Saddle shopping – to a novice it sounds like fun, but it puts fear into the hearts of all who have undertaken it before. Does it fit me? Does it fit my horse? Will my horse change shape? Does my…

I recently celebrated a work milestone – 10 years working at SmartPak. It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since I started. It feels like a lifetime and five minutes all at the same time. Life before SmartPak happened…

My non-horsey friend: “Where are you going on vacation?” Me: “Florida – can’t wait!” My non-horsey friend: “Cool – beaches or amusement parks?” Me: “Neither – I’m headed to Ocala to help my trainer and ride horses!” My non-horsey friend:…

Just down the road from where I grew up, there is a property knows as the Tolland Agricultural Center, or TAC as we called it. Consisting of a handful of buildings and a field in the back with two riding…

I pulled my current horse, Tally, out of a field back in 2012. She was eight years old but had minimal training, and whatever limited human interaction she’d had to that point in her life didn’t enamor her to the…

Florida has been a dream of mine for many years. Not the Mickey Mouse, roller-coaster Florida, but the green pastures, miles of fence-line, horses as far as the eye can see Florida. This year, due to the generosity of my…

I manage a small co-op barn at a private farm with four stalls and two other horse owners. Usually we have all four stalls filled, but recently we lost a horse to a bad leg injury. That empty stall has…

After our fantastic Training Level debut at GMHA Horse Trials in early June, I was extremely excited about our next event, Groton House Farm in Hamilton, MA. This is a historic event, hosting national and championship horse trials since the…

In every equestrian sport there are various levels of competition, and a goal for many riders is moving up to the next level. In Eventing, we have six levels – Beginner Novice, Novice, Training, Preliminary, Intermediate and Advanced. I went…

Now that the snow and ice have melted, it’s time to think about getting the horses fit for the upcoming show season. Here in New England, we have a tough time maintaining our horses’ fitness year round due to the…

Recently, Tally and I went to our first multi-day event up at the Green Mountain Horse Association in Vermont. We competed at our second USEA-recognized event and then stayed for a week of horse camp, which was just about the…