Seniors with Horses - Tips to Help Us Enjoy Better Years with Horses and More of Them Paul Sherland

In this episode of the Senior Horsemanship Podcast, I talk about planning for after us. That is planning for our horses' care if we can't care for them anymore.

One possibility is to adopt a horse from a rescue like Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society. Bluebonnet retains ownership of the horse and will always take the horse back if the adopter can't care for it. Bluebonnet will also provide training and fostering to make the horse more adoptable. If you don't live in Texas, perhaps there's a rescue with similar policies.

Another option is to provide for your horses in your estate plan. We'll be talking with an attorney in a future podcast about estate planning for horses and pets too.

Thanks for listening to the Senior Horsemanship Podcast.

There are many good reasons for seniors to volunteer for Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society in Texas or at similar horse rescues in other areas. According to Dr. Jennifer Williams, Executive Director at Bluebonnet, the top reasons are:
Seniors fostering horses can do that for a limited time and get a fostering stipend to offset some of the costs of having horses.Seniors volunteering in other ways can be involved in promoting the welfare of horses without the responsibilities and costs of owning horses. If you have a skill or interest, there's probably something you can do to help horses in rescue transition to a new and better life.If you're interested in supporting Bluebonnet in some way, please visit their website at Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society.

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 - You get a 30 day period to try the horse at your barn and if the horse doesn’t work out, you can return the horse and get your adoption fee back. 
#3 - If your circumstances change and due to finances or health, you can’t keep your horse Bluebonnet will always take that horse back and find a new good home for it. 
#4 - You get the support of Bluebonnet members throughout the State of Texas. If you need a farrier or a vet or you heed help with a behavior problem, Bluebonnet will try to find the information you need. 
If you don’t live in Texas, Jennifer has described what you can look for in an equine rescue to help you adopt wisely wherever you do live. We will have more information about what to look for in an equine rescue in a future podcast. Here's the link to Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society!
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Senior Horsemanship Podcast.

It comes back to whether or not we accept that definition of a good horseman or horsewoman: “A good horseman or horsewoman is someone who, in an educated way, always puts the best interest of the horse first and foremost.”

This is a quote from the book, Begin and Begin Again - The Bright Optimism of Reinventing Life with Horses, by Denny Emerson.

Welcome to the Senior Horsemanship Podcast. Which was the Second Half Horsemanship Podcast. We'll be talking about better horsemanship in the senior part of life. For most of us that means horsemanship for the love of it.  That means horsemanship where we always put the best interest of the horse first and foremost.

I'm your host. Paul Sherland.

Denny goes on to say the following:

So any aid applied strongly enough to create nervous tension is an aid applied too strongly. There’s part of my problem, I realized. A kick tells the horse what I want, but it also creates tension, so I have to teach my horse to respond instead to a nudge, a tickle, some pressure that allows him to stay below his anxiety threshold.

Everything I had been doing was based on too much — too much force, too much pressure, too much too soon, too much assumption that my horse knew what I wanted but was simply not doing it right, too much, too much. I wasn’t teaching, I was forcing. And force always escalates, because force creates anxiety in the horse, anxiety creates resistance, resistance elicits more force from the rider to counteract it and down the rabbit hole we go.

It is a fundamental truth that I wish I had learned half a century earlier, and if it can help some riders and trainers — at any age — on their journey, I believe it will help them create stronger bonds with their horses.

I’m working on the website for Senior Horsemanship with the goal of getting it up and running by the new year. If you have comments or feedback about this podcast or any of the podcasts, please visit one of my other websites, SaddleUpAgain.com, and contact me there. I appreciate your comments.

I appreciate your interest in the podcast. And I hope to continue to provide information that interests you in the days ahead. Thank you for listening.     

A burden of these years is to allow all the stereotypes of old age to hold me back. To hold me down. To stop the flow of life in me.

A blessing of these years. Is that they give me the chance to break the bounds of a past life. And to create for myself, a life more suited to what I now want to be.

 This is a quote from the book, The Gift of Years, Growing Older Gracefully, by Joan Chittister.
Do you want to be able to ride for years into the future?Do you want your horse to be healthy for years into the future?Do you want to be able to care for your horse as you get older?If you can’t ride for some reason, would you like to be able to remain involved with horses?If for some reason you can’t care for your horse, to you want your horse to go to a good home where she’ll be loved and appreciated for the rest of her life?If your answers are "yes" then you may be interested in what I'm calling Future Horsemanship.

Many of us set our schedules and build our task list for the day based on what other’s need done rather than what we need to do for ourselves. We never seem to have enough time to exercise, train our horses, ride as much as we’d like or need to, and develop horsemanship goals based on what we’d like to be able to do a year from now or five years from now.

With Future Horsemanship, we’ll set goals for exercising to build the strength and fitness we need to ride our horses for years to come. We’ll set goals to work with our horses to build their fitness and train them to be horses that would win friends wherever they go. We’ll set goals to develop our horsemanship to enable us to work with our horses for years into the future. All of these goals drive the habits we form today to achieve those horsemanship goals in years ahead.

Future Horsemanship will be one of the topics we’ll cover in Senior Horsemanship. 
As I mentioned last week, I want to better prepare for the possibility that I might have to give up my horses. Or that one or more of them might outlive me. I have three horses and they're all different. But their prospects for a good life following me could be improved if I take the time to train them to be easier to handle, easier to ride and easier to care for. 

As one of my Future Horsemanship goals, I plan is to do a series of videos, demonstrating my training progress and problems with these horses. The videos will help me share my experiences with you. And they also document where these horses are in their training — what they know, what they can do, and what they have issues with doing. Those videos should be very helpful in finding my horses good new homes if they ever have to be moved from my care.

Thank you for listening!

I’ve also become increasingly aware of how challenging it is to age. Our bodies change, grief finds us more frequently, we listen as our doctor tells us about invasive health screenings we must endure. Health insurance goes up and energy goes down.

But along with all of that, I also notice the frost on a horse’s whiskers in the winter. How on a chilly morning, the wind catches the mist of their breath. How standing beside them allows me to calm down and experience a grounded sense of peace. The rhythmic sound of horses chewing. Watching them gather hay into their mouths. Feeling their warm huffing breath on my hands or face is the best self-care of all.

For me, horses are sacred. In their veins, whether pureblood or born of unknown dam and sire, the horse carries memories of battles and races, kindness and cruelty, nobility and work.

This is a quote from the book, Getting Along with Horses: An Evolution in Understanding, by Crissi McDonald.

Perhaps you’ve also evolved in understanding your horse. Hopefully your experiences over the years, in working with horses and in doing other things, have changed and improved your horsemanship.

My hope is that many of you will share those experiences on the podcast so that  the rest of us can learn from your successes and your mistakes. Some folks on social media are more than willing to share advice based on little or no experience. My goal with the senior horsemanship podcast is to foster the sharing of experiences that might be helpful to other folks and their horses.

You should know your horse better than anyone else. You’re in a better position than anyone to apply or discard the possible lessons learned from these experiences.

One of my goals is to better prepare for the possibility that I might have to give up my horses or that one or more of them might outlive me. I have three horses and they’re all different. But their prospects for a good life following me could be improved if I take the time to train them to be easier to handle, easier to ride and easier to care for.

My plan is to do a series of videos demonstrating my training progress and problems with these horses. The videos will help me share my experiences with you, and they’re also document where these horses are in their training. What they know, what they can do and what they have issues with doing.

I hope that you’ll share your horse journey with me and with other listeners to the podcast. I appreciate your interest in the podcast. And I hope to continue to provide information that interests you in the days ahead.