I have found it encouraging to see equestrian media getting involved in the #BlackLivesMatter conversation—for a community that is disproportionately white, sometimes we don’t seem to want to engage in...
In light of the Black Lives Matter police brutality protests sweeping every state in the nation, institutions in the horse world from publications to membership organizations are talking about how...
From the COVID-19 pandemic to the death of George Floyd and subsequent police brutality protests, what we see on the news beats us down in more ways than one. This...
The day the author Harper Lee died my grandmother and I talked about race. We were on the phone, she in her house in Colorado, me in my apartment in...
I am isolating at a friend’s farm for a few days, and storms rolled in over her back pasture for the past two nights. The night before last, the thunder...
Right now, somewhere in North America, there is a girl sitting at home caught between awkward adolescence and the evening bell. She wears her paddock boots to the park, and...
Early mornings find me at Windswept Farm in Williston, VT where I board my Shetland pony, along with 24 horses. Social distancing requires tight scheduling so that only two or...
One writes a blog at the risk of sounding preachy. In my blog, I try to share my opinions, my experience, as well as links to scientific research. I realize...
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 have a confession. As the US enacted social distancing and lockdown policies because of the rapid spread of the Coronavirus, most equestrians bemoaned the loss of the spring show...
With all the doom and gloom around the world these days, it’s a little too easy to get weighed down by the prospect of a lengthy quarantine. And when you’re...
Every December, I sign up for the best PPO (preferred provider organization) insurance plan I can afford because if I get chucked off a horse and need to go to...
There’s a certain malaise that has come over me lately. It manifests itself as a feeling that I no longer have control over my welfare and that of my loved...
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...
In 2005, I took a trip that changed my outlook on everything for the rest of my life. It was set up an as "innocent" semester abroad called Semester At...
"If you tolerate it; you are condoning it," reads a sign on the door of Murray Arena at the Okotoks Recreation Centre in Alberta. The sign refers to abuse of...
The bags are packed. The list of the must-sees is made. The horsehair has been vacuumed out of car’s floor mats. Today is the first day of the 2019 EQUUS...
