Articles

I talked to my sister on the phone today. She was excited to share her big news with me: she bought a stud colt and two fillies at a production sale last weekend! We had a good hour of "horse talk" and she told me all about every horse they looked at, the disposition and…

I'm a little baffled today. We brought a couple new horses home to train over the weekend, and last night was the first chance I got to work with Toby. He's a solid Paint, nine year old gelding, supposedly greenbroke but too nervous and wild for my brother to ride, so he sent him to…

Sunday afternoon I drove the pickup and trailer over to my brother's place to pick up two horses. He and his wife are selling their acreage and wanting to move out-of-state, and they think for all practical purposes they should pass on being horse owners right now. So the horses are coming to our farm…

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in the fall. Leaves just starting to change, a crispness in the air, and quite awhile since Cowboy Dad and I had been on a trail ride, so we loaded up the horse trailer and headed off to a local park where we had heard there were horseback riding…

My husband, also referred to here as "Cowboy Dad", wrote this article and asked if I wanted to post it on my blog. I was happy to read his viewpoint of this horse crazy life I live, and thought you all would enjoy reading it, too. For the horse husbands and dads… "At that price…we…

There's one in every bunch. It's the horse that keeps his eye on you and no matter what enticement you offer from your pocket, he won't let you catch him. Trail rides and planned events get put on hold while you're out chasing the ornery scoundrel around the paddock, getting more frustrated by the minute…

Fencing is always a problem when you're dealing with horses. It seems like it doesn't matter what kind of fence you have: wood, pipe, electric tape, electric wire, high tensile wire, mesh wire, or barbed wire---a horse can find a way to mess it up or get hurt on it. A responsible horse owner will…

If you could bottle the aura of the attitude of most horse people, I think the perfume would have a strong bitter scent and the label would read "Conceit". Now, that might sound harsh, and in all fairness I would admit that the attitude transcends far beyond those who associate with horses. Know-it-all syndrome is…

I was just a kid when I went to a Pitzer Ranch sale for the first time. I believe it was actually an all-school field trip---that will give you an idea of the rural place I was raised in and what we did for fun back then! I remember sitting in the stands and calculating…

I started out to the barn last night with a goal in mind. With my sorrel mare, Daisy, there are a few improvements to be made. I would like her to be lighter, more responsive, have a better headset, and develop a strong topline. After asking the advice of a few horse friends, as well…

A reader of my blog contacted me the other day, asking for my advice with a problem she is having with her horse. She wrote that her high-headed well-broke gelding has developed a couple of issues since she started working on collection and lowering his head. She said he did well at first, responding to…

I've been musing recently on where the old-style horses have gone. You know the kind I'm talking about, the rawboned, high-headed, ewe-necked, long legged, full-stampede mode movie horses that captivated the world when TV made its black and white debut. Or those horses you see in dusty photographs from your parent's attic, with the names…

If you missed me the last ten days or so, it was because I was on vacation. My husband's entire family spends a week each summer on a remote lake in Minnesota, fishing, boating, swimming, and most importantly relaxing! I spent a lot of time reading and playing with the kids in the sand, water,…

When I was a kid, I wanted a horse of my own more than anything in the world. I had claimed one of Dad's broodmares as mine when I was five, but she wasn't a riding horse and I didn't get to spend much time with her because she was always out in the broodmare…

You know the movie, Dances With Wolves, right? I'm thinking if I had been in it, my name would have been Swims With Horses. This isn't my own photo, especially since I don't wear spurs, but it might well have been when I was growing up, because I loved taking our horses for water rides…

A lot of horses have trouble standing still for a rider to get into the saddle. For most of them, the real problem is that they have never been taught to stand. Some horses never develop the problem, but if your horse is one that just won't wait for you to mount up, here are…

My memories of Chigger aren't as clear as my older siblings' would be, because I was so young when I knew him. But Chigger is the horse I learned to ride on, and he gave me the best opportunities to really learn the basics of riding. I think I was five years old when I…

My good mare Daisy got a wire cut last week. Not the worst I've ever seen, but definitely not something to be taken lightly. We set up a pen for her to keep her out of the mud and cleaned her up the best we could. Since our horses live around a creek and we've…

I believe this post will serve only as an introduction to the horse I spent most of my lifetime getting to know, because there are so many stories about Rudy I could fill a whole book with them. Since I was a little girl I wanted a horse of my own, and amid the flurries…

Last Saturday I got the chance to ride my mare Daisy to help move our cows from one pasture to another. It wasn't a really long drive, but I got butterflies in my stomach all over again at the thought of taking Daisy on a cattle drive. It was only her second time working cattle,…