Nope, nope and more nope. Just a Monday’s reaction to reading a random op-ed piece about overhauling the hunters…. What if we left criticizing the hunter discipline so harshly alone for a change?  Can anyone see the actual beauty in subjective judging and have an appreciation for the discipline?  Does it matter if the hunter discipline is considered sport or an exhibition? If you really think about it, any which way we ride a horse is an exhibition, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with being an exhibitionist. Who cares? I’m not sure what to do with the word ‘Sport’. Who ex ..read more

If you are looking for a conventional recap of the USHJA Annual Meeting this year in Denver, please refer to the Plaid Horse and/or Chronicle articles. If you are home for the holidays, have nothing better to do, and feel like taking a walk inside my head, by all means, let me entertain you with my own perspective. It is long, not that interesting, and covers a lot of material…. If you are going to read it, read it all, answer the questions at the end, or turn back here. No judgement. My opinion is not law. ** December 2019 Alarmingly naive and unprepared, I started regularly attending these ..read more

I have noticed, over the years, riders are reminded to put their heels down by their coaches over and over again, and as the rider thinks about it in the moment the heel goes down, but shortly after, the rider thinks about something else, and there is no longer weight in the heel. So the coach says again “put your heels down.” Sometimes it is all they say, just “put your heels down”. A broken record of four words. As riders become more experienced, they eventually find their own balance, which comes with a certain mindfulness and control of the heel, allowing them to appear more stable in the ..read more

While the equestrian community has been distracted with front page headlines, another dark problem has surfaced to test the tepid waters within the USEF. The Lab. I admit I was super excited to see the lawsuit from Dr. Cornelius Uboh to the USEF. He was requesting a jury trial and it appeared it was either a very good tactic to get attention, or there really was a case for a jury to consider, and jury trials are inherently more financially draining, so what a chance to severely impact the Federation. Dr Uboh used the press to further the mystery by announcing his intent to sue and it was prett ..read more

You know when your favorite app updates and you are like oh no, I was just getting used to the old version, and it takes three months to get used to the changes and it updates again? Welcome to Safe Sport. At least I feel that way about Safe Sport. I grumbled in the very beginning a few years ago because it was handled poorly by our equestrian federation, never explained properly, shoved down our throats like we were the problem, but eventually look what happened! We all grew used to the change, took the training, and it is in our lives whether we like it or not. I actually became tired of hea ..read more

So far 2019 has been a great year! My calendar was full when it should have been weak, even in the coldest months, and planning ahead, I barely had a single day without an obligation, which excited me. Horses to ride, clinics to teach, planes to catch, road trips to take, I love being busy, I always thought it was better to be busy than be dead, right?… However, my life changed with a literal heartbeat one Sunday morning during a horse show, and all of a sudden the creeper in a black hoodie holding a scythe was hovering above me like ‘How you doin’??’ Crap. I hate that guy. Riding a horse in a ..read more