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

The Winding Road of Life with Horses

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 BestHorsePractices columnist. She will offer two arena presentations with […]

Nancy Lowery: Where is MeToo in the Horse World?

Question Realness, in others and in yourself

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 began as “One Foot in the Arena” to explore what Calgary leaders have learned […]

Rider Benefits: Katrin Silva Gives Thanks

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. Silva has competed successfully through fourth level dressage on quarter horses, Morgans, Arabians, […]