It was my first day at a new barn with a perfect indoor arena! Before lessons began, I asked the owner where the bathroom was. She pointed to a roll of tissue on the tack room wall and told me to use any stall. I picked the one with the sleepiest looking gelding. I think he had visitors like me before.

Disclaimer: I grew up on a farm. We got…

Cole’s First Solo Evening Ride of the Year

To give you a little background, Cole hasn’t been a very good trail horse in the evenings.  His biggest fault is trying to trot towards home instead of walking.  A few attempts is no big deal, but it would be constant with him.  Actually, this has been his main problem from the first time I took him on a walk down there.  He had long ago improved his morning rides, but the evenings just got him excited.  For some reason, all of our…

A study recently conducted by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association found that 74 percent of dog owners, 60 percent of cat owners, and 45 percent of bird owners considered their pet as a child or family member. Sixty two percent of cat and dog owners said their pet helped them relax and relieved stress. Further, 59 percent of dog owners and 37 percent of cat owners thought their pets were not only good for their health but would help them live…

     When I re-started riding Merlin 6 weeks ago Shannon warned me that Merlin would not move for anybody.  I told her I had thought over what I had done earlier and that I had decided that I had to change the way I rode Merlin, and that the BIG change was that I was willing to wait for Merlin to move from simple and light driving aids.  I also told her that I was prepared to ride him 5 times before I…

So, after a couple of days off, Oakley had a good session, did some light longeing, good flatwork, and it was a very pleaseant June evening...except it's March, where it didn't belong, but overall a good day’s ride. At the end of an hour, Oakley was sweating in the unseasonable heat, so I decided a good end would be a walk up the trail: not muddy, but not baked hard, either. A pleasant evening twenty-minute cool-down walk up the hill.

Nope.

Oakley started playing scared -- his…

Excitement builds In a sleepy corner of N Ireland and i want to tell all - even though attending the event will be impossible for nearly everybody who reads this, but of course you are all welcome and as Irish hospitality is legendary, it could be worth the trip! However for those of you who dont make it, I will furnish my blog with reports and photographs of the event which should make for interesting viewing. Any tips and advice on getting the message out there will be…

I’ve been remembering my first experience in Walk Detention. It was the dark ages and I was a training level rider on a young horse. I was so excited to ride in my first clinic with an Olympian- my enthusiasm sizzled audibly. I handed over a fat check, my horse was spit polished and I was…

  First, Sharif is fine now, just so no one develops colic while reading my sad stupid story.

Sunday seemed like a good day to saddle up and do a little introductory spring stroll in the field. No pressure, just to get him thinking about maybe riding with me like other people do on a nice day. I had started our Spring Wake Up Call a couple of weeks ago and had a few little jiggy rides on him, but issues with my dog came up, and so Sharif was on the back burner till I got that girl…

Riding can be tough on your body and great for your physique. Staying strong will help you to ride better and improving your general health and fitness will ultimately improve your love of the sport. Making sure you get enough sleep and are well nourished is the first step to good health and the complimentary benefits on your chosen sport. Your horse will be in peak condition, so why shouldn’t you be too?

An exercise routine which incorporates a variety of approaches is…

The other day, a client in my office brought up an interesting issue. From the time she was young, she recalls being a “dog person”, and always finding great joy and comfort in their presence. However, recently, she has noticed that the mere sight of dog hair in her house can send her into a fit.

After assessing, and ruling out any OCD diagnosis, and looking back into her history to determine exactly when this frustration started, what became clear is that around the…

The weather here in the sunny South has been 20 degrees F higher than normal.  The weather forecasters have been telling us that we are getting May weather, not March weather.  Due to this we are now getting some bugs that are bad in May, namely gnats.  Millions of gnats.  Gnats in the ears, gnats flying up nostrils, gnats getting behind my glasses, luckily there is fly spray for the horses!  I am going to have to dig out my ear nets for the horses.  I just wish there were head nets…

I got a new brown and white, all around, 14.1hh pony today. She's cute as she can be and the sweetest thing, but i need help naming her. My family has already gave me three choices. Autumn, Poe, and Saylor. help?

Think of it as a trip to the amusement park- with your horse.

I didn’t start out doing Natural Horsemanship. I started out before that phrase was invented.  Like a lot of us, I used voice commands while lunging and required good ground manners. I did the rest from my saddle; riding was my thing.

To tell…

I got 2 new horses a few weeks ago, Ones name is Griffin, the other is Ariel. Griffin is an ex reining and barrel horse. He is 13 years old and super fast with barrel times on constant 14-15 seconds. I plan on using him a lot in shows this season. He also does really well in hunt seat, and gets nice and slow for western pleasure. He is also brushing up on his jumping, we practice 2 ft everyday.…

 When my husband suddenly passed away a couple of years ago my whole life changed. I suddenly had absolutely no interest in doing anything at all. After a lot of effort just putting one day in front of the other, I tried to think of anything at all that I might want to do, some reason to get up in the morning. The only thing I could think of was to own and ride my own horse. I had ridden in my younger years before but never owned my own horse, and I remembered such lovely times riding in the…

I cannot remember a time when I did not want a horse. Every birthday and every Christmas I would ask for a horse. When I was 46 I decided to take riding lessons for exercise and to get me back into contact with horses. One day while talking to my instructor I mentioned that I would someday like to have my own horse. She said I know the perfect horse for you. She took me to one of the stalls and pointed out a 15.2 hand four year old chestnut gelding Quarter horse. She told me his name was…

Happy Buzzards Day! Yes, this is buzzard country, and the buzzards have once again made it to Hinckley on March 15. Hinckley isn’t too far from me. I actually saw a buzzard a couple days ago in Cleveland. They are big, ugly vultures that are all over northeast Ohio in the summer. My rides yesterday went well. It was very unseasonably warm—like summer. The river was too high for Cruiser to cross. A big horse could have done it, but my horses certainly aren’t big. I rode the hill three times…

I'm really interested in checking out the Kan vest, as I sustained a fall and broke three ribs last fall.  Don't want to do it again.

My friend, that knows absolutely nothing about horses bought a mare because he "just fell in love with her spots, ok?! She's gorgeous!" She wasn't gorgeous. She was 100 pounds underweight, extremely dominate and aggressive, and utterly terrified of humans. She had been mistreated and obviously been beaten into a trailer. I worked with her as often as I could. She was 100 miles away. I finally made him send here to my boarding barn for 2 months so I could work with…

We have a friend in the racing business who gave us a tour of Del Mar during their meet.  Kate got to meet a horse that our friend named after one of our relatives who wrote for a racing magazine.  Kate had been riding for four years at that time and she was 10 at the time of our Del Mar visit.  From the minute she met the thoroughbreds, she wanted a thoroughbred filly/mare.  Well, we searched and searched and one day we found a picture of a beautiful thoroughbred filly who had been…