Peanut butter? No, in this case PB stands for personal best. Once again I want to
revisit the notion of why we go showing and what we get out of it. For a certain group
dressage IS showing, and showing means trying to win. For the moment we’ll set aside
the pathologies that develop when this segment of one’s character is taken to an
extreme. Other people show as much for the camaraderie they share with their
barnmates on a weekend of play and an escape from “real life.” Read More

Many of us are followers especially in a circumstance that’s new to us, a
circumstance where we may lack surety or self-confidence. “If you don’t know where to
go, go where someone has gone before!” But this approach won’t always work to your
benefit. I remember judging a show back in the day when Training Level 3 included a 20
m half circle from B to E. This was an adult amateur class first thing after lunch, and the
ring had just been dragged. Not a single hoof print was evident when the first rider
began her test. Her novice half circle was more of an hyperbola worthy of Halley’s
Comet. Predictably those neat hoof prints like magnets attracted the next six adult
amateurs to follow exactly the same errant path. Read More

(“The arena . . . has been visited by a divine protractor.”) Read More

(“Why-go-to-France-if-I’ve-been-to-Epcot?”) Read More

(“. . . a kit for turning a pool noodle into a schoolmaster . . . pool noodle not included”) Read More

(“. . . the way you’d imagine flying would feel without the need of wings.”) Read More

(“He could canter around endlessly on the forehand chasing his center of gravity”) Read More

(“Heck, I even had music that played on a Victrola at 78 rpm.”) Read More

(“. . . and if the bear tries to get onto the porch . . .”) Read More

(“Everything’s fine . . . but don’t come in here!”) Read More