I just read a very interesting article in Equus... it was about how spending many hours with their human is stressful and hard on horses.  Made a lot of sense.  The example they gave was a weekend warrior, spending all day Saturday with her horse... I'd be pissed off with that woman too!

I know some folks that ride multiple horses in an evening, so the horses get a cursory groom, a ride, a cool out and off they go.  That may actually be a favour to them, not something to worry about. …

There's a discussion currently going on via Facebook around horse shows, and there are two issues:  lack of horse shows and footing.  The contention being that footing will drive attendance at a given show.  We all have different opinions about what constitutes good footing.  The place that the two big shows in the province are held has footing great for jumping, but, in MY opinion, it is too sticky for dressage, and can be really tough on a young horse.  It's also quite expensive to get the…

Today I burst into tears at the mere mention of blocking Mr Havoc's leg...

A year and a half ago, his aunt, my Maggie, was lame, and we blocked her leg, without first x-raying, because that's normal, and she broke her leg and had to be put down immediately.

So, the mere thought of doing it with him was more than I could bear.  The x-ray machine wasn't working, and this was the only other thing they could do 'right now' to figure out why he is a bit off.  Luckily, it was the…

Well, little Miss Mo went to a little dressage show last weekend.  We schooled at home on Friday and she was awesome, so, it was a good way to start the venture!  She loads like a pro and doesn't get bothered by different stalls, different arenas, people on other horses wandering around...

So, our first test had a bit of speedy bit going on, back to back canter tours just melt her little brain.  Now, we have never stood in a corner to wait for our next test, but she was great about…

As I sit here in my toasty house, it's a balmy -27C (-16F for you holdouts in the states).  Windchill is -40C (-41F).  Of course that's measured up at the airport, not down where my kids and I are, where it's probably a good 10C colder.  It wasn't so a couple days ago, and this is the wonder of living in Alberta... by next Saturday, 13C.  As you can imagine, this tends to cause some issues in one's horse keeping!  My little Mo is clipped and lives outside.  She's a tough old girl, but she's…