If you are an introvert who competes, or even someone who has considered stepping into that space, you will recognise the particular kind of exhaustion that comes with a horse show, and it is rarely only about the physical side of the day. It is the sensory load of the warm-up arena, the constant background noise, the small talk beside the float, the long stretches of waiting, and the ongoing requirement to navigate people, expectations, and interactions that you did not cons

There’s a pattern I see with my students again and again, and once you start noticing it, you can’t unsee it. The horse disconnects. It happens quickly. Within minutes the horse is distracted, high-headed, unsettled, often doing the exact thing that frustrates their human the most. The rider keeps trying, keeps asking the horse to calm down, keeps attempting to soften their own body, all the while quietly wondering what is wrong with the horse. And then something shifts, but

The Week of the Abscesses, 3 out of 3.5 horses lame. Only Splashy Pony (in the photo) has four good feet. Splashy checking out the hoof ascess gear and poultice. I remind myself, as I am shuffling poultices and buckets and farrier tools, how blessed I am to have studied farriery in Finland in the 90s. It means I can do my own hoof care and support my herd through weeks like this. But much like our beloved farmers, we as horse owners cannot control the conditions, the weather,