Barn Lounge

BY MARY WOODS 2018 Equestrian Voices Creative Nonfiction Honorable Mention In Memoriam “So, I just wanted to let...

BY JAMIE SKUBAL Many times, my trainers preached to “Look between the ears” or “Look where you are going next, not down at his head.” I always thought they just wanted...

BY JESS CLAWSON Rittmueller’s father, Dr. Kim Braeutigam, runs Four Winds Equine Hospital and Michigan Equine Surgical Associates on the same property where her mother, Chris Braeutigam, established her...

BY LAUREN MAULDIN Hey there local show rider. It’s 4:25pm, and you’ve been sitting in the hot dust waiting for the hack for an hour because someone told you it was...

BY CARLY EASTERN 2018 Equestrian Voices Creative Writing Contest Distinguished Entry In my experience, there are three kinds of humans that attend a sale of horses: teachers buying...

BY JESS CLAWSON For many of us, riding as a kid meant galloping bareback through fields instead of glossy ponies and hunter courses. Ada Cosby is no exception. She...

BY LAUREN MAULDIN I used to be kind of tough. Not “Hold my phone, I’m going to go jump the round bale tough,” but tough enough....

BY RENNIE DYBALL I got back in the saddle the day I was cleared to ride.  Anxiety did its best to eat me alive on the...

BY JESS CLAWSON Every rider, trainer, and owner of horses has one thing in common: we’re all worried about our horses’ soundness and health on some level. Whether our...

Recently, TPH editor Lauren Mauldin did something she never thought she'd do—buy a gray horse. While she (already) spends a lot of time...

BY JAMIE SKUBAL How many of us have hit a stage in our riding when we just want to give up? Currently, I’m sitting in the...

BY JESS CLAWSON Peg Seals got her start riding ponies at birthday parties, and is now one of the top professionals on the East Coast. She owns Freedom Farm...

BY JESS CLAWSON Pam Baker’s name is familiar in the hunter/jumper world, and with good reason. She has spent a lifetime in the industry. A master of the craft,...

BY JESS CLAWSON Maria Shannon has been riding since before she could walk. She had the good fortune to be born into an equestrian family. Parents Tom and Claiborne...

BY JESS CLAWSON This Pride Month project of having queer equestrian conversations has been a special experience, and one that I hope readers are carrying on in their own...

BY SARA ZIMMERMAN If you’re anything like me, cognitive dissonance is extremely uncomfortable. The holding of multiple, contrary beliefs or positions, that your brain can’t quite reconcile. The tension...

The Plaid Horse was first published as a newspaper print magazine in 2003 when George W. Bush was the President and “Hey-Ya” was at the top of the music charts.  In an...

BY JESS CLAWSON The horse world, at least the English side of it, seems to have a lot more openly gay men involved than in other professional sports. While...

BY ELIZABETH ONESS 2018 Equestrian Voices Honorable Mention One August, I came home from a local fair where kids were getting pony rides and said...

BY SISSY WICKES Vinissa Blann is a familiar face at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida. With a breadth of expertise, she can be found in the hunter,...

BY JESS CLAWSON Zachary Parks had an unlikely start to his equestrian career. During his very first ride, on the beach in California, he fell off and got his...

BY JESS CLAWSON Kasey Evans understands that good things take time. The southwestern Virginia resident takes the long view on green horses and riders, which lets her keep an...