Welcome to SaddleUpAgain.com
SaddleUpAgain.com comes out of my realization that as I get older, I can’t ride my horses, train my horses or care for my horses the way I used to do it.? I have to be more mental, I have to be smarter, and I have to look for ways to be effective while avoiding trouble.? If you’ve reached similar conclusions, I hope you’ll join us at SaddleUpAgain.com.? Here’s an introduction to the SaddleUpAgain.com community.
Summary of the SaddleUpAgain.com Introduction Video
– – Howdy, friends. My name is Paul Sherland and welcome to SaddleUpAgain.com. SaddleUpAgain.com is a website that’s intended to help you ride better, train better, care for your horses better, and be a more fit rider even though you’re not a youngster anymore.
When I was a younger man, I rode a lot and I rode all over the world. I took riding lessons. I took English lessons, dressage lessons, jumping lessons, Western lessons. I rode in a classical dressage school in Portugal for a week. I did some extreme rides across the Bighorn Mountains, 200 miles across the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, two years in a row. And I rode a horse, I rode my horse or horses just about every day or at least three or four times a week.
I was able to ride a variety of horses over a variety of terrain, kinds of terrain. If I came off a horse, I didn’t get hurt. I might have been sore for a day or so, but never got hurt. And then when I got older, things changed. And I found that I did get hurt. When I was around 50 years old, I got bucked off a horse, broke six ribs, bruised a lung, and that was kind of a turning point. I’ve gotten bucked off several times since then, and I bruised ribs, got concussions, and so on.
I found that I can, when I do come off, I get hurt much more easily and it takes a lot longer to recover than it did when I was younger. As a friend once told me, you don’t bounce as well when you’re older.? So the object is to not come off the horse.
However, we don’t want to ride so conservatively that we can’t ride. You need to be an effective rider and to do that you can’t just be afraid. You can’t be chilled, but how can you be an effective rider when you’ve had some bad experiences? Maybe you’ve been injured, or maybe you’re just older, you realize that you’re not as strong as you once were.
Ray Hunt (or maybe Buck Brannaman) once said that when we’re young, we ride with 90% physical and 10% mental and he said that when we get older we realize that we have to ride with 90% mental and 10% physical.? I’ve realized that now. And I’m looking at ways to ride better, train better, and take better care of my horses, with more mental than physical.
I hope this is valuable to you. I hope you’ll share your experiences and your advice and I appreciate your participation. Thank you.
If you have comments, suggestions or questions, please use our contact form to get in touch with us.
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