Archive for March 2018

“The best movie on Netflix!”

I’ve heard that three times today. “The best movie on Netflix!” Have you seen it yet?

Watch the Trailer
5.8 million Facebook views can’t be wrong :)

I Can’t Help Myself!

We’re watching the new Benji for the third time tonight. Join us!

Watch the Trailer
5.8 million Facebook views can’t be wrong :)

The New York Post Speaks Out on the New Benji Movie

A super story from the New York Post, with the best photo I’ve seen of Brandon and moi. This story tells it like it is… and was. Really, really well done. Click Here

And remember!! Today’s the day! The new Benji premieres on Netflix Today!

Watch the trailer.

Please share.

 

Our Mission: What’s In It for the Horse?

The photo above was taken from our front yard by Lucas Wiesmann, one of Kathleen’s Mock Trial students, at her annual Mock Trial Dinner last Friday, the day before the regional competition. The photo of Zeke racing down to meet the kids so beautifully represents who we are, our mission, that I’ve placed it on our home page and here on this this blog post, because both are about just that. Thank you Lucas!

Are you asking everyday what’s in it for the horse? With lifestyle? With training? With diet? With feet? With relationship? What’s in it for the horse? Not what’s in it for me? Until then you cannot even imagine how good things can be.

Clinician Ray Hunt always opened every clinic or symposium the same way. “I’m here for the horse,” he would say. “To help him get a better deal.” He and his mentor, Tom Dorrance, were the first to promote looking at a relationship with the horse from the horse’s perspective. Their question was never What’s in it for me? But always, What’s in it for the horse?

During our relatively short journey with horses we began to understand early on that What’s in it for the horse? should be the only question. And not just related to training, but to Lifestyle, Diet, Feet, the concept of Liberty, as well as Relationship. And that only by understanding all of these from the horse’s perspective could we begin to approach that illusory state of mind referred to as Horsemanship. We were discovering that our way to horsemanship could never be about how well we ride, or how many trophies we win, or how fast our horse runs, or how high he or she jumps. Read More→

Why Bitless?


One Good Reason

Sometimes I think I’m really stupid. Like back when I thought that metal shoes nailed to a horse’s hoof seemed to be the right thing to do. I didn’t question it. In fact, I wanted to know why Cash came to us with only shoes on his fronts, none on his backs, when everyone was saying a horse’s hoof would disintegrate without the protection of a metal shoe. That’s precisely what I was told. Enough said. And I didn’t question it. That’s what makes me feel so stupid. I didn’t question it. At least at the moment.

Then one day I read that a horse’s hoof is supposed to flex. And that flexing has a purpose. It circulates blood, which promotes a healthy foot, and provides a hydraulic type of shock absorption for the joints, ligaments, and tendons of the leg. And it helps the heart pump blood back up that long leg. The ramifications of shutting down that flexing by nailing a shoe on the hoof are huge and onerous (see Why Our Horses Are Barefoot). The horse has survived for millions of years quite well without shoes, and being a prey animal, a flight animal, his hoof is about the most important thing he has for survival. Suffice to say all of our horses are now barefoot with rock crushing feet, good to go on any surface. We are doing well by our horses.

Take two.

I received a note from Sheila Thompson in the UK praising our website… then asking me if I had tried a bitless bridle. Here I go again feeling stupid. I am professing to care about our horses, how they feel, what is best for them, and yet I never blinked at placing a piece of metal across a bone in their mouths (call it “bars” if you want to. It’s bone. With lots of nerve endings.) and leaving it there for hours on in, never mind how light I thought I was with the reins. I had simply never thought about it. Read More→