Does Leadership Mean Domination Now?
From a Reader: "Anna, you articulate the dance between horse and human so very succinctly. I wish it were easier...
A Book Report and What We Know Now.
A bit of explanation: I grew up on a farm without a bookshelf. We were not readers. Once we finally...
Boundaries: Whose Space Is It?
Horses gallop on pounding hooves that cut the ground and then melt to a stop, whiskers floating in the light....
The Dynamic Power of Consistency
We would like consistent behavior from our horses. It would be good if they took each cue with light and...
Beyond Legal Whiskers
The International Federation for Equestrian Sports unanimously banned horse whisker trimming, effective 1 July 2021. Horses snort and rub their...
Calming Signals and Feculence
I'm responding to a request to write a few words about poop. "BM, defecation, excrement, fecal matter, the deuce, sh*t,...
Calming Signals: Planning for Stress
Calming signals are an animal's emotional response to their environment, expressed in body language, sometimes in increasing anxiety moving toward...
Homeschooling Your Horsemanship
In one online class this week, a woman in Maine said it was 90 degrees that day and her...
Why Horses Don’t Multi-task
Imagine what it means to have senses as keen as a prey animal. Feel the roar of nature even on...
The Best Horse Conversations Start With “No”
Imagine that each time you climbed on your horse, he began to move in a slow canter, so rhythmic and...
Advice? Take a Deep Seat and a Faraway Look…
My young horse was lame, so my mentor asked if I'd like a lesson on her horse. It wasn't a...
Horses and the Pain We Can’t Stop.
The Grandfather Horse: Dirt Bath Interrupted. We've all done it. We look at that horse and...
Saying Yes to a Horse When You Mean No
Sometimes something someone says sticks with you because it's brilliant. Sometimes it sticks because it's plain wrong. I was working...
How Humans are Different from Horses
In the beginning, a filly is born. In the hospital, a baby girl human is born. The filly stands almost...
Horse Intelligence: What Are We Missing?
I love reading about science like hungry people love over-cooked greenish-gray Brussel sprouts. And that's the kind of sentence...
She Said Her Horse Was Pensive.
L. and her gelding, Andante, are boarders here. I always ask how the ride went as they return to the...
Spring Fever, Bad Behavior, or Flight Response?
It's February on the high prairie at the fringe of the Rocky Mountains. The pond is still frozen so there...
Can Horses Forgive Us?
The reader said that an essay I'd written "brought to mind how many times my involuntary predatory instincts have surfaced...
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