Relaxed & Forward Blog

Peaceful Persistence, a Horse Training Manifesto

  What does "not conceding" mean? Oh, I can't wait to bray about this, says this trainer whose spirit animal...
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Calming Signals: What If Horses Are Meant to be a Mystery?

I'm not sure when I started sitting on horses, but I hadn't started school. You couldn't really call it riding....
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Legacy: We’re Riding for the Next Horse

Driving home through northern Colorado yesterday, I passed the Berthoud off-ramp. Otherwise known as the Grandfather Horse off-ramp. I've only...
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Bhim: Through Life Drama and Training Plateaus

It's been six months now since starting Bhim's Training Diary online. But time is a fluid thing for a horse....
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Nube: Ulcer Nostalgia and What I Didn’t Know

I get nostalgic for the days when I didn't know what I know now. I miss the bittersweet, marginally innocent...
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Human Calming Signals: I Want my Horse to be Fearless.

  So, you want a horse that doesn't spook? Don't we all? Great, you wanna look for something over 25...
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A Message from Heaven (for my professional friends)

I am a woman who possesses an interesting range of enviable skills. Getting surgery is not on the list. One...
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Training Tip: Improving Your Eye

Sometimes we look back at how we kept horses as kids, and it seemed so simple then. None of them...
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Affirmative Training is Fine, But What-if…

  A few years back, a pretty well-known trainer made a statement about using force with horses. Flat out, the...
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Calming Signals: What Are You Really Afraid Of?

What are you afraid of? Maybe this question. Take a breath and check your shoulders. Are they down where they...
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Nube: We Cheat at Trailer Training

Nube was a beanpole of a yearling. If he and Ernest weren’t trying to get me bucked off a horse…...
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1,354th Friday Morning and Not Bucked Off

  No, I’m not dreaming of a career as a hand model. My hands have looked like an elderly mechanic’s...
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Worried About Everything? Protection From the Unexpected

"Want to go on a trail ride with me? The last time I was out, my friend's horse slid into...
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Nube: An Iberian Stall Toy for the Donkeys

Daryl, Daryl, and their other brother, Daryl. In the first months after coming to our farm,...
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How to Measure the Heart of a Horse

Have you experienced this? Someone says something that is a throw-away comment, not meant to be anything, they toss it...
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“How do I stop my horse from doing this?”

"How do I stop my horse from doing this?" An oversimplified version of the most common question a horse trainer...
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Letting Go of Shame and Blame. Do It for Your Horse.

Nope. Not me. I was allergic to this color, but Hannah dressed for success from the...
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Nube: When He Came Home

I was forty-nine years old with gray hair, calloused banged-up fingers, and chronic lameness in my left foot. He was...
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