You know it when you’re lucky enough to find one—the good horse. He (or she) is the horse who turns a bad day into a good day, who takes the tension from your shoulders, and makes life’s problems drift away. He’s the reliable one who always tries his best. …
Sometimes I think it would be helpful if horses could speak to us clearly, using words, about their preferences in the tack we use on them. If they would just let us know clearly what they like, and why, we could save ourselves a lot of time and money. It’s …
One of the harder situations of horse ownership is when a beloved horse doesn’t want to do the job you hoped he would do. We humans have goals and aspirations, so we fix a label to our chosen horse that’s frequently related to his pedigree or conformation. Dressage horse, barrel …
While sorting through my father’s belongings after his death, I found this photo of me riding Pumpkin, the mare of my childhood. The photo triggered a powerful insight in me. It depicts a moment I remember clearly, and one that defined much of what I believed about myself for the …
On cold, wet, dark winter days when I’ve changed clothes multiple times because I’m soaked to the skin, and I’m feeling frustrated because the tractor broke down, and then the wind blows down a tree destroying a horse fence, and my fingers are too frozen to open a bucket of …
Not all those who wander are lost – J.R.R. Tolkien When I was 12 years old my sweet father took my sister and me on an epic six-week trip throughout the Western United States. We visited, camped, and backpacked in many of our country’s most beautiful public lands like …
Many things can go wrong between the time of matching a stallion to a mare and finally riding the consequential horse four (or more) years later. Problems can occur during gestation, foaling, weaning, and starting. Thousands of dollars will be spent—stud fees, veterinary fees, feed, farrier, and trainer. And then …
My warmblood gelding Beowulf (Wulf) is 30 years old. He’s been the model of health all his life, but this fall he’s beginning to show signs of his advanced age. He has difficulty eating hay (though he tries) and mostly lives on large amounts of pelleted feed. His topline is …
Late morning on September 7, Labor Day, I was hot-footing it north on Interstate 5, heading home from judging a horse show in Eugene, Oregon. As I sung along with the radio, I noted to myself how dry the Willamette Valley looked. Along the way I stopped off to meet …
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. These are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns—those things we don’t know we don’t know. – Donald Rumsfeld Wellness weighs heavy on our minds these days. It …
