Big Dreams, Low Expectations
I've become a real party-pooper when it comes to talented young horses. It isn't that I can't see the potential;...
Trust: A Suspension of Disbelief.
You love horses. No, you really, really love horses. Because they are so amazing. We share videos of blind horses cared...
Circles: A Soft Bend
I'd led a sheltered life. I was thirty years old before I visited my first Saddlebred barn. I was just...
Making War on Horses: Is it Leadership?
By reader request: "Horses need a dominant leader; you have to make him respect you." "You can't let him get away...
Escape the Death Spiral: Asking For a Step.
Let me begin by defining a death spiral. It's asking a horse to do something he just avoided, by circling...
How to be a Brilliant Conversationalist: Horse Version
You know how the cat magically goes to the person with the allergy? Or she goes the person who happens...
Leadership Percentages and Confused Horses
Pause here. Look in his eye. He's sensitive and intelligent and looking for a partner who's his equal. If we're...
How to Relieve Your Horse's Anxiety
Growing up, only one person in our home was allowed to have a temper and the rest of us kept...
Redefining Work Under Saddle.
I had a blog request, in two parts. First: "[Does] training and working a horse inherently make a horse less...
Part Three: Riding Above Fear
This is what we knew then: It started with a dream of dancing hooves and a flowing mane. He was...
Part Two: Now I'm Afraid
[Part One: My Horse Betrayed Me.] Something bad happened. The details don't need to be repeated for me to understand. It...
Photo Challenge: Unusual
It's not unusual to feel still air rush over your cheeks and past your ears. It's you moving forward in...
Bit or Bitless? You Won’t Like the Answer.
Does anyone agree on bits? No. Is riding bitless the perfect solution? No. I've been asked for some bitless information,...
Concept Clinics: A different approach
I've been thinking for a while now about the process of learning. It could have something to do with the number...
Bend… Like a Crescent Moon.
I arrived at the barn mid-fight. The barn manager was refereeing a dust-up between a trainer and a boarder who...
Touchy About Bits.
Confession #1: There was a time that I would have sold my soul for a spade bit with 12" shanks....
Touchy About Contact
Question from a reader with a mouth-sensitive green horse: " ...when I watch a video of me riding I worry that...
Circling Back: How We Became One.
We were hooked and it was written all over us. The first weird looks passed between our parents. We were...
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