Lightbulb Moment: Body Work isn’t just for Horses

Editor’s Note: Best Horse Practices Summit presenter Katrin Silva grew up riding dressage in Germany before moving to the United States at age 19 to learn to ride Western. She’s been riding both disciplines for the last twenty years and is a regular guest columnist for […]

Horses’ Future Uncertain

I’ll be excited to join a National Cowboy Poetry Gathering panel in a few weeks to talk about the state of horses in the 21st century. In Elko, at Western Folklife’s G Three Bar Theater, I’ll sit with Randy Rieman, Bryan Neubert, and Maria Lisa […]

Our Bodies Can Limit Horse Movements

Editor’s Note: With the publication of Diagnosis Offers Eureka Moment, we heard from two accomplished riders with spine conditions. Julie Wilson has spinal stenosis, a narrowing of spaces within the spinal canal, which puts pressure on the nerves traveling through the spine. She was diagnosed in her 60’s. […]

Today’s horses have it better AND worse, Part I

Diagnosis Offers Eureka Moment

In horse work, the cause of an issue may live under layers of misunderstanding and ignorance. The effect might be obvious: My horse balks at the canter My horse drifts left My horse acts aggressively with other horses Getting to the root source of these […]

Mud Management

This week, we hear from 2019 Best Horse Practices Summit presenter Alayne Blickle. Alayne travels internationally to promote her work around Clean Water for Horses. At the Summit, she will present on an array of concerns surrounding horse property management. Here, she writes on dealing […]

First Response Tips

Years ago, I shared Canadian trainer, Lauren Fraser’s, equine field emergency to Cayuse Communications readers. It provided such fun and valuable information that it ended up in my book, A Rider’s Reader. Aside from a fully stocked first aid kit, she reminded readers facing an […]

Martin Black: Equine Dentists versus Vets

Horseman Martin Black grew up on the Ace Black family ranch in Bruneau, Idaho, and was influenced by his father, grandfather Albert and uncle Paul Black. After school he worked on ranches in Idaho, Nevada, and California, working with top horsemen and bridlemen, Charlie and […]

Good and Bad Dentistry Impact Hooves. Yes, hooves.

The horse’s mouth has in it about 40 teeth (mares often have fewer). There are incisors, premolars, molars, and sometimes canine and wolf teeth. It’s a mysterious place for most horse owners. Vets suggest protocol for floating (the process of rasping teeth with hand and […]

Why Horses Don’t Get Frostbite

Editor’s Note: Horses are dramatically different mammals than humans, and, yet, we continue to treat them as if they had the same physiological conditions and needs. In this post, Best Horse Practices Summit board member and Southern Illinois University professor emeritus Dr. Sheryl King helps […]