend a Wednesday Night. Stop in Smithfield and eat at of some of the best restaurants that any small town has to offer. 

Chris is wrapping up the wonderful series on horse training that he has been coordinating this spring and on June 22, at 6:00 guests are invited to come out and meet our heritage livestock and learn about how they fit into history.

Come out and meet our Choctaw horses  from the lines that carried the native people of the Southeast into exile  on the Trail of Tears. Meet the Marsh Tacky horse of South Carolina and learn about the role of horses in the American Revolution. See our Banker horses, some from Corolla and even some from Shackleford. Even wild mustangs from Nevada and Utah grace our pastures. Spanish goats, Valera, Baylis, and San Clemente strains are waiting out in the front pastures. Our Hog Island sheep came either directly from Mount Vernon or they are only a few generations away. Our Leicester sheep fill out our herd of small ungulates.  Highland Cattle, though not here in the Colonial era, played a vital role in the lives of Scottish herdsmen. You might even see some early colonial Ossabaw hogs or catch a glimpse of a Narragansett turkey.

Wear comfortable shoes. Bring some water and bring your family.

There is no charge to attend. However, to reserve a spot in these waking tours first send me an email at msindianhorses@aol.com.

We are located at 9299 Moonlight Road Smithfield Va 23430

Unique?

Here is some of what went on at Mill Swamp Indian Horses in the last two weeks. Some of the young people from the music program performed at Victorian Station. We did three sets of riding lessons last Saturday. The Sunday afternoon hard ride was wonderful. Tuesday Audrey and I rode 80 miles on a string of four horses. Wednesday night Chris and Audrey conducted a clinic on horse training. Last night Jackie took out adult riders on a slow session through the woods. While that was going on we held a session for teens on improved communication skills and other techniques to increase confidence and resilience in order to fight off depression and anxiety. 

Wendell worked hard with care for the animals and hay distribution and Lisa did some extra feeding. Andrew and Daddy took out our new mower out and mowed pastures. Tim, Samantha, and Terry kept the morning, before going into the office rides, going. Mandy made arrangements to get our sheep shorn on the 18th. Adam worked out which lumber we would need to build our music stage and we used the gift certificate that Rachel donated to make that purchase.

Pam stayed on top of things with a grant that we are looking into. Horse herds were rotated into greener pastures. We worked hard to get the sprinklers in full use in pasture number 3 to maximize grass growth. Tam continued work on the early colonial pole hut that she is building and got the help of several other young riders who learned the use of colonial hand tools. Homeschoolers worked hard in the garden and Will continued planning for his class on orienteering that we will present after school is out. 

We spent a lot of time talking about the importance of courage as a basic Stoic value and how using horses can help us avoid avoidance behaviors. Audrey has done significant reading in Ryan Holliday's book on the matter. Mandy took beautiful graduation pictures at the horse lot. Our records show that we have ridden a cumulative 1,307.4 miles during the first six months of the year and have ridden 11,019 miles from 2019-2022. (The distance from Norfolk to San Francisco is only 2,968 miles). Kate continued with great work increasing Janie's confidence under saddle.

Liz was visiting Tidewater and she came and spent Friday with us. We had three families of visitors show up to discuss riding lessons. Work has begun on the music stage. We started filming our first episode for our new you tube channel. I was contacted by a literary agent about the rights to my book, "And a Litle child Shall Lead Them".

Amanda created a great form for riders to use to record their daily lifestyle improvements, including exercise, sleep, good nutrition, miles ridden, and time spent in study of natural horsemanship and philosophy.

And all of this was done entirely with volunteers. No paid staff.