Photo & Poem: Sage Under-hoof
An elder red mare and her rider babysat us as we climbed in and out of ravines, my young horse...
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 Corrections You Regret.
People tell me that when they're with their horses, they aren't always perfect. They sound apologetic, you'd think I wore...
Photo & Poem: Breakout
Our horses are not young, neither are we. We negotiate with winter, bartering against the wind that our horses...
A Calming Signal Way of Being
I have to credit a decent mid-life crisis for changing the course of my horse life. Not that I...
Photo & Poem: Limbo
As if struck by lightning, the horse died; a clean and horrible quiet. No diagnosis, no cure, no negotiation....
Training Advice for Horses in the Spring
Horsewoman, A Computer Can Smell Your Fear…
We are horsewomen. We muck 13,505 pounds of manure a year... per horse, and you know we don't own...
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...
Riding a Princely Trot
Is your horse uncomfortable in the trot? He might toss his head or maybe his strides are short and choppy....
Walk, The Queen of Gaits
Some riders keep to the walk, a sweet sashay that's almost a lollygag. They want their horse to stay...
Photo & Poem: Pride
She has no time for gentle words and soft hands primping her mane. The broad-chested mare may allow a stiff...
Escalation: Finding the Thing Before the Thing.
It feels like you wake up in the middle of a movie, one of those thriller-action plots that have too...
Photo & Poem: Natural. Magic.
The young visitor stared at the bay mare’s mane. “Would you like to brush her?” I ask. Sending the...
The Next Horse: Remounting after the Hardest Fall of All
This perfect horse of yours has been with you since he was young, or you got him near...
Spring and Horses That Fly Like Kites.
Left: A breathtaking view of Pikes Peak from my pasture. Right: An aerial view (from the...
What the Nightmare Revealed
Everyone did what instinct dictated. The beach was so peaceful. Deserted with not so much as a footprint when they...
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