Well, not exactly, but fingers and toes crossed. This is my “mustang who thinks she’s hot stuff,” according to Copper the Quarter Horse, but who yes, did indeed buck someone off last weekend for the first time in her entire tenure as a riding horse. […]

As Told by Copper, the 32-Yr.-Old Quarter Horse. See this picture of my herd mate, Bella? She’s a Mustang, so she thinks she’s hot stuff!           Now look at this picture of me, Copper.                 […]

Remember the famous song “Wildfire,” by Michael Martin Murphy, in the mid-70’s? It was about a horse who lived up to his name. A taste of the lyrics and story: “Oh they say she died one winter when there came a killin’ frost, and the […]

This weekend I accomplished a major feat for my feathered friends, the hens. Well . . . for the hens and Mr. Pants, the coming-of-age, very precocious rooster who was supposed to be a hen. In this part of the world — the high desert […]

When I first met Gabriel in 1997, he was six years old and was at my friend the horse vet’s clinic. He had broken down completely after coming in off a long haul from a show circuit. Standing tied for 24 hours in a moving […]

I thought it was about time I checked in with Tucker, my Chiweenie heartthrob, to find out how he feels about Frida, our Chihuahua puppy, since she’s now a little over three months old and has been here about seven weeks. Tucker just sighed and […]

There is nothing sadder than losing an animal. The grief and anguish that accompany this kind of loss are almost unbearable. Unlike death, you don’t know for sure what condition or situation your animal is in, so all kinds of visions and awful scenarios take […]

Well you’re not alone. There are many non-believers — just like there are about God and taxes. But wouldn’t it be a boring world if we all believed in exactly the same things and never questioned reality? We may THINK everybody else should share our […]

Continuing on the theme of my last post: trusting what you get when you’re communicating with an animal — here’s my favorite exercise to help you achieve that. I’ve used it in every workshop I’ve ever taught and not only is it fun and fanciful […]

The most difficult hurdle when learning animal communication seems to be trusting what you get — for everyone. Almost every student, when reporting on their practice conversations with animals, qualifies her report with, “Well, I don’t know if I just made this up, or . […]