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
I am not a bliss-ninny. Loitering in denial doesn’t work for me. I’m a blunt truth-teller who doesn’t enjoy being dominated by my emotions. Or anything else, for that matter. I’m looking for an equal partner. My training approach is one word: yes. That’s because I care about one thing: horses. Could it be that … Read more
The worst thing about remembering a horse in the past is that maybe there are current options that your horse only missed by a few years. For all that we don’t know about horses, for all the worry and grasping at symptoms, eventually all will be revealed. The stray symptoms, the unusual events, the chronic … Read more
Driving home through northern Colorado yesterday, I passed the Berthoud off-ramp. Otherwise known as the Grandfather Horse off-ramp. I’ve only taken it twice; once when I went to look and once when I went to buy. I think there should be a birthplace monument there, one that would dwarf the Statue of Liberty. Beware. An … Read more
How many times a week do I tell a client some version of “When we know better, we do better”? It’s a Maya Angelou quote, we all know it. It has no big words, we understand it. And yet we cling to the past. We smear shame, guilt, and remorse all over ourselves as if … Read more
I’ve never been good at remembering dates, so sometimes I measure my time with horses by when I learned things. Was it when I was still clipping whiskers for shows because we were all told to. Was it when I kept my horses in stalls for my convenience? Was it before I knew about ulcers? … Read more
You want the horse to focus on the task and do it. Let’s say your horse needs to stand still. He pauses, quiet for a few seconds almost before you notice, but he’s close and you can’t help but adjust his forelock. Like a horse even needs a forelock adjustment. Then he shifts to look … Read more
Yes. I’ve been writing in support of helmet use since the start. I expect I’ll go on haranguing about helmets as long as I continue to see photos of tiny kids standing on the backs of horses with no adults in the frame. And toddlers perched on fenceposts surrounded by horses who are a bit … Read more