Jackson has had a few weeks off riding. First of all, he had a suspected abscess, which has taken a while to clear up. He has been patient about standing with his foot in a bucket of warm water, and has been happy enough to go for long walks to keep the circulation going in the foot ( Read more... )

Since it's the start of a new year, I spent a little while thinking about the things we lost during 2007. I normally focus on the things we've achieved and the things we've found, but things that go away or disappear are easily forgotten, but can be revealing ( Read more... )

It was such a beautiful morning this morning - it had been about -5 degrees overnight, and the horses were lightly frosted. I don't groom Jackson much before riding - he needs the oils in his coat to keep him warm, so by the time I'd flicked the dust off, tacked up and mounted, he still had frosting on his mane, rump and tail ( Read more... )

After a long hack on Sunday that ended with Jackson going lame about half a mile from home, I've not been riding the last two days. The hack was lovely and went a bit further than we usually do, along a busy main road. Jackson was fine and even unworried when a car screeched to a halt beside us! It was the owner of the mare I used to loan, and ( Read more... )

I tend to avoid doing anything in the rain, but this week, it just hasn't stopped. I worry about Jackson's feet if I'm not doing anything - I don't like the idea that he's just standing on the soft ground and not getting any stimulation. The contracted heels need to fix themselves, and the soft ground won't help ( Read more... )

Just a short update - we managed to get out for a quick ride in between the awful heavy rain. It's reminding me of last winter, when the rain never seemed to stop and everything flooded ( Read more... )

The bigger picture is sometimes hard to see. It's too big to take everything in at once, so it's easier to focus on a small part, and see that clearly. That's a fine approach, as long as you remember that the small perfect piece you see doesn't exist in isolation ( Read more... )

Sideways motion! Lots of it, too ( Read more... )

I've been working on a series of lectures for next semester and it's made me think about how concepts I've known about for a while apply in how people interact with horses. It also relates to something I've been wanting to post about for a while: why do people apologise for being "soft" with their horse, and why do people congratulate them for " ( Read more... )

This wasn't the post I had planned for this week, but I had such a lovely morning that it has displaced all the things I wanted to write about ( Read more... )