Relaxed & Forward Blog

Nebulous Lameness. Nebulous Anxiety. And a List.

Your inner monster screams, "Just Kick Him!" but you don't. You aren't that person. You don't use spurs or whips....
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Do You Need to Keep Your Horse Calm?

I can't be the only woman of a certain age whose parents thought she needed to be muffled indefinitely. They...
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Leading Horses with Spatial Kindness. What?

The exercise was to halter your horse thoughtfully, asking the horse's permission for each step of the process, and acknowledging...
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When Impatience and Cruelty are Normalized

Sometimes I find myself standing in front of people talking about horses' feelings. I'm almost embarrassed; I was raised to...
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The Season of Letting Go

The autumnal equinox is about change. There's a miserable fog today, dense and so uncommon on my high prairie. Chilly...
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Calming Signals: Thoughts About Spooking at Nothing

There are two kinds of spooking. This is the first: It was midmorning on the ranch, and we were riding...
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Calming Signals: What Normal Looks Like

Do you ever think about what horses give up in living with us? Humans have a way of always seeing...
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Are You Having a Midlife Horse Crisis?

I got an email from a reader last week. She had a hard question. She acknowledges she was naive, but...
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Bit Contradictions: A Confused Conversation

"Slower, please." "Here we go." "Don't bang..." "Almost ready." "... my teeth." "Good..." "Not good." "Stand." "Let go." "Back up."...
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Is Your Horse Mentally Exhausted?

No other animal is quite like a horse; never fully wild and never quite domesticated. Engaged with us but never...
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