[PART 1 OF 2, 2 COMING SOON!] This “paper” was presented on September 10, 2024 at the virtual portion of inaugural Cheiron Journal conference “Horses in Our Heritage, Past and Future.” The conference was organized by Dr. Anastasija Ropa and Dr. Miriam A., Bibby, editors of Cheiron: The International Journal of Equine and Equestrian History. It was sponsored by the Latvian Academy of Sport Education and the Riga Stradinsh University.Conference. Doctors Ropa and Bibby, thank you for your professional courtesies and I hope to attend the next conference in person! K.M.]
[Johan Elias Ridinger (Attributed) “Cheval d’Holstein”]
© Kip Mistral 2024
“We shall take great care not to annoy the horse and spoil his friendly charm, for it is like the scent of a blossom – once lost it will never return.” ~ Antoine de Pluvinel (1552-1620)
In the United States, my country, in many communities it is common practice to put a young horse under saddle on or around the time of its second birthday. For some reason, to many people that mark in time seems to make a horse fair game for work. Why feed a horse that isn’t earning its keep, seems to be a sentiment simmering in the background.
(I printed out this article from an old internet site (http://members.ozmail.com.au/) on 7/12/02. It does not display the name of the author. The site’s name may have had something to do with Inner Riding. I put out a call for help on Facebook to see if anyone is familiar with the author, his/her esoteric writing or the old site, but so far have had no luck. If I could be in contact of course I would seek permission to reprint! I have kept the original UK spellings of the wording.)
Watching riders work their horses, and handling them on the ground, makes me wonder sometimes why we own horses. I see riders who seem to have lost all sight of why they first were attracted to horses and riding, or what they are trying to achieve with their horses.
They shout at their horses and hit them every time they do something wrong (‘wrong’ in their owners’ eyes, anyway). I wonder if they realise that all they’re doing is displaying their lack of knowledge and understanding of horses.
A week or two ago, in the same week two people asked to learn more about my life and equestrian journey. I had to admit that I don’t usually talk about my personal life (other than animal stories), but my point of view does come through the subjects that I’ve written about over the past 20 plus years. These kind peoples’ questions started me thinking, though…how did it come to pass that I became an equestrian journalist, author of a training manual best-selling in its Amazon category for nearly 10 years, blogger and publisher? Looking back, my experiences all unfolded and just took on a life of their own. I was looking for something better, something I couldn’t describe other than I did find that over time, I knew it when I saw it.
