It is easy to go into a ride with expectations. On the way out to the barn Brian and I were talking about some of the ideas he’s reviewing while rereading True Horsemanship Through Feel by Bill Dorrance. He mentioned how Bill likes to talk about making things into games by setting up little challenges, like can… Read more »
Horse Thoughts
Motoring at the Walk
Today we went out for a fairly long (for us) trail ride. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. We received a little cold rain yesterday, and that helped green things up some. But today was in the low 60s with a bright, blue sky. As soon as I hopped on Bear I knew he was… Read more »
May I Have Your Attention, Please
I watched a video on being productive as a creative in my field last week, and it had some interesting commentary on the brain and how it works. The major problem with how people talk about ‘multi-tasking’ is the entire concept is a myth. What we’re really doing when we are on the phone with… Read more »
Distractions
Today our barn was having a practice show for anyone who wanted to brush up on their showmanship before one of the bigger spring shows. As showing holds absolutely no interest for Robin or myself, we decided to get out early and see if we could get started before other people arrived. We timed it… Read more »
A Ride in the Trees
Wednesday was windy and a little cool. While tacking we noticed the stall horses were out in the big pasture, so access to the treed lot was clear of both equine obstacles and mud. We hadn’t ridden out there since last fall some time, and Brian and I both wanted to work on slow stuff,… Read more »
Strange Sunday
On Sunday the horses got their feet trimmed, which was good because Steen has a bit of a tendency to over-reach and kick himself on the inside of his right front foot when his feet get a bit long. He does this mostly at the lope, but we’ve been working on the lope a lot… Read more »
Riding Well Always Matters
On Sunday the guys got their feet trimmed, and then we took them out for an easy ride in the fields. Lately we’ve been doing some longer trail rides on Sundays, but for some reason neither Robin nor I felt like going out and about, so we stayed closer to home. It was a fun,… Read more »
Thinking in Circles
After our excellent ride in the indoor arena, today we had another beautiful day that just begged us to head out and about. We decided to start with some work on the strip and then do some meandering over on the second strip and the three hills. Somehow yesterday Brian and I started discussing circles,… Read more »
Doubling
I’ve continued to read through Martin Black’s book, and I spent quite a bit of time reading about doubling. I’ve encountered it before in his work and by others, but I never fully took the time to understand how it works. I’m certain I haven’t got it all down just yet, but today I put… Read more »
Indoor Hackamore Ride
We had a storm last night, so things were mushy out a the barn. We decided to ride indoors today. I’ve been meaning to use my hackamore again, and thought the quieter indoor space would be a good opportunity to do that. Steen always seems a tad confused when I put it on him (once… Read more »