Terry Golson

Last week, my friend Emily came to visit.  Emily is brilliant. She’s a professor who teaches thought-provoking classes like one that delves into how lessons learned from epic ancient poetry can help defeat despotism. We first met at Vershire Riding School in 1973. When we see each other, which isn’t often, […]

Slo-mo Gait Evaluation

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Note: This is one article in a series about horse vision. I’ve compiled all of them, including more information and references, in this blogpost: Horse Vision. Even Tonka, a most sensible horse, will spook. When I first got him, when scared, he’d scoot sideways, then, after a high-headed giraffe imitation, if he […]

Riding A Spook

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A horse’s health is intricately tied to what they eat and what they weigh. When Tonka moved barns at the end of May, his diet changed. Both stables provided the right amount of high-quality hay, but it was different. The first was mostly timothy, the other, grass. One supplier from […]

Horse Weight Tape

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Tonka was almost eight years old when I purchased him, and he was barefoot. He’d always been barefoot. His hoof walls were strong with nary a crack or chip. They were beautifully shaped and all four matched. No weird angles. All the same size. Those gorgeous hooves were a selling […]

Tonka’s Shoes

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If there’s anything that can bring home the idea that the natural world has more levels of complexity to it than we pay attention to (or know much about), it’s what you hear in a field by a marsh in Maine in late summer. This is what it sounds like […]

This Wonderful, Complex World

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Tonka and I both like to get out of the ring, but biting flies and ticks have kept us out of the trails in the woods. We need mowed open fields. We’ve explored the ones at Kim’s house, and we needed a new experience. The only place that I could […]

Tonka Visits Turtle Hill

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We think that the neck injections have had a positive effect! I say “we” because I’ve been asking for outside opinions. The first day back on (after four days off to let the drugs stay put and work), I had Steph, my “jumping instructor” watch Tonka go. She said he […]

Neck Injections Progress?

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I’m giving four talks at Equine Affaire, Springfield, MA, this November. I need to provide the organizer with a small, square photo for them to use in the program. I thought that that a candid barn photo would be appropriate as I’ll be presenting about horse behavior and communication and […]

Head Shot With My Horse

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After a horse gets joint injections, they’re supposed to remain quiet for four days. No galloping about in a field. No riding. Tonka was restricted to his in/out stall. He could look out in the aisle, see what was going on, and chat with friends. He could walk into his […]

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

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