Category Archives: Amateur Hour

I stood in the ring holding a lunge whip and Shadow, my lesson horse, by a lunge line. For me, this was new ground, having jumped at the opportunity to...

Robert Redford’s character in The Horse Whisperer. Teenage Amy Fleming from the popular series Heartland. Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet. Horse trainers are highly romanticized in popular entertainment. The reality,...

I’ve been a proud member of the US Pony Club since I was a wee kid riding a naughty pony named Pickles. My devotion to this organization has seen me...

I’m lucky to live in an area that hosts rated shows for hunter/jumper enthusiasts. I used to spend the whole year stashing pennies in my savings account, relishing the opportunity...

I don’t think I’m alone here when I say that I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram. Mainly, it’s a relationship borne out of envy. It seems like every rider...

“I got a horse you need to try out,” dad said, for seemingly the hundredth time. My go-to response kicked in. “I already have a horse and I don’t need...

My horse is my extra-terrestrial, like in the movie E.T. He has seasonal allergies, I have seasonal allergies! He has a touch of navicular; I have plantar fasciitis. He needs...

Recently, I was on the receiving end of the news that every rider dreads most. One sunny day in May, I asked my very nice neurosurgeon if he was absolutely,...

When people find out that you’re a horsewoman with an autoimmune disorder, they have a tendency to offer helpful advice.  The world is filled with well-intentioned people, after all. But...

Never turning pro? Zero ambition to upgrade your horse, fancify your tack and/or move up a division? Aiming for inches? Ammy and you know it! These are 10 signs you...

For my 24th birthday, my friend Katie bought me three riding lessons with a hunter-jumper trainer she trusted named Cayla Stone. On the third lesson, I flew headfirst over my...

My Irish Catholic father was a difficult man—hard working all his life and hard drinking for much of my youth. Gay boys and their daddies often have complicated relationships, and...

With Thanksgiving upon us, we pause to give thanks for the people, animals and things in our lives for which we are grateful. As time goes on, I find myself...

Recently I found myself at Monmouth Park racetrack at the top of the Jersey Shore for a family reunion party. It was maybe the fourth time I had been at...

My Shetland pony has been pulling me in a cart for seven years. Neither of us are show quality, we enjoy working together in the indoor arena at the boarding...

I wasn’t always a horse show husband. Just a few years ago, I was a single guy, working as an editorial and wedding photographer, oblivious to the existence of the...

I see you. Yes, you with the chubby horse that may or may not be caked in dried mud at the moment. I see that you’re busy and that maybe...

Have you ever discovered a unique coffee shop, or perhaps a delicious hole-in-the-wall ramen place, and you want that place to be really successful and thrive, but a little piece...

The other day I woke up at dawn with mixed feelings of exhilaration and concern. I was going to be riding a new horse with a new-ish trainer. To provide...

Most people don’t get the opportunity to bring home the horse they took riding lessons on. But that’s exactly what happened the summer between my fourth and fifth grade year....