by Melinda Folse

No matter how much we “Battle of the Bulge” veterans lament the extra pounds that plague us, the flip side of this problem is also one that has also been around for as long as anyone can remember. I know it’s hard to imagine for those of us who tend to fret about excess ballast, but there is another extreme of body image woes that are just as destructive to self-concept, both in and out of the saddle.

Despite the alarming statistics on obesity brought to us by our friends at the Center for Disease Control, an equally legitimate concern comes from society’s superficial obsession with being thin. Ironically, this extreme of body image issues—the obsession with “lightness”—is also a longtime resident in the horse world among jockeys whose livelihoods depend on a tiny profile, as well in show rings in disciplines whose traditions demand a willowy build. Eating disorders, starvation, and all the health-related illnesses that tend to arise from long-term deprivation of essential nutrients are not news to those in these worlds.

And now, even as obesity has continued its upward spiral for more than three consecutive decades, this mentality has filtered down to prey upon a growing number of girls and women feeling an ugly new pressure to be “show thin.” The barn, which for most of us is a no-makeup, bad-hair-day safety zone, has become, for some, a place of socially-driven body scrutiny, negative comparisons, and body angst that is spawning self-loathing, eating disorders, and self-esteem issues that can last a lifetime. Beyond the anxieties we all share over whether our riding breeches make our buttocks look like, as my grandmother used to say, “two pigs fighting under a blanket” (just try to get that dressing room image out of your mind. I challenge you), this is a real problem, and it’s hurting people.

Read more: “Show Thin”: Battling Sizism in the Horse Industry

By Dominique Barbier and Keron Psillas, Photographs by Keron Psillas.

I heard the name Mestre Nuno Oliveira in 1991, when I rode in my first clinic with Dominique Barbier. As the years passed and the clinics became more or less frequent, my knowledge of French classical dressage expanded, as did the mystique around the name Nuno Oliveira.

I read Reflections on Equestrian Art and then moved on to texts from de La Guérinière, The Duke of Newcastle, Baucher, and others. All the time I was working to understand how to apply these principles to my limited ability with my own horses.

In my mind’s eye I would even try to envision what it must have been like to be tucked away in Portugal, at the edge of the European continent, and yet, have the world coming to you to watch, to ride, to learn. I was imagining and dreaming of a Lusitano that would make my struggles to achieve lightness disappear.

Many years would pass until a fairytale-brought-to-life had me living in Portugal. I was still a dedicated student of Dominique and Debra Barbier’s teaching, visiting them often in California, and by this time (2011), I was also traveling to Brazil, Europe, and all over the United States to photograph (and sometimes even ride!) Lusitanos.

Living in Portugal has given me a much more nuanced understanding of the impact of Mestre Oliveira’s teaching. He is discussed, of course, around the lunch and dinner tables of riders, breeders, and aficionados of dressage and the Lusitano horse. These discussions go on for hours!

As the years pass there are fewer students alive, but I am lucky to be able to hear the stories first-hand. A few will argue that Oliveira’s legacy is being lost. And then the majority will speak up and disagree. My voice is added at that time.

Read more: Nuno Oliveira: A Man Possessed

By Richard N. Velotta / Las Vegas Review-Journal

It must be rodeo season in Las Vegas. Operators of the 1,000-room Plaza in Las Vegas made a bid to reclaim downtown’s western heritage Tuesday by officially opening Core Arena, downtown’s first permanent outdoor equestrian center.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and 2017’s 13th-ranked rodeo cowboy Matt Shiozawa presided over a ribbon-cutting event for the facility opening two days before the start of the 10-day 2018 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center and a day before a downtown hoedown on Fremont Street.

The new facility will feature two outdoor arenas for roping practice and exercise during NFR. After the rodeo concludes, the Plaza’s equestrian center will become the city’s newest outdoor event venue which operators say will diversify the downtown experience and attract more business and people downtown year-round.

Read more: Permanent Equestrian Center Opens in Downtown Las Vegas

by Madeleine Aggeler

Earlier this week, the world received this small blessing: Liam Neeson said that on the set of his new Coen Brothers movie, The Ballad of Buster Scurggs, one of the sweet, majestic horses actors remembered him from the set of a previous movie.

“I play a traveling impresario. We filmed in New Mexico. The odd thing is the horse who pulls my wagon knew me,” he told the crowd at the New York Film Festival, according to Cindy Sherman at “Page Six.”

“You won’t believe it. I’m saying this horse knew me. He actually remembered me from another Western we made a while back.”

How did Neeson know the horse, presumably a very good boy, remembered him? “He whinnied when he saw me, and pawed the ground.” Ah.

Shortly after “Page Six” published the story, Russell Crowe chimed in on Twitter, saying that he’s had two horses remember him over the course of his acting career — George and Rusty — whom he describes as “lifelong friends”.

Read more: Talking to an Expert About Liam Neeson’s Horse Friend

by Denny Emerson

There must be something buried in the human psyche that craves an object of blind devotion, else why would there be fans of anything? Think about it. A 10-year-old boy, typical in many respects, is blindly obsessed with baseball, say, the New York Yankees, and football, the New England Patriots. Now this kid has never met an actual Yankee or Patriot and probably never will. But if you want to start an argument that has no end, say something demeaning about either team and you will hear a vast litany of reasons why these two teams, and these alone, are superior to all others.

Political parties, religions, nationalities, hobbies, and brands of cars all have their champions (and their detractors), and often there isn’t much logic, analytical thinking, or empirical evidence underlying these obsessions. It’s no different in the large world of horses. Try telling a devotee of some particular breed that some other breed is better and you are right there arguing with that 10-year-old about the relative merits of the Yankees versus the Red Sox, with no hope of either party convincing the other in 10,000 years. You may be an obsessed dressage rider, but you’ll be highly unlikely to ever convince a barrel racer to switch disciplines.

Most of the horse breeds and the horse disciplines have entire subcultures surrounding them, with associations, magazines, websites, blogs, registries, and competitive venues in interlocking webs of support. Once you have decided to pick one and choose to become (pick one: a show jumper, an eventer, a trail rider) riding (pick one: a Thoroughbred, a Morgan, a Paint), there is an entire network created and designed to make you feel comfortable and part of something special and larger and more important than yourself.

Read more: Fandom Rules the Horse World

by Dianne de Guzman

Nov 15, 2018 - A horse was found in the backyard pool of a Paradise, Calif. resident, after the animal apparently tried to find a safe space as the Camp Fire moved through town.

Paradise resident Jeff Hill shared photos of the horse Sunday on Facebook. The photos showed the horse in a pool, but entangled in the pool cover.

"There's no telling how long she was there but she was shivering uncontrollably," Hill wrote. "She was all caught up in the pool cover but her being suspended by it prevented her from drowning."

Read more: Shivering Horse Found Waiting out Camp Fire in Backyard Pool

by Julie June Stewart

Harley the Magnificent! He is an American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft horse officially named “Daisy’s Chief Dane” but now is known as Harley when he escorts Thoroughbred horses to the racetrack. He is noticed whenever he is on the track at Churchill Downs or Keeneland. He is the number one stop on the Kentucky Derby Museum tour of the backside at Churchill Downs. If he is standing near the grandstand, you hear people shout out “Hello, Harley the Magnificent!” and then their hands stretch out to reach him. And now? Harley “the Famous Racehorse Pony” is a Breyer horse model and one of the stars of the 2018 BreyerFest!

Breyer horses began in the 1950s with a saddled Western horse. Their horses quickly became collectibles and the company has a long history with the “real horse world,” especially with the superstars of the horse-racing world. Their models have included American Pharoah, Man o’ War, Zenyatta, and Secretariat among others. It seemed natural to create a festival celebrating the wide variety of Breyer models.

Read more: How Harley the Magnificent Became a Breyer Horse Model

Lexington, KY – The feature show jumping event of the 2018 National Horse Show, the $250,000 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Lexington CSI4*-W brought 35 of the sport’s upper echelon horses and athletes to the Alltech Arena to compete head-to-head for the greatest share of the purse and valuable World Cup ranking points towards the 2019 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final in Gothenburg, Sweden. Representing the United States, Beezie Madden added to her winning streak, as she and Abigail Wexner’s Chic Hin D Hyrencourt outpaced the talented field with their careful and efficient jump-off trip to capture the coveted top prize in front of a packed house. Earlier in the day, Haley Gassel and Quite Dark 2 nabbed victory in the $50,000 Hollow Brook Wealth Management Show Jumping Hall of Fame Amateur-Owner/Junior Jumper Grand Prix.

In total, eight countries from four continents were represented in the premier contest of the evening, which is the eighth jewel of 14 in the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping schedule, and the group of entries included a staggering amount of talent, most notably the four gold medal-winning members of the NetJets U.S. Jumping Team from the World Equestrian Games: McLain Ward, Laura Kraut, Devin Ryan and Adrienne Sternlicht.

Read more: USA’s Beezie Madden and Chic Hin D Hyrencourt Gallop Home with $250,000 Longines FEI Jumping World...

by Nancy Bilyeau

In the second time in two years, an Iron Age chariot has been found buried in a Yorkshire community. The discovery was made in the town of Pocklington, England, at a construction site where more than 200 homes are being built.

As of early October 2018, archaeologists are working to fully excavate the find. Media reports say that not only a chariot but also horse and human remains were discovered.

Simon Usher, managing director at Persimmon Homes Yorkshire, said: “We can confirm that a significant archaeological discovery, featuring an Iron Age horse-drawn chariot, has been made at our development, The Mile in Pocklington. Careful excavation is ongoing by our archaeologists and a thorough investigation is in the process to date and detail the find.”

Read more: Iron Age Chariot Burial Site Found – Complete with Horse and Rider