A Great Interview of Vickie Ives From a Few Years Ago

Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views: Vickie Ives--The E Interview: What drew you to mustangs? My first was a BLM that we rescued from a horrible starvation case in Pittsburg, TX. I was the first trained l...

Fixing a Herd Bound Horse

A herd bound horse is one that is afraid to leave the other horses. Let that sink in. The problem is not that he doesn't love you anymore. He is not leaving you for a trophy mare. The first thing to do to get past the problem is to understand what it is and not to mope about being rejected by your horse or feeling that something is just not right between the two of you anymore.

The horse is afraid that he will not be able to return to the safety of his herd and he is afraid that you will not be able protect him in a crisis. The problem is two pronged. So is the solution.

Put on comfortable shoes. Set aside at least four hours, though it might take much less time for this step. Get a good rope halter on the horse. Start at the gate with the herd in sight. Lead the horse away about five steps. Turn around and come back to the herd. Next time take six or seven steps and return. Followup with eight or ten steps. Turn around quickly and lead the horse back to the herd firmly. Each time go a little further away. The horse will understand that leaving the herd does not mean leaving the herd forever. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat--be patient--stick with it until the horse gives absolutely no resistance to being lead away from the herd.

You might need to do the exercise again the next day. I have never had to spend more than six hours doing this and generally one hour does the trick.

Now you have half the problem solved. Move on to making the horse have confidence in you. Again, go to the formula 51% control, 49% affection. Control comes from being able to move the horse. Get that horse in a round pen or on a lead and make it go where you say. The horse will not see you as a bully. He will see you as a leader. And intersperse the movement with affection that the horse understands. Firm hugs and rubs around the drive line. Stand beside the horse facing the same direction that he faces lower your head (I hope that by now his head is low) and synchronize your breathing with his.

That's it. It is that simple.

And that difficult.

Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views: A Great Trail Horse

Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views: A Great Trail Horse: "Great Trail Horse" is a term that gets thrown around a lot without much of a definition. To a great extent NATRAC competitions s...

Its More Than Riding

Our program and the expansions of that program that will grow from the Gwaltney Frontier Farm involve much more than riding. Natural horsemanship is at its core but our program is one of constant education. History, science, wild life studies,music,art and conservation all have a place in what we do.

Last night several of my riders and their families gathered over at Krista's house to build bat houses that will go up at selected locations around the horses lots. Krista researched bats and their housing needs as she and her family took the lead on this project. (That is our crew of bat housing construction engineers in the picture above). Kay and Sarah Lin have completed butterfly houses that will join the bluebird house, and martin nests this spring. Other kids have worked on building up brush piles for habitat for small animals. Christian has developed a lawn tractor and plow combination to use in our wind row composting program. We will soon all pitch in in a monumental effort to plant five hundred colonial pines around the horse lot. Lydia prepared the area in the front of the Little House for landscaping. My daughter and son in law have started a lot of plants in their green house to be set out in the coming weeks.

Kelly and Josh are making tremendous progress with their wild Corolla stallion, Edward Teach. She constantly peppers me with great programming ideas and perhaps more than any of my other riders shares my hope to turn our program into a model of learning and teaching in addition to being a model program of natural horsemanship.

I like seeing the program grow but it means even more to me to see the kids taking pride and ownership in what goes on at the horse lot.

Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views: Leave this Long Haired Country Boy Alone

Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views: Leave this Long Haired Country Boy Alone: This is one of the premier wild stallions of Shackleford Island , Dionysus, the father of my Shackleford stallion, Wanchese. Several facto...