Relaxed & Forward Blog

Nube: More Dark Clouds and Questions With No Answers

The worst thing about remembering a horse in the past is that maybe there are current options that your horse...
Read More about Nube: More Dark Clouds and Questions With No Answers

Nube: Dark Clouds and Questions With No Answers

Nube (Nu-bay) was particular. He required my undivided attention in the saddle and on the ground. My focus had to...
Read More about Nube: Dark Clouds and Questions With No Answers

How To Buy a Horse

He was a bay gelding in his teens when we met. A Quarter Horse with a bit of a downhill...
Read More about How To Buy a Horse

Edgar Rice Burro. All He is Saying is Give Peace A Chance.

Yet another horse trainer got tarred and feathered on social media this week. It happens all the time. People jumped...
Read More about Edgar Rice Burro. All He is Saying is Give Peace A Chance.

Trainer Love: In Memory of Seri

Seri died this week. She was never my horse, but she is part of the trainer I've become. Seri was...
Read More about Trainer Love: In Memory of Seri

Nube’s Ulcers: What We Can’t Control and What We Can.

When Nube (nu-bay) was two and first diagnosed with ulcers, it felt rare, almost exotic. People were just learning about...
Read More about Nube’s Ulcers: What We Can’t Control and What We Can.

Resolutions and Horse Dreams

It's the twilight zone between holidays, meandering like a long, slow-motion hangover. I have no idea what day it is...
Read More about Resolutions and Horse Dreams

Culture Wars in the Barn

There is a recent article in the NYT about the culture wars going on in dog training that's worth reading....
Read More about Culture Wars in the Barn

Horse Training Means Affirmative Waiting

Humans, aren't we swell? Compared to horses, we have dim, frail senses, we're seven times slower in our response time,...
Read More about Horse Training Means Affirmative Waiting

What It Means to Love a Horse

I'm talking to a new client who contacted me for help, asking them to tell me about their horse. They...
Read More about What It Means to Love a Horse

Famous Cruelty, Ordinary Cruelty, and an Affirmative Solution

  Another story of cruelty hit the international press last week. Operation X documented horrors happening in a well-known Danish...
Read More about Famous Cruelty, Ordinary Cruelty, and an Affirmative Solution

Thanksgiving: Our First Horse Was a Dog

Meet my dogs, Preacher Man, Mister, and Jack. They're in the doorway to my writing studio. It's Thanksgiving night, which...
Read More about Thanksgiving: Our First Horse Was a Dog

Euthanizing Your Horse: How to Trust Yourself

It's colder now. The leaves are gone. The wind charges at us from the north, and the temperature drops ten...
Read More about Euthanizing Your Horse: How to Trust Yourself

Horse Trainers: How Do You Know Who to Believe?

It was the end of a long clinic day, and we were wrapping up. Almost done on time until this...
Read More about Horse Trainers: How Do You Know Who to Believe?

Bhim: We’re Not Perfect: The Great Halloween Wreck of ’23.

In my online Barnie group, we do performance art around Halloween. My horse, Bhim, along with Edgar Rice Burro, Arthur,...
Read More about Bhim: We’re Not Perfect: The Great Halloween Wreck of ’23.

Book Launch: Say Hello to ‘Undomesticated Women’ by Anna Blake

  It's before dawn on a Friday morning and I'm in an RV park in Amarillo, Texas. I've been mud-wrestling...
Read More about Book Launch: Say Hello to ‘Undomesticated Women’ by Anna Blake

Nube: A Living Lesson in “Less is More”

There's a woman and a tall young horse, moving in perfect strides together but with a healthy space between them....
Read More about Nube: A Living Lesson in “Less is More”

Horses and Chimpanzees, Or Why Horses Aren’t Cuddlers

  When I first moved to my farm, I pretended to be Jane Goodall. My land was a high desert...
Read More about Horses and Chimpanzees, Or Why Horses Aren’t Cuddlers

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your name and email to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.