Category Archives: Community Stories

Like many young adults in their mid-twenties, Alicia Shread, 25, from Clarksville, Maryland, is focused on building a prosperous career. While horses were always a hobby for her, after spending...

My father, Robert “Deacon” Doubleday, was a radio/tv personality in Syracuse, NY on the NBC affiliate WSYR.  His radio voice prompted friends to recommend an occasional horse show to announce,...

Several roached maned horses watched as I walked towards the shed row barn. I couldn’t see anyone, which had me checking the time and feeling awkward.  "I'll be right with...

To recap the unprecedented year that was, we asked horsemen and women from all spectrums of the industry to write a holiday letter to the year 2020. This is the...

One of the benefits of being a >shudder< senior citizen in the horse world is having much more clarity to see the big picture. Or, at very least, to see...

When we adopted Ping Ping in November 2018, it was only 15 days before she would have aged out of the system in China. Orphans there must be adopted by...

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...

In this time of quarantine, we've all learned to live differently, each in our own way, reflecting on what’s important in life. But for me, it's not a new normal....

It had been a while since I'd been to a seven-year-old's birthday party, but from what I remember, they didn't normally have bears in them. Teddy bears, sure. But black...

The house I grew up in was a charming little Cape Cod in a post-war development of similar homes on the North Shore of Long Island, NY. It sat on...

"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake."—Henry David Thoreau On a chilly Thanksgiving weekend, I chatted with my riding teacher and a few other friends on horseback...

“Lots of bugs this summer! That’s probably why this horse has glassy eyes,” was the diagnosis a local vet gave when I had a bony three-year-old inspected for sale. I...

“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...

“Horses will always be waiting for you.” It's a well-intentioned reassurance often uttered by loved ones who’ve never experienced the isolation of a hiatus from horses. It's the same one...

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...

It’s been nearly 25 years since I got my USEF judge’s license. Yet, I can still easily remember the young girl I used to be, sitting ringside with a notebook...

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...

My first boss was a middle-aged man from Munich. With the charred end of a cigarette hanging from his mouth, he'd regale anyone willing to listen with the story of...

I searched for you for two years before I bought you sight unseen off the internet. You were an older model Ford F150, nine years old to be exact. You...