Kitty Hawk Beach riding

 Kitty Hawk Beach, NC

Tom loading LH Kitty Hawk to visit her namesake

My annual visit to see my good friends and horse trainer Tom Simmons, in North Carolina had a special treat involved.  Lincoln Hills Farm  is located about an hour north of Raleigh, very near the Virginia border and is home to the Simmons family and their Morgan Horse breeding and training farm.  I love to visit, not only to see good friends, but to see the latest foal crop, see how the young ones are training out, reconnect with the breeding herd and visit favorites that I have known for years...

Crossing the bridge from Currituck, over Albemarle Sound to Kitty Hawk

This year's visit had a special highlight of taking horses to the beach at Kitty Hawk and experiencing the Outer Banks area of the North Carolina coast.  Our visit came just two weeks after Hurricane Irene had done such damage at  Duck and Corolla beaches.  The ocean was particularly beautiful with high surf warnings the days we visited, but everyone was out enjoying the lovely day, surfing, flying kites, laying around under umbrellas, fishing and doing beach things.  We parked and tacked up in the parking lot of a restaurant near the dunes.  The leader of our small group led with her Morgan across a busy traffic road to the almost 20 foot high sand dunes that we had to climb to get to the beach...let alone see the Ocean.

That is where the Pacific and Atlantic differ...one can see the Pacific ocean from a distance because of the coast hills that overlook and lead down to the beach.  The Atlantic is just there...you drive right up to it and don't see it from afar.  At least that is how it is from the vantage points I have visited in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Our experienced leader was feeling the responsibility of being our guide and her horse felt the pressure as well, so declined to lead up the narrow path up over the dunes.  That left my horse trainer Tom Simmons (on a young Morgan mare appropriately named LH Kitty Hawk) to take the lead and crest the dunes to get the horses first look...ever...of the big moving water.  Single file, we followed his lead with Cathy Simmons on her young mare LH Bunny Jane, daughter Tori Simmons on  mare LH Bonnie Belle, myself on a Haflinger mare, and finally Robin Young on her Tom trained horse, Kansas Bluestem Ranger.

Haflinger mare and me contemplating the vast Atlantic

How pretty is that?  Robin in lead, Cathy and Tom on their Morgan horses

Simmons family on LH Farm bred Morgan Horses

I must admit I had some apprehension of what might happen when our horses caught first sight of the big moving water, but nary a horse seemed upset with the new experience.  I don't think Kitty Hawk or Bunny had ever been off the farm before. 

We stabled the horses overnight at Grandy and went back to Kitty Hawk to Robin's friend Rob's home where he cooked up the fresh seafood that Cathy & Tom bought from a little fish shack nearby.  Crab cakes, breaded scallops and huge shrimp slathered in Old Bay and butter.  It was my first experience with scallops and I am thoroughly hooked on them...delicious!  So tender and delicate. On the next morning, September 11th, we watched a bit of the ceremony on TV remembering how we were together, and what we felt on that fateful day 10 years prior. 

We had a great time and Cathy remarked that she could check one more thing off her bucket list.  We were all proud of how the horses took all in stride and gave us a great day at the beach...thanks to Tom and Cathy for showing me a great time, and Robin Young for her Kitty Hawk connections. 

My grandfather's war horse

A touching memorial at Chipilly, France on the bank of the Somme river shows a WW1 soldier comforting his dying horse on the battlefield.

I have no photographs of, nor did I ever meet my Italian grandfather who had to say goodbye to his farm horse after it had returned from WW1.  What I know of my grandparents came from the stories of their history by my Italian born mother.

They came from the region in Italy known as Marche, what is now a resort town on the coast of the Adriatic Sea called San Benedetto del Tronto.  It is a beautiful town lined with palms, long white sandy beaches and the Apennines to it's back.

My mother's recall of the first world war was as a 10 year old girl in 1915.  Running and playing amid the bombing in the piazza, she suffered shrapnel injury to her leg which the doctors wanted to amputate.  My grandmother said no, preferring to take her to a Russian doctor that lived high in the mountains where he used herb poultices to save her leg.  Some of her tales were pretty horrific dealing with death daily, becoming routine. A very different reality than my carefree golden childhood here in America.

I got my love of horses from my grandfather who loved his farm horse and had to give him up to the army for service.  The horse did come home after the war; which was rare since most of the millions of horses used perished.  I have forgotten the name of the horse, but he did not come home unscathed.  He returned without an eye and ill from injuries.  It grieved my grandfather to have to put him down, but he did.  The grave was dug by hand and the horse covered in lime before covering.  Next morning found the horse had been unearthed by hungry neighbors for the meat.

It is a terrible thing to be grieved enough to bury a beloved horse; and yet, people being hungry from the shortages and ravages of war.  Everyone was hungry and my mother remembered her whole life what it felt like to starve.  She would cry for food until she saw her mother cry for her hungry children, then my mother stopped.  Her fondest memories were of the American soldiers giving up their chocolate bars to the children, and the Salvation Army handing out hardtack to stave off hunger.

Such is war...

War Horse...the movie trailer

War Horse...the movie trailer

This Christmas moviegoers will have a treat from director Steven Spielberg in the movie version of War Horse.  As a movie buff and Horse aficionado, this should be a "home run" movie for me.  The subject matter comes from the 1982 book by Michael Morpurgo and the Tony Award winning play, both of the same name.

From Huffington Post, here is a synopsis:

 "Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, "War Horse" begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets--British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter--before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man's Land."

Oh Lord...I can hear it now..."Is the horse gonna die?   I won't watch it if he dies."

 I haven't read the book yet, but definitely will see the movie or play when it is available.   I owe it to the horses that have died in all human wars to watch and know what they have done for us willingly, or by force.  I despise the concept of war.  I won't go into my personal beliefs here, but I do want to see this story come to life on the screen.

Movies are a recent art form.  If artfully done they reflect, often times more powerfully than books, the reality of life and the human condition.

Reading more about the author Michael Morpurgo, I found it interesting how the book came about.  First of all, it is a children's novel. From the New York Times book review page written by Sarah Lyall and published April, 11, 2011, she writes:

Mr. Morpurgo’s novels, set all around the world, tend to focus on some favorite themes: humans’ extraordinary bond with animals, children’s courage in adversity, and the power and wonder of nature. Many have gone on to win awards, and four have been nominated for the Carnegie Medal, Britain’s best-known children’s literature prize.

“He’s the most respected British children’s writer working today, whether he’s writing for very young readers or for teenagers,” said Jon Howells, a spokesman for Waterstone’s book chain. “He’s a very powerful, very evocative, very insightful writer. He doesn’t patronize or condescend to his readers, and they really respond.”

“War Horse” is published by Scholastic in the United States, with about 200,000 copies in print, said Kyle Good, a spokeswoman for the publisher.

Why has “War Horse” broken out in such a big way? The story resonates now more than when it was written, perhaps because of the era we live in. “In 1982 the only war in Britain was the cold war,” Mr. Morpurgo said. “But times have changed in the last 15 to 20 years. War does seem to be endemic. When it’s possible to do it, we seem to do it. It never ceases to amaze me that we fall into that trap again and again.”

The book, which has been called a great argument for pacifism, is written from the point of view of Joey the horse. It was inspired, in part, by a series of conversations Mr. Morpurgo had had years ago in his village, Iddesleigh, in Devon, with an elderly man who had served in a cavalry unit in World War I. “He told me with tears in his eyes that the only person he could talk to there — and he called this horse a person — was his horse,” Mr. Morpurgo said.

From the Imperial War Museum, Mr. Morpurgo learned that between one million and two million British horses had been sent to the front lines in the first World War, and that only 65,000 or so had come back. He resolved to write about them but struggled to find the right voice.

Then one evening he was at the farm he and his wife run in Devon, where poor children come to work with animals. (There are now three in Britain, and one in Vermont.) He was passing through the stable yard when he saw one of the children, a troubled boy who had a bad stutter and had not uttered a word in school in two years, standing head to head with a horse.

“He started talking,” Mr. Morpurgo recalled. “And he was talking to the horse, and his voice was flowing. It was simply unlocked. And as I listened to this his boy telling the horse everything he’d done on the farm that day, I suddenly had the idea that of course the horse didn’t understand every word, but that she knew it was important for her to stand there and be there for this child.” That became Joey’s role in “War Horse” — observer and witness as much as protagonist.

Mr. Morpurgo’s books have been set in jungles, on islands and in communities torn up by the Arab-Israeli conflict and by the 2004 tsunami. His most recent book, “Shadow,” tells the story of an Afghan boy who flees to Britain, only to be put in a detention center as he fights to stay in the country. One of Mr. Morpurgo’s many campaigns has been to end the practice of incarcerating children in such centers.

He is in demand as a speaker and an advocate for, among other things, libraries, literacy and the rights of children. But it may well be that “War Horse” is his defining piece of work.

“All this should have happened 30 years ago,” he said recently. “It’s all come at completely the wrong time. But better late than never — although I don’t think my wife thinks so, sometimes.” 

Next, I'll tell a family story about my grandfather and his horse that went off to WW1 in war torn Italy.  My Grandfather's War Horse

Buck the movie review

I met friends for lunch in downtown Sacramento on Friday before making our way to see the documentary movie Buck which opened July 1st.  I have been looking forward to this because I have learned much from another true horseman, Tom Simmons, over the last 18 years.  Horse people need to be taught about the horse and made aware of how they can be for us if we just learn how to "get with them."

True horsemen are a very rare breed although most horse folk like to think of themselves as the "real deal".  One can spend a whole lifetime working with horses and not really understand them like the "true horseman".  A true horseman has a real sensitivity regarding how the horse thinks about things.  Most horse folk (myself included) can not relate well to how a prey animal thinks about things.  We think they are like us in what we need.  We pride ourselves in being good to horses...or are we?  We think we are, but the horse needs us to be good with them in their needs.  In the movie, Buck said that he often spends more time helping horses with people problems, than helping people with horse problems.

There was a powerful illustration of how wrong people can get with horses.  A woman brought a young stud colt to one of Buck's clinics as a last resort for this dangerous stallion.  At birth, the colt had lain without oxygen a long time before the woman intervened and breathed life into him.  She took him into her home and nursed him, spoiling him, and not teaching him anything until she had the most dangerous animal I have ever seen on her hands.  One of Buck's assistants suffered a vicious attack by the horse; showing the woman, once and for all, that the horse had to be destroyed.  Buck was obviously disturbed that people had failed this horse in their idea of being good to the horse.   Buck told the woman (who had 18 more stallions on her place) that the colt told him a lot about her and the problems she has in her life.  She became emotional and acknowledged this, finally seeing the wrong she had done to the horse.

Buck is the go-between horse and human.  He has wisdom gained through personal experience and great mentors such as Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt.   Buck chooses his life on the road 9 months of the year doing clinics.  Although a good family man, the life can be lonely; but, he continues to help the horse and teaches the human how good it can be through understanding, empathy, trust and respect.  Yes, he is a true horseman and we should seek what he knows for our own horse's sake.  For our own too...it all transfers into every aspect of our own lives.

Thank you Cindy Meehl for making this film and making us aware of a real Horse Whisperer.  And yes, true horsemen and women come to the same knowledge about horses from different paths.

Wishee...an old friend with a new, important job

Tom Simmons delivering Wishee to Kim in Fresno, CA

A friend of mine bought a yearling, sight unseen, and shipped him directly to Tom Simmons farm in North Carolina to live and be trained before being shipped to my friend's home in California, as a four year old.

Now...she was not unhappy with Wishee...No, he was good as gold.  She just wanted a horse with more "get up and go" for riding and driving.

Beginning driving in North Carolina

Sometimes it takes a bit of time to find the right situation and job for a good horse.  Well, here is Wishee's new job as shown in this TV report of a great program for returning veterans from war.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Horses_for_Heroes_Bay_Area-123666304.html
 The director of the program said that although Wishee has only been in the program for a few months; he, and the other 2 horses shown were the most trustworthy.

Like my trainer Tom says:  "A good horse is never an accident."

I would like to add that a good horse (well trained) will always have a home and a job.

July 2013 update on Wishee  from... Martha C. McNiel, LMFT, TRI, CEIP-MH
DreamPower Horsemanship


www.dreampowerhorsemanship.com
Follow us on Facebook: DreamPower Horsemanship
Mailing address: 12425 Foothill Ave. #8, San Martin,
CA 95046

"This veteran served in Iraq and has two rods in his
back.  Wishe takes good care of him."

Doing the best we can with what we have.

The ever serious Winfield

Ever since it was suggested to me that I need a new horse, I have been thinking why we have the horses we do and what is our motivation to use and keep them when they are not the best choice for what we do.

A few months ago I decided to close the circle on a driving career of one of our Morgan horses by entering him in an upcoming pleasure show where he began his driving career 16 years ago.  LH Winfield Scott made his debut at the driving classes at the Motherlode circuit show held at the Nevada County fairgrounds where the famous annual Draft Horse Classic is held.  Due to poor scheduling that year, the driving classes didn't start until 10 p.m. and so it was "stand around and wait" until the wee hours in the morning.  For a young Morgan gelding, it was a testament to his good start that he patiently awaited his classes, under full lights and loud metal grandstands to show.  From that show, Winfield went on to provide good driving experience to inexperienced owners...(that would be us) while we embarked on our driving journey that took us to undreamed of heights. 


Winfield, although obedient and steadfast, never achieved the success that our other Morgan climbed to in sport, but that does not mean he didn't deliver what was asked.  He was bred for performance but didn't quite have the conformation or mind set to make him a more than willing outstanding athlete.  Just how many horses have what it takes to reach the top of sport?  Not many I think.  I think one can breed for the necessary traits, but life or circumstances can derail the best candidates and they may never get the chance.  It is about being at the right place, at the right time, with the right horse, with the right guidance. 

 The Marlboro Man on his working horse Win

Winfield would have excelled in another area involving western working.  He showed a real aptitude to move cattle and would rather hang with the bulls than his own kind.  A sort of rugged individual with a serious demeanor. A working man's horse.  He did work well at that job, but now at age 19, and our advancing age, we don't do that work any longer.  Winfield has been relegated to occasional trail riding and trail driving with an occasional odd request from myself like the upcoming show next month. 

I realize he is not the best choice for the Gig type carriage horse I will try and present, but I am going to do the best I can with what I have. 

LH Winfield Scott being a road horse at a Traditional Day of Driving

We have been fortunate to have had Winfield in our lives and hope to have him for many more years before he sleeps the big sleep. 



Here is to the people who keep on with their trusty, yet not totally perfect horses.  And here is to the longevity of the nicely bred Morgan horse who continues to give safe service albeit not totally willing.

working for the upcoming last show

Sick and tired of basics

I read this exchange from Jessica Jahiel's Horse Sense newsletter and it gave me opportunity to pass on to my readers some advice that I have discovered from another source.  No matter where it comes from...it is good advice.  Here is my new favorite quote:

“We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves.”

—  Marcel Proust

Question to Jessica:
From: Veronica
Subject: Sick and tired of basics


Dear Jessica, I hope you can help me think of
some way to get my instructor to back off me a
little. She is a total bug on basics. Basics,
basics, basics! That's all I hear about, every
single lesson, all of the time. She is a good
rider and her horses go great and she's a good
teacher when she isn't going "Basics basics
basics yadda yadda yadda" all the time. I
understand how it is for her because she teaches
a lot of beginner riders (adult beginners) but
I'm seventeen and I have been riding horses for
more than ten years. I'm no beginner, and I
would like to know some way to get her to snap
out of her "teaching beginners the basics"
routine when she works with me. I stay with her
because I have had good results for the last two
years and my horse and I have both improved a
lot, but this "basics" stuff is getting so old
with me! I'm probably her most advanced rider
now because so many of her other students are
people who are like 50 and older. I like them
mostly, I don't have anything against them and
they are mostly nice people but we're so
different. They're riding for fun and a hobby or
to get some exercise, some have been riding like
forever and they're still not all that good, so
basically they aren't serious riders. I can
totally see why they need basics all the time,
but I want to get places with my riding I work
hard and I am ready to move on. How can I get my
instructor to understand that I'm not that
little fifteen-year-old kid anymore and I'm ready to do some real riding?

Veronica




Hi Veronica! Come on, you didn't really expect me
to contradict your instructor on this subject,
did you? If you came here to ride with me you
could certainly expect to hear "Basics basics
basics yadda yadda yadda" all the time, for
years... in fact, for as long as you rode with
me. One of my students has been with me for at
least 25 years now, and I'm sure that if you
asked her when I stopped talking about basics she
would just laugh, because I haven't stopped yet.
I will stop talking about basics when I'm dead. Probably.

You shouldn't feel picked on or singled out, and
you shouldn't feel bad about your instructor's
VERY CORRECT emphasis on basics for both horse
and rider. I'll say it again: NEVER feel bad
about spending time on the basics. Lots of time.
ALL the time. At EVERY lesson and during - in
fact, all the way through - every ride between
lessons. There is no such thing as too much
emphasis on basics or too much time spent on
basics. On the contrary, wherever I go, the more
horses and riders I see and work with, the more I
appreciate the ones that have a good solid
foundation... and there aren't all that many!
Those are the lucky ones because they can make
progress right now; they don't have to start over
again, learning things they had never learned or
- sadder - having to re-learn things that they
thought they knew and could do, but actually
didn't know and couldn't do at all.

The more time you spend on the basics - not just
doing them, but doing them WELL and understanding
how and why to do them well - the better. Here's
a thought for you to ponder: At my clinics, I
have never yet seen a single problem that didn't
go back to a flaw in the horse's or the rider's basics.

EVERYTHING is basics.

Think of the most basic concepts in classical
dressage: CALM, FORWARD, STRAIGHT. If you can
keep your horse calm, ride him forward, and make
him straight, you can do anything. ANYTHING. And
when something - anything - goes wrong, it's
always because one or more of those qualities is
missing. Riding doesn't get any more basic than that.

Why not ask your instructor to suggest some
interesting and challenging books for you to
read? You've had years of riding experience, I'm
sure you could assimilate some riding theory as
well, and it's the combination of the two -
practical, physical time in the saddle AND time
spent in thoughtful reading and discussion - that
will help you make the most and best progress.
This may also be the single best (non-riding) way
to show your instructor just how serious you are.
Most instructors are delighted to assign and then
discuss books and articles; in fact, we're
typically over the moon when we discover that
we've got a student who wants to ride AND read
about riding AND discuss her readings.

My main advice to you, though, is that you please
not confuse "beginner" with "basics." Basics are
for beginners, yes, but they're also for
intermediate riders, and for advanced riders, and
for expert instructors and trainers and
clinicians... and for highly-successful
international competitors as well. Basics are
what help riders get to the top; a lack of basics
is what holds riders back. It doesn't sound to me
as if your instructor is holding you back - after
all, didn't you just tell me that after two
years, you and your horse have both improved a
lot? It sounds to me as though you're working
with a good instructor and are making excellent
progress. Keep up the good work, learn to regard


Oh, and one more thing. Do me a favour, please,
and go a little easier on those of us who are
over 50, okay? We know that we aren't as flexible
as you are, and most of us are dealing with some
physical issues, but we really do work hard at
our lessons, our riding is important to us, and
we care about making progress even if we make
progress much more slowly than you do. Please
don't write us off entirely. I know it's hard to
believe now, but in a mere 33 years, if you're
still riding then (and I hope that you will be),
YOU will be one of US! When that day comes, you
might feel a little bit sad if there's a
flexible, coordinated, talented
seventeen-year-old rider at your barn who holds
you in contempt just because you're 50 and still
haven't managed to achieve perfection as a rider.
Here's a tip from someone who's been there, done
that, and is still and forever doing that: I
don't think that anyone ever actually achieves
that much-desired state of perfection as a rider
- I know I never will! But I'm never going to
stop trying... and even at my age, the keys to
success and progress are, yes, you guessed it: Basics.

Jessica




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