Have you heard? Stall mats aren’t just for stalls anymore. These versatile mats can serve countless purposes in your barn. The next time you’re ordering stall mats, you may want to buy some extras to have on hand for these many uses.

Protect Stall Walls From a Stall Kicker

Stall kicking is a nasty habit that can take a toll…

Your barn manager is entrusted with the care of all of the horses in your barn – a big responsibility. Finding a good barn manager can be a challenge, since the position demands a variety of specialized skills. When you’re looking for a barn manager, try to find someone who has the following…

Great Success!

Friday evening found me struggling with MerryLegs.  He didn’t want to go out of the barn, he didn’t want to walk  on the street, he didn’t want to walk back to the loop, he didn’t want to go around the first corner of the loop,  he didn’t want to go into the indoor arena…  He wore me out.  He would either plant his feet or go backwards. …

Everyone needs a best friend, but equestrians are lucky – we have some of the best best friends in the world. In honor of National Best Friends Day, here are the top reasons why horses make the best best friends.

Horses Are Excellent Shoulders to Lean On

When it comes to needing a shoulder to lean on, horses…

Oh, to be back in the saddle again felt rather wonderful. It's been Oh so long since I last rode him and I feel we did very good. 

Naturally before riding I was put to work, haha, but it was fun. There's nothing better than unloading hay and mucking a stall, I'm serious. Those two jobs and riding are my favorite things to do. My sister and niece are temporarily staying with us, so my niece, Nicole,…

What a change a little bit of equipment can make with a horse!  For the last 2 ½ months we have been riding Tercel with the blinkers, and riding Tercel has changed from a heart-stopping 30 minutes of stress to a sleep-inducing 30 minutes of more or less boredom.  Believe me, right now I prefer the boring rides!  Tercel was not ridden regularly during this time, and for three weeks he was not ridden at all, so this welcome boredom was not caused by working Tercel…

Are your horse jumps looking a little tired and weathered? Jumps take quite a beating, and without regular care, their appearance can quickly deteriorate. If you’d like to put a little life back into your jumps, we’ve come up with some great ways that you can refresh your jumps.

Sand and Paint

One of the simplest ways…

Improvements?

I decided to try taking MerryLegs down to the river in the evening all by myself.  No Ellen to give us moral support.  I had no problem getting him to the street.  As we were walking down the road, a couple cars went flying by.  It bothered him, and he jumped a little.  When I got to the head of the trail, he said he couldn’t enter the dark…

When we ride our horses we are asking a lot from them physically mentally and emotionally. 

Physically we want them to carry us, our weight and the saddle too. Their muscles and joints and bones must endure this heavy combo for however long we decide to ride them. It is the equivalent of us carrying a heavy backpack and physically working for long periods of time. At the end of the day our…

Summer is upon us, and so is the busiest time of year for many riders. Horse shows, clinics, and trail rides take up much of our day, but there are still important barn chores that need to be done. Here’s a quick to-do list to help you start off summer right.

Scrub Water Troughs

Have you…

The Honeymoon is Over

I knew that MerryLegs and I would have our “moments” as we got to know each other, but I was surprised about what the first moment would be.  I took him out of the barn to go for a walk on the driveway—heading for the back of the property.  After just a few steps, he decided he wasn’t going.

He has had some other incidents of refusing, and I was able to get him started back up by shifting his weight.  That wasn’t working, this time.  I…

On Saturday morning, I decided it was time to take a hike down the hill to the river with MerryLegs.  He was very, very excited.  As he walked down the hill, he looked left, right, left, right.  There was so much to see!  Actually, all there was to see was a lot of trees, but MerryLegs thought it was exciting.

He did so well that when I got to the…

Hear the music of the Old West;  or, take a scenic trip to ‘Genuine Ranch Country’ for some down-home entertainment!

Barn Music

If you rope, cut, rein, or ride in any of the cow-horse related activities, I’ll bet your barn radio is always set to the local Country-Western station.  And I know for a fact that even a lot of the English riders tune to C-W on their dial, too!  

But, how much of that music is…

My apologies for not posting last week, my internet connection was giving me fits.  All fixed now.

Why did I decide to change Tercel from the Spirit bitless bridle to a bit?  The last two times I rode Tercel in the bitless bridle I repeatedly got the feeling that Tercel was not getting the whole message from my aids.  Once I fixed his bolting problem with the D’yon blinkers I finally could truly feel how Tercel was reacting to my aids.  He has a pretty decent…

I planned to meet my new friend, Shari, to go for a trail ride.  We rode together about a month ago, and our horses did so well together, we wanted to try it again.  She keeps her horse a short distance down the street.

She has a chestnut National Show Horse named Bella, and she is simply beautiful, but she can be a handful.  We rode down the hill and got a good look at the river—it was too high to cross on a pony, and she didn’t mind just riding on the hill.  I told her how…

Ex-racehorses are unique, and present different challenges when it comes to retraining. They’re incredible athletes, and while they’re quickly gaining popularity among riders, ex-racehorses aren’t for everyone. To successfully work with an ex-racehorse, you need to understand their unique mentality. Here are some things to think…

How to make friends with a horse?



"Give him what he needs and he will give you what you want“

I think the quote is by Pat Parelli and it sums up what I think is the basis for a good relationship with our horse: the change of perspective.

In order for the relationship to thrive, we need to put our horse‘s needs…

“How much longer do you think you can do this?”

This week I received a blog request. You see, the reader is my age, 60, and she’s frustrated at being asked that question repeatedly. The reader’s friend tells her that she and her husband “should get rid of over 30 equines and their farm and all the work,…