Horse Sense and Cents

It can be tough to find good horse blogs. These are some we recommend you take a look at if you’re interesting in finding news of note. We’ve taken the time to review the sites and provide summaries below.  Hope you enjoy these finds as much as we did.

www.equinevip.com

This is a website home page, but it reads like a blog. It includes videos and focuses on people who have attained status in our society and enjoy horses.  Interviews and coverage ranges from mounted police, horse riders and trainers, non-equine celebrities and others who have a connection with equine companions. The site has a registration and log-in feature, but the videos are available to anyone who goes to the website along with blog-like written content without a log-in requirement. Posts are not in chronological order, but they are fairly frequent.

http://irishvillageatweg2010.blogspot.com/

This blog is a lot of fun with videos showing the versatility of the Irish Draught and Irish Draught Sport Horse as a teaser to demonstrations planned for WEG at Kentucky Horse Park in 2010. Short copy makes this an enjoyable and easy read with the support of mostly YouTube Links to Irish Draught progeny (a very different breed than the American version of drafts) that will be featured in showcase events. Sarah McMullen has created a reference for those interested in updates from WEG with a special focus on the Irish Draught and a dynamic and timely resource to keep you alerted to new happenings regarding this landmark event.

http://thealphamare.wordpress.com/

This is a new blog with only three posts to date, but worth checking out. The author discusses some horse and training techniques along with leadership issues as they pertain to horses and people.

http://matureriders.blogspot.com

Paul Sherland does this for pure fun – and it shows. I don’t agree with his benchmark for mature riders  (over forty years old – I resemble that remark, but sure don’t consider myself mature), but he does offer some great input on equipment, mindset, activities and tips for older riders who may have come to recognize they can be vulnerable and are now focused a wee bit on safety vs. bravado.  He’s also put the word out seeking guest contributors, so if you have something valuable to share, take a look at what he’s doing and consider contacting him with your idea for a post.

http://www.thepowerguides.com/horsesguide.html

This guy created this listing for his wife, and is now focused on heating equipment and energy concerns, but has managed to assemble a long list of horse blogs. Most are person al and not borne from professional knowledge or experience, but some are interesting and worth checking out. This is the most comprehensive list I’ve managed to find to date of quirky and diverse blogs coming exclusively from horse lovers. If you’ve discovered other good resources that assemble horse blogs (preferably with a searchable feature that works and/or categorized listings), let me know and we’ll check it out for a spotlight in the future.

http://horses.about.com/

Katherine Blocksdorf has created a blog here that offers brief tips and/or pointers to equine ideas or issues. She posts regularly and most of what she talks about will appeal to a very broad audience. This one is worth taking a look at for the things you never thought about factor. It’s not a training blog, but more a listing of ideas and resources you may not have considered as you accommodate your horse (or personal attire).

As noted earlier this month, we’re going to devote Thursdays featuring horse blogs we’ve found interesting, useful or curious for as long as you give us ideas to consider. We’ll provide a brief summary (with some opinion) and pointer to those we highlight. If you have a horse blog you like, or want us to take a look at what you’re doing, we’ll consider featuring your suggestion in the future.

www.Fuglyblog.com
This is a Wordpress blog (the author(s) remain anonymous) and site that offers some colorful commentary and boasts a good number of viewers (and advertisers). Their tagline may be the best description of what they do, namely:
Snarky commentary on the breeding of poor quality horses, silly or abusive training techniques and pretty much anything else that annoys me!

Posts are usually brief and appear mostly daily, which makes this a great quick regular distraction while providing some good issues to consider. Controversy is a consistent theme, but it’s not about raising hackles, but instead, calling out real issues most others tend to skirt. The writing style is fun and engaging and offers issues that all can identify with. This is one worth putting on an RSS feed.

http://iridedressage.blogspot.com
A relatively new blog, this site seems to involve a lot of stream of consciousness content, but also addresses some issues and provides resources for those focused on the dressage discipline. Visitor input is welcome and encouraged and the author seems willing to address concerns with future blog posts.

http://douglasemerson.blogs.com
Doug Emerson is focused on the sense and cents of professional industry endeavors and horse ownership. He provides issues to consider when emotion can get in the way of making smart business decisions and is also starting to add some affiliate recommendations for tools to help those in the horse industry manage their business more effectively. He also offers a free newsletter at http://www.profitablehorseman.com.

http://stalecheerios.com/blog
This gal is a great writer, artful in her presentation and good about supplementing blog content with pictures and video. Frankly, I disagree with much of what she heralds as gospel (she’s a strong believer in applying dog training precepts to horses), but she presents it so well, it’s hard not to get engaged given her enthusiasm and conviction. She admits she’s a college student, but given the maturity of her thoughts, posts and presentation, I suspect she’s a student that took some time off to learn from life. Even if you are not an advocate of training horses with treats and excessive stimuli, it’s worth checking out her blog to learn how to present in a convincing and effective manner.

When I first started trying to find useful and relevant equine blogs, I had a tough time locating smart, useful and interesting material through the traditional google searches, blog list giants and standard search tools. So, I got busy putting out queries to groups, listserves, LinkedIn communities and other online devices to see if I could uncover some hidden gems. Well, I was amazed by how much is out there once I started a more personal inquiry process.

For the next month, we’ll feature links and summaries to unusual and/or standout equine blogs with summaries, pointers and comment on the material. Do you have a favorite horse blog? Let us know and we’ll consider spotlighting it in a future Thursday blog post.

Nanette Levin, publisher

Horse Sense and Cents book series