Reality Versus Appearance

Emily made a very telling observation about our program while a film crew was out last spring. We called for the kids to saddle up about six horses and get ready for some pictures of swamp riding. Kids grabbed horses, got out tack, brushed off any mud that might have accumulated where saddle or girth might go, and mounted up.

They did not spend hours (or even seconds) trying to make their horses look sparkly, shiny, and cute. They put their time on what was real, what mattered--getting their horses ready to be comfortably saddled and ridden in some very rough and wet terrain.

I have no problems with trying to make a horse look beautiful as long as it does not take away any time from making that horse actually be beautiful.

(Incidentally, neither Spicer nor Sea Biscuit spent any time in wardrobe or make up before this shot was taken yet they are about as elegantly beautiful as rare Spanish goats will ever be. There is a lesson there for my little riders that might consider putting on gobs of makeup. If you ever want to look as good as Spicer, put that eye liner down and run, don't walk, away from it.)

Proper Spanish Colonial Mustang Conformation in Two Words

As long as those two words are "Rowdy Yates". One can learn all that is needed to be known about how a Colonial Spanish horse should be put together by simply looking at Vickie Ives super stallion, Rowdy Yates. At the Little House I have a Breyer model horse of Rowdy still in the box. Red Feather has a book and post cards, but Rowdy has a Breyer model. In this picture he is 24 years old and still looks regal.

The Horse of the Americas Registry has a great discussion of breed type on their web site. There is no need to repeat it here, but this photograph bears studying. These horses should not be built like tug boats. They are not put together like a race car engine. The hind quarters should not look like a Dually pickup.

Like Rowdy, they should look like radiators. Every inch of their body serves only two functions--to move forward and to cool off. Rafter hips, slab side, narrow chests--these are not conformation flaws they are the reason that at the end of a fifty mile ride a Colonial Spanish mustang looks back at you and says, "OK, what now?"

Rowdy is still around and standing at Karma Farms. I do not know any strain that, purely as a practical matter, would not be improved by having him on the pedigree. One day I would love to breed one of his daughters to a Corolla stallion. Vickie has a great young Corolla stallion, Sea King, and I expect that she will bring those lines together at some point. The resulting foal will be one that would best be viewed with a camera in one hand and a checkbook in the other.

Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views: Vickie Ives--The E Interview

Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views: Vickie Ives--The E Interview: What drew you to mustangs? My first was a BLM that we rescued from a horrible starvation case in Pittsburg, TX. I was the first trained l...

Professional Success

Just last Saturday Mark Stevenson joined us for a ride in the woods on Samson, a great Corolla Spanish mustang. This morning when the Virginia Bar Exam results were published we all learned that Mark had indeed passed the Bar Exam. It is remarkable what riding a Corolla can do for the quality of your life!

(Such results cannot be guaranteed by riding a Quarter Horse. I do not know if any of those that passed the Bar had recently ridden a Warm Blood, but I do have my suspicions.)

A New Direction For This Blog

This tree is about to grow another branch. We will continue to advocate for natural horsemanship, natural hoof care, and natural horse care. We will continue to do everything that we can to promote and protect the wild horses of Corolla. We will continue to encourage others to teach natural horsemanship to young children and we will continue to oppose the vacuous,inane drivel that passes for horsemanship among those in the established horse world. We will continue to encourage relationships with horses based on their innate value as horses and we will continue to decry every effort to equate the value of a horse's life with how much money someone would pay for that horse.

However, about once a week we will try to weave in a bit of practical information on horsemanship, training, horse care and equine health issues. I expect that many such posts will be dry and mundane but I hope that they will also be significant. I want to delve into things like preventing hay belly, nutrition for muscle development in young horses, getting full use from a round pen, and getting maximum value from a round bale.

I hope that such posts can be woven seamlessly into our current format. Perhaps even as seamlessly as Emily's hair and Young Joseph's seem joined in this picture.

(Yes look closely. There is a person on that horse.)