February is an unstable time of the year. It isn’t spring and it isn’t winter. There are a few 50 degree days that trick us into spring fever before the heaviest snows even come. Still, the horses are shedding, days are longer and it’s hard to not want outside again full-time. There’s no…

If you follow this blog, you know I have been in a pretty lousy mood lately. I’ve been pondering mortality.  The loss of a hard working dog and a sweet old horse has got me feeling particularly cold and dark this winter.

I’m usually pretty good at picking myself up, but this time it’s a lot to lift. I started doing that thing that sad people do late at night on…

The sun’s out and there isn’t much snow, but nothing’s melting at all. It’s been bitter cold during these days between Christmas and New Year’s and lessons have cancelled all week.

I’ve had a little too much time to…

Nothing. Not a thing.

I hate saddle shopping. It makes my head explode.

I have a young mare just starting…

“Seriously, you are no fun at all. I hate to say it, you’re my human, but really, lighten up!”

Humor Deficit Disorder: It’s time someone brings this condition out of the closet.

Seriousness might be the biggest obstacle in getting a good ride. Ever had that feeling that the harder you try, the worse it gets? You could have Humor…

This week I was talking to a writer-friend about how he approached a new project and he offered to share his writing discipline.

Discipline is a word that can make a person seize up with negative anticipation; it’s a punishment or correction. The visual that comes to mind for me is an angry parent dragging a little kid by the arm.

In…

The holiday season is upon us. From Thanksgiving till the end of the year, we’re encouraged to celebrate the family, seen through Norman Rockwell eyes. Lots of us fit that mold. Our families come together, smile into the camera, and stay up late laughing.  Generations of women gather in kitchens and cook massive meals to the praise of the men folk.

But some of us didn’t come from warm families. Some of us had parents who didn’t really want kids after all. Some of us have lost loved…

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I think we should nix all the others and celebrate Thanksgiving every month. I am fine with changing the meal sometimes, as long as the tradition of eating too much, sleeping, and saying thank you is still the order of the day. Got to love a holiday with such low expectations.

And I have so much to be grateful for. Today, as I took a deep breath, quieting outside distractions… I heard a still, small voice from very deep inside of me say, “I hate…

Puppy breath is one of those addictive smells that isn’t actually pleasing aromatically. Still, who doesn’t inch their nose dangerously close to those tiny teeth, just for a whiff of puppy breath?

One bright Sunday morning while driving to the barn to ride, I saw a sign on a ranch gate: Heeler Pups. I’d recently lost an elderly dog- I think he might have turned the…

The wind positively howled. There was sun, not that you could feel it. The horses didn’t want turn out. It was 20 degrees warmer in the south-facing runs and there’s not much windbreak on our prairie pasture. The horses that were turned out looked longingly at the barn and I knew the season has truly changed.

I was mucking a pen, coat zipped against the wind and my warmest Elmer Fudd hat tied down, when my phone rang. A client re-scheduled her lesson that afternoon. I don’t blame her;…