How Were You Taught to Take Your Left Foot Out of the Stirrup While...
The Plaid Horse Adult Amateur Lounge on Facebook is 7,300 members strong! Come join us for all types of discussion, like one thread this month where a member asked: How Were You Taught to...
Guide to Appropriate Barn Attire
By Tatum Mitchell
“You have to look the part to be the part.”
That was one of the first lessons I learned as a horse person. Knowing the most appropriate attire for barn activities is a...
Trainer Takes: What is Catch Riding?
By Tatum Mitchell
Catch riding is a regular activity within the horse industry, but for someone new to the sport, it’s a phrase that doesn’t quite translate directly. Even for veterans of the sport, the...
Reflecting on Seasons of Riding and Life
BY CAELIN KORDZIEL
Maybe it’s my age or maybe the arrival of that time in summer when the days are long and the evening fresh air just has a way of lifting my spirits, but...
12 Students Participate in MET Grant Week at Stonewall Farm
By Tatum Mitchell
This week, 12 Metropolitan Equestrian Team students received grants for a week-long equestrian training session at Emily Elek’s Stonewall Farm in Ixonia, Wisconsin. During the first day of the training session,...
Layers of Loss: Understanding Grief
BY JESSICA SHANNON
Grief is heavy and complex. Thankfully, people are increasingly vulnerable in discussing their personal grief, but there had to be a shift in our culture’s validation and acceptance of grief before that...
The Plaid Horse Questionnaire With: Colleen Acosta
Fairway Farm owner and trainer • Cross Roads, TX
I am most proud of: my horsemanship.
I would most like to improve on: organization.
I’d be lost without: spurs in my tack trunk and sticky spray in...
The Equestrians of Color Photography Project: Meet Quinnten Alston, Brittany Hazzard & Lara Rahman
The Plaid Horse is proud to introduce some of the photo project’s featured equestrians to our readers in each issue
In 2020, a group of photographers came together to create the Equestrians of Color Photography...
The Trials of Buying a Horse for My 59-year-old Self
By Mary Ann Rohbaugh
I started riding at 8 when my aunt bought me a pony she found tied up in someone’s front yard eating grass. I think he was their lawn mower. He cost...
Never Give Up A Chance To Ride Your Horse
BY SARAH BRZOZOWY
Jobs, homes, children, partners, responsibilities. Adulting takes a toll on our time, and on our stress levels. As an Assistant Superintendent of Schools, a wife, and a mother of two heavily scheduled...
One Trainer’s Opinion On Camaraderie Between Barns
BY SARAH CARTER
I have always known the horse world is competitive. Personally, I’m competitive with myself but appreciate the successes of my colleagues. As a member of the middle class, I recognize that getting...
Play versus Work: A Mindset and a Process for Improving the Relationship with Your...
by Elli Pospischil
Do you remember when you used to play?
Wasn’t that a carefree time when you played with dolls, played hide & seek, played board games, played catch, played Simon Says, played charades, played...
Show Strides Book Series to be Sold at The Devon Horse Show
The Show Strides book series, written by The Plaid Horse Publisher Piper Klemm, Ph.D., and The Plaid Horse Editorial Manager Rennie Dyball, will be sold at The Devon Horse Show, which runs May 26,...
The Plaid Horse to Have Media Partnership and Magazine Distribution with The Devon Horse...
The Plaid Horse has joined The Devon Horse Show as a media partner with magazine distribution for its 2022 edition. The show, recognized as a US Equestrian Heritage Competition, runs May 26, 2022 through...
Tracy Fenney: Horses in Your Blood
by Ann Jamieson
Tracy Fenney was elected the National Equestrian of the Year in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. The timing of it was perfect for her, because "It was a good year...
Ride and Die: A Look Into Why Riders Struggle With Body Image Distortion and...
BY ANNABELLE JONES
One hundred thousand dollars. For many people, this is a significant portion of their home, multiple vehicles, or even a lifetime of groceries. But for an equestrian athlete, this can be the...
THIS Rider Profile: Shannon Davidson
BY TYLER BUI
Shannon Davidson is always on the go, traveling from coast to coast juggling her two passions: riding and fashion. She sat on her first pony at age two and began her riding...
How to Leave Your Trainer (politely) in 10 Easy Lessons
BY DAPHNE THORNTON OF TWO BIT TRAINING
I had the loveliest coffee date with a young woman who left my program. She’d been with me for a long time. She gave her notice to the current...
Stall ‘in Time: Life Off the Clock
BY CATHERINE MUZZY
The calendar and clock shaped the schedule of my life as a parent of three and a former educator. Likewise, the school calendar and the clock have traditionally governed “how families organize...
Book Excerpt: The Year of the Horses, A Memoir by Courtney Maum
Reprinted with permission from Tin House
It was an early morning like any other at the upstate polo club: Danny, Carlos, Victor, Leah, and I were readying the ponies for the gallop track. I was...
Horse Rescued from New Holland Auction Returns to Pennsylvania for Devon
BY TINA SILVA
“Roameo” is slated to make his debut in “Leadline at Devon” as he carries his young rider in the show ring. But his path to the show is different from most of...
It Happens! Laena Romond, Molly Ashe Cawley, Tim Maddrix
By Tyler Bui
We all make mistakes. But horse people, as a group, aren’t always the best at handling them. So TPH reached out to some top riders to share their own show ring bloopers...
