Turning your horse without reins Riding Without Reins: It’s not as hard as you think! To listen to the audio version, click here and look for the title “Blogpost: Riding
Julie's Blog
Rip And Annie With The Herd Annie’s colt, Rip, is now five months old. He continues to grow like a weed and eats hay and grain enthusiastically, just like his
Could you Stop a Runaway Horse? Proper Rein Handling I’ve just returned from teaching clinics at the C Lazy U Ranch, where I always work with attendees on rein holds,
Photo Credit: Heidi Nyland Melocco When the going gets tough… you may wish you knew how to get your feet on the ground, quickly and safely, at a moment of
Here on my ranch, we now have a herd of five horses. Three geldings, plus Annie and her prized foal, Rip. I am happy to report that they are now
Annie warning Tom to stay away from her foal, Rip. Horses are emotional animals. Like humans, horses feel and display the six basic emotions. Fear, anger and surprise are overtly
Here in the Colorado mountains, the lazy days of summer are an exquisite time of year. Warm sunny mornings, followed by afternoon thunderstorms that cool things off at night. The
My new colt was born at the most convenient time of day, about the time most people are arriving at work. Most foals are born in the wee hours of
*UPDATE!* Annie had her beautiful, healthy colt right after publishing time! “Little Colt” (not named yet!) was born on Friday, May 17 at 9:01 in the morning. Here he is
It’s hard to believe that Annie’s due date is almost here. As I write this, she is now 332 days into the 340-day average gestation of a mare. All systems
My sweet little mare, Annie, is now 3/4 of the way through her pregnancy. She’s only 14.0 hands and very compact (short-backed), and the baby (I like to think of
There are a multitude of reasons why people might end up with a young horse in their lives… You’re raising a foal from a beloved mare. You’ve been riding “made”
In the last month, most of the horse activity around my ranch has centered on the weather. January can be fickle up at 8,000 feet above sea level. We usually
If you’ve ever ridden with me in a clinic, you’ve heard me talk about how clever horses are at determining a person’s level of intention and determination, or lack thereof.
Winter is finally upon us, and as most of you know by now, Annie is in foal to Bet Hesa Cat. Her due date is April 28th, so she is
My crew is always coming up with big ideas for helping riders and horse owners live their dreams. Like me, they are all on their own personal horsemanship journey and
Many of you have followed along with my plans to breed my AQHA mare, Annie, to a top cow horse stallion, Bet Hesa Cat. At first it seemed highly likely
A horse owner recently reached out to me asking for guidance with a 3-year-old colt that came to her completely shutdown. His eyes glaze over and he statues-up in response
Photo Crredit: Melissa Arnold Should you let someone else ride your horse? There are two common points of view that I run into on this subject: “No! I do not
As I mentioned last month, my plans to breed Annie didn’t go the way I hoped, and I’m shifting gears with her this fall to my #2 goal—going horse camping!
Whether your equestrian goals involve a competition, a trail adventure, or building the confidence to try something new, it’s likely that you will experience periods of anxiety and moments of
My Horse Goals or Bust! plans have taken an unexpected turn. My big horse goals included breeding my mare, Annie, which turned out to be an exercise in patience. It
We are now 7 months into Horse Goals or Bust—setting goals, planning, training, practicing, and preparing. It’s prime riding season in most areas, so now is the time to put
It was disappointing to find out that my beloved mare Annie did not settle into pregnancy after her second round of breeding and a month at the mare-care facility about
It’s been a lot of fun to hear about the goals, skill assessments, and training plans that we’ve all been working on this year in our Horse Goals or Bust! endeavors. Hopefully
I was planning to write a much different report this month, hoping to announce the pregnancy of my sweet mare, Annie. Instead, I am reminded that nothing worthwhile is ever
Whether your horsemanship goals for this year involve gaining confidence, an overnight trail ride, or competing in any given discipline, your horse’s appearance speaks volumes. Not only is grooming another
With any luck, my sweet little mare, Annie, will soon be living her dream. If you’ve been following along with Horse Goals or Bust, you already know that I made
We are now four months into Horse Goals or Bust!, and we still have half a year left to fulfill our dreams and achieve our equestrian aspirations! Last month, we
I am happy to report that my plans for breeding Annie this year are well underway! So far (*knock on wood*) everything is going according to plan. Annie hasn’t figured
We are three months into Horse Goals or Bust!—my nine-month plan to help you accomplish your horsemanship goals and live your dreams. Many of you have jumped onboard for this
This year, my horse life is taking an abrupt turn in a direction that surprised even me—and it all started with a piece of paper. A year ago, when my
It’s that time of year to hit the reset button, look forward, and set new, impactful goals for yourself. We started this journey last month in my blog and podcast,
Around my barn, we shift into a lower gear this time of year, based on surviving winter. Here in the high mountains of Colorado, winter comes early and stays late.
It’s true. The older you get, the faster the time goes by. The past few years have been topsy-turvy, and a roller-coaster ride of emotions. During this time, three friends
Whether your young horse is ready for saddle training, or your adult horse needs to be restarted, has developed undesirable behaviors, or is ready for a higher level of training,
After two weeks of clinics and tours, I arrived home from Ireland to the peak of fall weather here in the Rocky Mountains. One day I was riding horses on
Horses are amazingly adaptable creatures, and over thousands of years they have partnered with us and found ways to make themselves invaluable to human society. Since before horses were even
With heavy hearts, we laid our old friend “Doc” to rest this month. Doc was a talented performance horse, and taught every one of us something special. He finished his
As a kid, I rode show hunters, and back then most of them were off-the-track Thoroughbreds–notorious for their shelly, thin feet and the tendency to lose a shoe right before
Here in Colorado, summers are long-awaited, and then over before you know it. As we like to say, there are four seasons here: winter, winter, winter, and road construction. We’ve
You have future goals to accomplish with your horse, but you know you’re not ready yet. Equestrian sports require a long-term commitment and often the journey takes us places we
All winter long, we yearn for summer, and by the time it gets here, we start whining about the heat. The horses are no different! Like humans, horses tend to
You’ve made big plans and set some lofty goals with your horse, starting months or even years ago. Maybe you want to do a series of competitions, a long-distance trail
Annie and I took a road trip earlier this month to present at the Harmony Horse Expo, a fun and educational weekend full of training demos from trainers and other
Your horse didn’t exactly volunteer to join you on your next road trip, and isn’t pining for a big adventure or “revenge travel” to make up for lost time
In the past four months, I’ve traveled coast-to-coast for many different horse expos and clinics—just like before-times! It was great to be back on the road again, to meet new
Horses are very precocious animals—they are fast learning and their education begins in the first moments of life. Unfortunately, they learn inappropriate things just as quickly as the good stuff,