Saddle Up Again

28/02/2023

Here are four great reasons to adopt rather than shop for your next horse as a senior.

So in summary, here are four good reasons why you should consider adopting from Bluebonnet if you’re a senior living in Texas. #1 - You get an honest health and training history for the horse you adopt. Anything Bluebonnet knows, you will know. #2 ...

30/01/2023

Vanessa keeps me laughing!

Adopted horse Vanessa sharing her adopter's morning coffee.

Now this is the kind of relationship we love to see! Vanessa has been with adopter, Paul, for seven years next month (adopted 2/27/2016).

05/01/2023

Who is really an elite rider?

High horse prices are creating a gap between those who can afford horses that for one reason or another are considered “of high quality,” and more run of the mill horses in terms of athletic ability.

I think this can lead to the wrong assumption that a person who can’t afford the “better” horses is therefore also shut out from becoming an elite rider.

I consider an elite rider as one who, when you watch the person ride, seamlessly and harmoniously blends with the living breathing horse so that it is a blurred line between where one body ends and the other body begins----Like a Centaur.

Good riders are also sympathetic riders, not rough and forceful.

So, think this through, if you are so inclined. Let’s say that your goal is to be so physically attuned to the horses that you ride that the movements of your body mesh with the movements of the body of the horse. Let’s also have as a goal that your system of aids---communications---with your horse are more subtle, less forceful. Add education in correct and valid methods of training. Pretty big goals, I think.

OK, but now also think through this---Do you need elite horses to develop the physical skills of being able to be in harmony with a horse? Do you need elite horses to develop emotional skills like patience, empathy, kindness? Do you need elite horses to become better educated in classical training methods?

I don’t think you do. I think you need horses that are sound and sane enough to ride, yes, but fancy and elite, no.

Don’t confuse the two. There are brilliant riders riding brilliant horses. These are often the combinations that have the best competitive success.

But there are inept riders riding brilliant horses, just because they can afford them. And there are brilliant riders with nice, average horses. And if you can’t financially get access to an ongoing string of elite horses, you can still ride better that most of those who try to buy success with money rather than by working hard to perfect their physical skills, their emotional qualities, and their educational achievements.

I will put this another way---Yes, you may need elite horses to find success at the upper levels of COMPETITION. But, no, you don’t need elite horses to become an outstanding RIDER.

You can make all the excuses that you want about this truth, but in order to become a top rider, there are three things you better get:

1. You have to be able to ride like you are part of the horse.
2. You have to communicate your aids to the horse softly and harmoniously and effectively.
3. You have to become well educated in excellent training methods and general horsemanship.

And you can become all three of these, most likely, on the horses you already ride, with the instructor you already have. But you are going to have to do what elite athletes and top scholars have always had to do.

BUST YOUR ASS.

30/12/2022

Truth!

You know how they describe some people as “Type A Personalities” hard driven, hyper competitive, almost frantic with intensity?

Now imagine that you have a horse that isn’t always some laid back island of calm. Now imagine whether or not you would want a Type A rider or driver dealing with your horse? You know how bad it can get, and how swiftly things can spiral downhill when a demanding human deals with a horse that comes from thousands of generations of flight animals.

Now, sure, many top competition riders ARE these intense humans, with intense drives to win, no matter what. But that only dramatizes the stark differences between the personality profiles of those who are involved with horses in order to COMPETE, and those drawn to horses because they enjoy the day to day process of TRAINING.

Sure, there are some riders and drivers who are good at being both, but those people are in the small minority. I can’t tell you how many times over the last 70 years I have heard some comment like this---

“That guy wins a lot, but God forbid you would be his horse.”

The irony is that most of the positive press goes to the winners, whether or not what those people did in order to win was in the best interests of their horses.

The intense people will read something like this and think---"The hell with that naïve approach. I am going to do what it takes.” As they say, tough to be the horses on the receiving end of that mind-set.

22/11/2022

I'm lucky to have a reliable supplier of quality hay!

As you know, if you follow the Feed Rules, the number one rule is that the majority of your horse’s diet has to be made up of plant material (forage). However, unless your horse lives out in a big pasture (or the Mongolian steppe), chances are that your horse doesn’t have constant access to grow...

20/10/2022

The book, Beyond Words - What Animals Think and Feel - confirms what Ross is saying in this post.

PREY OR PREDATOR?

Something that I heard many times over many years is the importance of the prey/predator relationship between humans and horses. It seems when the subject of horse behaviour comes up one of the first things that come to a lot of minds is the notion that the relationship between humans and horses is dominated by the relationship between a prey animal (horse) and a predator (human). This view seems to have shaped the approach to horse training of many people.

I can’t recall ever hearing or reading Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt, Harry Whitney, etc talk about the relationship between people and horses in terms of a prey/predator relationship. I don’t think these really good horse people ever thought of it in those terms and never gave it any importance. But since the early days of Parelli Natural Horsemanship, the idea that a horse’s concern about humans comes from a natural fear of predator species has gained popularity. I guess it is a testament to Pat’s influence in the popular horse world – whether good or bad. After Pat started espousing this idea other people got on the bandwagon and added weight to the topic. To my knowledge, there is no substantive work to show that horses view predator species as friends or foes. It is just a theory and not much more.

There is no doubt horses exhibit fear or worry to all types of new experiences, but to claim that it is because something can be categorized as prey or predator seems to me to be far-fetched and alien to how horses actually see the world.

I certainly don’t believe that the reason horses and people don’t always get along has anything to do with the idea that the human is a predator species and the horse is a prey-type species. Horses are often scared of kangaroos, ostriches, wombats, sheep, and deer yet these are not predatory species. They are herbivores. They do not hunt. They are just like horses, yet many horses are naturally fearful of them.

Likewise, many horses are not afraid of predators. I have never owned a horse that showed fear of my dogs. Even horses that are worried by people can be okay with dogs. Zebra (another prey equine species) can be grazing very relaxed even when lions are roaming around the herd. They only become afraid when the lions go into hunting mode. They are not afraid of lions, they are afraid of lions hunting.

The behaviour of a horse towards a human is not shaped by the fact that we eat meat. It’s shaped by the fact that sometimes we present ourselves to horses in a way that makes them feel fearful for their safety. Our energy, lack of clarity, and our intent is what makes them alarmed. A horse can feel the same way about a sheep even though sheep do not eat meat and are not natural predators (hunters). But a sheep can act aggressively towards a horse and make the horse fearful. I had a ram that would attack the horses and they became very wary of it. At feeding time that ram could move any of the horses away from their food without fuss.

I want to get across the idea that just because we have the physical characteristics of a predatory does not explain why our horses may be wary of us. I know a trainer who use to tell people not to look a horse in the eye because it would be interpreted as threatening. Another trainer would turn away from a horse to encourage “join up” with him in a round pen because he said to face squarely to a horse was to challenge him. This is all nonsense in my opinion.

It’s not what you do; it’s the way you do it. Horses don’t care if a human is a predator species. But they do care if we act like a predator. They judge us by our intent and not the way our eyes are set into our heads. They don’t see predators, they see predatory behaviour.

Photo: Who’s the predator now sucker?

24/09/2022

What do Newton's Laws tell us about riding more safely!

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve fallen off a horse more frequently and when I have fallen off, I’ve been hurt more often. Why is that? Are my reactions slower? Is my strength declining? Are my horses becoming more skillful at ejecting me? It’s a co...

23/09/2022

This is a new podcast for me. The website is still under construction though. Hope you enjoy it!

What do we mean by Second Half Horsemanship? How is is different from horsemanship in the first half of life?Paul describes how your horsemanship can change in the second half of life IF you learn to use your mind more and your muscles less on y...

27/08/2022

Paul Sherland starting his 72nd trip around the sun with his rescue horse Vanessa and a mug. And of course there are carrots in the mug!

10/08/2022

What a wonderful article!

I’m not sure how many horses I’ve had to euthanize in my career. My best guess is that it’s probably somewhere between 200 – 300, over coming on 40 years. I don’t work with horses that are regularly suffering catastrophic injuries, so that helps keep the numbers down, I think. I also don.....

10/08/2022

I know who the culprit was, but he got breakfast anyway!

08/08/2022

It's hot here in Texas! Here are some tips to make sure your horses can tolerate the summer heat.

Horses are very proficient sweaters, making them some of the most efficient animals at cooling themselves, but they are still at risk for heat stress. There are many ways we