The final straw was the day in November when he did what the Spanish School in Vienna might describe as a "levade" but which we will more accurately call a "refusal" which involved a lot of rearing and dancing about on his hindquarters.

We had set a cavaletti on its lowest setting, a couple of centimetres off the ground, as a trot-pole. Oakley went over this, albeit with some urging. Then my coach took the pink scarf that someone left behind in the arena…

Well, last night was my after work trail ride of the year.  I rode both horses on the trail over the weekend with my sister, and they were excellent, so I wasn’t expecting much in the way of problems.  They would be by themselves, though.  The river was too high to cross, so I could only ride the hill back and forth to it—about a half mile round trip.

I had time for one and a half trail rides.  Cruiser was the first horse.  He was supposed to be the easy one.  At nearly 25…

Thursday March 8 

I made it out to see Cooper last night, I hadn't seen him since Feb 24 as I got sick on the 25th and still trying to get over it.

It was so good to see him. When he heard me he had his nose and face glued to the crack in the door, and I mean glued, it was like he was trying to squeeze out. I went into his stall to change his halter and he was rubbing his head all up and down me and leaning on me. I didn't let him do it for long, didn't want him to get to…

What Daylight Savings Means to Me

This weekend is Daylight Savings. What does that mean? (Other than losing an hour of sleep?) It means it is the official opening of trail riding for me. Sure, I can get out a little on the weekends, but now I will be able to go on a trail ride after work. It usually coincides with a dramatic improvement of the weather, too.

My plans are to ride my Cruiser on the trail for every ride between now and November. No more schooling in the arena for…

When the autumn time change happens, I always feel like my house gets smaller- by a few acres. The outside is my favorite room and I resent winter for taking it from me.

And is it just me- or is every winter somehow a bit more twisted and confused than the one before?

In the dark months, everything on the prairie seems the very definition of the dead of winter. It’s a monotone landscape, flat-cold, with not many trees to distract my sullen gaze.

And just when…

A Clicker Convert?

I was riding Cole Train in the arena, when one of the boarders that I haven’t seen for a while showed up.  She has been working different hours than she used to and was coming out to the barn when I wasn’t there.  Consequently, she hadn’t seen Cole’s new dance steps.  I showed them to her—how he can do them in the saddle or on the ground, and she just laughed and laughed.  He is even learning to cross his leg over when I cross my leg over—and of course he…

With the show season fast approaching, many of us will be starting to make shipping plans for our horses.  For those of us without the luxury of our own trailer, it is especially important to start planning early, as the longer we wait, the fewer options we will have for trailering when the time comes.

At TrailerTrips.com, an online marketplace for horse owners to connect with horse haulers to find trailering ride-share…

According to Greenhorn Horse Facts, “As of December 2007, approximately 45,000 horses had been shipped to Mexico, compared to the 11,000 shipped in 2006. That’s a 310% increase in the number of horses shipped to Mexico to be slaughtered for human consumption. The sad thing is that, not all of the horses are just old, sick or un-manageable horses. A lot of them are PMU horses and…

15-year-old Emanuel Andrade was presented as the Future Champions Leading Junior Jumper Rider on Saturday, February 25, at the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida. The teen, who hails from Caracas, Venezuela and who has his stables and family home in Palm Beach County regularly champions the charity Step by Step Foundation in competition in show jumping competitions. He has been consisting winning in the Junior Jumper division and placing in Grand Prix…

This was not a very calm weekend, I got awaked by a robo-call at 3:00 AM Saturday morning about a tornado warning.  Luckily the local TV stations were following the weather so I saw that the real bad weather was not headed toward me and after an hour I finally got back to sleep.  Saturday when I woke up I learned that a tornado had passed a around 10 miles to the north, destroying several houses and pulling the…

While those in the world of midfulness may be well aware that empathy toward others is a recipe for a feeling of wellbeing within oneself, for many people, just how to increase a sense of empathy can be a challenging subject. This, of course is complicated when many people struggle with feeling empathetic towad others. To be sure, when empathy isn’t expressed, it isn’t gained either. So if this is the case, how does one go about increasing empathy? And, further, is it possible that animals,…

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that one of my recent customers turned out to be a marketing guru and business expert who just so happens to be an energetic “blogger”. So impressed was Sarah Simpkins of Grow Your Business Printing.com, with her KAN experience that she took the time to write an article titled Kan Teq: an example of why a brand is more than just a…

HELLO WORLD on the other side of this blog (well that's what it feels like). I have never written a blog before but if i had a £/$ for every time i've been told to start, perhaps i would not be selling KAN vests!

Yes that is what keeps me busy - the business that I began in 2005 is almost my entire focus. Poor husband, he married a creative type who loves her horse and strongly dislikes housework and grocery shopping, so cooking is a rare occurrance, luckily he is very long suffering.…

I think we all knew it was only a matter of time.

Edgar wanted me to wait to make this announcement, until after the award show season (Oscars, Golden Globes, etc.) He didn’t want to steal the thunder from his friends. (Best Ass in a Supporting Role- it isn’t one of the on-camera presentations.)

Newsflash: Our own Edgar Rice Burro is will be making his theatrical…

The term “Search Engine Optimization” often brings to mind visions of large, intimidating companies that can be hired for a small fortune, with promises of having your website listed on the first page of Google. What many small business owners don’t realize, is that most of the techniques used by SEO experts can be accomplished successfully by the novice as well. With a few professional tools (included below) and some focused efforts, you can significantly raise your website’s traffic,…

Equine therapy studies are hard to find. And perhaps even more challenging to find, studies that utilize sound research protocol. Of course this leaves many well intentioned mental health practitioners to question the validity of equine therapy. On the other hand, there are many potential recipients of equine therapy who wish that there insurance company would cover equine work so that they may partake in it.

So, that being said, lets take a look at a few good equine…

A funny thing happened at the barn last night.  I brought Cole into the arena to ride with a big TB.  This was only the second time the TB has been ridden since his operation for a cyst in his sinus.  The vet told the owner she could resume riding at 6 weeks.

A few minutes into the ride, she noticed he was doing a strange step every now and then when they were trotting.  I didn’t see it.  He wasn’t lame, though.  She said he would put his foot down hard, and he jut started…

The icy claws of fear set firmly into the spine of every horse owner upon hearing the very word spoken...  Colic. By definition, “colic” is simply a vague term for “pain” anywhere between the stomach and tail of the horse, and tells us next to nothing for a diagnosis. At some point in our equestrian lives, chances are good that we will have to deal with colic in some form or another. Whether it’s a horse of…