Holiday greetings from the winter quarters round pen!

December 24, 2011 by Smokie.

Hello Friends,

Well there’s a bit of snow this morning but nothing that will last till Christmas. That’s good and bad I suppose depending on how you look at it.  It’s been and up and down year for us here at the spread.  Horse prices are low, folks are not splurging on training or gear. But keeping the bills paid and your horses fed are more important then adding a new mouth to feed, or a new saddle in the tack room. But being thankful for the things in life that cost nothing, like friendship, family, life, and looking forward to a better tomorrow will get us by. I hope that your year has been good and you get everything you want from the holiday season and the coming new year! Vickie and I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May all your rides be safe, your horses stay sound and your life be filled with riches!

Here’s a bit from my book Equiknowlogy 101… Which I hope brings you some enjoyment during this holiday season.. Merry Christmas! Smokie and Vickie

Equiknowlogy 101… The MES Program…

  Way to go my young (well by now maybe not so young…) students of Equiknowlogy! You have arrived at the top of your class (I hope) and are now ready to start your studies for your MES! Aha to become that Master of Equine Studies… Just think of it. Being that wise horseman or woman that can make most all the right choices and has the knowledge and experienced gained from a lifetime of learning about our equine partners and the people that own and enjoy them. To be able to help those less fortunate to learn from our mistakes and teach others a new way to look into the realm of getting that reliable equine partner and enjoying the ride!

There are just a few more advanced studies for you to absorb and put in to that tool box of newly acquired knowledge from WTC! So saddle up and “Just Ride” through these last few chapters of knowledge and we will see you at graduation! After you pass the finals of course!

The MES (Master of Equine Studies) Curriculum…

Courses Include:

·       Proper landings from crashes in life and horses…

·       It does not take a good rider to SIT on a horse that is playing up; it takes a good rider to not let them play up in the first place.

·       Recognizing myth and myth information…(That requires some thought don’t it)

·       Learning “The 3S principle of horses and people…” Having a horse that is SAFE, SOUND and SANE…And hoping you and others stay that way too!

·       Living to learn and learning to teach…(hopefully so your students might listen and actually learn)

·       Sometimes the best form of criticism is showing someone a better way to do it…

·       Learning the ability to say… “I don’t know” but I’m always willing to learn!

·       The good time spent with your horse yesterday will help prevent the bad time today and tomorrow.

·       The horse has been around longer than any method of teaching him how to do something… So learn a bit from him. Along with all those great new ideas for training.

·       What is new now is probably old news to someone else. So never think you will know it all.

·       Practice is the price you pay to acquire perfection…And perfection comes when you’re dead…Because only then you can’t screw things up anymore.

·       Hoof prints are better left on the road rather than your back.

·       Leave the human emotions at the gate when you work with your horse. And don’t try and figure them out and fix it in humans ether because this course does not qualify you to do it. (Only perhaps understand it a bit).

·       Fixing a horse’s problems is much different than fixing the humans.

·       You can’t listen when you’re talking and you can’t whisper when you’re yelling.

·       Horse language takes a long time to learn and it’s not in this or any other book…It’s in the horse.

·       Have you come to understand that obtaining your Masters takes a little time?  Like a life time… (Just seeing if you are still paying attention!)

·        Eating humble pie is tastier than crow or your foot…Or dirt…

Perhaps by now you have learned enough to figure out that studying for your MES involves not only the sum of acquired knowledge but the ability to reason, think independently and perhaps not be so judgmental when a barrier to your beliefs or ways of doing things presents itself and be able learn from it rather than rejecting that knowledge out of hand… This, my friends is the sum of becoming a true Equiknowlogist.

Best Wishes to you and yours and we will see you back at the round pen next year! Smokie

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