Cowboy Poetry? Parade without Motors? Yes!

Julie Kenney traveled from Harpswell, Maine, to take in the Best Horse Practices Summit and check out southwestern Colorado. She was also a Strater Hotel guest and an awesome Summit volunteer. She filed this report as a first-time visitor to the Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering: […]

Seven Sins of Horsemanship

Editor’s Note: Guest columnist 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. Read her article on Contact here. Silva has competed […]

Giving Thanks to Horsey Moms

Mother’s Day is Sunday and I’m guessing many of us have our moms to thank for nurturing the horse love. I know I do. My mother, Sally Butcher, can also thank her mom. That’s how it sometimes lovingly goes. Elden Olsen, a reader from Utah […]

Horse Time Cherished and Your Brain as a Puppy

Trish Lemke is an equine-guided coaching specialist. Her business, Joy Rides, is based in Durango, Colorado. She hosts trips to Ireland, Costa Rica, Italy, and elsewhere. Lemke writes: It seems that we are all living with quite a bit of uncertainty right now. And […]

The Return of Wild West Journalism

You might think we journalists struggle more than other folks when accusations of “fake news” and “alternative facts” splash across our virtual desktops. That’s because the attack is not just on liberal news outlets but on media and the propagation of information in general. It’s […]

Linda Mannix: Sounds of Silence

One of my favorite gals around these parts is Linda Mannix. The director of the Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Mannix is a walking, talking fireball. She has more energy, ideas, and initiative than I could ever hope for. Technically, she is a senior citizen. But […]

The Horse is NOT a Mirror

Guest columnist Tim Jobe runs NaturalLifemanship and is a leader in equine-assisted therapy. The Texan, who is also an accomplished cowboy poet and horseman, shared this point of view with us: The horse is not a mirror. Before you start shooting, give me a chance […]

Quick End for Beloved Belle

Since many of us count animals as companions and friends, and since many of us have dogs, please Dear Reader, allow me to remember Belle and recount how she died this week. The Basset hound mutt with a yard-long body and short legs even made […]

Unwrappable Gifts between Horses and Humans

Giving of the most meaningful kind comes in unwrappable packages of time, attention, listening, and guidance. We humans often substitute these gifts with rings and things. But the gifts you can’t box, I’ve learned, are the most valuable and the most empowering. They build on […]

Leaders or Bullies? You be the judge

Last month, I camped with horses on Bureau of Land Management land. I wanted to experiment with something Mark Rashid mentioned at his recent clinic. To paraphrase, he said that wild horse herd leaders are true leaders, defending the herd and leading it to food […]