I was fortunate enough to have attended the Philippe Karl clinic 2 yrs ago and I must say I think it was the best clinic I have ever attended (... and I've been to many!) I love the philosophy of his teaching and the harmonious intention that is paramount with all his teaching! I also attended this year, a clinic with one of his graduate student from his School of Lightness and she was fantastic as well! We need more clinicians like this! And we need our "top rider" to attend them!! I'm just…

I worked both horses in the arena, last night. Cruiser is being consistent and each ride he’s improving slightly. At this rate, he will be 30 years old by the time I get him where I want him. We worked mostly on straightness. He has been bending to the right when going to the left. This never used to be so prominent, so I think that some of it might be the stiffness of old age. If Cole had the same problem, I would know it was more me than Cruiser. We added small circles to the right to our…

The Best Trail Riding Month of the Summer—November



After a record amount of precipitation this year, where we were rained out weekend after weekend, vacation after vacation, we finally had a good month for riding. Usually November is a crummy trail riding month. What a treat it was. Ellen and I even had vacation time that we were able to get out and cross the river.



I was able to put on a lot of miles with Cole. Much of it was with Ranger. He is behaving beautifully with…

I am amazed when I travel to barns to do a saddle fit how many saddles do not properly fit the horse or the rider.  The best way to explain proper saddle fit to the customer is to use the comparison of starting to train in a pair of shoes that do not fit.  Would you be able to run comfortable in shoes that are too big or too small.  Now imagine that you want to ride and train your horse in a saddle that is either too big or too small.

I am so fortunate, I am getting to ride three horses a week now regularly!  The last time I got to ride three (well at one time it was five) horses in a week was back decades ago and I owned all the horses.  On the good days, when it is cool and the sun shines, I miss feeding and taking care of my horses, but when it is bitter, windy, and cold or super hot and muggy I am so grateful I no longer have to get out there to…

NEWS FLASH::

 Santa takes the World Champion horse show 

(C) by Roberta Edstrom…

There are no shortcuts in the training of a dressage horse. Yet we are forced to watch the modern contrivances that are dressage in name only. In the late 19th century, Anna Sewell wrote the story of “Black Beauty” to challenge the inhumane conventions of her day and perceived as “beautiful”. Will we ever hear the story of the 21st century dressage horse and his suffering for the same faddish notions of beauty and elegance? From overchecks to rollkeur, man has run the gamut of abuse to…

One person was away, so 2 of us joined in on the 7 p.m. lesson.

It was really rushed as I didn't find this out until 4:30 and still had to go home after work to change. But we made it and we were tacked up and ready to go in record time, for me anyway!!

There were 9 of us in the class. It was a little chaotic at first but close to the middle of the night everyone was working great together and hardly any collisions. I would laugh everytime Cooper would try to get real close to…

Henk writes:

Lil's husband, Robert, brought his camera out to our paddock the other day, so I thought I'd share some of his pictures with you.…

I hope to make a few more videos for each year, will take awhile as I have tons of photos and videos and trying to pick a few is sooo hard :) 

Thanks Jackie & Shirley and everyone else for all your encouraging words over the years I have been with Barnmice!! I am looking forward to growing with you all over the next years and reading your blogs and accomplishments.

My family knows that I have loved horses since I could walk & talk but some of them can't see how a horse…

Something Really Cool



Lately, life has been incredibly weird! I find myself at odds (personally) always asking for money even though I know it's pretty much the nature of non-profits. I try to stay as positive as I can and always send blessings and thanks to everyone, everything and the Creator everyday but sometimes...



So let me tell you a really cool story - last month a lady contacted us saying her son - 8 years old at the time - was having a birthday party and in lieu…

In the interest of using my vacation time up before the end of the year, I took another 4-day weekend off with my sister.  We had icy cold weather, very hot weather and weather in between—but what we didn’t have was rain.  We were able to cross the river on all 4 days.  It was great to ride so much.  The horses were good, for the most part.  Cole did get a little funny towards the end of the ride, Sunday, but that is all.  I think he was remembering the day before when his lunch was in his…

Oakley would like me to think he's a very high-strung horse. Well, he is pretty lively, but he's gone to great lengths to convince me that he is too difficult to ride, so I should just leave him to munch his hay in his paddock, because every time we left the paddock, he'd find something to be frightened of. Our walk up the path to the stable, or the walk from stable to arena invariably went like this:

"Ahh! What is that frightening thing?" (It's a piece of wood in the…

All the times I've ridden the new Arab gelding, Mick, Debbie and I have been trying to find out the 12 to 20 problems that came with Mick.  First the saddle, Debbie trailered Mick down to the good tack shop to consult their saddle fitter and they found a saddle for his young rider that fit both horse and rider.  Then Debbie had a problem that Mick's adult riders (he already has a fan base at the stable) could not…

This is a bit of a rant - with the rapidly approaching holidays, I am trying to stay positive. But...

I am tired. I am tired of always asking for money, tired of juggling expenses, tired of laying awake wondering where the money for the hay delivery is going to come from, tired of thinking of new and improved ways to ask for money  - I'm just plain tired.

 Horse Play has been operating at an over full status for almost 4 years - despite adoptions, and we've had a…

So for those who may be interested in the lives of the horses we are currently supporting – please see below – for those interested in sponsoring a horse from the list – they are all available – everyone needs a special friend! For those thinking of maybe adopting – best bet is to give us a call or email and we’ll set a day/time for an initial visit and go from there – Horse Play DOES NOT adopt out green horses or horses still presenting behavioral issues – this is because if things go…