Rest in Peace, Macho

Macho Nacho was the first Shetland I ever met, and a pony I will remember for a long time.

We received him the summer of 2013, he had some unsightly health issues but was very adorable and very sweet. He'd wander up to you to say hi, and loved being pet and scratched, and loved it even more if you had 'the G word': grain.

He was euthanized the night of December 23, 2014. He was happy and content and stayed warm and cozy in the barn with his grass hay and grain, but he was in his mid-30s and his sores hadn't ever fully healed. We all knew it was the right thing, but I still miss him very much.

Love you, Macho boy <3 p="">

Macho Nacho, Shetland Pony, ~1980 – 2014.

For more about Macho, see "Nacho the Shetland" and "Nacho the Grain Stealrz (and Sham".

When You Find A Dead End

When you find a dead end, try the other door.

No, I'm serious.

If one aspect of being with your horse is getting nowhere, work instead on improving the other aspects.

For me, this means just chilling and bonding with Beauty, enough of all that riding stress for now. Instead, I'll go hang out with her and maybe give her massages, and take her on walks with me. :D

And because I know that our relationship won't fix all the issues with riding her and not wanting to, I'll continue riding...on other horses!

So going back to the basics on a horse that won't try to run away with me and will show me which of my riding needs work. Without running away with me. \o/

From that horse, Splash, I'll eventually go to Tia, who'll help me to refine and stretch those calf muscles.

Perhaps you've got a horse that does awful in-hand? And because of the mutual stress that occurs when you two do such, you'd rather not work the horse at all? Instead of not working the horse at all, try something new. Change things up a bit. Learn how to give horses massages and try that. Braid your horses mane. Take your horse on walks with you. Just try to get that stress gone and return to being best buds with your horse. :)