I've been in Dallas for nine days now. Anybody who really knows me knows how I feel about cities. I love in the capital of Michigan. The city is what I know. So when I was told I was to spend over a week in the city, I was less than thrilled.



My Aunt and Uncle live in Garland,Texas, not really the city but not the country either. Their backyard looks like a jungle. It does. Trees and bushes are everywhere and there's even a creek full of wildlife. Just down the street is a "ranch"… Continue

Continue

I have loved horses for as long as I can remember, but growing up in  a city, I never had access to them. Then I found out about Beekman Therapeutic Riding Center, a non-profit stable that teaches anyone and everyone how to ride. They have forty beautiful acres of land and ten horses located in Lansing, Michigan of all places. It was there I began volunteering and fell in love with what they…

Continue

I've been on vacation for three weeks now. Three. Whole. Weeks. My sister and I have been staying in Texas with my Aunt Normi and Uncle Herb. We don't know them too well and they don't know us too well either. It's been a journey of getting to know one another and I'm enjoying every minute of it. There are times where it's difficult, trying to figure out what's appropriate and what's not. We've…

Continue

Moving Is Exhausting

I apologize for not writing my blog this past month, we have been moving from our old singlewide trailer to our new doublewide trailer, luckily I own both of them outright and they both are on my acreage.  When I say we have been moving I mean that my husband, with some intermittent help from both my sons, has been doing the actual packing and moving, while I am collapsed with exhaustion from the tiny bit of help that I can give them. 

Ever since my now…

Continue

Continue

As a stereotypically reserved Canadian, judging a horse show last fall in Israel, it was culture shock.  Animated and passionate in communicating, what an initially rattled me (what’s the commotion??), became  endearing to me.

The big idea behind “horse whispering” is the use of subtle body language and keen observation to communicate with our horses.  And one…

Continue

It's been a good month. We started May off with a dressage competition and did very well. We took home a nice, red 1st place ribbon, although that almost doesn't count because the other  competitors in my class never showed, but what does count is our score, which is the highest he's ever got, and if we'd got that score at two previous competitions would have won then, and would have had at least 2nd or 3rd place…

Continue

Some people read people really well …picking up on subtle cues, interpreting body language -social cognition. You can actually take a quiz to rate “ your emotional intelligence”, if you’re at home with nothing better to do  (perhaps, in itself, a sign of a social introvert?)

    Horses have developed a sophisticated social cognition system to read group members…

Continue

Continue

It was August of last year. My riding instructor was out of town and had left me to care for her Quarter Horse, Azteca mare, Thoroughbred,Mustang and mini donkey. I agreed to care for them as I'd done it before without issues. In fact, the first time I'd done it for her was perfect. I practiced natural horsemanship with the rogue Mustang and had for the first time ever confidently cantered on a loose rein for longer than 10 minutes. We cantered around her house for over 30 minutes. At some… Continue

Continue

The American Quarter Horse: we've all seen them before, whether it was at a fair herding cows or in the country on a ranch. The Quarter Horse is our heritage and what we all know. They've been around as long as we can remember and have put out many great sires and mares in our time. Some of my favorites include No Guns Please, Metallic Cat, Peptoboonsmal and Lopin N My Blu Genes. All great sires famous for great things. Quarter Horses are stereotypically known for reining, cutting…

Continue