Summer Living History

One aspect of our educational program this summer may be a mixed program on natural horsemanship with the Corolla horses followed by a night time living history presentation that puts the Colonial Spanish horses of the east coast in their historical context.

Guests might meet Betsy Dowdy (google her if you have not heard of her), or an early colonial horse trader who is bringing up Corolla mares and Chickasaw/Choctaw mares to breed to the famous "Spotted English Race Horse, Janus" who stood as a stallion in this region for years, or Francis Marion discussing how he used the little marsh horses to harry the British during the Revolution, or John Lawson complaining that the Indians kept their horses too fat from a heavy diet of corn or...

I am not aware of a combination program like this being done anywhere else.

It is a great way to learn. it is a great way to teach.

What Does That Head Symbolize?

So few people have had any exposure to an actual Colonial Spanish Horse that most horse people have no idea how they should  look. To many people, Barbwire, a Grand Canyon, has a head that brings to mind a draft horse, or even a cartoon of an old nag.

To those of us who have spent thousands of hours of riding these horses a head like this brings to mind smooth gaits and incredible stamina. Narrow chests,rafter hips, high spine and wide pin bones bring to mind a malnourished horse to those who have only seen modern breeds. Those of us who have knocked off a fifty or more mile ride on one of these horses and noted the complete lack of fatigue that the animal shows recognize that it is precisely these traits that allow the horse to cool quickly and move efficiently.

Work And Patience That Paid off

Krista adopted a formerly wild Corolla filly, developed a Girl Scout Silver Award project promoting the preservation of these nearly extinct, historic horses, worked her for months to get her comfortable with each step in the training process, and yesterday rode her in the woods for the first time. The horse will continue to be trained slowly and will develop a great deal of muscle mass over the next year of long, slow riding.

(She was a yearling in the old picture above.)

The horse performed flawlessly. Krista has done a lot of growing up while training her horse. She is more patient. She is more mature. She has more empathy.

She is a better person than she was when she first met her horse. And that is the test of a training program. That is the test of any equine program. A program is not successful if it merely produces better horses.

It must also produce better people.

Not Every Single Thing That Is New Is Bad.....

On the rarest of occasions one will find an innovation that is also an improvement. This is nearly never true in the world of tack. The bosal and mecate will never be improved upon. A well cared for antique saddle will often fit a Colonial Spanish horse better than any saddle made today.

Replacing cowboy knots with billets and latigos filled with holes certainly is not an improvement.

However, sometimes one can take modern designs and use them in tried and true manners and get a good result. The instrument in the picture above is a new design and is called a "Merlin." It came out within the last two years.

I have acquired a taste for it.

When played using the hammers, pull offs, and slides rooted in ancient African music it can sound first rate.

There are many lessons one can learn from playing music that apply to solid horsemanship. The reverse is also true.

Sometime You Just Need A Little Help Remembering

The sun rarely shines this time of year. The sky is generally the color of lead. The cool season grasses left around have little color. Each winter there is a bumper crop of mud.

But it does not stay that way. Two Corollas and a Shackleford in a lush pasture of various grasses and tender weeds-- that will be how it will look in about six months. That is how it has always been--seems like it gets hard to remember how beautiful the spring is when trapped in the drabness of winter.

Time is a constant.

Today I will go to the Little House and will likely mount up at some point--just like I am in this picture of me behind the Little House on my pony Tanka from about fifty years ago.