Stable

Welcome to my stable on the web, home to my horse "Lensman" and my wife's horse "Gunsmoke". We are Western style riders who enjoy reining and trail disciplines.

Our Horses


Lensman (AQHA The Nimble Yankee)	Gunsmoke (APHA Blakrok Scooterapenny)

Writings and Links

Here are some horse-related articles I've written:

And some links:

Horse-related links (Nutrition, conditioning, behavior, keeping horses healthy, training)

Some Thoughts About Horses and Man

Horses evolved over millions of years as prey animals. They were hunted and eaten by great cats. They fell into ravines and broke their bones. They became sick and died in pain and agony. They starved when food was short and they died of thirst when the rains didn't come. They froze with the snow of winter and drowned in flash floods.

Some unknown human, as brilliant and great in his own way as the inventor of the wheel, stretched out his hand to the horse. And the horse, no doubt, ran away. But that farsighted man saw something special in the horse. A partner of power who could extend his life and the life of his family. Who could help him do work his own arms and legs could not accomplish. And he found a way to trap the horse, to get close to the horse, and to teach the horse to trust him and submit.

In return for work, man gave horses a purpose - and also food, water, and care for their foals. Man developed cures for horse diseases, sports that improved their strength and fitness. better feeds and feeding practices.

Man learned the horse, its body language and the workings of its very simple mind. And with this, he was able to train it to become more useful and less afraid of the alien world it was brought into. Horses who were trained learned to enjoy their work and to appreciate how their human partners protected them. In horse terms, the human partner became the superior horse, who took on the protection of the subordinate horse. And the horse tested the human partner every day as it would have tested a horse, to see if the human was still fit to be in charge.

Some people made mistakes with horses. Kept them poorly or treated them cruelly. Others idolized, admired and loved horses. They wrote books, songs and made paintings and films about them. They formed organizations to rescue and care for them, to improve their health and they developed new ways to train. Horses lived to heretofore rare ages - thirty or more - and they stayed healthy and active longer with medical treatments devised by human scientists.

When humans developed automobiles and aircraft, they might have abandoned the horse back to life in the wilderness. But instead they developed sports for them and worked with them to make them stronger and give them better and richer lives. Multibillion dollar industries evolved to serve the equine athletes and their human partners.

Horses are not odd looking people. Their minds and emotions are alien. They are not reasoning creatures in the way we are. They don't see the future or the past as we do. But they have a society and instinctive customs that they share with us from time to time.

For their work, we owe horses kindness, fairness, good training and care. We get to run with them across the arenas of the world. And ride up steep paths and cross frightening rivers with them. And we get to worry about them, to commit ourselves to their care and to care for them.

- Mark Cashman