What I Learned In 98 Miles in The Saddle

Holland, the brown Shackleford shown above, took me 48 miles in one day and Ta Sunka Witco, my SMR who is the grandson of Choctaw Sundance, took me fifty miles the next day. It made for a full weekend. Along the way I learned a few things.

1. The best conditioning for riding is riding. But for saddle sores inside my knees, I could have done another fifty miles the third day. Appearances to the contrary, I am in spectacular condition, primarily as a result of spending every hour possible in the saddle year round.

2. A fifty mile ride requires more energy than one might anticipate. On the second day I consumed more calories than I have in one day for many years. I needed everyone of them.

3. Corollas and Shacklefords are even tougher than I imagined. Holland is 13 hands. I weigh 232 pounds and he took me 48 miles in very bad conditions. Wind gusts exceeded 40 mph. We experienced bouts of heavy rain and the resulting muddy surface made it much more difficult for the horses to move. The next morning he approached me in the pasture. He was ready to go again, but he had the day off and Sunka carried me the next fifty miles.

4. Conditioned horses recover their strength quickly when given the opportunity to completely rest for 20 minutes to an hour.

5. Cantering is ok. Generally we trot and gait for about 85-90% of a long ride. However, on the second day we went back to the pattern of riding that I used as a teenager. We cantered anywhere from 1/2 a mile to more than a mile and then walked for perhaps a hundred yards. We made very good time doing so and reduced rider fatigue. The horses took it great. At mile forty seven Sunka was pouring it on and I found myself holding him back.

6. A heavy coat, rolled tightly and tied to the saddle between the horn and the rider makes it possible to be truly comfortable in the saddle for a full day of riding.

7. Pete Ramey style trimming can work miracles. Trade Wind, a Corolla stallion who was completely crippled with founder in the wild cruised along through the ride with out any sign of discomfort, much less lameness. Of course, every one of the horses was barefoot.

8. Nothing is healthier than natural horse care for horses. Three of the horses had had their diet supplemented with horse feed for the two weeks before the ride. All other horses lived entirely on hay, stayed outside 24/7, had the emotional security of living in a herd, and had room to constantly move on varied terrain. They drank from water holes and never wore pasture blankets. In short, they were allowed to live like horses.

9. My little riders are tough. Lydia joined me for the entire 98 miles. Ashley rode fifty miles in one day as did Rylee. Emma, Amanda, Jordan and Emily W. rode 36 miles. Samantha, only 7 years old, did her first five miles of trotting.

10. My grown riders are tough. Terry did fifty miles in a day and Emily M. did seventy miles in two days.

Motivation

In about an hour I will mount up Holland, my 13 hand Banker horse from Shackleford Island and will ride him fifty miles. We have done this before but not in quite these conditions. Today will be damp and rainy with wind gusts of over 40 mph.

During the month of April we will host an introduction to Natural Horsemanship series which will feature the training of Edward Teach, a wild Corolla stallion. Edward was captured because he received a wound during a stud fight that would have killed him.
We have done these series before, but not in quite these conditions. Our operation is such that it would easily keep a full time staff of two very busy. There is still a great deal of work to get done on fencing and construction and April would be full just getting that done and continuing our riding program.

In short, the timing is not perfect for either of these projects. But I do not have time to be perfect. Today Holland will carry me 50 miles in unpleasant conditions to demonstrate how tough these horses are. In April, Edward the wild stallion, will be trained to saddle with the assistance of a handful of children to demonstrate how gentle and teachable these horses are.

Some where out there is a person who, if exposed to these horses and sees what it is that they can do, will put their life into preventing the extinction of the wild horses of Corolla. For that one person, there are thousands of people that will care, but not care enough to help out. For those thousands of people there are hundreds of thousands of people who simply will not care.

For those hundreds of thousands of people there is only a small, but powerful, handful of people that would actively work to end over 500 hundred years of wild and free herds of Colonial Spanish mustangs living on the Outer Banks.

But there is no one for the wild stallion of Corolla pictured above. About a year after this picture was taken he was killed by a shotgun blast from only a few feet away. No one was ever convicted in his death.

So Holland will blaze long trails and Edward will teach little children and, for those two horses, someone will always be there.

Time to go saddle up. It is pitch black outside and the wind is howling.

Looking for a reason to be optimistic about the future of the wild horses of Corolla? Consider the fact that the small handful of people who would love to see the Corollas erased are all still in bed right now.

The Shacklefords of Cedar Island

Many people would like to be part of the effort to preserve the wild horses of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Unfortunately many feel that they cannot handle a stallion and cannot afford to raise colts from one of the mares every other year. A spectacular opportunity is about to fall into the hands of those people.

There is a small herd of pure Shacklefords on Cedar Island which is off of the southern coast of North Carolina. They are managed by people that care greatly about them. This is no BLM "round'em up and lock 'em up story." The briefest conversation with Woody Hancock is all that it takes to see where his heart is. He wants only the best for these horses.

Herd size is managed on Cedar Island by gelding excess males. The horses shown above are all young geldings. There are a few others that are younger that have also been gelded that will be available for adoption. Woody will be rounding these horses up in at the end of March.

We need to place these geldings in homes where they will be trained and used to promote awareness of these horses. I hope that each will end up with owners that understand and practice natural horse care.Though they are geldings, they can still help protect the future of these Colonial Spanish mustangs by simply being ridden publicly. One who adopts one of these horses will face a lot of questions from their horse owning friends, such as:

How can that little pony carry an adult 40 miles without wearing out?
Why is it that he never seems to need to see the vet?
Why is it that Shackleford never needs shoes and is always sound?
How can he always be in such great condition when he does not eat much more than a billy goat?
Why is this wild horse gentler than any of the domestic horses that I have ever had?
What is that incredibly smooth gait that he uses called?

And now and then one will hear the most important of questions, "What can I do to help preserve these historic horses?"

More will be coming on contact information and the details of getting one of these great horses.

I know how great they are. In two days Holland, my Shackleford gelding will take me on a fifty mile in one day ride. (Don't worry, it won't be the first time that he has done so)

Alumni

I love it when my little riders who have become nearly grown come back and ride. I did not teach Ashley to ride. She was a competitive star before we ever met. I did teach her how to understand horses better.

Saturday she was back out to ride. She had an English saddle on Joseph. We went up to a ditch that was not very deep but had briers on each side. Most of the horses had at least some degree of difficulty with the obstacle. I looked behind me just in time to see Ashley lean forward on Joseph's neck as he jumped the ditch, briers and all.

It was one of those many "wish that I had a camera with me" moments that Ashley created riding with us over the years.

Here is a shot of Ashley riding Tradewind in his first parade in Duck, North Carolina, a few years ago.

Automotive Improvements

Soon we will be putting out our first edition of bumper stickers. This one will commemorate our next 50 mile ride which is scheduled for this Saturday. All of the horses on the ride will be horses that my little riders and I have trained. Nearly all of them were born in the wild. My youngest rider will be nine years old.

The overwhelming majority of the riders will be too young to have a driver's license. They will ride on Saturday and return to school on Monday where they will sit in class rooms filled with kids who spent their weekend texting and playing video games.

The Swamp is,indeed,up!