There are horse-trial days when the plan unravels before the first bell. A horse warms up differently than expected, the weather changes, or a rider discovers…
Posts
What a broken stirrup leather taught me about preparation
The Value Of A Mentor Who Believes In You
Eventing has a way of making confidence feel temporary. A good dressage test can leave you floating until one missed transition replays in your mind. A careful…
How to Read Your Horse Before the Jump
A jump rarely surprises a horse as much as it surprises a rider. Long before the front feet leave the ground, the horse has usually offered clues through the…
Why I practice emergency dismounts regularly
There is a particular kind of confidence that comes from knowing how to leave a horse safely when a ride has gone wrong. It is not the dramatic confidence of…
What It Takes to Event a Horse You Raised Yourself
Raising a horse from the beginning gives an event rider an unusually close view of how a partnership develops. You remember the awkward youngster, the first…
The gear that changed how I ride
There are plenty of purchases in eventing that feel important at the time. A new saddle can make a horse feel wonderfully free through the shoulder. A smart…
Staying Warm at a Cold-Weather Horse Event
Cold-weather horse events ask for a different kind of preparation. The schedule may look familiar—arrival, tack-up, warm-up, competition, untacking, and the…
The Day I Stopped Forcing the Partnership
There was no dramatic fall, no refusal that sent me flying, and no single disastrous competition that made everything obvious. The realization arrived quietly,…
Why I Love the Smell of Hay in a Stalled Trailer
There are horse smells that cling to your clothes, settle into the mats of a truck, and follow you home long after the last bucket has been rinsed. Fresh…
What My First Fallout With A Trainer Taught Me
The first time I fell out with a trainer, I expected the hardest part to be the practical fallout. I imagined awkward conversations at the yard, uncertainty…