I named the eleven acres that Steve and I own in southern Maine, Turtle Hill because it’s prime real estate for these animals. The field has sandy, pebbly soil, with bare areas, but also a wide variety of plants, from native blueberries to grasses and wintergreen. It has sunny slopes […]

Prime Porcupine Real Estate

It’s almost summer in Maine. Which doesn’t mean that we go right into sandal-clad beach days. Sure, there will be a day or two of that, but we haven’t put away our cold weather gear. A week ago the sun was shining, the temps reached mid- 70s F (22 C) […]

Weather Dependent

I recently purchased this charming .   I especially liked this page, with the comment, “This is because a horse not only knows what you know, but he also knows what you DON’T KNOW.”   How true. Here are a few examples. We might consider ourselves partners of our horses, […]

Your Horse Knows More

Tonka has a history of having issues with the canter. When I got him, he had no stamina for it. Once around the ring and he’d peter out. As we progressed in our dressage Tonka was able to do a first level test without breaking stride, but the judges always […]

Hill Work as Physical Therapy

More from the Margie Engle Clinic: It didn’t matter whether she was teaching riders who regularly jump 3-foot fences or 18-inches (me), Margie had us do the same exercise before going over the jumps. After warming up by getting our horses to expand and contract their strides on the flat […]

5/6/4 A Margie Exercise

Last March, when I entered the “Win A Day With Margie Engle” contest, my horse and I had only been jumping for a couple of months. I wanted to win as a gift to the girls at the barn who had welcomed this dressage rider into their hunter/jumper world. I […]

More Leg! with Margie Engle

More than a year ago I entered a contest in Practical Horseman. The prize was a clinic with Margie Engle. Out of hundreds of entries, I won. You can see the entry and video here. Of course, what with the pandemic, Margie’s trip to my barn was put on hold. […]

Margie Engle Clinic Prep

I have a client who is new to horses. She started riding lessons in her 50s, was immediately enthralled, and only a few months after first sitting in a saddle she purchased a horse. She found a horse (let’s call him Bo) who looked to be safe to be around, […]

Flip the Perspective

Horses evolved as grassland animals. Their safety was dependent on being able to see the movement of predators like wolves and mountain lions, and so they prefer open spaces. They are herd animals, reliant on their family and friends to be watchful and to use their collective experience to make […]

Tonka Takes Me For a Walk