What do you believe is more important in our work with horses: knowledge or curiosity? It’s easy to see why knowing the answer is desirable, but valuing knowledge over curiosity can create pressure, frustration, and low confidence. Not being able to use curiosity as a mental skill can cause us to wind up in never-ending cycles of frustration and perceived failure in our journey as equestrians.

Your Road Map to Recovery - Those with hands-on horse experience run into a few unavoidable realities: horses get hurt, riders get hurt, and sometimes the injuries go both ways. Horses can unintentionally harm people, and riders — despite their best intentions — can contribute to a horse’s discomfort or injury.

Tim Mearns teaches bear awareness and wildlife safety as part of the Horseback Riding Backcountry Boot Camp. He imparts essential knowledge for anyone venturing into the backcountry. Basics are key, including proper handling of food, using bear-resistant pack boxes, knowing how to use bear spray and having it ready to go at an instant’s notice. Equally important is understanding bears and what is important to them, such as the changing of the seasons and the types of environments they prefer. In the spring, for example, females will be out and about with cubs, and in the autumn bears are intensely focused on food and fattening up for winter.

Musculoskeletal disease is a widespread problem, especially in performance horses. Fortunately, it does not have to be a career-ending disease. Regenerative therapies are revolutionizing equine health care, offering versatile solutions for a wide range of conditions. From promoting tissue regeneration to supporting overall health, these cutting-edge treatments are transforming the way we care for our horses.

Whenever I coach a new group of riders at a clinic or in a lesson, I am always surprised at how few people can tell me the five different rein aids and the purpose of each. Therefore, it is always a question I like to throw out to the group. I usually see people looking down and moving their hands around, some vague stares, and the occasional rider being able to describe at least one or two of the five.

What makes a deed good? Is it good intentions or is it good results? Or are both elements required for a deed to qualify as good? When it comes to the “wildies” (loose, wild, and feral horses), some people turned their good intentions into action by putting out feed for the horses wintering on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

Horseback riding through the vast, sunlit prairies of Saskatchewan, with the possibility of encountering a herd of wild bison, was a long-held dream that drew me to this stunning part of Canada. However, it wasn’t until enduring a six-month-long snowy winter in Terrace, BC, that I finally turned this dream into a reality.

A key risk management tool used to transfer responsibility for injuries from one party to another through written agreement is called a Wavier of Liability (or “waiver”). These are frequently used in high-risk activities such as when riding horses. While frequently utilized in the equine industry, waivers are commonly signed without a clear understanding of their legal purpose or the necessary conditions for them to be enforceable.

Flies are a familiar seasonal frustration, but for horses, they’re more than just a nuisance—they can lead to constant tail swishing, foot stomping, head tossing, and skin twitching. Beyond being irritating, flying insects such as gnats, midges, mosquitoes, horse flies, deer flies, black flies, face flies, and stable flies pose real threats to equine health by causing skin conditions and transmitting serious diseases.