I was inspired by this (Fairland Ferguson) young lady's story of determination. I tried to post it on videos but couldn't figure out how.

But here's the link:http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/11/human-factor-promising-future-after-near-fatal-fall/

In the information age, Q and A columns , blogs, and on -line forums provide an buffet of answers to the questions horse owners have as they try to communicate with their 1000 lb., non-English speaking partners. The process of equine  training and management can be puzzling. In in the horse world, where emotion and fact often collide, how do we know how horses really…

There were lots of great rides in Spirit’s 25 years, but this was the most perfect ride…

Spirit was something in the day- he and I agreed. He was fun to show, always a crisp and spontaneous ride. His confidence improved year by year, and still, every day was a brand new day.

That day, our first…

Here in Northeast Ohio

I haven’t blogged lately, because I have been overwhelmed with life.  I won’t go into it, here, but it has just been a tough time.  I don’t know if it will get better, either.

To add to my problems, over the weekend, Cole became lame.  As far as I could tell, it was either a heel bruise or an abscess in the heel area.  I have had a lot of experience with abscesses from my times with Mingo (chronic abscess for years—with 2 operations that…

Hello everyone!

We are very interested in your opinions!

Please answer the questions below and add any interesting ideas or feedback you think might be helpful.

1. Which areas of Barnmice are your favorites?  Is…

 I was riding my gelding after lots of off and on rides for about the last several months with 2 other geldings. One horse was dead quiet and mine was on the buckle and the third was was quiet at that time.  For the first time in 11 years that I have owned him, he has never lunged at another horse in a defensive position with me on him.  First of all I learned from that move that   you can fall off at a walk, second thing is that as he ages he get more herd bound in that on the cross ties he…

Luckily for us in NC the weather decided to switch back from early summer to spring, so this week we have cool mornings and the afternoons will be pleasant.  The horses are still shedding so that they are not completely unprotected from the cooler temperatures.  Plus the gnats did not descend upon us until I started my ride.  Yeah for cooler weather!

Merlin was not very cooperative with me today.  I do not know if he is afraid that his…

I know, I know, I was born with them. But for most of my life I've been a plus person. I've ranged everywhere from 180 to 356 at my highest, I'm around the 260 mark right now, give or take a pound or 5 depending on the day. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw more than just my toes when I looked down. Well, yesterday I looked down, and not only did I have toes... but I had feet and ankles!

I think this has alot to do with the fact that I have been riding once a week for the…

Wow... I don't think this is ever been heard of, a 31yr old who's never blogged? Sure I've done a few posts here and there on Facebook, and I think I dabbled in Myspace for a while, but I've never actually done a true blog. What is the standard for a blog? I'm not sure. But I'm planning on sharing what I can to help Plus sized riders get in the saddle and stay there. I'll use this area to compile websites and resources that plus riders here on Barn Mice can check out. My first order of…

I took Cole Train on another solo evening ride, and he was great—even though it was a chilly evening and I hadn’t ridden him the day before.  I think the problem has been solved.  I doubt if I will ever have a hesitation in taking him out, alone, again.  Of course, he will be 6 in a couple weeks.  I have found at the age of 6, horses grow up.  He certainly has been acting very mature. I really do feel like I bought a winning lottery ticket with him.

We did our usual short…

Cole Train only gets better.

Well, I blogged last week about Cole’s first evening solo ride of the year.  Evening rides have been his Achilles heel, for some reason.  He will do great in the morning, but the next day he’ll be a different horse in the evening.  I think we may have left that problem behind.

I graded his first solo evening ride of the year a “C.”  A couple days later, I tried it again and he got a “B-” due to some spooks, breaking into a canter a…

We got to the barn late as the car broke down. We just got my daughters car out of the garage and drove her to work to test it and it conked out on the highway on the way to the barn after dropping her off. It started again in a few minutes so we ended up taking it back to the garage and got my vehicle to go to the barn. 

I quickly used the shedder to get any mud off & picked feet. We then went in the indoor arena for about 1/2 hour. We went to the back arena door and he handled…

Ms. Jackie Cochran wrote:

"If I ever get hooked on collection I am going to make sure that there is a curb bit in the horse’s mouth when I ask for it."

Collection does not occur because of the type of bit used, because in the 'old' days, dressage horses were schooled in reined cavessons to do all the gaits, and movements including collection; before the bit was introduced.

We modern day riders seem to be hooked on the need of a bit in order to achieve high…

When I got to ride Merlin today I did not have big hopes since he “got away” with standing for 15 minutes last week.  As usual I waited for Merlin to sigh, and then I did my escalation of my driving aids, WALK, light squeeze with both legs, then a light touch of my spurs.  To my utter surprise Merlin started walking after making me wait only one minute. …