What to consider when sending your horse out for training - Along with many people, I've sent my horse away for training with varying results as to its impact. It is common practice, especially at certain stages of training such as starting under saddle, to invest in several months of intensive training at a trainer’s facility. Given that our horse is going to be in someone else’s care for a substantial amount of time, in a new environment, with countless changes, a great level of care must be given to our decision.

When I first began riding lessons over 30 years ago, the horse world that I experienced was staunchly devoted to negative reinforcement training, supported by a limited understanding of equine behaviour and the speed and convenience of force-based forms of horsemanship. I can safely say that the process of shedding those engrained patterns, cemented in my neural pathways by consistent use and a lack of viable alternatives, has been one of the greatest obstacles in my journey with horses. Thankfully, over the last five years, I have been bathing in alternative and less intense waters where horse training is concerned. Positive reinforcement training, known by many as R+ training, has been one of my explorations. This type of training, used commonly with dogs and other animals and now finding its way into more mainstream use with horses, uses clicker training primarily as a means of supporting learning. Clicker training uses a novel noise or word that is easily distinguishable for your horse to mark a desired behaviour, generally followed closely by a reward, typically of food. In this way you are able to shape behaviours and encourage curiousity and creativity in your horse.

Hoofprints On My Heart - I’ve been writing for this magazine for several years and have long wanted to write on this topic. The fact is, talking about death and dying is hard, even when it’s a part of your career. Although I wrote a book about it, and work with animal lovers all offer the world to move through the transition more easefully, it’s still a challenge to go there.

If you’ve been involved with horses for even a little while, you know the following statements to be true: Horses hurt themselves. Riders hurt themselves. Horses hurt riders. And riders can hurt horses.

Is it working for or against you and your horse? Let’s unpack our tack. I’ve always found the subject of tack to be very interesting. The tack we use on our horses is in many ways symbolic, marking a rider as English or Western, and beyond that, categorizing them more specifically as hunter, jumper, dressage, reining, cutting, barrel racing, endurance and so on.

Today we venture back in horses and down in humans, into territory that many believe to be the foundation of the skeletal system and the body itself: the pelvis. It is an area of much more complexity than many realize, an area that impacts, quite literally, every other part of the body. It contains and protects some rather important things, namely the urogenital system, and provides stability to many others. And in horses and riders, pelvic happiness is critical for success in the saddle.

The mammalian nervous system is an incredible thing, with its complex functionality, and all the ways it regulates our systems, adapts to change, restores itself, and even mirrors the nervous systems of those around us. If any year was going to introduce us to the limits and resourcefulness of our unique nervous system, 2020 would be it. In this one year, every one of us has found out exactly how we cope with global uncertainty, massive change, potential scarcity of resources, and possible threats to the health of ourselves and our family and friends. Our nervous system is an integral part of how we cope with stress and change, working behind the scenes to recalibrate, reorganize and bring us into new ways of being in a healthy or not-so-healthy state.

How Does Your Beauty Sleep? And why is it important? Sleep is one of my very favourite things. It’s at the top of my list of essentials for the well-being of my body, mind, and spirit — right alongside chocolate, a yummy and nourishing meal, and a great ride on my mare, Diva. Anyone who has experienced even mild insomnia knows that the negative impact of insufficient sleep on your brain, your mood, and your productivity is remarkable, and that a few nights of poor sleep can lead to general grumpiness, short temper, feelings of exhaustion and overwhelm, and impaired memory and focus.

Is it effective or abusive? I remember the feeling like it was yesterday. I’m about 15 years old, and I’m riding a lesson horse in a ring. We’re jumping, or we’re trying to. It’s not going well. My instructor is screaming at me. Screaming. In hindsight, my horse is terrified. He has refused a jump, more than likely because he’s scared of it. My instructor is screaming at me over and over: “Get it done!” and “Don’t let him get away with it.” Eventually, with much kicking and whipping, my horse carries his terrified self and me over the jump. Our hearts are racing. We are both scared, bordering on traumatized, in a place where we are unable to think or be effective in any way.