Hi Reader, Popping in to share the answer to last week's 'Are We Supposed to Know This' question AND the winner of a Broke Horse Moms sticker! What is a Coggins test? Winner, winner, chicken dinner is.....Heather Brushwood who answered: It’s the thing you have to have that tells all the info on your horse in order to compete :) 'Thing' being a technical term. Certification is probably a better word. Shows you have had all of your annual things and horse info. Congrats, Heather! In Broke Horse...
10 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, So....the 'Stop! Stop!' in the subject line are the exact words (plus an expletive AND a 'you two ARE idiots!') I yelled, while recording their ride, when Chloe and one of her besties decided to 'race' the baby OTTBs they'd been working with this summer. We were at our barn's end of summer party this weekend, the trainer was shopping at the mobile tack store that had come, and she'd told them they could just ride and do whatever they wanted. Queue these two deciding to race. I told...
18 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, It has been a minute since I've been in your inbox, and I've missed you! We got back from Pony Finals last week, and I'm not going to lie, coming back to real life has felt like a weird kind of slow burn. Anyone else feel that way after a huge trip? Like you're standing in your kitchen but your brain is still in Kentucky? Chloe and Phoebe placed 13th out of 97 in their division, with five clear rounds and a spot in the jump off. I am so, so proud of both of them. But, today's...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Am I the only one who thought the hardest part of bigger horse shows would be the actual competing? Over the last few weeks, I've spent hours on the USEF website preparing for Pony Finals. I've downloaded forms, read the prize list, made packing lists, scheduled the vet and farrier. I felt ready. Then, I realized I still had an entire list of questions, and none of them were answered anywhere official. When do we actually arrive? Do we really need a golf cart? What happens the...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, When The Plaid Horse shared my article about why the horse world feels so confusing for new families, one response kept coming up: Just ask questions. 🤦🏻♀️ Thanks, Suzy, for the tip. If we knew what questions to ask, we'd be asking them. Reading through hundreds of Facebook comments from horse moms, trainers, and lifelong equestrians made me realize something: we don't necessarily need more information, we need better starting points. That's exactly what this week's podcast episode...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, Am I the only who, when my kiddo started riding, assumed the only decisions to be made would be around things like schedules, budgets, and maybe when she got her first pair of tall boots. I had no idea that, before long, I’d be making decisions about trainers, horses, safety, horse shows, tack, and thousands of dollars in expenses in a sport I barely understood. Somewhere along the way, I had to figure out where my job as the parent ended and where my trainer’s job began. Who...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, A few weeks ago, I attended a webinar. Not for work.Not for a certification.Not to learn a new skill. I attended a webinar so I could LEARN HOW TO ATTEND Pony Finals. And while the webinar was super helpful, it highlighted something I’ve been thinking about for a long time: this equestrian life is incredibly difficult to understand if you didn’t grow up in it. We spend a lot of time talking about affordability and accessibility in equestrian sports, and those are important...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, If you’ve been anywhere near horse social media this week, you’ve probably seen people talking about Dover Saddlery’s closures and liquidation sales. I've had teen girls begging for one last trip to our most local shop, moms asking when the 20% off will jump to 30% off, and myself...well, I've been remembering all the trips to Dover with Chloe and my mother-in-law. CORE memories, for sure. While we could all spend hours recounting the rites of passage our kids have celebrated at...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Today's episode with David Reichert, founder of UDJC (United Dressage and Jumping Club), includes a few hot takes. Exhibit A: within the first two minutes he told me Pony Finals was a waste of time and money. 😳 So, this is one you'll love to listen to. David grew up in Germany’s equestrian system and has some VERY strong opinions about the way kids are being developed in the U.S. horse world. Specifically: Why he thinks horse shows often reward expensive horses instead of good...
4 months ago • 2 min read