A burden of these years is to fail to get beyond the bitterness of having been displaced, and to not see that being moved quietly off all the platforms of life is also to be free of the stagecraft that goes with them.
A blessing of these years is to wake up one morning and find ourselves drunk with a very thought of being alive. Then wherever we go, we will spread the joy we have finally been able to find in ourselves.
This is a quote from the book, The Gift of Years, Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister.
Welcome to the Senior Horsemanship Podcast, which was the Second Half Horsemanship Podcast last week. We'll be talking about better horsemanship in the senior part of life.
I'm your host. Paul Sherland. Well, the set.
Well, the Texas Secretary of State has assigned the assumed name of senior horsemanship to my company. And I've obtained the domain name for senior horsemanship. The podcast name is changed to senior horsemanship. And I'll be building the senior horsemanship website over the next few weeks.
So why the change? Probably the most important reason is that I'm certainly a senior horseman, at age 71 with three horses. I'm also very interested in riding, caring for and training my horses as long as I can. I'm also very interested in making as long as I can to be as long as possible. That's my goal in horsemanship.
I don't have any goals in the competitive arena. Not that competition is bad, but I just want to enjoy my horses. If you compete. Then I hope you do it for the joy of working with your horse.
So, what will we talk about? How about the following?
I'd like to talk about horse training. First because a well-trained horse makes life safer and makes our time with our horse more enjoyable.
A well-trained horse also has better prospects for a good home if for some reason we can't continue to keep our horse. So for the good of ourselves and our horses, horse training for seniors is a great topic.
I'd like to talk about horse care. I care for my horses myself, and I've learned some things in the process that I'd like to share. I also hope to learn from others about ways to make horse care better and easier as we grow older.
I'd like to talk about riding fitness and safety around horses. I've lost about 40 pounds over the last year and a half, and it's made riding easier for me and my horses. But with the weight loss has come some loss of. But with the weight loss has come a loss of some strength.
I've also suffered from my share of horse related injuries over the years, including a broken arm, broken ribs, several concussions and most recently broken toes. What can we do to be safer with our horses? I'm not as nimble as I once was.
I'd like to talk about the mental aspects of horsemanship. Because we need to rely on the mental more than the physical as we get older. When I was younger, there were ways of handling horses that could be characterized by make them do it. And don't let them get away with it. As I've gotten older, I've realized that there are better ways and I'll talk about them.
Finally, I'll talk about horse, horse.
Finally, I'll talk about how horsemanship can be much more than riding a horse. I've been a volunteer with Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society here in Texas for a number of years. And there are some volunteers who could be examples for all of us. Several volunteers can't ride anymore, but they foster horses and give them a great start on a new path in life. Other volunteers work on the admin side to give the organization the ability to help as many horses as possible. All of those activities count as horsemanship. We'll talk about those and more.
A burden of these years is to fail to get beyond the bitterness of having been displaced, and to not see that being moved quietly off all the platforms of life is also to be free of the stagecraft that goes with them. A blessing of these years is to wake up one morning and find ourselves drunk with a very thought of being alive. Then wherever we go, we will spread the joy we have finally been able to find in ourselves. This is a quote from the book, The Gift of Years, Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister. Welcome to the Senior Horsemanship Podcast, which was the Second Half Horsemanship Podcast last week. We'll be talking about better horsemanship in the senior part of life. I'm your host. Paul Sherland. Well, the Texas Secretary of State has assigned the assumed name of senior horsemanship to my company. And I've obtained the domain name for senior horsemanship. The podcast name is changed to senior horsemanship. And I'll be building the senior horsemanship website over the next few weeks. So why the change? Probably the most important reason is that I'm certainly a senior horseman, at age 71 with three horses. I'm also very interested in riding, caring for and training my horses as long as I can. I'm also very interested in making as long as I can to be as long as possible. That's my goal in horsemanship. I don't have any goals in the competitive arena. Not that competition is bad, but I just want to enjoy my horses. If you compete. Then I hope you do it for the joy of working with your horse. So, what will we talk about? How about the following? I'd like to talk about horse training. First because a well-trained horse makes life safer and makes our time with our horse more enjoyable. A well-trained horse also has better prospects for a good home if for some reason we can't continue to keep our horse. So for the good of ourselves and our horses, horse training for seniors is a great topic. I'd like to talk about horse care. I care for my horses myself, and I've learned some things in the process that I'd like to share. I also hope to learn from others about ways to make horse care better and easier as we grow older. I'd like to talk about riding fitness and safety around horses. I've lost about 40 pounds over the last year and a half, and it's made riding easier for me and my horses. But with the weight loss has come a loss of some strength. I've also suffered from my share of horse related injuries over the years, including a broken arm, broken ribs, several concussions and most recently broken toes. What can we do to be safer with our horses? I'm not as nimble as I once was. I'd like to talk about the mental aspects of horsemanship. Because we need to rely on the mental more than the physical as we get older. When I was younger, there were ways of handling horses that could be characterized by make them do it. And don't let them get away with it. As I've gotten older, I've realized that there are better ways and I'll talk about them. Finally, I'll talk about how horsemanship can be much more than riding a horse. I've been a volunteer with Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society here in Texas for a number of years. And there are some volunteers who could be examples for all of us. Several volunteers can't ride anymore, but they foster horses and give them a great start on a new path in life. Other volunteers work on the admin side to give the organization the ability to help as many horses as possible. All of those activities count as horsemanship. We'll talk about those and more. Again, I appreciate all the topic ideas I've received from members of the Equestrian Seniors Facebook group. I appreciate your interest in the podcast. And I hope to continue to provide information that interests you in the days ahead. Thanks for listening.