A Competition to Take Our Riding and Our Lives To The Next Level

Mill Swamp Indian Horses is not a place to come and learn how to ride a horse around a sandy arena. We teach natural horsemanship, natural hoof care, riding, soil and water conservation, wildlife habitat development, Roots and Americana music, Heritage livestock conservation and promotion, direct trauma informed programing and educational and training programs for professionals who work with severely traumatized people, microbial pasture development, and a host of special sessions open to the public on horse training and breed conservation.

We teach and practice working together on projects as big as clearing nearly twenty acres of trees, brambles and brush into a beautiful and highly functional pasture.

And starting June 1, 2022 we will begin a new competitive program for adults and young people. The only form of competition that is uniformly produces winners is that in which one competes against oneself. This special competition fits that bill. Every who takes advantage of this competition will be a winner.

This is a competition that involves exercise and exertion and everyone should check with their doctor before joining in. Minors will need their parent's permission to participate.

Each participant will have to keep their own score sheets and they will be submitted the day after Labor Day.

Activities are broken down into several categories:  

1. Activities to Increase Strength, Balance and Flexibility

2. Activities to Increase Stability in the Saddle

3. Activities to Increase Knowledge of the role of nutrition, sleep, and exercise for better riding

4. Activities to Increase the Ability to set and achieve goals

Activities will be set out in a comprehensive list with a point designation for each activity. Parents are encouraged to make this a family activity and to support young riders in this effort to build stronger bodies, minds and characters. 

The Activities list will be out within a week. This is a great way to come out of this pandemic stronger, healthier and happier than we were when we went into it. 

My Riding Has Taken a Huge Step Backwards

"Knees Over Toes Guy"--odd moniker for a man as innovative as he is, has done more to increase my enjoyment of riding than any lifestyle change that I have yet tried. I am not going to try to summarize any of his theories or practices. You can look up his content for that. 

I have incorporated two of his training techniques into my morning sessions. They have increased my aerobic capacity, quadricep strength, and perhaps most importantly, my balance more than I thought possible.

My driveway is precisely a twentieth of a mile long and has an asphalt surface. Each morning I walk between half a mile to a mile backwards, in the dark, on that driveway. In addition, I pull a homemade, weighted wooden sled backwards and then drag it forwards until I am worn out.

This week I returned to harder riding after my first round of prolotherapy injections and it is as if I have borrowed someone else's body.  I hesitate to say that it makes me feel younger, because I never moved with such ease whether younger or not. 

Chris' Dobro: The Courage to Find Your Own Path

A.P. Carter kept the story in the old songs. He built on the melody with Sara's strong lead voice and Maybelle's, beautiful, simple, guitar work. There was no flash, no glare, no sequins, no rhinestones, no cowboy hats--just reality--plain, unadorned reality. 

That is what draws me the most to the Carter Family. When Chris began playing dobro I did not tell him how I wanted it done. i did not show him the "correct" way to play. I asked him to find the melody with his thumb and find the timing with his finger. 

And now he has built his own style of dobro playing. Like Maybelle Carter's guitar work it is beautiful, and simple. 

Southern parents have  raised a lot of drunken poets over the years. The beautiful, simple, lyrics that they put together can easily be over shadowed by flashy instrumentals and drunks in the audience yelling "play it faster." .

It takes a bit of courage to find your own path the way A.P. Carter did and the way that Chris has.

The path of conformity must be a very easy road, lest we would not have so many people taking that road.  

A Choctaw Spring Ride

How can things not be looking up? 

This morning we set out on five Choctaws for a five mile run. We saw more rabbits than I have seen in a single day in many years. The false azaleas were perfectly fragrant-- a  strong scent and a bright  flower--the air was cool and clear. The horses moved gracefully under us.

Five miles--no walking--Monique cantered nearly every step. Mozelle, Zee, and Manny primarily trotted at a very brisk pace. Joey was under me, constantly shifting from his long trot, to his shuffling gaiting, to his three beat canter--we moved, not at all the fastest that we have done five miles but the best that I have done in several months.

Five miles in 28 minutes and 45 seconds. Yesterday I cantered out in front on Ta Sunka Witco for the same five mile run. Even though he cantered the distance we wrapped it up in a bit over 34 minutes. 

And things will get better and likely faster. In two hours I will be going in for a procedure that may give me use to my left shoulder again. 

If it does not help I will rider harder. If it does work I will ride much, much harder.

My Young People Are Not Like Other Young People

This beautiful little calf is a wonderful addition to our program and I was delighted to find the calf nursing in the pasture this morning. But things like this calf are not what makes our program so special

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This is a better example of  what makes our program so special. Tam noticed a ramshackle half-barrel on the tack shed porch. She offered to fix it. I assumed that she meant that she would carry it home, get together the right tools and shape up a stave to replace the missing one.

That is not what she meant. Her plan was to take whatever was at hand, shape up a stave and re-assemble the half barrel. She used an old fence board, a hand saw, a hammer, and a machete to split the fence board into half of its thickness before her skilled hands shaped it to fit in perfectly.

Or Audrey, at age 15, swimming in the February James River (42 degrees) with me after spending  four days in professional training about teaching the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences. Or Mandy trimming hooves, or Chris training horses, or Ella helping the new riders with tack and catching horses, or Olivia, watching the older kids and learning to be like them, or Kate doing a great training demo and handling questions from the audience flawlessly. 

And it has been like this for years. Fifteen years ago visitors were amazed at the quality of work and maturity that the kids demonstrated. Veterinarians have always been impressed at the way the young people in our program handle the horses. 

A few months ago I was escorting some guests through the pastures when Chris, Audrey,  and Ella moved on out in front of us, caught and held a ewe as Ella caught the lamb. In the blink of an eye Audrey had banded the lamb's tail and set him down to reunite with his mother. 

One of  our guests said, "Your kids are just so....competent."

That they are. And it is contagious. On  a recent ride I listened as I heard Rory expertly explaining to a newer rider how to manage the horses as we slipped through a deeply mudded forest. By the time that some of these kids get too old to order off of the children's menu they will be showing the same kind of maturity, reliability and sense of responsibility