Saddles For Colonial Spanish Horses

Two points here--first--saddle fit. I am often asked which saddles I recommend for Colonial Spanish horses. People are hoping that I can recommend a brand name that will solve all of their saddle problems. They generally are not pleased with my answer.

The first question is "What is your saddle problem?"--do you even have a saddle problem? Many new owners of these horses already start out feeling nervous and guilty. All of their experienced horse friends have told them that their new horse is only a pony any way and that it is cruel to ride such a small creature. To compensate they seek out the magical saddle that perfectly fits their horse. Couple that pressure with well researched marketing techniques that appeal to the subliminal guilt that so many people feel over the act of riding (dominating) a horse and a market of hand wringing serial saddle buyers is created.

Nothing special about this--we live in a world of $300.00 little league baseball bats made for parents who "really care about their child's success on the field."

The reality is that most of our horses have not fallen prey to the modern breeding and horse care practices that produce flat backed, obese horses with spinal gutters. That means that we need narrower saddles.

Often one finds the best saddle for our horses to be those made fifty to one hundred years ago. At that time there was a clear difference between what a horse and a beach ball were supposed to look like. Well made narrow saddles were easy to find back then. The best fitting saddle that I have for one of my Corolla stallions, Tradewind, is over one hundred years old.

Ironically these ancient treasures can often be found at yard sale prices. It takes a good eye to note the difference between dry, cracked leather that can be restored and deteriorated leather that must be replaced.

Take a look at these two saddles shown above. Ha! fooled you-there is only one saddle there. Jackie put several hours of work into restoring the leather to create this highly functional work of art.

The end result--a restored saddle that fits many of our horses very well.

Second  point--and I am not as sure of this one yet--but it seems that practicing natural horsemanship has a completely unexpected side effect, at least with adults. I am seeing it too often for it to be a coincidence.

Building relationships with horses seems to unleash creative energies in adults. I have seen it in too many different forms to dismiss the connection--hide tanning, painting, music, construction of musical instruments, tack design and creation, writing, song writing and tool making are some of the forms that this creative energy has taken among my adult riders.

I shall leave an explanation of this transformational  aspect of practicing natural horsemanship to others

Chickasaw, Choctaws, Corollas and The Quarter Horse

It should come as no surprise that we find it impossible to agree on historical events when, as a species, we find it completely impossible to agree on current events.Over fifty years ago a registry was developed for the Chickasaw horse. The horse in the top picture was a foundation stallion for that organization.

The original Chickasaw horse probably shared its over all looks with Choctaw, Cherokee and other tribal horses of the Southeast. I suspect that  white settlers along the Tidewater regions of the southeast made no tribal distinctions when they labeled these horses. From the limited written record it appears that "Chickasaw" was a widely used term for the Colonial Spanish Horses owned by various tribes.

Regardless of the actual provenience of these horses, they certainly were a key component in the development of what eventually became known as the Quarter Horse. However, I strongly doubt that they looked as much like modern quarter horses as does the stallion pictured above.

Swimmer, shown in the bottom piture, is a pure Corolla mare. She is the tallest wild mare I have ever personally seen. In her great book, "Wild Horse Dilemma", Bonnie Gruenberg cites her as an example of the "Chickasaw" type lineage that was brought into the Outer Banks during the late Colonial and early Federal period.

I have to agree. The stallion shown shows a radically different phenotype than other known Colonial Spanish horses of the southeast. I currently have her in a pasture with two Marsh Tacky mares. One would be hard pressed to pick the Corolla out among the three of them. She could pass equally well for a Choctaw.

(Duane White sent me a link to the article in an old Western Horseman magazine that contained this great picture of the stallion. http://www.westernhorseman.com/article/flashbacks/3102-the-chickasaw-horse. I love receiving old articles and pictures like this. When you come across one send it over.)

Hugelkulture, Horses, and Cleaner Waterways

We experiment. We practice and we teach. I am convinced that permaculture is the best route for horse owners to follow to use their pastures to improve the environment.

Mud,muck, manure and runoff have been the primary characteristics of too many pastures for too many years. Removal and containment have been the only solutions offered to horse owners. We have fallen prey to the belief that the only solution to what appears to be soil saturation is to ditch and drain the pasture.

We are beginning to realize that the problem, and the solution, to waste management is much deeper than the surface. Soil compaction makes it impossible for water to percolate down where it is needed. Soils devoid of beneficial microbes do not incorporate the nutrients that manure provides.

We are working to encourage water and manure to go into the soil instead of standing on the surface or running off into nearby water ways. We employ a multitude of strategies to get that done,subsoiling,use of forbs and weeds whose roots aerate the soil, encouragement of dung beetle and earth worm proliferation and some wind row composting.

Swales and hugelkulture barriers might become a big part of our environmental improvement strategies. In the picture above the kids are beginning a hugelulture demonstration project. Wood, straw, manure. compost and a bit of molasses will go into the shallow pit and will continue to build up above ground until the mound is about four feet tall. It will then be capped with top soil.

The mound will be hyper fertile. Vegetation growing on and around it will absorb water and nutrients from the surrounding soil. The interior of the mounds will serve as sponges to pull surface water underground and store it for the use of all vegetation whose roots reach it.

Eventually I would like to have the lower ends of our pastures lined with hugelkulture mounds that will be a barrier between the horses and the streams and ditches. That will take several years to accomplish.

Building good soil--growing dirt-- takes time but long journeys begin with short steps.

Really Looking Forward To This Foal

Scoundrel Days, the beautiful stallion shown above is of Grand Canyon lineage. He carries no modern breed blood. I chose to include him in the foundation herd of our Corolla offsite breeding program because of phenotype. Barbwire, one of the few pure Grand Canyons in the HOA Registry looked so much like a Corolla that I would not be able to distinguish him from many Corolla stallions that I have seen.

Black Elk is  straight Corolla mare. We got her at age 11 and she has turned into a fine riding horse.  Her movement in the round pen is more elegant than any Corolla I have ever seen.  Her foal from Scoundrel will be born this summer. Its sales price will be $1,500.00 at weaning age and more as it ages and receives training.

Grand Canyon endurance, Corolla gentleness, and the special elegance of this pair should produce an incredible family horse. This foal can be reserved with a deposit.

For more information on our efforts to prevent the extinction of the Corolla Colonial Spanish mustang and on how you can own one of these historic, nearly extinct, horses send an email to msindiahorses@aol.com.

Feb 4, 2017 Your Chance To Help Our Program Grow

In November Beth and I purchased nearly twenty acres of land adjacent to the horse lot for the use of our program. Once it was a pasture but it has grown up in gum, pine, wild cherry, mimosa, and ash trees. The land will be used primarily as pasture for the horses but will also be the home to our Ossabaw hogs, Spanish colonial livestock and poultry. Plans include the construction of several native American structures that are linked to the history of our horses, such as a Choctaw Chickee, a Tidewater North Carolina Scare Crow Hut and a Wickiup.

The pasture will be developed and enhanced using principles of permaculture and we will likely build a wooden round pen and seating area in the shade of the large pine trees for our natural horsemanship demonstrations.

Mill Swamp Indian Horses is the program name of Gwaltney Frontier Farm, Inc, a 501(c)5 breed conservation non-profit. We have no paid staff. We are all volunteers. In addition to working to breed, preserve and promote nearly extinct strains of colonial Spanish horses we have a wide range of riding and educational programs. We also provide, at no charge, weekly programing for in patient PTSD veterans from the Hampton VA.

For more information on this unique program please see our website at www.msindianhorses.com

On Saturday February 4 beginning at 9:00 am we will be working all day clearing the land and constructing a .64 mile pole and post fence as seen above. Everyone is invited out to give us a hand. You only need to wear some gloves and warm clothes.

We are located at 9299 Moonlight Road Smithfield VA 23430. If you would like to join us send me an email at msindianhorses@aol.com

The path to our tack shed is suffering from mid winter deep potholes. If you drive in proceed very slowly and carefully.