My life stinks, right now.  I won’t go into the details—those who know me well already know.  But due to great tragedy, my riding has been curtailed.  Instead of ridiing 5 days a week—I went 5 days without riding.  I didn’t even get to see my boys.  My sister and boyfriend were able to pick up the slack—keeping the stalls cleaned, turnout and leading Cruiser for me.  I am grateful for their help.

Here is what I learned.  Cruise doesn’t mind being in semi retirement.  He…

I had some excitement riding this week.

Wednesday stuff was a bit disorganized at the barn, Debbie had gotten stuck in traffic and would be a few minutes late.  One of her teenage students kindly got, groomed and tacked up Mick for me, and this wonderful girl came out to the ring with me, helped me mount and hung around watching me until Debbie got there.  Mick was pretty stiff, so I just walked around for the first 15 minutes, some circles, some one or two loop…

As horsewomen and horsemen, we should consider the following and their application to our equine communication skills.

From the "Apocalypse of Spirit"



"The sacrifice of listening creates the sacrifice of humility that radiates the greatness from one's Spirit Within."



"Spirit does not need the mind to exist; the mind cannot exist without the Spirit.   Spirit encompasses life, while the…

     I guess I'll start with a little history on yours truly. My name is Jenni. I am a 28 year old horse nut. Growing up no one else in my family was into horses, so I'm not really sure where I got the fascination, but my parents were good sports about it and signed me up for lessons around the time I entered middle school. My Mom is terrified of horses, but attended many of my lessons and all of my shows. My dad saw the opportunity to stay connected with his teenage daughter through the…

I love this post by SmartPak. How true it is that everything is about attitude! I would like to add acouple of "DOs"

1. Be grateful to your body, your mind and your horse that you are able to do what you love - and take good care of them all.

2. Remember that every time you mount a horse, you have a fresh start. A chance to do your best and do things a little bit better than the last ride.

and...

3. If your last ride wasn't so great, forgive yourself  - and your…

International Helmet Awareness Day is coming up and I have been thinking about my own experiences with (and without) a helmet.

I've been riding for well over 40 years and I can't remember how many times I've fallen off a horse. Most of the time, I was wearing a helmet, but I remember falling twice without one and thinking that it was just dumb luck that I wasn't killed.

 I'm cautious by nature and started wearing a helmet long years ago, when they were very…

Many Adena Springs horses have gone off to start their new careers in the equestrian world. Here are just a few:

“Blue Heron (Weldon) is PHENOMENAL! I love him tremendously. We had a great first season eventing together and as you can see, he LOVES to jump (especially cross country). Next year we plan on upgrading to pre-training!”…

    Gypsy Eyes is a sound eleven year old chestnut TB mare standing approx 16.1hh. Gypsy was found discarded by her previous owner after having a couple of foals and rescued by Adena Springs Retirement Program this past fall (she is no longer suitable for breeding). She her rescue Gypsy has been in training with the program and has been going under tack walk, trot and canter. She is a kind, friendly and loving mare who deserves a…

I just posted one of my own original songs on this site, because it features the amazing sound of a real life horse snort, from one of my best horse friends ever... who always had such a nice canter stride snort...

s

i

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missing him, i am glad to have new access to a new kind of sweet young horse breath.

AND i hope you will please have a listen to the song! i'd love to hear what you think...

June 2 2012 

I hadn't seen Cooper since Tuesday. We got to the barn late on Saturday so I didn't tack him up. We went into the indoor arena with the rope halter and 12' rope and did ground work. We first did some changing eyes stage 1 for about 10 minutes then some sideways along the arena wall and c-pattern. I took him into the feed room and let him go in and out of the back arena door. Then I put the 22' rope on and did some lope, trot, walk transitions. Finished of with the…

Off of Merlin, that is.  Obviously I eventually got down, but this is a problem from my Multiple sclerosis that I’ve not run into since I was diagnosed.

From long before I was diagnosed, I had started sort of vaulting out of the saddle when I wanted to get off.  I had no problems with this method until, several months ago when I got hung up by the cantle trying to vault off Mick the first time I rode him.  So I started practicing getting off the normal way since I had…

It goes without saying that Duke Ellington is right, about most everything. And even horses agree.

But I get ahead of myself. This is how it starts: you’re riding, moving in unison with your horse. You’re fluid, and free-…