Cowboys: Don’t Rush to Judge

Editor’s Note: Nicole Grady, together with her partner, Justin Reichert, put on the Outside Circle Show, a raucous, celebratory, two-day show of musically gifted, working cowboys at the Star Hotel in Elko. She wrote this opinion piece after getting some guff for the show’s shirt designs (in […]

Learning to Learn, Not to Follow

In the horse world, as in others, there is a desire for people to group in to “camps” and follow someone whose teaching they like. There is nothing wrong with this until it becomes blind following. People get excited about the ideas of some teacher […]

Pulled up by horses, again

By Maddy Butcher Last week, my sons and I traveled to Dublin, Ireland, to scatter the ashes of their father, my ex-husband, who was born and raised there. We reconnected with family and friends whom we hadn’t seen in ages. As Dubliners do, we met […]

Crissi McDonald on Time and Timing

Editor’s Note: This week, we hear from Crissi McDonald. The Colorado horsewoman has worked with thousands of horses and riders for the past 20 years, She teaches lessons, performs Masterson Method® equine bodywork and teaches clinics with her husband, Mark Rashid, throughout the United States. Read more […]

Amy Skinner: Advice I Cannot Accept

Advice on best trainer practices heard over the years from my colleagues: Control your online content. Censor what you say. Don’t ever, ever come across like you don’t know something. I tried this for a while, and felt insincere and cheap. As my students ran […]

Watch the Ears, Spend less time between them

Editor’s Note: We hear this week from Nancy Lowery of Calgary, Alberta. Lowery has been blogging about her Leadership Learning through Horsemanship Experiences for more than a decade. A recent interview series by Lowery explored what Calgary leaders have learned through their relationships with horses. “I […]

The Unlikely Symbiotic Nature of Ultras & Horsework

Editor’s Note: 2018 Best Horse Practices Summit presenter Katrin Silva grew up riding dressage in Germany before moving to the United States at age 19 to learn to ride Western. She’s been riding both disciplines for the last twenty years and is a regular guest columnist […]

Temple, The Summit, Lessons Learned

Best Horse Practices Summit director Maddy Butcher writes: I’m not a big believer in personality tests. If forced, I’d call myself an introvert: I like to write and be outside. I commune most easily with dogs and horses. While directing the Best Horse Practices Summit […]

Death, Life, and Time with Horses

By Maddy Butcher My ex-husband – father to my three sons, an Irishman to whom I was married for 12 years – died this spring. He was estranged from us for over a decade. The boys – now men in their 20’s and scattered across […]

Silva: We Need to Ditch Autocratic Teaching