Another story of cruelty hit the international press last week. Operation X documented horrors happening in a well-known Danish barn, by using an undercover “groom” with a hidden camera. I won’t relate the gory details because you already know them. They are as nasty as you imagine. Repeating them feels like profanity. It was … Read more
In my online Barnie group, we do performance art around Halloween. My horse, Bhim, along with Edgar Rice Burro, Arthur, the goat, and I started work on our plan. Then, we had an epic wreck. But at least I have it all on video! We started by assembling the parts. I got some cheap and … Read more
It’s been six months now since starting Bhim’s Training Diary online. But time is a fluid thing for a horse. Bhim came to my farm for training, only a month or so, in the fall of 2013. So yeah, it’s been nine years. Or ten. Recently someone said, “Well, it’s not like you’ve been working … Read more
Old mares have a constant dilemma. They get stiff and stove-up. They’re stoic so they don’t whine about it, but they have small feet in proportion to their large body. They lose muscle over the years, their necks are arthritic, their joint fluid turns to sandpaper. The human said she should go for a walk … Read more
A clinic organizer was telling me about a trainer she brought in, someone whose approach was significantly more aggressive than mine. I asked how it worked to have such different approaches for the same riders and she said, “Oh no, he has the same training theory as you do. He told me that for a … Read more
The lockdown at the beginning of 2020, followed by months of quarantine, was a wonderful opportunity for a thoughtful assessment of my brilliant career choices. Said no one ever. “Non-essential worker” became my new job title. I was like a mare pacing the fence line separated from the herd. I would have been pacing more, … Read more
Visiting an old friend.