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THIS IS WHAT AN EQUESTRIAN LOOKS LIKE

What Happens at Pasture, Stays at Pasture.

What happens out at pasture, stays out at pasture. Last week Robin came in with a big egg on her leg and a couple of nearly invisible scratches on her nose. Over the next few days the scratches morphed into an ugly infection, and the egg on her leg (hey, sounds like a title!)  Read More 
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Big Party for the Big Book

We had a wonderful party for the Big Book--aka WESTMINSTER, VT., 1735-2000; TOWNSHIP NUMBER ONE. We enjoyed some Cava, drank toasts, and sold tons of books. I am not a mother, but I feel about that book the way I hear one does after childbirth. I love it but I'm a little dazed and  Read More 
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Keeping Barney

I'm thinking about Keeping Barney, my first book, and suddenly the one I'm hearing about from fans--young women now, who say it was an influential book for them. It was a long time ago for me, that book. I wrote it during my junior year at Wellesley, while taking a semester off and working  Read More 
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Who's Confused, Me or the Horse?

Trying to teach Robin to leg yield. To the right, no problem. To the left, not possible. I read my books (Mary Wanless, Sally Swift, everyone!), worked on my position, agonized. I also, in the barn, asked her to sidestep away from my hand on both sides. Click, treat, nicker. She was definitely less  Read More 
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Westminster, Vermont, 1735-2000

The Big Book, as it's long been called in Westminster Historical Society circles, is finally in our hands, and it is so beautiful. I feel quite detached from it; it looks like a lot of work to me, and I'm impressed with the author. Strange! I'm very aware of its imperfections, and the number  Read More 
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Chico's Challenge is here at last!

It's been a long haul, but CHICO'S CHALLENGE, my middle-grade novel about a young Quarter Horse, is finally out as a paperback and a model and book set. Chico was raised on a suburban ranchette; when he gets a new owner and moves out to the range, he's mystified and frightened by those strange  Read More 
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Bramble and Robin, Maggie and Jessie: Horses Meet Girls

When I began BRAMBLE AND MAGGIE, now the first in a three-book series, I was just getting to know my new horse Robin. She most definitely had her "little ways." An unbroken three-year-old, Robin "didn't think poorly of herself," in the words of Cheryl Rivers, who bred her. I was heartbroken at losing Atherton,  Read More 
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So Write About Robin

I have finished all my projects, on time, under budget, without going nuts. Now I have no projects. NOW I'm going nuts!
So I'm thinking about a new novel, not wanting to start because I don't know enough yet. But I often used to start a novel knowing only the first sentence, and I  Read More 
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Click for Clarity

Round penning. I'll admit that I've never done it, and don't get it, and am not attracted. Obviously lots of people use it and have success. And I've seen Robin do it to Zeke, working him back and forth along the fence-line like an enormous calf until (her version) she chases him up the lane.
But I don't want to be another horse to my horse, and I don't want to be in a predator-prey relationship. I want to reach her mind, more the way I would with another human. I want to elevate the discussion. Clicker training, and clicker thinking, allows me to do this when I do it well, and I like having a horse who chuckles occasionally when she gets her cue. If I were better, sharper, more consistent, she'd be a better-behaved horse, but I'm refining my skills, and the conversation keeps getting more interesting. Read More 
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Better Blogger

I'm back in two weeks, not two years. I actually noticed that I never actually posted my last blog entry. I corrected the error. I'm improving. I deserve chocolate.
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