On Thursday last week, the usually placid surface of summertime Lake Michigan, gurgled and rose with life. Big waves wrestled awake by the storm the night before. The other swimmers...
This day, pre-pandemic, would have been the eve of the XXXII Olympic Summer Games. The world's best athletes would have descended upon Japan to take up the hope, the heartbreak, the glory...
When I was three months old, I was adopted from Peru by a single Canadian mother. I’m 31 now. I don’t speak any Spanish. I know nothing about my birth...
Scrolling on my cell phone, I see exuberant tweets and Facebook posts about riders working with their young horses during the free time created by the COVID-19 pandemic. With so...
I recently reposted an article written by a well known American Olympic equestrian on the subject of the lack of diversity in the English riding world. I posted it to...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
Tim Worden, PhD, is a sports scientist based in Toronto, ON who specializes in the application of high performance training concepts. Here he offers his insight into the inner workings...
"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...
Every year, the National Horse Show plays host to the ASPCA Maclay Final, which showcases the top junior riders, many of whom have aspirations of representing the U.S. in international...
I have never competed on the hunter/jumper circuit, yet even I can quote former Olympic trainer George Morris. His clever quips and biting witticisms have a precision that is hard...
Horse husbands have been all over my social media lately. On a Facebook group, one horse owner left a desperate plea about how her boyfriend tried to sell her horse...
The best part of the 2019 Midwest Horse Fair’s dressage competition was the variety in the ring. In the strangely plush seats of the Coliseum, I watched fancy purebreds and...
The field of 20 is all but set for the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby, "the most exciting two minutes in sports," but the highly anticipated American Triple Crown...
Right now, I am greeted in the barn by a pair cream-colored ears perked through the bars of a stall. The ears belong to Flower, a Gypsy Horse from Feathered...
