The Two Sweet, Ltd., d/b/a keller Equine Services

10/10/2025

10/10/2025

"Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path." - Unknown

"𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫" 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐓𝐢𝐦 𝐂𝐨𝐱

09/06/2025

I’m not a gifted rider. I ride with my stirrups too short and my feet shoved all the way home. When things get happening, my elbows can start flapping like I’m free-styling the Chicken Dance!

I know enough to see that I am a fair-to-middlin’ rider who has plugged away at the same old stuff for a long enough time, she is starting to figure things out.

What I do, that a lot of people miss, is I see things.

By ‘seeing things’, I’m saying that I have learned to pay attention and see things that are either bothering the horse, or that he is telling us in that split second before anything more notable happens.

If my horse is turning his head sharply to look at something, I'll be turning my head to look, too. It always looks unnatural to me, the sheer number of photos where horse and rider aren't focused on the same thing.

But when we notice, it’s a bit like seeing the future, if you will, except that there is no fortune teller’s tent, no crystal ball. We're just paying attention.

A lot of us aren’t doing this when we’re around our horses. Heck, a lot of us are driving our cars while we’re texting and scrolling Instagram. I know this because probably half the people I meet on our country highway are resolutely looking down at their laps, when we meet. I don’t know about you but it bothers me when a guy driving a fully loaded transport truck doesn’t notice that I’m also on the road.

We’re hurtling towards each other with a combined speed of 200 kph and one of us is driving blind.

Horsemanship is a lot like that guy driving the truck with his eyes averted. We’re kind of half-invested and the other half is hoping it’s not our day for a 'random' wreck.

How many of you have been run over while leading a horse that suddenly shied and mowed you down? What were you looking at, or paying attention to, that you missed that the horse had raised his head, or put his ears up toward that uninteresting area of the shrubbery?

What made you miss noticing that he was bothered, or on high alert, about something over there? Failing to see that the Boss Hoss is now on the other side of your more submissive horse, when you're leading in from the herd is a real big no-no that people miss.

If I see this, I’ll promptly move over so that I am between the distracting thing/herd bully and my worried horse. This is twofold: I am getting myself out of harm’s way by refusing to act as a human plug to his escape route… AND I am showing him that I have his back. That I have noticed there’s a problem and I’m prepared to protect him.

Same thing with a horse who suddenly jumps ahead, with his head up. I’m not pulling him up, asking, “What the heck’s the matter with you?!” No, I’m turned around, eyes scanning to see what’s going on with my dog. Nine times out of ten, the dog has goosed the horse when my back was turned. The horse appreciates us minding our dog, rather than scolding him without reason.

What about the fellow who just pulled back when he was tied? Did you not see that as you were getting ready to tie him, he grew concerned and imperceptibly, his energy started to shrink backwards? If you’d noticed, you could help him out by guiding him to think forwardly again, before you tied him up. This, whether we are tying, cross-tying, or using a blocker tie ring.

See the horse, feel the horse, before mooring him like a boat.

It’s the same thing with the one who doesn’t want to stand still for mounting. Whether I’m using a mounting block, or having to climb up from the ground, if he doesn’t stand for me, he is telling me he doesn’t want me to get on yet. I’ll believe him! If he doesn’t want me up there, I probably don’t want to be up there, either.

I’ll be figuring out why he doesn’t stand still. Has he said that he needs more warming up from the ground? I’m not proud; if he’s got a minute’s worth of buck in him, I’m absolutely okay with giving him a minute on the lunge line. Or has he said that he’s not been ridden in quite a while? Is he too fat, to the point of being uncomfortable and his saddle isn’t setting him right? Is the back end of his saddle tipped up because he's hu**ed up? That's something I'm going to want to notice.

Maybe, he’s telling me that nobody has ever bothered with showing him how to stand still for mounting and he doesn’t know that there’s any other way.

I’ll watch. I’ll pay attention. I’ll see if I can help him with any of these things, before we ride off.

The horse who is unresponsive about giving of his feet… Did you pay attention to which of his legs is supporting his weight? If you moved him a step forward or back, would you be making this a no-brainer? Did you see that he’s standing with all his weight on the foot you’re trying to pick up, because his other knee is swollen with arthritis?

You say he’s better for the farrier, than he is for you? Well, have you watched closely enough to see where your farrier leans, or touches to ask for the feet, that causes your horse to respond so well? If not, then why not?

We can learn to see really well from those people who make their living by working with and observing other peoples’ horses… and staying alive while doing it.

The biggest tip off, to me, that I'm with inexperienced horse people is their failure to see what's going on around them. It's not their equitation that first gets my notice, or their studied techniques. It's that they grow self-absorbed, inward, rather than constantly reading the room.

I never chat to the folks around me, without keeping my eye on my horse’s eye… and often, their horses’ eyes, too. It’s an easy matter of turning slightly to include my horse in the conversation. That way, I can see when he raises his head and looks off at the tractor moving slowly along the horizon.

As long as he is watching that faraway tractor, he has literally checked out of Dodge. He is no longer thinking about what I’m thinking about and I notice that.

I see that it’s not a problem right now, but that it might well be, in a moment. I don’t mind that he’s interested in his surroundings but now, if he reacts to something that suddenly jerks him back to the here and now, I’ve had a warning.

Do you see that horse getting tight, getting shorter from front to back, for no apparent reason? He’s bothered by something and he’s telling you. That ear he’s cocked out the left side? He’s watching you while you step down and he’s thinking about whether that’s an issue for him, or not.

If it is, he’s going to shy out, jump ahead, or kick at you, while you dismount. He’s being fair about it and he’s letting you know, so that you’re not blind-sided. A lot of horses are telling us that they have a problem with ‘changing eyes’ on whatever it is that we’re doing. We’d be smart to notice that and to pay attention.

Seeing is actually step one of asking, “How can I help you?” Seeing is caring.

I can see when a horse isn’t going to pick up the canter transition, or if he has no intention of reining back. I don’t need to kick him harder, or start pulling on the reins in desperation, because I could see beforehand that he wasn’t into it.

I can usually see the horse who is going to stop at the jump, from about three strides back. I can see the one who has no intention of getting onto the trailer because he has given us signs that this was what he was planning, long before he got to the door. I can see the horse who is going to kick the horse following too closely behind him, before he actually does. I can warn that rider, I can circle back, or I can just yield his haunches to the outside wall. Thing is, so can you!

I’ll watch people saddling a horse who is clearly telling them that he has a problem with girthing. They’ll continue on without so much as a fare-thee-well, ignoring the horse’s dirty looks and pinned ears. What are they needing the horse to say and do?! He’s practically shouting that they’re pushing ahead with something that isn’t okay with him. It’s up to them to figure out what it is, what they’re going to do about it to help him with that… or not.

I don’t know about you, but I want to help my horses be happy. I want to help them do good work and to live good lives. Sometimes, I just have to tell a cinchy horse that he doesn’t need to be that way, any more. That what was once necessary in his life just isn’t, any more.

Seeing is believing. Seeing is a gift, perhaps, but I happen to think it is just another skill that can be learned, if one wants it.

Now, you don’t always have to do anything when the horse tells you a clue as to what he is thinking but if you’re wise, you will pay attention, so that he doesn’t have to tell you any louder.

You will learn to not only see what is really going on with your own horses but also, with the horses around you. I’m not usually all that surprised when I am riding in a group and suddenly, everyone is on a bronc and people are getting bucked off, left right and centre.

I’m not surprised because I ‘read the room’ within the group. I could see that some already jangly horses were nearing threshold when those last two really green horses joined us. I could see that the energy was shifting like storm clouds. Therefore, I could feel it, too.

I could see that there was going to be some excitement happen when that other guy on the working cowhorse decided to fine tune his sliding stops and turnarounds. Because to these already alert horses, that advanced horse running and skidding must surely be frightened! They don’t know yet that sand being kicked against the boards is just an everyday part of western performance.

So, I can see that a group explosion is brewing, long before the arena manager suddenly throws open the big overhead door at the scary end.

I can see this but what can I do? I can get my horse’s attention, as best I can. I can move his feet in a well-known and comforting pattern. I can stay clear of the most worried of the horses, or the most oblivious of the riders, so that my horse has some time to watch and react to me, before they all blow.

It’s one of the reasons why I won’t be riding while listening to tunes on my ear buds. My ability to hear has a lot to do with how well I can see.

I will say that the wrecks I have had generally came about because I wasn’t paying attention. I ignored a sign (or multiples signs!) the horse was giving me, or I was out of tune with what was going on around me. I maybe wasn’t aware of an equipment malfunction… but each time, I wasn’t seeing what I needed to see.

We don’t need to be scared. We don’t need to be all watchy and amped up. We don’t need to be filled with dread, as though what we’re thinking is going to magically transpire into a real-life wreck, like a dark and twisty version of The Secret. That’s not how horses work; they’re not watching and waiting for us to trip ourselves up. They only want to know that you and I see, too.

For all the people who don't like to ride with their eyes up and softly scanning their surroundings, this is the biggest reason why. 'Eyes up' is no show ring affectation. By seeing, you're talking your horse's language, without things getting lost in translation.

Teach yourself to see and to really pay attention. We’re constantly told to ‘listen to the horse’ but I think it would make more sense if we learned to see and take note of what they are saying to us.

If we just did that, there’d be a lot fewer bad surprises, ‘right out of the blue’.

Photo: Cait Bascom.

08/31/2025

07/20/2025

Breakfast bed, mule style.

07/20/2025

Breakfast in bed, mule style.

07/20/2025

The day my father died, I was at the grocery store buying bananas.

I remember thinking to myself, “This is insane. Your dad just died. Why the hell are you buying bananas?”

But we needed bananas. We’d be waking up for breakfast tomorrow morning, and there wouldn’t be any bananas—so there I was.

And lots of other stuff still needed doing too, so over the coming days I would navigate parking lots, wait in restaurant lines, and sit on park benches; pushing back tears, fighting to stay upright, and in general always being seconds from a total, blubbering, room-clearing freak out.

I wanted to wear a sign that said: I JUST LOST MY DAD. PLEASE GO EASY.

Unless anyone passing by looked deeply into my bloodshot eyes or noticed the occasional break in my voice and thought enough to ask, it’s not like they’d have known what’s happening inside me or around me. They wouldn’t have had any idea of the gaping sinkhole that had just opened up and swallowed the normal life of the guy next to them in the produce section.

And while I didn’t want to physically wear my actual circumstances on my chest, it probably would have caused people around me to give me space or speak softer or move more carefully—and it might have made the impossible, almost bearable.

Everyone around you; the people you share the grocery store line with, pass in traffic, sit next to at work, encounter on social media, and see across the kitchen table—they’re all experiencing the collateral damage of living. They are all grieving someone, missing someone, worried about someone. Their marriages are crumbling or their mortgage payment is late or they’re waiting on their child’s test results, or they’re getting bananas five years after a death and still pushing back tears because the loss feels as real as it did that first day.

Every single human being you pass by today is fighting to find peace and to push back fear; to get through their daily tasks without breaking down in front of the bananas or in the carpool line or at the post office.

Maybe they aren’t mourning the sudden, tragic passing of a parent, but wounded, exhausted, pain-ravaged people are everywhere, everyday stumbling all around us—and yet most of the time we’re fairly oblivious to them:

Parents whose children are terminally ill.
Couples in the middle of divorce.
People grieving loss of loved ones and relationships.
Kids being bullied at school.
Teenagers who want to end their lives.
People marking the anniversary of a death.
Parents worried about their depressed teenager.
Spouses whose partners are deployed in combat.
Families with no idea how to keep the lights on.
Single parents with little help and little sleep.

Everyone is grieving and worried and fearful, and yet none of them wear the signs, none of them have labels, and none of them come with written warnings reading, I’M STRUGGLING. BE NICE TO ME.

And since they don’t, it’s up to you and me to look more closely and more deeply at everyone around us: at work or at the gas station or in the produce section, and to never assume they aren’t all just hanging by a thread. Because most people are hanging by a thread—and our simple kindness can be that thread.

We need to remind ourselves just how hard the hidden stories around us might be, and to approach each person as a delicate, breakable, invaluable treasure—and to handle them with care.

As you make your way through the world today, people won’t be wearing signs to announce their mourning or to alert you to the attrition or to broadcast how terrified they are—but if you look with the right eyes, you’ll see the signs.

There are grieving people all around you.

Go easy.

- John Pavlovitz

02/21/2025

Makes my blood boil

I was asked this question "Why, why, why is the BLM removing America's wild horses?

We as advocates, struggle with the removal of wild horses from the public lands. We feel strongly about witnessing the inhumane treatment the wild horses we cherish receive as helicopters arrive to chase, round up and remove the wild horses off of public lands. We struggle with the BLMs decision to euthanize otherwise healthy horses, who may have lost an eye, been injured and is lame or simply old. We all know they, just like humans, have good days and bad and are thriving in the wild just fine. Old horses are essential to the survival of the herd, as they are the professors. They hold the memories of where and when to go to survive. Even if they are blind in one eye or lame the rest of the band are their students and they are needed in the band.

But mostly we disagree with the reason they are being removed at all, the cost associated with the removal and outrageous cost of the ongoing care of the horses removed. Then the cruel loss of life in the process and terrible injuries. All this to benefit some corporate ranchers who feel entitled to be subsidized by the American public to graze their livestock on public lands, solely because it is the way it has been done. A program needed in 1934 to regulate grazing on public lands and prevent overgrazing, just might not be needed or be a benefit to the American taxpayer today. In 1934 it was needed, today we are just doing the same thing because the precedent was in place and that is the tradition and the people who benefit from the way it was then, feel they are entitled to continue receiving this benefit. Perhaps today It is an outdated program that is not the highest and best use of the land and not in the best interest in the citizens our government represents. Perhaps today someone needs to have the courage to end this antiquated program. But alas, what BLM employee or politician will have the courage to speak up and try to rock the boat or risk their pension, or worse, risk the rath of the agricultural community. Who has the courage to do that? Inquiring minds want to know.

Many people don't realize the heartbreaking truth about the plight of America's wild horses. It is difficult to get the story out to the general public who perhaps are not interested at first but might have real concerns if they understood and knew the truth. If they understood the brutal deaths, the pain and the orphaned foals, and then the thousands of our wild horses who have been transported over the border to be slaughtered. Young healthy horses slaughtered for profit and served for dinner. This has not been acceptable to Americans. They made this very clear in 1971.

It is not that people don't care, but rather that they are often unaware. We live in the information age and the average citizen is inundated with information about so many subjects on the 30 minutes to an hour when they watch the evening news. Politics, the Russian- Ukraine war, debt forgiveness for students loans, Elon Musk and his Trump relationship, the economy, Tariffs, fair playing fields for girls in sports and all those interesting celebrities doing naughty things like having s*x with teenagers. It is difficult at best to get the attention of the public on the plight of wild horses, especially since many people today have never even seen a wild horse, unless they saw them on Heartland or Yellowstone TV shows.

If the average American knew the exorbitant cost to taxpayers for using helicopters to chase down wild horses in brutal roundups, tearing apart equine families, and confining them in overcrowded facilities, they might be appalled. If they understood there is a less expensive way, they would be irritated to learn birth control is a method that will work to reduce the wild horse population, if only the Bureau of Land Management would make it a priority.. If they knew the cost to maintain the 63,000 wild horses held today in holding facilities across America, while they struggle to buy groceries, much less pay their taxes, they would at the very least be outraged. And then there is the question of political favors. Some ranchers house many wild horses and get paid a healthy fee for caring for them, not to mention the improvements to their ranch at BLM expense to make it acceptable for maintaining wild horses. It is rumored that the decision of where these horses are placed has become a very political issue Could it be that it is a favor to some special connected ranchers. Is it possible that like wild horse bands, who have ties and connection with the entire herd, there are also ties and connection between those that demand the removal of wild horses, those that financially benefit from their removal, after care and storage and those that are elected to office in that jurisdiction? Is it time for an unbiased investigation?

The way the message about the plight of wild horses is delivered can make a difference. If the public heard that 42 wild died in a recent roundup they might disapprove and seek additional information. However, when the manipulated message states, "The horses were removed due to a lack of forage to prevent starving horses," and then announce that the roundup was successful with less than a 2% loss, it might seem acceptable that 42 horses' lives were lost. But when you find a way to get to the public and find a way to tell them the whole story, that the 42 healthy horses died a painful death with broken legs, snapped at a gallop while being chased or as they tried to escape the fencing they were crowded into, broken necks as they were chased at a full run into a pipe corral panel or she aborted their foal as they were galloping across the desert being chased by a terrifying helicopter and then they collapsed from exhaustion. When they hear, that mares were just delivered to the holding facility with an udder full of milk, implying they recently had a foal, but no foal is with them, they might be concerned enough to want to know the rest of the story. They may be more empathetic to the plight of the wild horses when they know there is a 3-week-old c**t wandering alone out on the range, now orphaned with no family to protect him, because he was too small to keep up with the herd for the long chase. He will most likely lose his life to a predator tonight if he doesn't die of starvation.

But hey... the BLM was within the statistical guidelines. If this was a cattle drive and they lost 2%, would that be acceptable? Would chasing sheep or cows until they aborted be ok, if they only lost a few? The American public deserves to know what is happening to the wild horses they passionately created laws to protect in 1971 and congress UNANIMOUSLEY voted into law. It isn't that the information is being hidden, but is it being sugar coated? The story is delivered as data and written as reports. It reports it is deemed necessary to preserve the habitat the horses roam on due to overgrazing. But then shortly after the wild horses are removed, livestock is put in their place.

Our job as advocates is to let as many Americans know what is happening so the officials that are calling the shots can hear from the people they represent and perhaps alter the path they are taking. I have said for a few years, that there is huge risk that there will be budget cuts. It is only a matter of months there will be nearly 75,000 wild horses being held and maintained at a huge taxpayer's expense. Will it be deemed fiscally responsible to euthanize these many horses? That has been my prediction for the past few years. I can almost hear the voices saying, "let's move forward and remove them and then admit holding them is way too expensive." We have all heard it before, it is better to do and beg forgiveness, than to ask and be refused. I feel like we are being manipulated.

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02/21/2025

We should be outraged.

Don't let them tell you to rake leaves. We all know why that's not a good idea on this page.