My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
Sometimes people ask if they can borrow my horse. Well, not so much with Freedom as he can be a handful and doesn’t always look like that much fun. Loaning your horse out is a tricky thing — there are liability issues, for sure, but also territorial ones. I know one person who said they’d […]
Read MoreAs humans we are all used to doing things with our hands. In fact, during our days we probably do most things with our hands. Unfortunately, that tendency extends to riding. It’s all too easy to ride with our hands and that leaves us focusing on our horses’ heads, rather than on their engines. Recently […]
Read MoreI’m a masters swimmer who took the last six months off to rehab a rotator cuff injury. In the locker room, after my swim, I ran into the mother of one of my daughter’s classmates. I mentioned it was my first time back and that I hoped I wouldn’t be sore tomorrow. “Oh,” she said, […]
Read MoreFor those who have asked more about the accident, this is all I know, but you can follow the story on the Chronicle of the Horse Forum on this thread. I would also like to add that the rider in this accident was on her steady-eddy, been-there-done-that, 20-year-old, saint of a horse. She wasn’t […]
Read MoreSaturday was another glorious day of hunting in New England. Perfect weather, perfect foliage, perfect footing. It doesn’t get much better. The fact that we were only about 20 miles west of Boston, in Framingham, made it all the more special because of its incongruity. You just don’t think of Framingham as a place with […]
Read MoreA “free lease” describes an arrangement where a horse owner “leases” all (or part) of their horse to someone who helps cover their expenses. For example, if you do a half lease, the person leasing the horse pays half the board, farrier and other expenses in exchange for riding three days per week; a full […]
Read MoreI wasn’t planning to hunt today, so it was a bonus. The footing was great, Freedom was a champ, and I didn’t get bitten by any more ground bees. I had only ridden Freedom once this week, and for a half hour walk at that! I wasn’t worried about his fitness level as I’ve done […]
Read MoreFor the past two weeks the weather has been sweltering. Tonight, it was merely hot. I thought I might sneak in a ride after dinner. The problem wasn’t the heat, it was the deer flies. They started to swarm around my car as I left my driveway. The horses were standing in the barn when […]
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