I’m fortunate to say that I have now experienced three different perspectives of barn life: that of a boarder, a barn hand, and a boarding barn owner. My facility is...
Say what you want about the "haves" and the "have nots" in the horse world, all equestrians are united in one key fact: no matter how much a horse cost,...
I started 2017 by attending two big meetings—one which celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA), and one which heralded the start of a new era...
There is a commonly held belief that a lot of riders today are lacking in what we call horsemanship—a well-rounded understanding of all aspects of horse care and handling, which...
Recently there's been a lot of discussion about the need to clean up the hunters—to find ways to penalize people who drug their horses to get them quiet. In these...
In most aspects of life I am an extremely goal oriented person. I am as competitive as they come, constantly striving to better myself. I want to be the best...
Farriers are an enigma, but as horse owners, we can’t live without them. When my husband and I were dating, he wanted to go to farrier school. I supported this...
In 1885, Dr. Sydney Galvayne, born in Australia, but an adopted son of Ireland, published a book. [caption id="attachment_17487" align="alignright" width="136"] Dr. Sydney Galvayne, 1846–1913, before he got too long...
My husband is not my "horse show husband." He’s my regular husband. He is supportive. He kindly ignores the show fees and board checks coming out of the bank account....
There’s a lot of furor in the seemingly staid upper crust world of equestrian sports these past few months. The FEI—that is, the people “in charge” of equestrian sports—are desperately...
The 2017 show season is about to start: are you bringing your bling to the ring? And if so, how much is too much? Where's the line between fashion forward to...
Hind gut acidity, sometimes used synonymously with hind gut ulcers, is blamed for a staggering array of signs ranging from poor appetite, cracked hooves, right hind lameness and any undesirable...
Were you head-over-heels obsessed with horses as a child? Did you spend entire weekends at the barn, and maybe even sleep there a time or two? Was your closet brimming...
It was almost two years since I started riding again after the surgeries. My left leg had not fully recovered but I had my life back. There would be no...
On almost every OTTB forum or article you'll find an opinion about when to start transitioning a newly retired racehorse into a sport horse. "I give my horses at least...
For the past few months, I've been involved in a training course to become certified as a Texas Master Naturalist. It's a program whose mission is to train a corps...
It's been nearly 25 years since I rode in the equitation finals—25 years! Besides being nearly impossible to believe,I've noticed a few trends from the results of the interceding years....
The judge. When I was younger, I revered the judge of any horse show I attended. The judge always seemed to loom larger than life. He or she basically had...
It is over. Mostly. Well, except for the part about the 'winning side' gloating for the next year about how they were so right, and the 'losing side' saying it...
