Relaxed & Forward Blog

How Humans are Different from Horses

In the beginning, a filly is born. In the hospital, a baby girl human is born.  The filly stands almost...
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Calming Signals: How Do You Listen To a Horse?

What is your first memory of listening to a horse? Not standing next to a horse and being certain he...
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Horse Intelligence: What Are We Missing?

  I love reading about science like hungry people love over-cooked greenish-gray Brussel sprouts. And that's the kind of sentence...
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Whoa. A Hands-Free Halt.

She's an 18hh Thoroughbred-Shire cross. She's 30 years old and her name is Thyme.  I'll give you a minute to...
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She Said Her Horse Was Pensive.

L. and her gelding, Andante, are boarders here. I always ask how the ride went as they return to the...
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Spring Fever, Bad Behavior, or Flight Response?

It's February on the high prairie at the fringe of the Rocky Mountains. The pond is still frozen so there...
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An Allergy, Spyglass Tunnel Vision, & a Valentine

    Most of us start with an allergy. Our noses get stuffy and our eyes are red and teary...
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A Short List of Things Horses Do Need Us to Teach Them.

For all our love for horses, humans are still predators. We don't like to hear that. We're defensive; we've seen...
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A Short List of Things Horses Don’t Need Us to Teach Them.

If Edgar Rice Burro were to title this Bev Doolittle-like photo, he might call it Beauty and the Beast. He...
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Contact: Wait Too Late… Then Panic

  Dear Fellow Primates: It is our instinct to grab. It is our instinct to talk in imitation-semaphore with our...
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Calming Signals: “But My Mare Likes This Bit”

I arrived at the clinic grounds Friday afternoon so I could meet the organizers and check out the facility. They'd...
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The Word Inside an Exhale: EASE

It's January first. The calendar has flipped over and I'm happy with the new numbers. New Year's is an excellent...
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When There’s No Room At The Inn…

Even on holidays, our family dinners don't look like other people's. Neither do our hands or shoes. We look different;...
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Calming Signals and Whiskers

I always thought of grooming as part of the warm-up for the ride. It's the price paid up front, a...
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Poetry Out Loud: Horse. Woman.

This blog will get back to some sort of new "normal" soon. What a year, huh? For now, just a...
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Calming Signals: How the Farm Says Thank You.

      It's Thanksgiving time and I should write something special, but I feel kind of ordinary. All I...
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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...
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Human Calming Signals: Authenticity

Some people are just so effortlessly magic with horses. They seem to do nothing, but horses hang on their every...
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