horse senses: smell


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


Wearing a face mask is expected of everyone who works and rides at my barn. People are still cheerful and friendly, but the masks themselves are having an effect on our interactions. We are keeping a distance from each other, (seeing someone in a mask is a clear reminder.) The […]

Do Horses React to Face Masks?


All of the horses were in their stalls, eating their late afternoon hay. All but Tonka.   He was looking out. With his panoramic vision, Tonka could see the whole sweep of the property, all the way from the barn on one side to the field on the other. His […]

What’s There, Tonka?



It started snowing on Sunday night and didn’t stop until late Tuesday afternoon. On Monday I drove to the barn. I’ve got a pickup truck with 4-wheel drive, but still had to be extra-cautious. Snow was coming down and the roads were slippery. But, when I know that the horses […]

Snow Days Activities


When your horse is worried, it’s never nothing. I’ve written about this before. Tonka and I have ridden here a gazillion times. From the field, he can see his barn and his friends in their paddocks. It should be a worry-free place to do conditioning sets up and down the gentle […]

Tonka Knows More Than Me (continued…)


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



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


One day last week I was feeling tired and stressed. If the weather had been good, I would have taken Tonka out on a trail. But the weather was not. I could have ridden in the arena. Being in the saddle would have distracted me and the exercise would have […]

Let Your Horse Sniff


Horses can go from a calm state like this:   to this: in the blink of an eye. You can be sitting on a horse, relaxed and chatting with a friend, when suddenly you and your horse are going at breakneck speed across the arena. People say He just freaked […]

It’s Never Nothing