As I travel the world working with people and horses there are significant cultural differences between the various countries. However, it is always true that wherever I go - people are people and horses are horses. But then again there is the very real challenge of how often the time needed for translation of verbal languages takes us “out of the moment” with the horses.



Of course, that delay between a rider hearing what I have to say - and then translating my English into their own… Continue

Hello friends and greetings from England. After a very rewarding week of work in Ireland last week I now find myself in England enjoying a clinic with the Brit’s and taking time to shoot some new video footage for Riding the Wave 2.



Yesterday I was invited by Roger and Joanna Day to be their guest at the Badminton Horse Trials during the first day, the dressage test, before I drive north… Continue

So many times in my training in natural horsemanship, I heard emphasis on gaining respect. (I still hear it today.) I would watch a "problem" horse behave perfectly for my trainer and then, frustratingly, once I got my hands on the lead rope, revert back to "disrespectful" or even dangerous behavior with me. This was, of course, all my fault. Now don't get me wrong: students of horsemanship make all kinds of mistakes, and most problems they encounter are their fault.…

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Today I read an article that basically hobbled my brain, preventing me from thinking about anything else until I worked out my feelings about it.

The author of the piece makes some assertions about the relationship between horses and their people that no logical mind can dismiss. However his tone, a sort of, “these are the cold, hard facts for all you hairy-neck-nuzzlers–face up to them!” renders even the most obvious “facts”…

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I’m often asked about my thoughts regarding the paradox of a rider or horse owner/enthusiast trying to develop a true bond with a horse while the horse is in a boarding stable and therefore primarily "in the care" of others.



For many people it seems almost futile to put the time and effort into becoming so conscientious about your own approach to your horse when you have little or no control over how the staff and/or volunteers at the boarding stable are behaving with and handling…

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Greetings, my many Barnmice friends, from Riversong Ranch in Alberta. It is so good to be home again after this latest whirlwind trip to Bermuda and the Netherlands.



While I love my job when I am in the arena with the students and horses, what I am getting increasingly tired of is flying. The “friendly skies” are just not all that user friendly anymore.



So it was while enduring the 8 hour flight from Amsterdam to Toronto only to then connect for the 4 ½ hour flight from…

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The Fine Art of Letting Go or Making Go

By Chris Irwin



Hello and greetings to all from Pearson airport in Toronto. As I type these words I’m sitting beside my lovely wife, Kathryn, waiting to board our early morning flight to Bermuda. For the next five days I’ll be coaching dressage riders and jumpers on this small island nation in the Atlantic before flying next week to the Netherlands for the first European Train the…

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Hello and best wishes to you all from our winter wonderland at Riversong Ranch in Alberta.



This being my first blog here on Barnmice I’d first like to say what an honour and privilege it is to be invited to join the ranks of such renowned colleagues as Jane Savoie, William Micklem and Tim Stockdale.



I’d also like to say right up front that I believe it is truism that a writer should only express opinions about what he or she has proven themselves to know something…

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