Whatever Bitter Brew you Are Drinking: Be Careful Where You Seek Knowledge

Recently, I have been dipping my toe into pages and forums dedicated spreading knowledge about all things equine. As a result I have a strong need to wash my feet. I am shocked at how much misinformation and rank, raw hostility permeates these places.

The person who yells the loudest is generally the one who knows the least.

To everyone seeking to learn, consider your sources. Go to established voices of natural horsemanship and avoid vulgar hatemongers.

Read Dorrence, Anderson, Brannamen, Miller, and Hunt. Then you will have a solid enough base to separate wheat from chaff.

Don't seek a glass of cold water from a sewer.

Learn lyrics from those who sing, not from those who scream.

You Gonna Reap Just What You Sow

Are you satisfied with the values of this world? Then why are you teaching your children to conform to those values?

A child who learns and practices natural horsemanship will become more courageous, more generous, more  honest, and more compassionate.

Natural horsemanship makes good horses but it makes much better people. Take the step to make your child a better person.

Parade Time Coming

Saturday we will set out before the sun comes up and ride through the woods and down the highway about eight miles to Smithfield. We will then line up and move out in the Smithfield Christmas parade.

We have been training hard for it. We have been leading and then riding the horses through a gauntlet of wild noises and sights. Riders and parents have been standing along the rive way beating buckets, waiving blankets, jumping up and down and yelling as we rode through.

The horses are ready.

After we arrive the confused whispering starts. "Weren't most of these wild horses? Did kids really train them? Can they really ride fifty miles in a day with no problem? Wow-is that a stallion? A horse that small can carry an adult? But they are all so beautiful--and gentle--how can that be?"

That is why we are in the parade. We will show several thousand people Saturday what these horses can do and I hope that we will leave many of them with other questions on their minds.

"How can we possibly allow such amazing creatures to go extinct? What can I do to help? Where can I get a horse like that?"


(Picture shown above is a rare photo of Lefty splitting for Ohio on the very day they laid poor Poncho low.)

Pam's Wonderful Project

The Lido Fund, which the Horse of The America's Registry administers,provides assistance to help individual Colonial Spanish Horses who are in need. In the past the help has been used for short term hay supplies and to assist in transportation costs. Pam Yohn, one of our adult riders and member of the Board of the Gwaltney Frontier Farm, has designed these sturdy tote bags with a great picture of Lido and Stardust when she was a yearling. Proceeds from the sale of these bags go the the Lido Fund.

There are still a few of these bags left. The cost is only $25.00 or two for $40.00.

Christmas is coming. You know a lot of people who have a lot of stuff.

They need something to put that stuff in.

Send me a note. There are only a few left

Spicer Has Grown A Lot Since This Old Post From 2011

Monday, July 25, 2011

I Want to Ride In Geronimo's Cadillac

My daughter and her husband Jake grow and sell produce and eggs as Browder's Fresh Pickin's here in Tidewater. They like to do things as natural (and as efficiently) as possible. They have a chicken pen that has been idle over the summer and is over grown with weeds. It would be a bit of a job to hoe it clean.

Instead, this morning Amanda came over and picked up Spicer, my rare San Clemente Island billy goat, and delegated the task to him. Though we have a wide range of modern conveniences, we are without a goat transport system.

We had to improvise.

Spicer was looking good this morning riding through Smithfield on the back seat of a Lincoln Town Car. His only previous riding experience had been in a Durango, which demonstrates the adaptability and versatility of a fine Spanish goat.