I can’t remember who came first in my life- dogs or horses. I do know a few of each are required for my mental health. There is a slow and gradual changing of the guard, as years go on.

Three dogs and 13 years ago, my cattle dog, Hero and I were pretty depressed after losing our old dog, Spam. The moping around was wearing on us, so we signed up for Dog Agility class and called it date night.

I’d been to obedience classes with other dogs- but this was different. It was happy…

Wednesday I saw a tornado.  Up close, while trapped in my car on an elevated stretch of highway in Springfield, Mass. Scary!  Funny what a random lethal event does to your head.  It’s clarifying. 

My sister, a fellow agnostic, asked me if I prayed.  The question took me off guard, and its answer surprised me a bit: I didn’t.  I’d wondered if this was “it”, and then thought, why not?  I don’t live in the area, just happened to be there at that moment as I traveled to Vermont for…

Inspired by the "Road to the Horse 2011" on DVD which arrived last week, I've decided to implement an intensive training program to get Brody ready to be ridden.  Brody's been with us almost one year now, and he came to us with a suspensory injury.  But the vet came last week for Brody's vaccinations, and gave the go ahead to climb on and ride. Woohoo!

Brody may be physically ready to be ridden, but mentally and emotionally he is not.  (And, of course, there is the…

"Respect is appropriate response to pressure."  I heard Pat Parelli say this once, and the ring of its truth is undeniable.  Whether working on the ground or in the saddle, a horse's appropriate response to pressure is essential to any activity.  Brody definitely needs (re)education on this!

Maybe lack of cooperation is his passive-aggressive platform for establishing dominance, or maybe I haven't been consistent enough in establishing my expectations and requiring him to…

The story of how a horse goes from a second chance pony, into an inspirational life changing horse.

http://horsecarezone.com/navaras-story/navaras-story-part-3-time-for-change-just-the-beginning/

Navara's story. Tell me what you think so far. I hope you enjoy

I really want to focus on strengthening my leadership, so that eventually I can safely ride Brody and take him out on the road.  Here's how I worked to establish my physical space with Brody this week.

First, Brody did not want to be haltered, especially once he caught sight of the rope and stick.  So I swung the halter towards his hindquarters and got him moving off whenever he started stepping away from me.  When Brody wheeled to face me, I turned my back to him and stand…

So good to be back after a very long winter!  I've been freshening up my groundwork skills, reviewing Parelli and catching up on all the Downunder Horsemanship (Clinton Anderson) episodes I recorded from RFD-TV.  Yesterday I decided to get back in the paddock for a first session, and I was amazed at how much Brody remembered, particularly changing direction on a circle.  We seemed to have just about picked up where we left off.  I decided to keep it short and vary the exercises a…

Back in February, I started training a 5 yr old paint mare.  She is owned by Very old friends of mine - who used to live locally, then they moved to Virginia, but we stayed in touch.  Then they came west again, to Arizona.  Last year they wanted to send Two horses to me, but their barn was struck with Strangles, so no one could go anywhere, then the roof on their home got damaged and all money went to that - so fianlly, Reggie and Rainey came to me in February.  Reggie was a 6 yr old morgan…

I finally got around to working my mare with some groundwork Saturday afternoon. First I got her all cleaned up and then took her out to eat some grass. Seems like this spring I am so far behind with what I normally do with her.This winter has been difficult with all the rotten weather. I still work and sometimes finding the time to get out to the barn to work her, gets away from me. I board her at a small farm about 3 miles from home. I do go out almost everyday and help put out or bring in…

Things are really moving with Brody! In a sometimes baffling, inconsistent way, but I’m enjoying the progress and trying to recognize Brody’s ideas and efforts to help me understand how to improve our communication.…

After a hectic week and a couple days of rain, Brody and I were both ready for some playtime. Wanting to make the most of it, I popped in my “Level 2 On Line” DVD for some inspiration and heard Pat Parelli talking about the importance of fun, for both human and horse. It’s like he’d read my mind—working on various exercises had begun to feel like……

When I was studying under legendary Australian reining and cow horse trainer, Ian Francis, he used to remind me that there are a lot of heroes in the graveyard. What he meant by that was that too many people get on horses that aren't ready to be ridden…

All horses have magnets –the gate to the arena, the barn, other horses, his buddies back at the barn, the trailer, etc. They all involve the horse wanting to be somewhere other than where he is, doing something other than what he is doing. The simplest solution is to make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy. Meaning you make being…