My Christmas wish is for God to watch over all our service men and women and guide them safely home.  I am able to spend Christmas with my wonderful horses and family because of our military.  I can't thank them enough.  Merry Christmas to all.

Leaning against the fence of the warm up ring, waiting for the next class to begin, I chatted with an amateur rider who was watching her trainer give her horse a pre-class tune up. “He gets along so well with my horse,” she sighed. “My horse just knows who’s boss. I think we have a personality clash.”

She chatted away to her horse and trainer…

Sonoma County DA did file felony animal abuse charge against Gwen Stockebrand. Case number DAR 645-213 She is to appear in court on December 28, 2011

Stockebrand charged with animal cruelty.

This is a sad state of affair.   However, on the other hand it brings to light things that have been kept in the dark too long.

Do you have a special Christmas wish for yourself? Your horse? The world?

Share it here and be entered in a draw to win a 3.7 lb. bucket of SmartDigest Ultra and a 5.6 lb. bucket of…

I got my lesson in on Wendesday with Debbie.  Mick was really stiff when he came out of the stall so I spent the first few minutes of my ride gently walking him around until he moved more freely.  Then I started some gentle trotting, again until he was moving freely again, and then I had to rest.  Then the next time I trotted Debbie asked me to extend him some, and for some reason I had the fortunate urge to lighten…

Sent to Equine Canada and the Coaching Association of Canada:

I would like to nominate the head coach at Myrddin Equestrian Centre in Erin for Coach of the Year.



Margaret Godson has been making confident riders for decades, through dedication and skill that has touched both human and equine athletes. Margie's calm, skillful coaching insists on the best of each horse and rider (as well as herself), at all times. She is…

Last lesson tonight, very sad.

I won't be taking any lessons in the winter but will think about joining again come spring or summer next year.

We were fast trotting, posting trot, on the long side and jogging, sitting trot on the short sides. After a little while we started to put a sit trot circle at each corner. I was tense at the beginning but finally started to relax and felt it in the horse too. He was tired from being in the first group lesson and was always trying to…

I got an advertisement in the mail from a local tack store this week. It was printed to look like a Christmas wish list, personalized with my name at the top. Surprisingly, there was nothing on that alleged list that I actually wanted. Disbelief still hangs heavy in the air.

What would be on my Christmas wish list? Let me think…

The way lessons are canceling for weather this winter, I suppose I could ask Santa for an indoor arena. But really, does this countryside need…

I’ve been doing a lot of riding in the last week.  I had a 4-day weekend—just using up my sick days since I was quite healthy this year.  Usually the weather is crummy in Cleveland in December, but I was really lucky.  We had dry and sunny days.  I couldn’t cross the high river on Saturday and Sunday, but that was all right.  I got to ride with my sister in the arena and we rode on the hill to the river a few times, too.  Monday, I took Cole on a trail ride with my boyfriend and his horse,…

Read an article on just how much abuse the BLM will inflict and/or allow to be inflicted upon the wild horses and burros.  I would hope that horse owners would copy this email and send a personal note to:

I sent certain BLM staff members in Reno, Wash. D.C.  directly to their emails, an email that should provide them with a wake up call:  alueders@blm.gov   d80arnol@blm.gov  …

I had fun riding this week.  I didn't think I'd get my lesson in on Mick on Wednesday because there was rain all around, and it started sprinkling when we tacked up, but then it stopped and did not start again until my lesson was over!  Then it poured.  And it was warm, 65 F at dawn, with a warm wind, and I ended up riding in my shirt sleeves, in December no less.  I don't ever remember riding in December and working up a sweat!

Mick went well, which was good…

This is how you can tell there is a tourist in the barn: they keep their eyes on the ground and there’s lots of erratic tiptoeing. Some even squeal at the sight of manure. I call it Fecalphobia- an irrational fear of digestive waste. Thankfully, humans are the only species prone to the disease. (Nincompoops.) Everybody else is fine about bowel relief.

People who live with horses don’t get emotional about poop. It’s such a normal part of the day-to-day…

I am determined to improve my riding in the arena, this winter, so I got out my old Mary Wanless book.  I am reviewing chapter by chapter.  I got to the chapter on breathing and bearing down—and I realized I wasn’t doing it right anymore.  Somewhere during trail riding and breaking in a new horse, I lost it.  I practiced all day at work to prepare for my rides.

I started out with Cruiser, my older horse that I am starting anew.  Guess what—he had his best day of the winter. …

Ranger Tests Us

It’s not often I mention that Ranger is having a problem, and that’s because he is a fairly consistent horse.  Every now and then, he throws in something to keep my sister, Ellen, on her toes.  Well, he did it, again.

One day, back in November, he acted very strange during tacking up.  We…

A Small and Unexpected Miracle

Years ago, I’m not even sure when, I found a lump in Cruiser’s throatlatch area.  It didn’t seem to hurt him, so I waited until the next time the vet came out to ask her what it was.  She said it was a tumor on his thyroid, that there was nothing we could do about it and it wouldn’t do any harm.

 …

It has been a pretty good week.

Wednesday, for my lesson on Mick, I faced a super-saturated ring since we had 2 inches of rain earlier in the week.  I could not practice extending Mick's trot, if I had tried I would have torn up the ring and everybody would have been splattered with wet sand.  So it was mostly the walk with some sitting trot, nothing exciting at all. …

I stopped in to see Cooper first before heading out for my riding lesson. The cross ties were too high and short for him so I ground tied him to groom him a little. He was very good when I was there and as soon as I left the room and left him with my husband he started to walk away. My husband is too soft with Cooper and our dog LOL

The barn manager says that Cooper has such good ground manners, I was happy to hear that. One woman that was there says she thinks she sees Morgan in him.…

This was my last lesson at Five Star Ranch with Cooper. I have learned so much in the short time we have been riding together there. I will miss the lessons on him but it was getting too much driving there on a work night and putting gas in my truck.

I moved him to a new barn yesterday that is 15-20 minute drive from home. There are no trails but that is ok as I am not that interested anymore in doing that. I hope to be able to see him more often and not dread that long drive all the…

It was a chilly night—right around freezing—perfect for riding horses with winter coats.

I rode both horses in the arena last night.  My ride with Cole wasn’t consistent, and I just couldn’t seem to get my body in sync with his at the trot.  Remember, he has a huge and impulsive trot which can be tough to sit and I consider impossible to post.  I have found that you need to plug into the side-to-side motion while keeping the movement slightly forward, too.  This gets the best…