Perhaps They Are Getting Too Old.

A Tale of Three Riders--We return from a hot, dusty ride--temperature in very low nineties--time for a lunch break before we spend the afternoon working a wild Corolla stallion in the round pen--only three little riders left--two teenage girls and one 10 year old girl--everyone else gone--all three girls pick up the phone and call their homes--the first to ask her family to come and pick her up because it was too hot, the second to ask her family to come and pick her up so she could go to the pool--

Then the ten year old called--to ask her father to come watch her train and ride a wild Corolla stallion! She gladly stuck it out. Little Ashley is tough!

I hope that she is still that tough when she is 16.

Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views: Dr. Sponenberg's View on the Matter

Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views: Dr. Sponenberg's View on the Matter: "Dr. Phil Sponenberg has worked for years helping to preserve heritage breeds of animals. He is without equal on the subject of mustang strai..."

Reasons To Ride

Paul Revere rode 12-20 miles (exact route is unknown) primarily to prevent the arrest of Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

Jack Jouett road 40 miles overnight primarily to prevent the arrest of Thomas Jefferson and the members of the Virginia General Assembly sitting at Charlottesville.

Lydia Barr, age 16, rode 98 miles in two days primarily to accompany me in case I had a cardiac arrest.

That Which Cannot Be Repaired Should Torn Down

Go to any horse message board that you want and you will certainly have no difficulty finding a series of railings against various training techniques and devices viewed to be inhumane. Of course, nearly all of these devices and techniques are either inhumane or are, at best, subject to abuse.

The unfortunate reality is that focusing on these abuses serves only to perpetuate the root cause of the abuse. We labor under the silly delusion that horse showing, racing, and other forms of competition can be made pure by simply removing the bad aspects of that competition.

No, it is not the severe bit, soring of the legs, discarding of the imperfect competitors, or the over production of foals in the quest to breed 'quality' that is at the heart of the abuse, it is the competition itself.

When a child decides to train his horse to its maximum physical capability in order to see just what the horse and rider can achieve together the bond between horse and rider is strengthened. The instant that the child decides that she must test her horse against other horses and riders a fissure forms in that relationship. Its inevitable result is to reach the point of deciding to sell the horse in order to purchase one that can out compete other horses.

A system that teaches a 12 year old girl that she must sell her best friend because he can only win her a yellow strip of cloth and replace him with a 'better' horse that can win her a blue strip of cloth is a sick and perverse system. It produces neither better horses nor better people.

The malignancy that grows from this system is the concept that a horse's value is tied to its competitive success. The inexorable truth is that a horse's sales price increases with its competitive success, but sales price has no relationship to value. All horses, just like all people, are equal in value.

Every step that Tradewind takes on his once crippled hooves is priceless. Every log jumped over on the trail that produces a smile on the face of its rider is worth every bit as much as the highest rail in Olympic competition. Every horse that takes a kid on his first canter is worth as much as every horse whose canter pulls them away from pack and leads them over the finish line first.

The established horse world cannot be reformed. It cannot be repaired. But it can be replaced and natural horsemanship, natural horse care, and natural hoof care are the three pillars that a new horse world can be built upon.

It is not the bit, the whip or the spur that cause the most suffering to horses. It is the ribbon, the trophy and the winning purse that do so.

(This is a shot of Red Feather. I do not believe that he has ever been in a stable, but he found the living room of the Little House to be to his liking.)

Come Ride With Us

I get many requests from across the nation from those who wish that they could simply come and ride with us. We do not conduct paid trail rides. However, I love to have guests come out and experience what it is like to ride a formerly wild Corolla Spanish Mustang in the woods at no charge.

For those that would like to do so, our area is a great place for a vacation. Check out everything from tourism in our immediate area of Smithfield, VA to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and the many other attractions in Tidewater Virginia. For the best wild horse vacation one could have, arrange to take a Trip of a Lifetime with the herd manager at Corolla and schedule an opportunity to come up and see and even ride our once wild Corollas.

We are only about 220 miles from the wild herd at Corolla. Shackleford is another 175 south of Corolla. What a vacation trip it would be to arrange a tour of Shackleford, Corolla and then go all the way up to Chincoteague to see those wild horses! The Chincoteagues were once of the same stock as the Corollas and Shacklefords but over the years have had several exposures to modern breeds that have changed their appearance but still left them as remarkably tough horses. (They are perhaps the most under rated mounts for adults in our nation--great horses, just no longer purely Spanish horses).

I was once sort of embarrassed that the historic horses of my part of the nation were just "little ponies". That was when I was a child. Little children are drawn to the concept that bigger is better. The wisdom that comes with age draws one to understand that resilience is all that matters. The wild horses of the islands of the east coast are resilient. Since the 1500's these horses have thrived in environments that are at best difficult and sparse.

Looking for a role model--check out the battle scarred little stallion standing on the beach or the tough old mare swishing flies from her new born foal.

Why not come and visit them on your next vacation and get your batteries re charged?