Good to Go: Gear Review

I have respect for traditions and methods that stand the test of time and best practices. That’s one reason I embrace the horsemanship of the Dorrances and Ray Hunt. New ideas and products are always worth trying, as we’ve found with the excellent Hay Pillow […]

Snubs and hobbles can help a nervous horse

Scatterbrained horsemanship like mine has a way of leaving holes in training. That’s ok, I tell myself. Exposed holes get filled and the return to fundamentals makes for an improved horse, an improved rider, and, most importantly, an improved relationship. Read about filling Holes in […]

Progress in strange places

Progress comes in all shapes and sizes. It can be planned or spontaneous, pretty or pretty ugly. Over the past few weeks, we’ve worked with Jolene at all of the above. Read more about deliberate tips for working with a spooky horse. Meanwhile, we had […]

Groundwork helps fill in holes

Recently, I went back to basics with Jolene, the mule. We have a history of holes in our training and I figured it’d be helpful for both of us to review some basic understandings. Here are two things we worked on over the course of […]

Mule Notes

Our recent NickerNews and BestHorsePractices survey brought to light some readers anxious for more mule news! Research and practice-specific posts will come, but here are a few anecdotal tidbits: Jolene is the December cover girl for the Save Your Ass Long Eared Rescue 2015 Calendar. […]

Trouble on the trail reveals holes in training

All rides can’t be golden. When things go sideways, the goal may be simply getting everyone home safe and sound, with nothing too traumatic to remember. If you look at those rides with a big lens, you’ll see they are blessings in disguise, for they […]

Ol’ Timers weigh in on mules

The other day, I was chatting with friend, Elijah Moore, about my progress with Jolene, the new mule. He’s spent more time with horses than mules, but still had some amusing, insightful words: “Mules are unique because they think. Mules are to horses as goats […]

Comeuppance in Equine Terms

Sticking it to the man: Performing an act of civil disobedience in order to oppose established power hierarchy. Horses do it. Mules do it, too. No, we’re not anthropomorphizing. We’re just using this slang term to help describe how horses lower in the herd rank […]

Mule progress goes up and over

Smiling through gritted teeth, I’m making some progress with the mule. Like a lot of paths of progress, it has its bumps, hazards, and hairpin turns. Most recently, Jolene gave me a lesson in pressure. As I learned months ago, pressure with the new mule […]

First Trail Ride, Part II

The first trail ride with the mule proceeded after she gave me a few bucks and raced towards trees and our fence. (Thank you, trees and fence for stopping us.) Read Part I. Steve and Comet were crucial riding partners. They rode ahead and blocked […]