Relationship, Sure, But What Kin Are You To Your Horse?

Horses fill a range of emotional needs and fill a range of relationship roles. For some they are babies. Such owners refer to themselves as their horse's Momma or Daddy. There is nothing wrong with this perception as long as it does not lead the owner to falsely believe that their horse is helpless and in need of protections 24/7. Often such owners, in an effort to "baby" their horse, do not allow the horse sufficient exercise and over feed the animal. The irony is that this effort to protect the horse is at the root of the two leading reasons horses are put down today--colic and laminitis/founder.

In reality, a horse is tremendously tough and resilient, with one exception--their digestive systems had just as well be made of crystal. They are subject to a range of toxic threats in addition to the various types of colic.

Preteen girls often view their horses as their first boyfriend--not in any perverse sense but in the sense that they project onto the horse all the qualities that they want in a boyfriend. They often tell me that one of the best things about their horse is how well he "listens" to them. They are concerned that their horse might think that they are "cheating on him" if they ride another horse. When they fall from their horse they are often disappointed in the horse and will share with me that they are afraid that "he does not love me anymore."

This is a positive step in a girls emotional development. It is no different than having a puppy, or even a doll, as their first baby.

I do not think of my horses as babies. If anything I think of them as little brothers. I want to respect them. I want them to impress me. I want them to be glad to see me. I do not mind if they disagree with me. I recognize that that I am not always right--maybe there is a better way to get around that tree than the way I suggested. I expect them to get the job done just as I expect to get the job done myself. I expect them to tolerate my imperfections. I do not have unreasonable expectations for them but I expect them to meet my expectations.

I never think of them as weak or fragile.



I have never asked Ashley how she thinks of Peter Maxwell but my strong hunch is that she simply thinks of him as a very close friend. (That is what he thinks of her).

(This picture is of the first time she got on Peter.)

Gailanne Aumendsen, Sarah Carter And Why The Circle Will Never Be Broken

Longtime readers know many of my little riders and some adults join us at the Little House each week where I teach them songs of the Original Carter Family. I love going to the Carter Fold. The songs that the Carter Family worked up are porch music songs--in fact the reason we have a porch on the tack shed is to have a good place to play music in warm weather. Tonight I was sitting here working at this computer and listening to the two disc collection of Carter Family songs, Wildwood Flower, when I stopped to run through facebook and learned of an important musical project that is in the works.

Several months ago I was rummaging though the computer and I stumbled onto one of the best female voices that I had ever heard. The young lady was also a first rate instrumentalist, particularly on the fiddle. She is part of the Florida band, Jubal's Kin. I was struck in particular by the way she took two old songs, "Buffalo Gals" and "Clementine" and updated the melody a bit and sang each song with respect. My immediate thought was that this was exactly what A.P. Carter did with so many of the songs that he worked up over the years. A.P. Carter was a driven collector, preserver and reviser of ancient songs. Maybelle Carter was an innovative guitarist who could pay anything with strings on it. (I expect that she could have gotten good music out of a yo-yo.) And Sara Carter could sing, and sing, and sing. My second thought was that if Sara enjoyed performing more and looked as happy on stage as Gailanne Aumendsen does  a better comparison between the two could be made.

Gailanne is developing an album of Carter Family songs because she says that she wants to bring the music of the Carter Family to a new generation. That would be a worthy goal even if the young lady was not so extraordinarily talented. Today few people truly understand the impact that the Carter Family had on what became American music  June Carter Cash once said that there was a time when she could turn the radio on to any country station and in a few songs pick out a few bars of one of the Carter Family songs. It is not that their music was plagiarized so much as it was that their music permeated rural culture.

As my Grandmother said, "Oh people listened to the Grand Ole Opry, but they all talked about the Carter Family music."   Just a few hours ago I was listening to "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains" and I was hearing a tune that sounded much to me like Steve Earle's "Pilgrim". Again, not to suggest that the music was plagiarized It is not.  Steve Earle simply was drinking from a well that the Carter Family dug.

Ms Aumendsen needs to have this album preordered to make it a doable project. You can be part of bringing this music to a new generation by preordering yours today. Go to www.iamgailanne.com to look at the preordering packages.

And listen to everything you can find by Jubal's Kin and you will understand what I mean about this young lady. (And I do hope that she does not mind me using this picture of her. Incidentally, do a little research and see if you can find the picture of Sarah as a teenager with curled hair.)

Book Marked: Saddled Up And Hard Bound

Red Feather will soon have the second children's book based on his life in print. The first work, also by Linda Whittington Hurst was a fusion of stories about him and his famous father by the same name. It included stories rooted in the history of the wild Colonial Spanish mustangs of Corolla.

This book will focus on his life here with us.

Bonnie Gruenberg's spectacular book, "The Wild Horse Dilemma" recently hit the market. It is the best book that will ever be written about the wild horses of the Atlantic. This scholarly book is nearly 600 pages long. Their are several pictures of our some of our herd of formerly wild Corollas and Shacklefords and many references to our program and citations to this blog.

Croatoan will soon have a beautiful children's book coming out. Written and illustrated by Kay Kerr it looks at life through the eyes of the original stallion in our offsite breeding program. The old stallion passed away last fall, but this book and his descendants yet to be born will keep his memory alive. (In fact, I just got back from the horse lot checking to see if he has a little grandchild out there--not yet, but close enough so I am going back to check when I finish this post).

The first book written about our program was my book, "And A Little child Shall Lead Them: Learning From Wild Horses and Small Children". It has been around for a while and a few copies are still out there.

To my eye, the best thing that has ever been written about our program is Margaret Matray's long feature in the Virginian Pilot, "Teens Work Through The Pain By Taming Horses." She is a masterful writer and one of the best story tellers that I have ever encountered. Here is a link to that article-- http://hamptonroads.com/2014/02/teens-work-through-pain-taming-horses .

Of course, there was an episode of the tv show 'Wild About Animals" filmed at our horse lot that was beautifully filmed and dead on accurate.  I am looking forward to David Grant coming up this spring to film an episode of "Horse Tails."

All of this media attention is vital to our efforts. The problem is that I know two things that very few others know:

1. The Corollas teeter on the brink of extinction.
2. We still have time to save them.

These books, articles and tv shows help get this secret out.

Training With 51% Control And 49% Affection: A Post From a Few Years Back

When training we should never cause the simple to become unnecessarily complicated. One of the most important ways to build trust with the horse is to practice forms of affection that the horse understands. The most important is close contact with sufficient strength so that it does not tickle the horse or seem like a signal to move off.

There are three key points to keep in mind: use the palm or a closed hand more than finger tips, keep one's body very close to the horse, preferably touching the horse, and rub firmly but do not pet as you might with a dog.

By allowing your body to completely relax you signal to the horse that he is safe and can completely relax. But too much emphasis on technique can lead to a failure to understand purpose.

The purpose of the contact is not to simulate affection, but to generate affection. In this world the only thing that cannot be faked is sincerity. There is no doubt that the horse will come to feel closer to the person that uses affectionate handling in a manner that the horse can understand. The other side is equally important. The person that allows himself to relax and gently handle the horse will develop sincere affection for the horse. The more one cares for the horse the more time one will spend with him. The more time one spends with him the closer the bond will be between the two.

The closer the bond---period. That's right the, developing the closest bond possible is the goal in itself. Everything else that gets between a horse and a person hampers that goal. Other goals--winning a race, bringing home a blue ribbon, earning the admiration (jealousy) of other horse owners are all hindrances to the only goal that matters for the horse.

Affection is something that the horse is entitled to. It is not something that he earns.

Still Evaluating The Same Old Way

This year I plan to take a moment or two to answer questions that I get outside of the "comments" section of blogger. Here is my first stab at it.

 "You do not have your riders compete in shows. How can you possibly gauge the success of your program?"

 I think that there are better measures for the success of a riding program than show ribbons.

 I think the evaluation is pretty simple:
 1. When your riders are small do they come to you with the fears that paralyze them?
 2. When they are a bit older do they come to you with the dreams that inspire them?
3. When they are young teens do they come to you with the plans that drive them?
 4. And after they grow up do they come back to you for help with the problems that are facing them?

 If the answer to each of these questions is "yes" then your riding program is succeeding.