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...
How To Spoil Your Horse
Will we ever stop telling long-winded horse stories? No chance. We are besotted with horses; we need horse friends because...
Calming Signals and Color: Do Horses Understand Laughter?
Every week new research comes out, some more ethically tabulated than others, about science proving horses are intelligent; an...
What is an Ethical Ride?
We are great horse owners. We love our horses. Some of us compete and some stroll around the pasture,...
Calming Signals: A Vow of Silence
By now you should snort out loud when someone says their horse is ignoring them. Really, is there a more...
Photo and Poem: Black Bay
She was for sale: a black bay Arabian mare and I was looking for a beginner lesson horse. Tacked...
The Real Helmet Heroes. (#ihad, #riders4helmets)
This week was ordinary in the horse world. We love horses, who have the quickest response time of any domestic...
Affirmative Training for Colts and Fillies
Foals are irresistible. They are precocious and lively; they cavort and air gallop and sleep flat-out. When they wake...
Brain Science as a Training Aid
It was a two-day-long science class and we were promised a brain dissection. I signed up immediately and have...
Fear, Shame, and Affirmative Training
This is a photo of when you first fell in love with horses. Maybe you dreamed it and it...
Photo & Poem: Spine to Spine
His back is not solid, nerves run between banks of muscle, each vertebra linked to the next, from the base...
The Argument for Curiosity: From Fear to Courage
Cadence teaching contact. I rarely have any idea where I'm headed. I get in a car...
Can You Feel Your Hand?
Can you feel your hand? How about your fingers? Literally, can you feel them if there isn't a paper...
Creativity and the Problem with Training Techniques.
We were standing around the barn after the vet had left, a group of trainers and riders and horses, telling...
Calming Signals and Ambivalent Horses.
Humans are impatient worriers. On the high side, it means we care but we want to know everything immediately. Perhaps...
Change: A Virtual* Barn Raising!
No, I'm not building a real barn. That would be easy. I'm handy with tools and I've been known to...
Forward: Give Him His Head
Give him his head. You know what it means in the horse racing world and what it means in the...
Writing and Riding
Happy New Year. It's my ninth year of writing this blog about riding. Thank you for reading along, and I...
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