Relaxed & Forward Blog

Photo & Poem: Calendar

Tufting the Corgi Do I need a sweater? The evening air has cooled thinner, the time on the clock doesn’t...
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Leading from Behind, Part One.

Here's Norman, the new kid at the barn. He's a young Percheron-TB cross with pretty wonderful gaits and a sweet...
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Photo & Poem: Beginning the Fall

  A heat so profound that horses were knocked back, sheltering all day in small shade, relief for the sparse...
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The Book Launch That Went Splat! And an Online Poetry Reading.

It was almost like the Olympic Ski Jump event. There were cameras rolling and tension in the air. Edgar Rice...
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Riding: If We Can’t Feel It, We Can’t Fix It.

    After the last blog, a friend/trainer thought legs should have been mentioned. Or as she put it, "'The...
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Photo & Poem: Roots

  There was a single elm on the short path from the house to barn, its trunk no larger than...
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Riding: Feeling Every Stride, From Our Inside

This is the recurring nightmare. You're on a twisted version of Dancing with the Stars. There are glaring lights and...
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Travel Blog: Shall I Be Mother?

Say hello to Bruce. He is the spokesmodel for The 2018 Long Ears Tour, an unexpected title bestowed on my...
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Photo & Poem: At a Writing Workshop

  At a Writing Workshop A dog stalks the sofa, gazing with one eye and then crossing his nose to...
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The Middle Path: Negotiating Care With Busy Professionals

My advice: Find someone who gets along with donkeys.   A question from two readers: "We...
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Horse Prayers Book Release July 5, 2018 (Yay!)

  Horse Prayers, Poems from the Prairie is available July 5th! The release of Horse Prayers, Poems from the Prairie,...
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Photo & Poem: Surviving Vulnerability

  Dark eyes, older than her years, the horse’s shoulder shows damage, thick scars and a stilted gait, the opposite...
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Self-Awareness Without Apology

We aren't kids anymore. That's the complaint. Riding seems easier in memory. When we were younger, riding was rose-colored and...
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Light Leading: The Invisible Rope

  She was born on a full moon so I named my Iberian filly Claro De Luna. She was so...
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Travel Blog: Addressing the Vegetarian Haggis

  Distant Balmoral Edinburgh, Scotland. The first moments in a new country are never the best....
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Photo & Poem: Say Her Name

  As you say her name, your voice drops deep, a tight raspy croak. Not haunted with loss, but shaken...
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Meeting the Przewalski's Horse in Scotland

  Val and her son, Hulagu They're wild horses discovered by Nikolai Przewalski, a Polish-born colonel in the...
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Photo & Poem: Ducks and Geese

  Seven iced-over winters followed by sweet bugs on long summer days. Flightless old girls with twisted toenails and dim...
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