Conditioning a horse for equestrian endurance riding is an art and a science, with endless opportunities to learn. Make that horse a senior, and you add a whole new layer of complexity. This season, I’m going to take my first crack at returning an aging former endurance horse to the trail. This post considers strengths, …
I think I’ve finally figured it out. How to approach 2024, I mean. My usual proclivity for outcome-based goal-setting just didn’t sit right this New Year. Get to 12 endurance rides, enter a 100 late in the season, blah blah blah. Of course, I’d love to do those things…but I’d have loved to do them …
Raise your hand if you’ve ever set out to accomplish something, only to look back months later and realize that you’ve failed. Yeah, me too. But what if unmet goals just give us a longer journey to love?
Ledger pranced past the vetting area with arched neck and flagging tail. He was boiling to let loose. I wouldn’t have put it past him to buck. One-rein stops had held him back several times in the last two minutes. Let’s race! Storm clouds rose, steely and menacing, from their crouch on the horizon. A …
Life is meant to be ridden like a dressage horse in the ring, balanced astride the power of direction. Focused. Effective. But also ready to adjust at the slightest cue. To halt or bend or pirouette. Ever as prepared to pivot as we are to gallop on.
Most equestrians have, at some point, struggled with fear. This is the story of a terrible fall that shook me to the core and how I regained my horse riding confidence.
After succeeding in endurance riding early on, I hit a 7-year wall of failure. I never gave up the idea that I’d ever ride endurance again ~ but I did give up the idea that of course I would. I let myself consider a life in which I just rode. Here’s why I nearly gave up…and why I chose to endure.
Horse training is a lifelong journey. I’m not an elite horse trainer, but I can adopt the characteristics of one. Here’s what that looks like in real life.
What would happen if we average equestrians applied the habits of professional athletes to our own cross-training?
