Imagine that each time you climbed on your horse, he began to move in a slow canter, so rhythmic and balanced that you can just close your eyes. Never a wrong step, never a moment of confusion. Your horse knows the routine so well, you don’t need to cue him. You let yourself be lulled, … Read more
He was a bright young gelding. Alert, athletic, and so willing. One day he would become the kind of breathtaking dressage horse that his sire was, I hoped. It would be years before he’d be started under saddle, but it was the perfect time to start arena work. Did you just seize up a bit? … Read more
I love reading about science like hungry people love over-cooked greenish-gray Brussel sprouts. And that’s the kind of sentence you never come upon while reading scientific research. I have better luck understanding these behavioral studies if I read them aloud. The words all seem to trip over each other’s feet; science jargon is a … Read more
It’s an obstacle course, by golly. And there’s a pedestal, by golly. We both see it, but one of us acts like it’s a meteor from Krypton. The lead gets tight, the handler doesn’t notice because the world has fallen away. Now the handler is nothing but pedestal, pedestal, pedestal. Horse thought balloon: (what’s wrong. … Read more
How a horse greets us is his honest expression.
The awareness needed to train a horse is something we can only learn a small step at a time.