Calming Signals: Yoga Mind/Equine Reality
The Dude Rancher and I practice yoga. We started years ago; he was having way too many headaches and my...
Photo & Poem: She Quit
She attended church with joyless obligation, lip-syncing hymns that praised suffering, with dentures that never quite fit, never a genuine...
What the Nightmare Revealed
Everyone did what instinct dictated. The beach was so peaceful. Deserted with not so much as a footprint when they...
Photo & Poem: Second Cup
Second cup of coffee while waiting for light, a second cup while waiting to head out. The horses have thick...
Cantankary: If Not Now, When?
Expecting New Year's resolutions from me? Nope, I'm not the type. I am so thrilled to have survived another year...
Photo & Poem: Horsewoman
There were always horses, some light and some dark. The woman met them in passing or they stayed forever, some...
The Future for Horse-Keepers: Isolation or World Change?
It's what we do: We keep horses. Sometimes a foal too young to be ridden, so we show patience and...
Photo & Poem: Letting Him Lead
You were there the day he was born, all ears and knees. You knew him when his hooves were...
Part One: The Future for Horses, a Different Narrative about Herd Dynamics
The first story I remember about herd dynamics was that stallions lived on the rise above the valley to watch...
Photo & Poem: Rich
Our family farm was leased from the man who owned the car dealership in town. Once or twice a...
Calming Signals: How to Show Love
"How do you show your love for horses, then?" A clinic participant asked me at the end of a long...
Photo & Poem: Girl-Cousin
Seems every farm family had one in a generation; a distant misfit girl-cousin who read too much or wore men’s...
In Training to Be a Late Bloomer
He was a bona fide dressage master. We were lucky to have him come for a clinic. It was the...
Photo & Poem: Waiting for the Vet
No days like the golden photos on the calendar from the gas company, propane topped off at the first...
Life Coach: The Goat Version
It was a beautiful end-of-summer afternoon, just about feeding time. Cupid had been with us for almost a year by...
Photo & Poem: Holiday Place
You had a plan for how this would go when you left home. Longing for a thing different than...
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...
Photo and Poem: No Other
You are wise to not let me see, stoic one. Show not your age, certainly not a weakness. Be...
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...
Photo & Poem: You Know the Way
The rhythm of hooves over even soft ground, we’ve lost time out together rocked safe in the saddle like...
Do Horses Fear Death?
It's been an ordinary year. Animals died here. What could be more normal? Infinity Farm has an extended herd...
Photo & Poem: Tea
Stomping in the back porch to knock the dirt off my boots, there’s too much wind to work outside...
Free Advice: Everybody’s a Trainer
"What I see astounds me. It's difficult to be around other riders who constantly give advice I didn't ask for."...
Photo & Poem: Braced
Black eyes sunk deep in her skull, certain she knows what will come next. The trail of scars on...
What is an Ethical Ride?
We are great horse owners. We love our horses. Some of us compete and some stroll around the pasture,...
Photo & Poem: Goodnight
Leaning on the gate. Checking water tanks at dusk, one last glance at the herd before heading in. I...
The Advantage of Less Time
It's the second big freeze here on the farm and it isn't even Halloween. Much too early for such polar...
Photo & Poem: Spine
He repeats it all again, a little slower and louder each time, enunciating as if she cannot hear. Certain...
Calming Signals and the Myth of Desensitizing
This chestnut mare is all that. Alert. Intelligent. Willing. And in possession of the quickest response time of any...
Photo & Poem: Spotted Horse
Both horsewomen would remember this moment. A blustering wind, not cold, but bitter. Misty clouds settled the dust. A...
Calming Signals: What is a “Hard No?”
I worry that humans are losing the ability to carry on a polite conversation. I'm talking about civility of...
Photo & Poem: The Call
To feel the red soil, fine dust to pea gravel, with each toe through the sole of my shoe....
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 & Poem: Owning Herself
Save your pity. It means nothing. She’s a big mare, broad chest and straight legs, her coat the color...
Calming Signals and Implicit Bias.
The Barnies are really hitting their stride. I started an online subscription group earlier this year called The Barn. Soon...
Photo & Poem: Payment Due
No more lingering in the melon-colored dusk, grazing late to the barn. The pasture is finished, even the weeds...
When Nice People Carry Whips.
"I just carry the whip. I don't use it." "I do liberty with my horse, it's just an extension of...
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...
Photo and Poem: What If?
There is a crisp apple coolness to the air. Soon there will be frost, I tell the horses, soon...
Photo & Poem: Reluctant
Stay outside until the sun is low, reluctant to let the day end, tidying halters, raking loose hay into...
Does Your Horse Need a Tune-Up?
This is how it goes: Sometimes it's just fine to go lollygagging around. The time isn't right; you're hungry...
Photo & Poem: A Donkey’s Years
His bray begins with a shallow panting, as he aligns the end of his nose level with his back,...
What to Do When You See Cruelty
It was a sadly normal week in the larger horse world. Horses got hurt and humans waged war with each...
Photo & Poem: A Cure for Sadness
Jerk out the fencing staples and carefully pocket them, leave nothing in the dirt. Pull the sagging wire fence...
How to Have a Conversation with Someone Who Doesn’t Talk
People talk to horses constantly. The words are unintelligible most of the time, to both us and the horse, but...
Photo & Poem: I Cannot Know
We became strangers. I thought I knew her so well; that place just back from her ears where her...
Calming Signals: Trust Above Training
It was my job to haul him to his new trainer. He was a bright young gelding, some would call...
Photo & Poem: When the Sunset is Through With Me
The sunset plays me. In the heat of the day, colors are flattened by glare and searchlight bluntness, work...