Natural horsemanship is dead. Long live natural horsemanship. Natural horsemanship is a trending phrase that got attached to a style of work and a way of connecting with horses that Bill and Tom Dorrance offered up a few generations ago. It involved working with the […]
By Maddy Butcher After my recent bolting incident, this comment kept bubbling to the surface: “You need to get a horse to where you can open him up and go…A horse is pretty incomplete if you can’t just open him up and not have him […]
If progress is measured by two steps forward and one step back, then this summer would follow perfectly along that zigzagging course. Recently, Jolene and I have successfully partnered up several times a week to tackle our weak points: She’s more comfortable with having a […]
Since Sackett’s death, I’ve been more wary of our horses’ wellness, especially when it comes to anything related to possible sand ingestion. Read about sand colic and other forms of colic. Over the last month or so, Jolene seemed to be getting bloated. She was […]
A great bit of equine-related research has hit my desk lately: A group at Washington State University quantified lowered cortisol levels in kids enrolled in equine-facilitated learning programs. The study, a randomized trial, gives EFL programs a huge leg up in legitimization. It should help […]
By Maddy Butcher The more you know about your horse’s vision, the better partner you’ll be. Why? Most of us don’t give horses enough credit and responsibility for what they see and how they deal with it, according to several experts. The result is often […]
Among the students at this weekend’s Evidence-Based Horsemanship seminar was 20-year old college student, Fred Holcomb. Holcomb doesn’t just have a passing interest in horsemanship and equine science. The Davidson College junior is one of the few to pair his passion for horses with an […]
By Maddy Butcher The more you use a whip, the less successful you’ll be over jumps. But carry one without using it and you may do better than without one. That’s the gist of recent research by Catherine Watkins and Darcy Murphy of Hartpury College […]
Marsha Craig and her miniature horse, Lily, have provided hundreds of therapy hours to folks in nursing homes, hospitals, and schools. Read more here. But they spend most of their hours outside, at their home in Massachusetts. Bugs are a problem there. Or, at least […]
By Maddy Butcher Gray Researchers are starting to examine voice and its impact on equine behavior. [Do they deserve an ‘Ivory Tower’ label? Read more here.] They ask: When you talk with your horse, does he listen? In one study at Nottingham Trent University, researchers […]