I am owned by an exquisite mare. We call her ‘The Diva’. She is opinionated, fiery, smart, and thinks people are pretty darn fun to hang out with. One sunny August day, seven years ago, she pushed through a herd of Hanoverian yearlings and planted herself right in front of me. This little filly …

I’ll keep the background story brief about me and my horse Jobi for now. I’m sure it will develop itself with more posts. I owned him for many years and brought him up through advanced work in dressage using French Classical methods, life change forced me selling him only to later have the opportunity to …

Rolex has come and gone for this year. I am in awe of riders and especially horses that can endure such an athletic feat.  There is a heady excitement at show grounds at such a level. It can be intoxicating.  I know it all too well from my lifetime of showing.  Yet, I can no …

I remember times when I was younger, and now as an adult less frequently but still on the rare occasion, when I would be having a conversation with someone and be so excited or nervous or somehow wound up that my voice would begin to rise and rise and get louder and louder until I …

It’s March and the weather is warming, then cooling, then raining, then snowing. My body is in a fight to survive this weather. I have Fibromyalgia and CFS/ME. I am in 24/7 pain and have exhaustion that can hit so severely that I cannot climb the stairs without my heart bounding and getting out of …

Whether we are aware or not, as equestrians and horse riders we give constant critique – all while we do not always openly receive it in the same proportion. The primary way in which we give critique is to our horse when we handle, groom, ride, train and so forth. A constant running commentary can …

I have a lovely 13-year-old student who is much more mature than those years. She is gifted, committed and built to sit on a horse. She has been in a saddle since she was six. To each lesson she brings a mixed bag of anxiety, self doubt, fear of failure and extreme shyness. Her predisposition to anxiety causes …

For as long as I can remember I have worshipped horses. One of my earliest memories is of cantering my imaginary horse around a field while my mother had her riding lesson. I was four years old.   I have lived and breathed horses my whole life. They are my sanctuary in a sometimes noisy and …

Studies in animals, and humans, have shown that the mere association with reward for particular behavior can quickly replace the need for direct reward. The brain assumes that a reward is coming and begins to signal that we ought to behave in a particular manner to receive that reward. In turn, this neural firing on …

That is right, human history predicts that we as a species will use force in obtaining control. We posturalize and use our ego to intimidate, when that fails to work we can then resort to physical means even so far as to kill; and killing can mean mental, emotional or physical death for our victim. …

[dc]How is the[/dc] herd bound horse, or buddy sour horse, approached and dealt with? I have seen many of the traditional approaches. Isolation, trailering them away, walking them because you cannot ride them away from their friend successfully, etc. I have seen various measures of success in these ideas, some have worked in mild cases, …

[dc]My horse[/dc] refuses to stand still at the mounting block, or even get close! Sounds familiar? I discovered this clever trick to make the mounting block issues a breeze and to entice your horse to WANT to hang out nice and close… My first horse was a Paso Fino, and he loathed the mounting block. …