Relaxed & Forward Blog

The Truth Behind Bit Drama

Do you know how your bit works? No, I mean really. Not some cowboy-on-YouTube's fantasy about horses needing to learn to carry...
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Ride Shorter, Progress Farther.

If I were to write a training book entitled Less is More, it would be hundreds of pages long. The...
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You're a Timid Rider?

What if it isn't a bad thing? I have a "big picture" thing I want to say and it's going...
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Serenity NOW! (Training Calmness)

She wrote, "I struggle with him to stand still. I suspect he recognizes I am nervous."I'm answering an email question...
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Halt, Rein-back, Cha-cha-cha.

This is how it feels: It's a trot that's resistance free. He glides with relaxed strides. At first you think...
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Frame

Wear black and drink the gallery wine. Formulate an intellectual opinion. Consider your emotions. Or Show so much tooth your...
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A Trailer of One's Own

A horsewoman told me that, at sixty-three, she was the proud owner of her very first horse trailer. I let...
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How to Ride Creatively.

Riding a horse is the simplest thing in the world. Just point 'em and kick. What's so hard about that?...
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Money: If Wishes were Horses…

"How much does a horse cost? Do you have to be rich to own one?" I can tell you how...
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Photo Challenge: Look Up.

Look up to him?  We all do. Horses would benefit if we loved them less and respected them more. ___Read...
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The Trailer Isn’t the Problem.

The owner said his horse had trailer issues. He'd watched a video and used a whip and rope, with bad...
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Photo Challenge: Partners

Move together in silence, an inaudible song. A wordless place, deep and shadowy and still. They wait for us to...
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Admitting You’re Wrong.

Do you remember the first time you wanted to be right? It might predate memory or even language. Being good...
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve

The mingling of moist breath, the warm embrace of a curve, the uncomplicated wholeness that we covet. And the guilt...
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Reciprocity: A Softer Ask, a Softer Bend

I overheard some riders complaining like old campaigners. Asking a horse for bend sounded like the Hundred Years' War. They...
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Mansplaining in the Barn

Thirty-five years ago, I stood with a group of women protesting a murder sentence given by a judge in Denver....
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Women as Predators.

Do you identify as a predator? I was at a horse show a few years back, helping a client. It...
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How to Defuse a Horse Bomb

Maybe you're mentally arranging your to-do list, or rehashing an imaginary rant about something that happened at work, or just...
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