When Nice People Carry Whips.
"I just carry the whip. I don't use it." "I do liberty with my horse, it's just an extension of...
The Thing About Donkeys
I wrote about mares and the response was so huge that I felt guilty and wrote about geldings. Since then,...
How to Have a Conversation with Someone Who Doesn’t Talk
People talk to horses constantly. The words are unintelligible most of the time, to both us and the horse, but...
Calming Signals: Trust Above Training
It was my job to haul him to his new trainer. He was a bright young gelding, some would call...
Calming Signals: Do You Tease Your Horse?
There was a time that I had a basset hound named Agatha and a bunch of friends with toddlers. It...
Aggressive or Assertive?
She was a breathtaking draft-cross mare who I met at Duchess Sanctuary this year. There was just a presence about...
Fear, Shame, and Affirmative Training
This is a photo of when you first fell in love with horses. Maybe you dreamed it and it...
Be-Here-Now: Focus on Safety (Helmets and Response Time)
You're standing in a tennis court just behind the baseline, being mildly uncomfortable in your tennis togs because the...
The Thing About Geldings
I'm the sort of horse-person who hears about a castration and pops a cork for a toast all around. I...
Be-Here-Now: Focus on the Task
Does your horse get restless or bored when standing with you? Does he pull the rope, trying to graze when...
Photo & Poem: Asking for Her Eye
She knows my presence before I see her. Under the tree in the far corner of the pasture, no...
Leading from Behind and Green Grass
Pia, a lovely intelligent mare who has no issue with grass. *Public Service Announcement* Your horses...
The Argument for Curiosity: From Fear to Courage
Cadence teaching contact. I rarely have any idea where I'm headed. I get in a car...
Calming Signals and Holding a Grudge
Sometimes your horse isn't forward and it's frustrating. Or he doesn't like the trailer, and now neither do you. Maybe...
Calming Signals and the Thing We Call Stubborn
In celebration of Edgar Rice Burro's birthday, he's asked me to rant a bit about the thing humans call stubborn....
Calming Signals and Preacher Man: Still “Reactive” After All These Years
Bear with me, please. I miss my dogs, one in particular. I'm in Dunedin, and he's 12,620 km away. It...
Can a Horse Try Too Hard?
It was the first day of a Calming Signals clinic. I was talking to a group of people about leading...
Calming Signals and Boundaries
A request to write about boundaries, in which the Loudmouth Party-Pooper returns. Am I allowed a pet peeve? I've began...
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