RELAXED AND FORWARD: Since 2010, an archive of weekly horse training essays. My dogs say it's their turn now. Happy to oblige, it's all affirmative. Including words from a gray mare on the fine art of aging cantankerously.
How Horses Train Us
You are a horse trainer. It does not always give me joy to say so, but it's true and other...
Boundaries: Whose Space Is It?
Horses gallop on pounding hooves that cut the ground and then melt to a stop, whiskers floating in the light....
Affirmative Training: Misunderstandings About Control
You have made some changes in how you work with your horse and you're both much more relaxed. You've evolved...
Affirmative Training: A Cowboy Walks Into a Bar…
A cowboy walks into a bar. He's dusty, fresh from the barn. Shuffling his feet, keeping his eyes low, he...
Saying Yes to a Horse When You Mean No
Sometimes something someone says sticks with you because it's brilliant. Sometimes it sticks because it's plain wrong. I was working...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Can Horses Forgive Us?
The reader said that an essay I'd written "brought to mind how many times my involuntary predatory instincts have surfaced...
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