Maeve Birch Home

    Tag: Horse Training

    • Riding the Line

      In working with horses I’ve been lucky enough not to run up against time limits very often. Time limits like “we have to get this horse ready for this show,” or “the farrier comes in two weeks and if this horse can’t be trimmed then it’s feet will start degrading before the farrier comes around…

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    • When “Truths” are a Lie

      One of the hardest parts of understanding horse welfare has been the lies and omissions that pervade equestrian activities. Shortly after I took my first riding lesson I went to watch a four star eventing competition. I studied the professional sport riders, hoping to see what “real” riding looked like. However, I was confused by…

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    • Celebrating a Year of Standing in a Field With Horses

      It’s been just past a year since I first released my book in eBook form. Since then more than 200 people have at least purchased my book, if not read it. More folks in the horse world have begun trying to figure out how to change the way they relate to horses. More have simply…

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    • Ponderings on Fear

      Thoughts for a rainy day. I have several pictures of the Welsh pony I’ve been working with where he’s either nervous or afraid. In one instance, he stood on cross ties in the grooming stall and someone had just started brushing his tail. For whatever reason, this caused sudden fear. His eyes widened, tail clamped,…

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    • The Pain of the Stoic Horse

      I want to talk honestly about the stoic horses. The ones who seem to be stubborn or lazy, when in reality they are hiding the kind of pain that a more open horse would show by bucking or rearing. Instead the stoic horse shuts their eyes and plants their feet and attempts to ignore everything…

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    • Books that Influenced Me

      If it hadn’t been for the other horsey memoirs and instructional books out there, I certainly wouldn’t have made it to the relationship I have with horses today. Back when the only thing I did was lessons and trail riding I felt the overwhelming itch to learn everything I could about the link between human…

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    • Need vs Gratitude

      With autumn approaching here in the northern hemisphere, harvest season right around the corner, I tend to get a bit busy. I grow tomatoes, squash, and greenbeans in my suburban yard. Beans need canned, squash needs discovered before it becomes the size of a bus, tomatoes need picked before the next storm or they’ll split.…

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    • Excerpt from the Chapter “Rex: Discipline”

      Rex, unfortunately, was impatient with staying still for long while humans did things to him. Some days he would behave perfectly, and others, he wouldn’t want to do anything. Brushing would elicit small kicks of his back legs and rocking away from the brush. Being on cross ties would make him shake his head and…

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    • An Opening

      I’ve been busy learning again. It has been a continuous struggle to figure out how to get better at riding horses without compromising on how I want to be in relation to horses. I don’t force a horse to move anymore. It’s so counter to what I’m trying to do in the world that it’s…

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    • The Freedom of Waiting

      We are paused in the doorway again, the tall nervous horse and I. I’ve pulled him through this opening before. Not this time. He widens his eyes and holds his breath, waiting for something to happen, since things always seem to happen in doorways. Instead, we wait. It’s seen as a sign of weakness, me…

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