My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
We are experiencing our first winter storm as I type this post. Although it’s only December 1st, we will likely have close to a foot of the white stuff before it ends. I tucked the horses up in their winter blankets for the event. In general, I’ve gotten a lot less obsessive about blanketing, the […]
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Zelda and Curly are digging their new pasture. So much so that sometimes the won’t come up to the fenceline for grain! It gets me a few extra steps when I have to hike down to the bottom of the pasture (and back up again). The other main advantage to switching the pastures is that […]
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As I sit here digging hay dust out of my iPhone charging port, I contemplated all the places where hay has infiltrated my daily life: down my shirt, inside my bra, in my shoes, in my car, the pockets of my jackets. Come to think of it, there are very few places where there isn’t any […]
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Freedom is not typically a cuddly kind of horse. It has to be his idea. But sometimes he tries to show me that he’s glad that I’m his human. This morning he was feeling particularly affectionate. Of course, maybe that had something to do with wanting breakfast. I’ll attribute it to Valentine’s Day.
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I was reminded, today, of the first time I trailered Freedom, at the end of January in 2005. I’d agreed to take him on as a foster for CANTER New England, and had driven to Rhode Island to pick him up with a friend. Freedom had been returned from his first adoptive home — from […]
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In January, I wrote about trainer Joe Herrick and his filly, Lovely Finish — both survived the Lilac Fire that swept through San Diego last December that killed 46 race horses. Both were recovering from severe burns. A few days ago, the Washington Post wrote an update story on the two, Through the Flames. Looked […]
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When I arrived to feed yesterday, Freedom was on full alert. He barely noticed my arrival, which is unusual around dinner time. I decided to investigate. Freedom followed me until we got to the tree. Then he kept the barrier between himself and “danger.” It didn’t take me long to figure out the problem. Wild […]
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When I was a kid, most horses got the winter off. Indoors were a rarity and while I can remember riding bareback on fuzzy, fat horses, no real work was done. The theory was that the mental break did them good and, as long as they kept moving, the rest helped their bodies too. These […]
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