Amy Skinner on Fear

Editor’s Note: Amy Skinner is a regular guest columnist and has been a horse gal since age six. She will present an arena demonstration with fellow trainer and rider, Katrin Silva, at the Best Horse Practices Summit. She rides and teaches dressage and Western. Skinner […]

Katrin Silva: Why Show?

Editor’s Note: 2018 & 2019 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 […]

Poem to Open New Book

Maddy Butcher writes: My friend, Kent Reeves, has generously shared his poem, The Dink, to open my upcoming book, Horse Head: Brain Science & Other Insights. The book, with input from Dr. Steve Peters on the neuroscience topics, is due out this spring. It also […]

Learn from your Sensitive Horse

This week, we hear from Best Horse Practices Summit board member, Julie Kenney. Julie lives and rides in Harpswell, Maine where she manages Blackberry Farm. Kenney writes: Anyone have a sensitive horse? You know, the one that won’t tolerate roughness or loud voices or unjustified […]

Dealing With Anxiety

This week, we hear from Trish Lemke, an experienced rider and owner of Joy Rides. She offers a wide array of horse excursions around the world, individual coaching, and retreats. Find out more here. When people come around the barn, I often hear the words,: […]

Want to be better? Consider this Wagon Wheel

We appreciated a recent On Pasture post, which used a flat tire metaphor to explain how one weak spot in our personal world can impact our entire livelihood and our life with horses. Things we’re worst at and fail to address ultimately hold us back. […]

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 […]