horse care


The quarantine break of 5½ weeks gave me the incentive to get serious about doing cross-training with Tonka. When you keep your horse at a boarding barn that has an indoor arena and limited trails, it’s all too easy to stay in the ring. But after a month of total […]

Horse Cross-training Success


It’s that time of year when up here in the north the grass is finally starting to show itself. Paddocks are greening up. What appears is usually sturdy grass and inedible weeds. And rocks and mud. This is New England. It’s not enough for a horse to live on. They’ll […]

Horse Sniff and Taste Walk


We’ve been fortunate in this rural state of Maine. We’re slowly and prudently getting out of our social isolation. My boarding barn is opening back up on Saturday. I asked if I could come earlier and move my gear into my truck. That way, I won’t have to spend much […]

Hello, Tonka!



By the time I’m back in the saddle, Tonka will have been sitting idly for 5 ½ weeks. I’ve been looking into the best way to return him to work. How much condition does a horse lose in just over a month of standing around? What’s safe to do and what […]

Bringing My Horse Back Into Work


I last saw Tonka on March 25 when the state of Maine closed things down. We boarders were considered “non-essential.” For the first few weeks we certainly were. The owners of the barn know how crushing it is to be cut-off from my horse. I got a few photos to […]

The Barn Will Reopen Soon!


I hear that many of you are filling your hours cleaning out closets and hunting dust bunnies and drifts of dog hair out from under the furniture. But if you are equestrians then you have something even more satisfying to do. There’s tack to be cleaned! I pride myself on […]

I Clean Tack




When Steve and I met, I was leasing a horse, so he knew that horses were part of the story of who I am. Your significant other might get that you’re “into horses” but at the beginning they never really know how that affects the relationship. In our case, it […]

Horse Husband Training


It’s been grey, cold and dank. January weather.   Then it poured rain and sleeted, which saturated the snow and turned everything into slush and then crust. The last few days, though, we’ve had a respite. Above freezing temps for at least part of the day. The paddocks went from […]

January Thaw