We’ll meet at Asbury College on Sept 11. Asbury has a great equine program, including  a police horse training program conducted by students, and they’ll demonstrate the police-horse training at our meeting. The students work with PMU yearlings and as the horses mature, the students teach them all sorts of skills that they will need in a future job — as a police horse.

It’s been thrilling for me to see the changes in these horses on my visits there. On my last trip, I was so excited that I had to jump out of the car as we drove down the long driveway to the barn. A student was taking Aden out on a trail ride. He had been a big, goofy-looking colt — very sweet, but not what you might think of as police-horse material. Now here he was, all tacked up and looking very grown up and proud of himself. After their ride, the students gave me a sneak peak at some of the exercises — walking horses under a tarp, over a bridge, and through some scary stuff. I was impressed.

September 12 will be at the Kentucky Horse Park — the location of the 2010 World Equestrian Games and a must-do destination (http://www.kyhorsepark.com) for horse lovers.

At this gathering, we’ll learn about the many volunteer opportunities in conjunction with the games. I’m excited about the World Equestrian Games, not just because it’s a big competition, but because it will involve 9 different horse sports — so horsemen of all kinds and nationalities will come together for 16 days.

If there’s any chance you can join us at the Equestrian Ministries Meeting (http://www.equestrianministries.org/fall09.html), you are really welcome. If not, hope you take a few minutes to do something fun and inspiring this next week.