As equestrians, we all have our favorite style of riding. And do we ever have choices!

Eventing, reining, show jumping, team penning, sidesaddle, equitation… those are just the obvious ones. Each year, more and more riding organizations are offering specialized training and competitions for unique styles of riding.

Different breeds come with their own riding styles: Icelandic horses, for example, have two unique gaits: the Tölt and the Pace (or Flying Pace). Although Icelandics are shown in more common, all-breed disciplines, learning to ride these gaits and show them competitively is a discipline all its own […]

Could your favorite breed of horse go extinct?

When we think of extinction, we typically picture wild animals who are suffering from loss of habitat. But it’s not just exotic or wild creatures that are in danger of disappearing forever. There are horse breeds who are on the brink. You could argue that they’re suffering from loss of habitat, too–lost jobs, barns, and pastures when the Industrial Age replaced horses with machines.

Many of the threatened or endangered horse breeds of the world were once working horses. The Cleveland Bay, the Hackney horse, the Suffolk […]

Not everything in your barn needs to be an expensive speciality item from the tack shop — it just seems that way sometimes!

In reality, there are plenty of everyday items available at the people store (that’s where you buy that regular stuff like cereal and toothbrushes, different than the tack shop) that are great around the barn. Here are five barn essentials (and a few bonus items) to put in your cart the next time you’re at the discount store.

Duct Tape: I know, this is a gimme. But seriously, have you replenished your […]

Do you wear a riding helmet?

There’s a growing faction of pro-helmet activists in the equestrian community. One of the most visible, Riders4Helmets, includes some alarming statistics on their website. Horse riding, the organization states, is a dangerous sport on level with motorcycle riding, and head injuries are the leading cause of equestrian-related hospital admissions and deaths. http://www.riders4helmets.com/2011/02/equestrian-sport-statistics-facts-what-you-should-know/

And in a Canadian study of patients admitted with equestrian industries, 60% of related deaths were caused by head injuries to riders who were […]

Little equestrian touches in our homes tend to be par for the course.

Bits and pieces from the barn wander home and don’t wander back again; cracked old riding boots that we just can’t part with become part of the foyer. Whether we plan it or not, as equestrians, we tend to bring the stable home with us.

Ready to embrace your inability to separate work from home, tack room from living room? Here are three ways to create an equestrian-themed look that will tell all your friends and visitors: yeah, we’ve got horses […]

Spring arrives this week (according to the calendar) and, for many people across the country, it feels like the answer to all our problems.

It’s been a long cold winter, especially in sections of the Midwest and Northeastern United States. All we want is to take off our coats and get our horses out in the sunshine, right?

Of course, spring comes with its own problems. Mud. Lush new grass. Bugs. Parasites. Sounds exciting, right?

Mud

The only thing worse than a frozen-over riding arena is a mud-filled lake of a riding arena […]