What's better than spending three days with horses? Nothing that I can think of. Yesterday was day one of horse sitting. I mucked stalls and tossed hay. The water troughs needed cleaning and re-filling so my brother and I did that too. The dog that stays at Julie's house has become my shadow, needing to be with me at all times. He'll ignore my brother and follow me around. While there I was able to ride Cody for a hour. It was the perfect opportunity to work…

What is the purpose behind teaching your horse personal space? We teach horses to respect our personal space for safety and manners. A woman I knew told me that if your horse is walking right beside you, spooks and bolts you'll get run over. She always said to keep the horse 2-3 feet away or an arms distance from you. Not only does teaching personal space help avoid being trampled it also helps to avoid being crowded, knocked in the head by his head and…

There is nothing I enjoy mmore than watching a jumping competition on TV. When Daniel Deusser or Scott Brash(1&2 top jumpers in the world) clear those jumps its breathtaking. I recently watched a jumping competition with a young, new rider. His time was poor and his riding not much better. I cringed watching him jump and knew he wouldn't be in the jump off. Here is what I saw.....

Going into the…

Summer will officially begin in three days, on Father's Day actually. In the state of Michigan the seasons change each week and we just go with the flow. While summer begins in three days the heat began on June first. Yesterday was in the eighties but a steady down pour of rain cooled us down. The day before was also in the eighties with no…

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,…

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…