How To Become a Horse Whisperer

In fifth grade, they pulled us out of class for hearing tests. They clamped skinny black headphones on us and told us to raise our hands when we heard sounds. Then I sat there waiting to hear for a long time. Long enough that I knew I wasn’t hearing. And I wasn’t the kid who … Read more

Nube: What Retirement Means

And so, Nube [pronounced new-bay] retired in limbo. Undiagnosable. Sometimes, the solution for a long-running struggle is to just stop the fight. No answer is an answer. Let it go because peace was better than the ugly struggle of focusing on what was wrong. Let the anxiety of multiple vet visits stop and the desperate … Read more

Focus is Active Listening. Horses Do It Naturally.

I had a friend who used to write me little vignettes about the antics of her and her horse at their self-care boarding barn. I always looked forward to each installation. Usually, they were hen-cackling funny, but this one took a bittersweet turn: “This morning at the stables, someone asked my opinion. About 20 seconds … Read more