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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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;...
Living the Question
"Why can't my horse behave for the farrier?" Sarah isn't the only one who asks this question. Picking up feet...
The Solitary Journey to the Heart of One Horse
I listened to a podcast interview with Jane Goodall this week. She is my personal superhero, and I will never...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Who’s Risk-Averse?
This week a stranger asked for my prayers. She posted a photo of an incredibly young girl with a crushed...
Human Calming Signals: Authenticity
Some people are just so effortlessly magic with horses. They seem to do nothing, but horses hang on their every...
Human Calming Signals: What’s Your Barn Persona?
How aware are we when we pull on a persona? We're usually aware when we tidy one up to make...
COVID-19 with Horses: How Are We Doing?
If horse people know one thing, it's that it's never just one thing. Having horses also means we partner with...
Real-Time Communication: The Land of What-If
My horse always pulls his head away. My horse never wants to go first on the trail. My horse always...
Horse Woman, Our Narrative
Drawing by Rebecca Howard I usually write a gray mare rant annually on my birthday. I'm...
A List of Inedible Treats for Your Horse
It's funny how something someone says can turn over in your mind for years after. I had a visitor, and...
Do You Need Riding Lessons?
It was a conversation about riding lessons. My friend said she thought it was strange that I'd worked so extensively...
Affirmative Training: Can You Take a Hint?
It's a story that I've heard quite a few times. You've heard it too. The horse was getting a...
How a Legend is Born
What is it about horses? I think I might have drawn them on cave walls at the beginning of time,...
How to See It Like a Horse
My friend was tracing her Arabian's family tree. She'd driven north of Denver to see her horse's sire and ran...
The Problem with Humility
I've gotten sour on a word. Why does it matter? Words are how we understand each other but some words...
Poetry Out Loud: Impulsion
What Horses Want to “Talk” About.
What is it about the snout of an old horse? Especially a pink and black muzzle? How can it...
Poetry Out Loud: Walking the Dog
Requiem for an Old Truck
req·ui·em/ˈrekwēəm/noun 1.(especially in the Roman Catholic Church) a Mass for the repose of the souls of the dead. There is...
Poetry Out Loud: Loss
Is Affirmative Training Denial?
It was during a meeting in an online class called Back in the Saddle. We'd shared videos of the week's...
Poetry Out Loud: Wish
I'm changing things up a bit. I'll be posting video of my poetry being read on Mondays. You can...
Distraction: A Simple Answer for Bright Shiny Things
Is your horse distracted? Is he always swinging his head at every noise? Does he knock you with his...
Photo & Poem: Her Words
If her words didn’t matter, her father would lift his eyes from the television commercials and not busy his mouth...
Calming Signals and What You Can’t Unsee.
Here's our barn rat. She started earlier than most. Now, she's tall and smart and brave and what we...
Photo & Poem: Weather Change
Hail blown sideways by the wind, dark clouds churning across the horizon, as the horses brace against the stinging ice...
Making Peace with Anxiety
A caption for this photo? "Dressage rider doesn't grasp the fundamentals of team penning." How about "Dressage rider brings a...
Photo & Poem: Forever Now
Walking past the mare, I let my hand follow the shape of her body, her hair so short it has...
What Will Happen if You Don’t Ride Today?
It's really hot here. How hot is it? I'm not saying. People get competitive. You'd just say it's hotter where...
Photo & Poem: Her Place
A stick pony to start, with a wooden head and twine for a mane. The tiny girl stomped unevenly, imagining...
Calming Signals and Living on the Ulcer Continuum
Forty years ago, we didn't know about ulcers. Some horses acted crazy and we tried to train them out of...
Photo & Poem: Midsummer
Midsummer, the mare stands square, hooves flat and neck low, her muzzle faced into the corner of a dark stall,...
Affirmative Training and the Rhythm Method
Remember when you first heard the term The Rhythm Method? I was almost certain it had to do with something...
Photo & Poem: Old Dog
A deliberate old dog pacing the yard fence with gray dreadlocks and a stiff stride. A mixed-breed badly constructed, a...
A Funny Thing Happened During the Euthanasia.
We've been having llama line dances here for over twenty years. It happens at dusk and it is boundingly beautiful....
Photo & Poem: As if Love
She declared that she loved her horse as if loving took a sort of noble skill rare to our kind....
Things My Dogs Don’t Care About.
I'm the kind of person who has big dogs. I always have been, not that my dogs care. I have...