How to Focus Simply.
I had just finished a lesson when another woman I knew at the barn came up to me with a...
Forging a Path: What to Do Next With Your Horse.
It's that time of winter when you half-think spring isn't real. Are you frustrated with how you and your horse...
Calming Signals and Why the Second Time’s a Charm.
Want to know the smallest thing you could change in training for the biggest improvement? I usually say doing a...
Beyond Legal Whiskers
The International Federation for Equestrian Sports unanimously banned horse whisker trimming, effective 1 July 2021. Horses snort and rub their...
Take a Cue from Your Horse
He was a bright young gelding. Alert, athletic, and so willing. One day he would become the kind of breathtaking...
Real-Time Communication: The Land of What-If
My horse always pulls his head away. My horse never wants to go first on the trail. My horse always...
How a Legend is Born
What is it about horses? I think I might have drawn them on cave walls at the beginning of time,...
Confidence Lost and Found
We thought having a horse would make everything perfect. It's a dream most of us were born with; we...
Finding Your Horse's Sense of Humor.
His name is Normandy, but he goes by Norman at home. He's been here almost a year now; he belongs...
Riding From Behind
In my fantasy world, you've read about leading from behind and beyond, and tried it with your horse. It wasn't...
Leading from Behind, Part One.
Here's Norman, the new kid at the barn. He's a young Percheron-TB cross with pretty wonderful gaits and a sweet...
Riding: If We Can’t Feel It, We Can’t Fix It.
After the last blog, a friend/trainer thought legs should have been mentioned. Or as she put it, "'The...
See It Through His Eyes
It's a perfect day. No wind, not hot. The kind of day that you spend most of the months of...
Building the Bubble #5. Just Honor Them
Some of us value horses for their physical working ability on ranches, we "use 'em hard." Decent care, no...
Building the Bubble #4. Just Train Less
It's an obstacle course, by golly. And there's a pedestal, by golly. We both see it, but one of us...
Building the Bubble #3. Just Move
Morning. Once she's turned out, she bolts to a soft spot and rolls, and then this. No, her tail isn't...
Building the Bubble #2. Just Converse
One of us flaps our legs while standing still, banging our boots in the stirrups, twisting around in the...
Building the Bubble #1. Just Notice
Here's last week's Pretending to be a Horse scenario, from the equine point of view, abbreviated for sense-limited humans. His...