Tag Archives: Horse Training

To infinity… and beyond!

This blog post is number 312! I almost titled it that, but for a closing post on an era, a simple number felt hollow. I considered things like “the end” or “well we did it” or  “that’s all folks,” and those seemed too final. “What next” seemed boring. Then I heard the iconic voice inContinue reading “To infinity… and beyond!”

True

I have tried to write this update multiple times and seem to make a tangled mess out of it every time. Apparently it takes endurance to write about endurance! If you don’t follow the Hope Horsemanship [HH] blog, I encourage you to read my experience of spending a week with Harry Whitney in The MotionsContinue reading “True”

Respect or fear? Does it matter?

I have become addicted to the Inspector Gamache mystery novels by Louise Penny. I love the characters, the little town much of it takes place in, but even more I love the philosophical layers Penny unearths through the characters in each novel. In the most recent book I finished (A Great Reckoning) there is aContinue reading “Respect or fear? Does it matter?”

Blessed are the flexible…

… for they shall not be bent out of shape. Khaleesi has been on some down time after Big South Fork and I have been flung headlong into fall season of music program administration, teaching and rehearsals. I have done some hiking with her and then snuck in one unimpressive ride before the hurricane rainsContinue reading “Blessed are the flexible…”

And then there was one…

On Sunday afternoon, hours after the Big South Fork event was wrapped up I found myself (along with Khaleesi and Samwise) completely alone in the big field that had been pretty packed with people and horses for the past couple days. As I pondered feeling quite alone at the moment the thought came to meContinue reading “And then there was one…”

Training or Testing?

I was listening to a podcast recently where Stacey Westfall discussed the differences between testing and training (she uses the word teaching interchangably for training). Stacey was talking about the process of learning vs the process of showing what has been learned.  Anyone who rides a horse has to do some amount of at leastContinue reading “Training or Testing?”

No Man’s Land

June brought some down time after the OD ride and some fun cross training. Khaleesi enjoys jumping and I love trying different things so we went to visit Caroline for a fabulous day of lessons and lunch with a bonus of relaxing in the river in the afternoon. Iva came along and rode Stella theContinue reading “No Man’s Land”

Equine Shabbat?

This season I am committed to offering Khaleesi as much choice as she can possibly have, as is my habit: to the very edge and sometimes probably over the edge depending on where you’re looking at it from. I am also committed to approaching this season differently than I have in the past such as:Continue reading “Equine Shabbat?”

Begin again… again… again…

March 11, 2022 I haven’t had much to write since the end of January when I mused about the predatory nature of humans and how it can affect our horse herds. We have had winter, and it’s busy season for me in the music world. The November-January rabbit hole of liberty experimentation fell away toContinue reading “Begin again… again… again…”