Terry Golson

After yesterday’s long post, I thought I’d do something fun and quick. But be forewarned – there’s a link that has the potential to take up a lot of your time! Dover Saddlery is having their yearly photo contest and Steve entered three images. Being an engineer, the site itself […]

Horse Photos

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We’ve all had them – the riding instructors that yell, harangue and nag. In 1975 I went to riding school in England. Gerry was one of my instructors. He was tough and wiry and had legs like nutcrackers. He could sit on anything. He pushed me hard to improve. Modern day […]

Teaching Riding Without Yelling

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I recently wrote about the zen of hand-grazing a horse. It’s a centering activity for you and contributes to your relationship with your horse and their emotional well-being (as well as physical health if it’s the only source of fresh grass that your horse has.)   I failed to mention something. […]

Wear Boots

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Tonka is a laid-back guy and he travels well. Some horses kick, fidget and work up a sweat when on the road. Not Tonka. He arrives at the destination looking as if he’s only just stepped onto the trailer. While I get things organized, Tonka, bright-eyed, looks around.   Sometimes […]

The Nose Knows

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The work that I do with animals uses, what I call, the clicker perspective. It’s not, however, always clicker training per se. Much of the time I don’t use the – a sharp sound that marks the moment the animal has done the right thing, which is then followed by a reward. That’s […]

Starting From a Safe Place

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In the 1980s I owned a chestnut thoroughbred mare named Gnomer. Those of you who know horses know that having a (1) chestnut (2) thoroughbred (3) mare is like “winning” the trifecta, if winning means having a temperamental diva in your life. I used to joke that Gnomer was a […]

Horses Use Tools

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I didn’t get Lily to be a farm dog, but that’s what she told me that she is. I thought that I’d do agility with her, but she let me know that her job was to stay home and be aware. Predators were kept off of the property, the Portuguese […]

The Old Farm Dog Sleeps

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Yes, horses do sleep lying down. In fact, in order to get the REM sleep that they need to stay healthy, they need to be down for between thirty minutes and an hour a day. When out in a herd, one horse will act as a sentinel, scanning for danger, […]

Horses Sleep Lying Down

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Years ago there was a nasty person in my life. She would call to harangue my husband and leave vitriolic messages for me. This was in the days before iPhones, when the telephone was mounted on the wall of the kitchen. I’d hear the ring, or pass by and see that […]

The Ring. Conditioned Punisher?

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