I Try to Make My Thighs a Corridor for the Horses’ Spines

The heat has arrived.  Day after day of highs above 95 F with lows above 75 F, and by the time I get the horse ready I am already drinking lots of water and feeling HOT.

On Sunday I got to ride Cider and try out my new thigh strategy in getting her to move straighter.  My grandson Will was getting to ride Magic the second time and he looked a lot more confident!  While Shannon concentrated on teaching Will to…

“How much does a horse cost? Do you have to be rich to own one?”

I can tell you how much hay they eat, warn you about vet bills and farrier visits. There are many articles and books written about equine…

"Just get back on! You don't want to lose your nerve."

"Why not enter the trail class?  You're at the show anyway."

"Are you coming out on a hack with us?"

Well-meaning invitations, but sadly, invitations into situations  for which neither you nor your horse are quite prepared.

Have you ever felt pressure to push the boundaries with your…

We’ve been left to choose between a pit viper(Hillary) and a jester(Trump) to be our next leader. One has fake hair and one has a fake smile. One is hot-headed and one is cold and manipulative. Both suck and either way we’re screwed over double-time. Is there any hope at all for America or have we really gone to pot? I have the answer you’ve all been looking for. Don’t vote for Clinton or Trump. Vote for Rufie aka “The People Hater”.…

Gee, I have Written 300 Blogs so far on Barnmice!

A little over seven years ago, I started writing blogs on Barnmice.  I appreciate my readers (though a little more feedback would be appreciated) for continuing to read about my boring rides, stuck in the riding ring, proceeding mostly at a walk.  I do hope that you, the reader, have been inspired by my writings to listen to your horse!

Last Sunday Shannon figured out how to put my new Amigo Fly Rider flysheet on the…

Lethargy. Sweltering with a non-specific stickiness. Flies. More flies. Dilly-dallying. These are the wilting Dog Days of Summer, named for Sirius, the Dog Star. No connection to the napping habits of dogs so deflated by the heat that a sploot position on the linoleum is the…

Traditions run deep in the horse world. From tack to training, to the terms we use ...WHY? - I figure it doesn't hurt to ask! Hey sometimes I've found there's a good reason - someone way smarter than me "invented the wheel" and doesn't need ME to re-invent it :) So I'll keep asking...



Like the new bride whose husband asks "Why do you cut off the ends of the…

A while back I wrote an…

Traditions persist in the horse world. Does anyone know why flat classes traditionally start on the left rein?  I caused a little stir recently, at an open hunter show by starting on the right rein in an equitation class. Can you think of other enduring (though puzzling) equine traditions?

Sometimes we get stuck in a rut, until evidence leads us to look outside. I do like how AQHA is encouraging judges to mix up the gait calls and direction of flat classes. I do this…

Fair warning: I'm going to ask you to do a favor for horses. It will involve some of your time and the money that you spend anyway.

I try to avoid any photos of abuse. I don’t share them because they titillate perpetrators. Besides, I’ve seen enough cruelty for a thousand lifetimes.

One got by me this week on Facebook; it was a photo of a dog…

I Finally Got My Grandson Up On a Horse!

During the decades that I owned horses, I had a fantasy of horses in my grandkids lives.  However real life interfered long before my grandson appeared on the scene.  Since I no longer have horses  my grandson did not get to meet horses, and I could not just pop him up on a trusted horse.

But now I have a big enough house to have a spare bedroom, so my son, Tally, and grandson, Will, can stay overnight, and since they live just a few…

I have always wanted to try my hand at training a horse so I can see if horse training is something I want to pursue as a secondary career. So when my instructor offered to let me try my hand at training a green Spanish Mustang gelding named Joe, I jumped at the opportunity.

Joe is a seventeen year old, bay Spanish Mustang. He’s had training and has even been ridden before, but it’s been quite a few years since any of that happened. His owner has no time for him and asked my…

Ever since I can remember a veterinarian is what I’ve wanted to be. When people ask why I chose veterinary medicine over human medicine I simply answer, “Veterinary medicine, because people are gross”. They laugh, I laugh, but it’s true. People are gross and animals aren’t. I find it difficult to watch people draw my blood but I find eating spaghetti while observing surgery on a horse to be easy.

When I was little I used to rescue injured animals and try to help heal them. Injured…

“There’s more to life than horses” is something that has been said to me my whole life. My response? “Yes, there’s ponies too.”

Horses have been an essential part of my life for as long as I can remember. I first fell in love with them when my Uncle put me on one twelve years ago. Since then, horses have been my escape from reality and therapy during hard times.

Three years ago my mother suffered from pre-eclampsia, a potentially dangerous pregnancy disease caused by high blood…

Okay, so your horse is losing weight quickly and you don’t know why? My suggestion would be for you to consult your local veterinarian on this and make sure there’s nothing serious going on. Horses lose weight for a variety of reasons. Maybe they have a high metabolism or their teeth need to be floated. Maybe they’re old and that’s just a part of nature, or maybe they have worms. Either way your vet needs to be consulted. We won’t discuss every reason for weight loss in horses as…

I Just Ride at a Walk Until I Get Heat Sick

The past three weeks I have been sick, again.  My digestive system has decided it does not like food and that it does not particularly want to digest food.  Between constant nausea and diarrhea that will not quit permanently, I have spent most of my time collapsed in my bed.  However, after one week in bed I ended up with horrible back spasms, so I have been trying to ride as much as possible, at a walk since I am so darn weak.  I am hoping…

The owner said his horse had trailer issues. He’d watched a video and used a whip and rope, with bad results. Then he hired a local trainer but after two hours of fighting with his hysterical horse, she gave up and left. Now the horse was even worse, the owner said, and…

Look, it’s a selfie of me mucking last week. I like to get an early start in the summer. Over six hundred blog posts about this horse/life, and no one ever asks me for fashion tips. I wonder why?

I wasn’t always this sophisticated. I remember when I was maybe fifteen; it was morning and I was standing out waiting for the school bus. I…