On Loan to Us
As humans we will take about 700 million breaths in our lifetime. Horses will take around 450 million. What is this invisible thing that...
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Blog
crissimcdonald
- Jan 10
- 0 min
They are not mine
Horses galloping across the snow.
crissimcdonald
- Jan 10
- 4 min
Rivers of Change
“What people have the capacity to choose, they have the ability to change.” Madeleine Albright Things are changing in the horse world....
crissimcdonald
- Mar 18, 2022
- 4 min
The Devolution of the Pushbutton Horse
About a decade ago, I went to the Scottsdale All Arabian Horse show. I was excited to revisit a place I had happy childhood and early...
crissimcdonald
- Feb 16, 2022
- 4 min
What Sustains You?
We were working in Arizona last month, doing a series of clinics. After the warm day had cooled to a crisp desert evening, my friend Lori...
crissimcdonald
- Feb 2, 2021
- 4 min
Truce
When I started learning about horses, it was from a place of deep and abiding love. The way of being with horses that I fell into came...
crissimcdonald
- Oct 4, 2020
- 4 min
Sanity in a Wheelbarrow
I confess: cleaning stalls, scrubbing water troughs, and slinging hay have been my lifelines to sanity this year. Add in horsehair in my...
crissimcdonald
- Aug 24, 2020
- 4 min
Thinking, Judging, Feeling
Despite several big worries that have been gnawing their way through my psyche today, that hot bath feeling of peace visited me. A part...
crissimcdonald
- May 5, 2020
- 5 min
Bree Returns
I didn’t know I needed to see Bree until I saw her again. Five years had passed since she and I had the accident that put me in the...
crissimcdonald
- Mar 29, 2020
- 4 min
Shedding A heavy coat
Rocky and Crissi. It’s that time of year. Our horse Rocky is so itchy, he’s rubbing up against pine trees to scratch the hair off. I took...
crissimcdonald
- Jan 14, 2020
- 5 min
The Best Tools
There’s an expression currently making its rounds in the horse world. “It’s another tool for my toolbox.” Having answers to our horse’s...
crissimcdonald
- Dec 21, 2019
- 5 min
The Season of Acceptance
There are things I like about this time of year. The Christmas lights that festoon the trees lining our downtown main street are magical,...
crissimcdonald
- Nov 12, 2019
- 4 min
Excerpt from “Continuing The Ride.”
In the summer, I like to keep a few pots of herbs and vegetables on our south-facing porch. The growing season is short where we live,...
crissimcdonald
- Sep 9, 2019
- 4 min
You Already Have Timing and Feel
As I was brushing our horses yesterday, I noticed that despite the rivulet of sweat running down my back, their short summer coats were...
crissimcdonald
- Jul 20, 2019
- 4 min
Your Horse Isn’t Distracted
After learning about the horse’s brain at a recent seminar and getting to hold a horse brain, I felt a thrill much like roller coasters...
crissimcdonald
- Jun 29, 2019
- 4 min
Living In The Center
As we stood at the gate to the horse’s paddock on a sunny afternoon, my nephew said: “Aunt Crissi, I want to pet every horse in the pen!”...
crissimcdonald
- May 20, 2019
- 3 min
A Gratitude of Horses
Thorny was an old cowboy my parents knew, and the first person who introduced me to horses. I was still in diapers, holding on to the...
crissimcdonald
- Apr 16, 2019
- 3 min
The Whole Horse
It was a warm and sunny morning as I chatted with Jaycee about what she would like to work on with her horse Scamp. “I’ve been making him...
crissimcdonald
- Mar 6, 2019
- 4 min
Removing Mental Hobbles
Life–and horses, for that matter– both have an uncanny knack of knowing just when you need a little insight and humility. We recently...
crissimcdonald
- Feb 20, 2019
- 4 min
Assumptions and Knowledge
Photo: Crissi McDonald I was in my mid-twenties when I started training horses (and assumed I knew more than I actually did). I brought...
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