Basis Equine

03/23/2025

I think I’ve shared this post before. But I will share it again because it is important!!!
Your horses deserve training. It will improve their lives. They deserve your commitment to helping them overcome these responses, wether trauma induced or simply natural reaction, it doesn’t matter. If your horse is stressed by everyday life and handling (especially vet and farrier care) it is your responsibility to train them through and past it. Every time I hear “oh they can’t/won’t do that” said with such finality, your negligence shows.
Your horses deserve an education for a better life.

03/19/2025

One of my favorite views. Any horse that I have in to start, or even for a refresher after a long break from being ridden, I will climb on ba****ck first. Just to climb on and hang out and then jump off again. A double check that they are relaxed about my presence up above them, the swing of my legs, and sudden dismount. I’ve met too many horses that while ridden regularly, we’re very sour of the mounting block. This time of year it means that I’m covered in hair!

03/14/2025

First ride Friday!
L was perfect for her first ride under saddle. Mellow and relaxed, just as I like them. I’m excited to help her find confidence with her forward motion and faster gaits. First ride is all about a calm and positive experience. For her that meant walk and just a bit of trot with ground support to encourage her forward so I did not have to pressure her with my legs just yet.

03/12/2025

Getting everyone to look at the camera at the same time with nice ears was not a success this day. But trailer loading practice was! A rainy day and muddy horses. Sassafras again setting the perfect example of calm and easy loading.

03/05/2025

Two more lovely mares in the spring training barn. Miss Margo and Simone.
I am very excited to have this many mares in my program right now as it’s been all geldings for a while! There’s just something about mares, my favorite.
Thank you Cher for entrusting me with your girls. Looking forward to our lessons through the next few months so that you can learn along side them.

03/03/2025

Muddy Miss Margo and I had some discussions about wether she should get in the trailer or climb in my lap!

02/24/2025

Meet the lovely L! Or Noelle as she has been known before joining our alphabet soup herd. This lovely mare was taken in by Island Haven Animal Sanctuary as a skinny sickly year and a half old filly. They have helped her grow into the gorgeous young mare she is today. As part of that, they have sent her to me to learn her big girl skills!
She has been here almost two weeks now. Sassafras has become a fast friend and playmate. He is helping her learn the rhythms of a new barn and a more relaxed outlook on life.
I’m very excited to see this mare develop. I believe she is going to make an exceptional partner. She will be with me for a few months of exposure to the world and starting under saddle and then she will be looking for a person to call her own.

02/22/2025

Good riding is good riding! No matter the tack. I attempt to be versatile and choose my tack based on what I’m attempting to do with that particular horse on that particular day.

11/11/2024

It’s a good feeling when you set aside a good chunk of time to work on trailer loading in a very low pressure way, and they hop in on the first try!
I wasn’t sure how much of our last trailer loading work (back in august) he would retain. He loaded well then, but also ran circles int he trailer the whole short ride to the pasture. Apparently the trailer associations are still good! He ate his supplements with just his head in the trailer, finished up, climbed right in, and hung out for a bit. Let me close the door on him briefly with no stress.

10/02/2024

The Gobi Desert. Camels. The first few days of The Great Nomad Expedition. Beginning of July.

I’m put on a midsized camel with a purple fabric ear tag. I name him Tabitha. Even though these are all male riding camels. Tabitha is very attached to the other purple ear tagged camel, Craig. (These names were given by us for our own humorous entertainment only. As the Mongolians do not name their animals.)
Craig was piloted by the fantastic Hannah, who luckily made a great riding partner for me as we were to spend lots of time together as we trotted through the dessert.

Observations:
Being used to riding horses, it is a great (and somewhat unnerving) surprise to me that my camel can just about put its forehead against its front hump and look me in the eyes. The next surprise is just how much noise they make. The grunts, and coos, and keening sounds that come from within these huge animals. They do not have haunches the way horses do. So climbing up sand dunes is a slow and laborious process, and downhills are done at great speed for they do not possess the musculature to sit back as you descend. They are best on flat desert ground at a pace.

Mongolia is a wild and harsh place. Animals are food, transportation, and livelihood. There were many things I had to simply take a deep breath and not dwell on as it is not my place, my culture, or my animals. But watching our camel herder, Loya, was a joy. Seeing someone who’s very presence calmed his animals. It’s obvious how much he cares for these animals and how his life revolves around them. I spent our lunch times watching him catch loose camels, untangle others, and even replace a few nose pegs. Things that I expected to be painful and dramatic were done with such a calm and firm hand, that before you knew it, it was all over and done with. No fuss.
Somewhere there is a picture of Loya and I with the camels, but I cannot seem to find it to go with this post.

Thank you The Great Nomad Expedition

09/18/2024

I joined the and The Great Nomad Expedition this past July to cover nearly 1200 kilometers in three weeks across Mongolia. Mounted on camels, horses, yaks, and reindeer.
I’ve taken these two months to let the experience sit with me. To go through my journal and the thousands of photos. To share the stories with my close friends and family. To ponder what I learned and what I would like to share about the experience.
These are just a few captured moments. I have many more things to write and share soon.

08/08/2024

06/30/2024

It’s a special feeling. To swing a saddle up on a horse, knowing exactly where every nail and screw is. To sit down on seat shaped perfectly to my seat bones. To ride in something so thoughtfully designed, and intended to last even beyond my lifetime.
At the beginning of June, I ventured over to Twisp to be Trent Peterson’s first saddle student. 10 days, one on one and side by side, building a saddle. A complete first for me. It was both an honor and a pleasure. I walked away with so much knowledge and the desire to learn even more, as well and the nicest saddle I’ve ever owned. Something that I’m incredibly proud of. Thank you Trent.
Some photos by Trent and Allie Lynn Yocum

03/23/2024

I was having a tangentially related conversation just the other day. When a horse is fearful, and a human retreats to “give them space” we are often just allowing them to continue existing is the high stress fearful state. It’s our jobs as their people to help them find a calm and confident state to release and relax in. If you have a “traumatized” horse then you have to put in the work to help them through that. And it is rarely ever easy work.

02/21/2024

Zaatar is making sure I feel all the birthday love today with lots of kisses from him!
And an obligatory throwback pic dug up by my wonderful father. Ransom, my mums ever patient thoroughbred, and a very very small me.

01/25/2024

01/18/2024

Snow day!
After several days of below freezing temps, we got some surprise snow. The boys are enjoying frolicking in it and I am enjoying the cozy warm inside as much as possible. Should be melted and back into the 40s in a few days and we can get back to work.
Picture taken by my wonderful Mum, who is doing most of the care right now (Thank you!!!) as this is the view out her living room window 😍

12/26/2023

Zaatar!! No longer 1801.
December 12th. 73 days since arrival. Z is such a wary and reactive horse that doing this safely was a long process. While this tag removal feels like a huge rewarding step, the feel of his exquisitely soft fur is a whole other reward in itself.
Next goal, removing the dreads from his long and matted mane. We will see if they can be groomed out or if I will have to cut them out.