Altering Time to Benefit Your Horse
You have a plan for your horse and an expectation of how it will go, but it's taking way too...
Who’s Risk-Averse?
This week a stranger asked for my prayers. She posted a photo of an incredibly young girl with a crushed...
Human Calming Signals: Authenticity
Some people are just so effortlessly magic with horses. They seem to do nothing, but horses hang on their every...
Human Calming Signals: What’s Your Barn Persona?
How aware are we when we pull on a persona? We're usually aware when we tidy one up to make...
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...
Affirmative Training: Can You Take a Hint?
It's a story that I've heard quite a few times. You've heard it too. The horse was getting a...
The Problem with Humility
I've gotten sour on a word. Why does it matter? Words are how we understand each other but some words...
Is Affirmative Training Denial?
It was during a meeting in an online class called Back in the Saddle. We'd shared videos of the week's...
Distraction: A Simple Answer for Bright Shiny Things
Is your horse distracted? Is he always swinging his head at every noise? Does he knock you with his...
Calming Signals and What You Can’t Unsee.
Our Barn Rat first met horses when she was three days old. She started earlier than some. Now, she's...
Making Peace with Anxiety
A caption for this photo? "Dressage rider doesn't grasp the fundamentals of team penning." How about "Dressage rider brings a...
Calming Signals and Living on the Ulcer Continuum
Forty years ago, we didn't know about ulcers. Some horses acted crazy and we tried to train them out of...
Long Dark Night of the Soul: Colic
Andante's nickering. I've pulled the hay out of his run and swept the mats. He has a baritone voice, a...
Why Training Techniques Don’t Work
It's Sunday night and the clinic has ended, but there might be a horse or two that can't seem...
Deconstructing Fear with Affirmative Training
Something is off with your horse, but you can't tell what. You might be leading him or you might...
Affirmative Training and Trust During an Emergency
You started with horses the same way most of us were taught. You tried to show them who's boss,...
Horses and Common Sense.
Not long after I moved to the farm, a friend brought her two young kids out. We all walked the...
Let Perfection Go. Try Consistency.
Here is a shortlist of the things horses don't understand: Sarcasm. Exploitation. Shaming. Guilt. Drama. These are human behaviors that...
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