“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” Winston Churchill was certainly right, and some times of the year, more than others. I notice the holiday season has a lot of us wound up just a little tighter.

Is your horse a therapy horse? All of mine are, especially the retired ones. Sometimes…

Is it just me -or is a big part of the work-a-day horse world seized up in a flop sweat about money? Stress and worry seem to hang in the air. Horse sales are down. Hay production is…

There is so much debate currently about methods of training: German vs. French, classical vs. competitive, natural horsemanship vs. anything with an English saddle. It can get adversarial.

Most people agree that finesse is better than force in horse training, but we seem to have a hard time agreeing upon a definition of what those words actually look like in technique. That…

I have been preparing for a clinic this weekend at Infinity Farm. It’s the my favorite clinic every year: Fundamentals of Dressage. One of my clients asked if it was going to be the same as last year. (Eye roll -is this a trick question?)

Nope, the fundamentals of dressage have not changed in the last year, or the last century for that matter. Dressage is the art of riding with balance…

Namaste is a Sanskrit word -which means it’s very old.  Most translate it to some version of “The spirit in me…

The foundation of Dressage for the rider/horse is rhythm. I define that as a balanced combination of relaxation and forward. It sounds deceptively simple.

A rider/horse can not sacrifice forward for relaxation, or relaxation for forward. The art of riding is in negotiating the balance of the two in both the rider and the horse. Forward must be consistent; sometimes the rider relaxes…

I’ll call her Sage.

Sage was a thoroughbred mare with classic elegance. A solid bay with a long neck and pointy withers. She was very feminine, not too tall, but she was proud.

That’s who she was born to be -but what she looked like was very…

Who Am I This Time is the name of a short story written by Kurt Vonnegut and made into a film with Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon.  It’s a quirky story about two people of very different and uncomfortable personalities -who fall in love while acting in a community theater production of Streetcar. (Hear Walken’s painfully shy, tongue-tied character roar, “Stella!!”…

“Horses hate llamas.” Lots of horse people told me that, but by then my gelding was babysitting my first cria and the party was in full swing.

Llamas are brave and curious. Mine hike with packs, do llama agility, and Sebastian was a ring bearer in a wedding. (At the reception he confused the Mother-of-the-Bride’s corsage for an hors d’oeuvre. It was an…

Anna Sewell authored Black Beauty in 1877. She wrote the book to educate about animal cruelty and promote a more understanding approach to horses. She wrote,

“My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”

Most times we don’t have the power to actually right wrongs. It is…

Infinity Farm has always boasted an extended family of many species, so the nickname was obvious- The Peaceable Kingdom. I love that painting by Edward Hicks. He was a Quaker minister who painted his spiritual truth in a simple way that resonates with me profoundly.…

I love this photo- it’s education in a trickle down sort of way. These fillies are learning the fine art of wither itching from my retired gelding- when he speaks everyone leans close and listens. He is the Master.

Maybe learning takes lifetimes… This week I have been reading…

A friend of mine volunteered at a nursing home. One of the patients there was always talking about riding and my friend thought that maybe I could come along and talk horses with her. That was what I knew when I entered her room.

The walls were covered with horse pictures from magazines, a couple of medical machines were humming and sighing,…

Woody Allen says, “I am at two with nature.” That pretty much describes how I feel about technology. Embracing the tech world for me is like enjoying a violent allergy attack.

Having…

Dear Mr. Farrier,

Remember me? My friends call me Clara. You may call me Claro d’Luna. Please pronounce it with a Spanish accent.

I…

 ”Peace on Earth”, -The Wild Texas Wind, aka Windy, Infinity Farm Matriarch.

  “Good Will to All” -Holliday, Infinity Farm Homeland…

Who hasn’t begged for a pony for Christmas? My generation scrutinized the color plates of horse breeds in the H volume of our aged Encyclopedia Britannica. Some of us read Black Beauty a dozen times. We held Man from Snowy River film festivals at home. Kids today haunt websites like…