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...
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...
See It Through His Eyes
It's a perfect day. No wind, not hot. The kind of day that you spend most of the months of...
Photo & Poem: A Smoky Memory
A dusky pink summer dawn, stepping out the porch door, halt. Dread at the smell of unnatural heat. How...
A Natural Instinct to Dominate
I find it fascinating to watch children talking to animals. It's almost like studying mustangs. Kids are who we are,...
Photo Challenge & Poem: All Time Favorite
Directions Turn on the dirt road at the bottom of the hill, then go past the big curve. Slow on...
The Middle Path: Lighten Up, It's All Your Fault
Sometimes people tell me that I'm preaching to the choir with my blog. That it's the other "really creepy horse...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Twisted
Midnight in Alaska The wheels of my bag click over the tile floor, scanning signs...
Bringing Horses Home
We don't ask much from horses. It starts simply. On the day that we are thrilled to get the horse...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Liquid
I saw him first, diagonal light giving a soft profile against a black-blue shadow, then he turned and time...
Heart Horses
"He's my Heart Horse," she says by way of introduction. A hush falls over the room. Or maybe that's just...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Place in the World
Water creeping across the prairie, a wandering path of small ponds in a landlocked state,...
The Art of De-Escalating
It's an ordinary day. Quiet, no wind. You could be on the trail or in the arena. You might be...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Unlikely
She's an economical cat, a tabby with concise ears, a tiny nose, and pointy feet on my sternum, lowering herself to...
Building the Bubble #5. Just Honor Them
Some of us value horses for their physical working ability on ranches, we "use 'em hard." Decent care, no...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Lines
Such an arc to his stride, soft rhythm as his hooves cut the arena sand. Sit tall, rider, with...
Building the Bubble #4. Just Train Less
It's an obstacle course, by golly. And there's a pedestal, by golly. We both see it, but one of us...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Prolific
Pray his back is broad, strength needed for the precarious load he bears, the seesaw blessing and curse of a...
Building the Bubble #3. Just Move
Morning. Once she's turned out, she bolts to a soft spot and rolls, and then this. No, her tail isn't...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Awakening
It's for me to worry about a winter dry enough for early grass fires, mine the worry for a...
Building the Bubble #2. Just Converse
One of us flaps our legs while standing still, banging our boots in the stirrups, twisting around in the...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Smile
A proud gray horse with a soft eye. Dwarfed by his manner, I almost don’t feel the barb of his...
Building the Bubble #1. Just Notice
Here's last week's Pretending to be a Horse scenario, from the equine point of view, abbreviated for sense-limited humans. His...
Photo Challenge and Poem: Rise/Set
What is it about a sunset that I cannot look away? Trying to make out a small movement, barely...
Pretending to Be a Horse
There was a time, while I was in junior high school, that I rode my horse on the road. Lots...
Photo Challenge and Poem: (Her) Favorite Place
There was a message on my phone. My dog was ready to come home, they said. It was just...
Reframing Competition as Relationship
We were playing around after a lesson, laughing about the curse of being spokesmodels for my blog photos. She leans forward...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Rather
Lying in bed, head deep under, the covers folded so it's dark and warm, and just a thread of fresh...
What Trainers Do You Like?
I often get asked what I think of other trainers. Sometimes I have no idea who the trainer is, any...
Travel Blog: Kangaroos Ahead
Here is another weird thing about my job. I never have any idea where I might end up. First, I...
Travel Blog Photo Challenge: Airport Story
Australia Verson: It's all about me. Me at the Melbourne airport. Me waiting for my flat white, teenager in line...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Story
Standing at his flank, in that sweet curve where his barrel ebbs to the swell of his hip, and gazing...
The Middle Path: Peaceful Persistence
I had two conversations recently; one a spellbinding conversation with a brilliant and beautiful young mare. The other conversation involved a...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Out of This World
You are right to be wary of us, little mare. Your hooded eyes dark and silent, you must be concerned,...
Riders Against Bullies
Railbirds. Everyone's a critic. I'm no fun anymore. I can't go to rodeos, a tradition I...
Travel Blog: Why I Should Stick to Horse Blogging.
Confession: I have zero credibility as a food blogger. Each and every meal we had was spectacular. Nothing less. Even...
Photo Challenge & Poem: A Face in the Crowd
It's the ninja cat skirting the shadows, hesitating, then moving on a silent path, leaving no trace. Or the...
Roo: Letting a Horse Be a Horse
I was doing what I do when I lay down at night; mentally taking the late night walk-through, tossing hay...
Travel Blog: A Leap of Faith
I get in cars with strangers. That's me by the airport curb with a suitcase. If things are going well,...
Photo Challenge & Poem: (bitter)Sweet
Volcanic walls hedge the black-silver sand all the way to the sea's edge. Waves clap the shore, misty clouds rising...
Horses Are Pessimists
Your horse is a young horse or a rescue horse or the heart-horse of your life. A mare or a...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Tour Guide
Peeping through a knothole in a pine fence, a wind-worn cheek pressed to splintered wood. Craning to watch a small...
Horses: Technique and Art
"Shut Up and Dance" It was written on one of those little tin lapel pins and my friend wore it...
Travel Blog: Being Here Now
This is the view out the front of my deck: pastures to the ocean. I'm having a rest day, staying...
Travelblog: Being Here Now
This is the view out the front of my deck: pastures to the ocean. I'm having a rest day, staying...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Beloved
Eyes averted, shuffling an invisible walk. A predator who feels like sad prey, trying to pass for normal, trying...
Travel Blog: Whitebait for Lunch
I was watching first-run Star Trek episodes before I ever took a commercial airline flight. I only mention this because...
Travel Blog: Where the Trail Leads…
I know people who read cookbooks like they're high-drama best sellers. I know people who fantasize wild lives of...
Photo Challenge & Poem: Variations
“Isn't it dysfunctional?” he asked, his head cocked. His confidence steeped in every privilege due to a certain sort of...
Repetition Vs. Consistency
There's a moment, sometimes at the beginning of a lesson or during a clinic, where I meet a horse for...