Callie Fulmer

11/08/2024

I spent some time on the website today!

A few features you may want to take note of- you can subscribe to the In Focus Horsemanship Google Calendar, to put Social Hour, Tri State lessons, and book club (when it starts) seamlessly into your life! The button is on the home page.

You can RSVP to Social hour and get an email reminder the day before! in my online booking it is under "group events".

Note: Social Hour is on the move this month, to the Hamilton Station Gastro Pup. We are on the hunt for some winter quarters!

Callie Fulmer's home on the Web. FInd articles about improving your relationship with your horse, his biomechanics, and how to work with Callie.

10/06/2024

Anyone between Lovettsville and Boyce interested in lessons? I have some interest in Boyce, but I would need a bit of a route to make that work. Thanks!

09/12/2024

I had the opportunity to teach for the Tri State Riding Club this morning on riding the circle. Everyone had a great time, and the horses and riders really made some beautiful progress.

I managed to keep the geometry lingo to a minimum- tangent to the curve, assemtote, and radius still came up a lot, lol

If you are going to ride geometry, it helps if you know geometry!

Send a message to learn more

09/01/2024

My heart goes out to Beutler Ranch, and the unimaginable tragedy of loosing their entire generational breeding program in one shot due to feed contaminated with an ionophore (a cattle medication family that is extremely toxic to horses).

It seems they purchased their feed from a local mill by the load and the contamination seems to be limited to their Ranch.

If you purchase horse feed from a local mill, you may want to call and find out if they manufacture cattle feed on the same equipment as horse feed, and if they use ionophores in their cattle mix.

I found this list of some of the larger brands and their manufacturing processes.

08/27/2024

I am so excited to be teaching some group lessons for the Tri-State Riding Club!

If you aren't a member, you'll want to check them out at https://tristaterc.org/

I have some exciting lessons planned!

Horseback riding club for adults in the Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia areas. English and Western riding lessons and club activities.

08/09/2024

"Its like doing Swan Lake, in clogs, in a bog."

What horse movie did that line come from?

What famous actor said that line? (I quoted from memory, so it may not be exact)

It is finally raining here after a very long dry spell, yay!

08/08/2024

I have been working with Harry for many years, and in the age of the internet influencer, he is hard to find. There is going to be a series of videos on this page, and I wholeheartedly recommend you watch them!

08/08/2024

Are you training? or just surviving? Do more than just make it to the next day.

If you hang around me enough, you'll soon find out that I volunteer heavily with the Scouts (Boy Scouts of America, soon-to-be Scouting America). I am a huge fan of what they do f

08/07/2024

I am back from Vacation!

There is a new blog post coming out tomorrow- subscribers get it first.

I will post a link here on Thursday.

Not a subscriber? just go to any blog post on www.infocushorsemanship.com and at the bottom there is a place to put your e-mail. Be sure to click on the conformation link when you see it in your in-box!

Callie Fulmer's home on the Web. FInd articles about improving your relationship with your horse, his biomechanics, and how to work with Callie.

07/13/2024

According to the book (which is excellent), we need a "smeller" which is how she knows what scent she is supposed to follow, and we need a jackpot- basically motivation to follow the scent in the first place.

The bags the author makes sound amazing, but I don't want to wait for them to come from overseas.

I went by the dollar tree and found these mesh bags and a 100% cotton towel. Chanel is, like really pretty, these are perfect for her. So we can get started tomorrow! This should be fun.

There is an online class currently on early bird discount before July 15th on the author's website. https://calmingsignalsofhorses.com/en/

And I have no idea why Facebook thinks this picture should be this way.

07/12/2024

Yesterday, we started hand walking. It was impressively uneventful (anyone doing genetic temperament research???).

Today, we actually had a 3yo on stall rest moment. She stood up once or twice, and then levitated, lol. Her feet must have been 5+ feet in the air- she showed me the soles of her hind feet while she was up there.... I might need to build some jumps when I get her home.

I have always noticed how much interest she shows in smells on the ground, so I have decided to teach her how to track as our hand walk project.

I have the book "Scentwork for Horses" to help me along as it will be new for me, too!

Flashy chestnut TB mare isn't what I think of when I think "search and rescue horse", but why not?

07/05/2024

It is all about priorities...

07/04/2024

I spent some time on my website- now there is a page just for Social Hour, and (hopefully-let me know if it doesn't work for you) a google calendar so you can have all of the fun In Focus Horsemanship events magically appear on your calendar.

I know you don't want to miss out!

infocushorsemanship.com

07/03/2024

One of the things I squeeze into my life is volunteering with the Scouts. Both of my sons have greatly benefited from their involvement with the Boy Scouts of America (which is now co-ed, and changing their name)

I am a Dog Care merit badge counselor, and the youth leadership decided to offer that for the next few weeks. I like to take an interactive approach with the youth, so as part of talking about the importance of training in responsible pet ownership, as well as the proper equipment to obedience train a dog, I decided to shape the kids into a behavior with my clicker.

Based on the surly response I got at home from this idea, I had a back up plan. But the kids couldn't have been more enthusiastic to have their turn as "the dog".

It's so fascinating to watch them learn and try and figure out what I was clicking for. Some of them thought they could just guess what I was after, some of them took a while to let go of their idea and focus on where they were getting clicked.

In all cases, there was a spot where we were honing in on "it", where they would ask me what I was after and try and figure it out, but I was tight lipped. Then they would go back to just listening for the clicks and allowing it to unfold. Shortly after they let that go, they usually got "it".

I could probably write a book just about these interactions, but what I want to touch on today is trusting the process.

The kids were being "trained" in this story, but their struggle to just trust the process and wait for the outcome to come to you is also reflected in the people I work with who are on the "trainer" side.

It goes well starting out and change is made. Then as the changes come slower and are less obvious, uncertainty builds, thinking and doubt bubble up, and in this moment it becomes tempting to want to change the approach- increase the pressure, switch to an easier outcome, go get another tool, etc.

If you stay on course, and trust the process, you may be surprised at how quickly it comes together after the wave of doubt passes over you.

06/24/2024

I spend a lot of time thinking about training, and what it is, specifically.

Just like there are riders, trainers, teachers, coaches, catch riders, and show winners, all of which are different skill sets, there are different purposes to riding. We can ride to school, rehab, exercise, show prep, train, etc.

So what is training, anyway?

Today, I am going to take a bit of a stab at trying to name some of the high level ideas that are the essence of “training” in my view. To start- when I talk about training, I mean

06/21/2024

We are all in this together.

Part of remembering that, for me, is while I am attending to my horses' every need in this hot weather, from fans in their shed, to fresh, cool water every day, I provide water for others that I share this little slice of Earth with.

I thought I would share my "Water for Wildlife" set up with you. My horses are not the only ones here at my farm that are impacted by this hot, dry weather.

You can have a water station for wildlife no matter where you live. Your wildlife may be different than mine, but they all need access to water.

06/21/2024

We are dealing with some hot weather here, and I know there will only be more as the summer is just getting started... Here are some tips and tricks for keeping your horses cool at home, and in the trailer!

As I am sitting here, sweating, in mid June, I thought it might be helpful to go over some tips and tricks to keep your horses cooler this summer. The most important thing to know