Someone kicked Steen in the belly so we’re once again not able to use a saddle for a while.
Horse Thoughts
Nagging Legs
Horses can learn to lean on nagging leg pressure, leading to a need for habitual shoring up by the rider.
Sunburn Season: aka Paint Horse Problems
Particularly in the late summer, my Paint Steen is vulnerably to getting a sunburn on his white skin. So sometimes we gotta ditch the saddle.
Piper Goes Home
It goes without saying that we get attached to our horses. In the past, when we’ve taken in projects with the intention of giving a horse a tune-up or filling in some gaps in their education, we’ve always managed to complete that process in a year or less. That’s a short enough time that while… Read more »
Our Bit vs Bitless Philosophy
There’s a lot of discussion about bit vs bitless as if these two methods of communicating with a horse must be mutually exclusive.
Why I’m breaking up with Instagram
After years of happily publishing on my favorite social media platform, Instagram’s invasive ads have wrecked the platform for me. So I’ve built a new home on the web for all my old posts.
Things to do
When it’s too hot to ride your horse
When it’s too hot to ride your horse, don’t sweat it! There are many productive and fun ways to use the time that will prepare both you and your horse for better weather.
Palate Cleanser
Between moving this blog from Google’s servers onto my own WordPress install and (somewhat ironically, I suppose) working through the process of backing up thousands of my old photos in my Google account, lately I am inundated with photos of the past. It is weird to see old shots of myself on Steen where both… Read more »
The Great Outdoors
I definitely appreciate that having an indoor arena to ride in all winter is a luxury. But I have to say, for some reason, this year the indoor rides have been uninspiring. I think it’s partly just personal malaise, and partly that Steen is so broke by this point, but riding in small circles is… Read more »
Please excuse our dust
I’ve been totally delinquent about blogging in recent years. I’m not sure why. One theory is that the way we’ve been learning has changed. It’s hard to describe, exactly, but it’s like we’ve left behind our period of beginner gains where it felt like every ride was revelatory in some way. We’re still learning. A ton.… Read more »