#ridingtheinside

Photo & Poem: Soft

Hands go soft, give him his head. The red gelding wants to be braver than he is, shaking his neck

loose to a tentative trot. Let him warm slowly to the movement, discover for himself the strength of his

stride, gradually lifting his back under your saddle. Huge hooves landing quietly now as his neck

extends to a powerful arc, his shoulders give rise to a canter, eyes soft on a vertical face.…

Pretending to Be a Horse

There was a time, while I was in junior high school, that I rode my horse on the road. Lots of us did, living on mostly small acreage, just past the city limit. I rode down to the grade school where we raced sometimes. Or over at the holly farm, up and down the rows. It was almost like a maze.

When I was younger I was fearless because nothing bad had happened. Yet.

There were pastures we’d walk…

Reframing Competition as Relationship

We were playing around after a lesson, laughing about the curse of being spokesmodels for my blog photos. She leans forward and “gets” his ear for the photo. Another laugh for the less-than-professional technique, but later we remember when she first got this horse. He was terribly head shy and worse. Things have changed.

Some of my clients compete and some do not, but when I ask each client…

Riding looks as easy as sliding a boot into a stirrup and throwing a leg over the horse's back. As simple as kick 'em and they go. The horse is a creature of habit and tolerance. It's ride enough.  But if the human rattle and bang of expectation will go quiet, there is a flash, in the space of time between a foot letting lose of the earth and a seat settling in the  saddle, joining spines…