My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
My horse is kept at a private barn that is on the town’s trail system and where there is a dental office on the property. As a result, I frequently find people (usually mothers with small children, but not always) leaning over the fence and trying to tempt the horses over with carrots, apples and […]
Read MoreThis photographer at the Winter Equine Festival in Wellington, Fla., learned that the most dangerous place to be during a jumper class was not on the horse, but rather on the ground! Luckily it appears that horse, rider and photographer all escaped unscathed.
Read MoreThere was some unusual excitement on the streets of Paris yesterday when Garibaldi, 15 year old Stallion, unceremoniously dumped his Republican Guard rider and high tailed it for home. The 10-year veteran of the force spooked while on patrol. Despite a gallop of nearly 5 kilometers (a bit over 3 miles), dodging traffic and police […]
Read MoreOver the years I’ve had thousands of lessons from many trainers. Lots of phrases stick in my mind from having heard them so many times. “Shorten your reins” comes to mind as an example. Over these same years, there have been some true “light bulb moments,” lessons learned that have stayed with me. The first […]
Read MoreTwice during the holidays I’ve read about dramatic rescues of horses. The first occurred in England, where an 8-year old welsh-bred blue roan mare named Steffie, fell down a well. She was rescued three days after she disappeared and despite falling 10 feet and going without food or water during that time, she appears to have […]
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When I started eventing, way back in 1983, one of the first things my trainer explained was how to bridge my reins. She had me use the bridge when galloping: it gave me more security, gave my horse a constant, steady contact, and kept the reins from slipping through my fingers (or being pulled through […]
Read MoreI know this topic has been covered before — Behind the Bit did a posted on this several months ago — but tonight I came across some amazing photos of the diving horses of Atlantic City in the Life Magazine collection on Google. It is such a mind-boggling stunt that I still find it difficult […]
Read MoreThese days most of us carry our mobile phones with us all the time, even when we ride. Our most important numbers are stored in its memory but nobody, other than ourselves and maybe our close friends, knows which of these numbers belong to people who should be contacted if we were involved in an […]
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