RELAXED AND FORWARD: Since 2010, an archive of weekly horse training essays. My dogs say it's their turn now. Happy to oblige, it's all affirmative. Including words from a gray mare on the fine art of aging cantankerously.

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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...
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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...
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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...
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Leading from Behind and Green Grass

Pia, a lovely intelligent mare who has no issue with grass. *Public Service Announcement* Your horses...
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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...
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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...
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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....
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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...
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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...
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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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