Fading Hoofbeats

09/20/2026

I just published this because the deadline is close.

The U.S. Forest Service is considering changes to its Travel Management Rule that could affect how bicycles, e-bikes, horses, motorized users, and others share National Forest roads and trails.

This is not an anti-bike or anti-e-bike piece. It is about trail design, sight distance, speed, horse behavior, and what can happen when different users meet without enough time or space to react safely.

Public comments on Docket FS-2026-0100 close September 23.

If you ride, hike, bike, use e-bikes, maintain trails, or spend time on National Forest lands, please take a few minutes to read this and consider submitting a comment of your own.

E-bike horse trail safety is part of the Forest Service Travel Management Rule debate. Learn the risks and how to comment by Sept. 23.

09/11/2026

A court order stopped the emergency gather at Oregon’s Riddle Mountain Herd Management Area, and some advocates called it a victory.

But approximately 70 percent of the range has burned, forage and water are reportedly scarce, and nearly 418 wild horses remain on the damaged land.

The proposed gather carries real costs: fear, broken family bands, loss of freedom, and an uncertain future in federal holding. Delaying it may carry costs of its own.

Mustang advocacy matters. But before we celebrate any decision made in the name of the horses, shouldn’t we ask what that decision will cost them?

My newest Fading Hoofbeats article looks at both sides of a difficult question:

When Advocacy Hurts the Horse

https://www.fadinghoofbeats.com/when-mustang-advocacy-hurts-the-horse/

04/05/2026

I built this herb garden thinking it would just be a small enrichment idea…

It ended up becoming something my horses use every single day.

There’s something different about giving them a space where they can choose—what to nibble, what to leave, what to come back to.

It’s simple, but it feels like it matters.

If you’ve ever wondered about safe herbs, or ways to give your horse a little more say in their day, I put everything together here:
https://www.fadinghoofbeats.com/lush-horse-herb-garden-planter-jpg/

03/27/2026

Three days ago, I published a new post that grew out of the incredible response to my earlier raincoat story about Floki.

What stayed with me was the deeper pattern underneath so many of the comments. It was not just protective behavior. It was belonging.

Again and again, people described moments when their horses, especially their mustangs, seemed to do more than react. They stayed close, checked in, stood guard, or took their humans into account in ways that felt deeply personal. That made me wonder whether some of those moments may be signs that we have been accepted, in some meaningful way, as part of the herd.

This new post is called Does Your Mustang Accept You as Part of the Herd?

When mustangs accept us as part of the herd, their behavior can change in quiet but powerful ways. A reflective look at belonging, trust, and the horse-human bond.

03/24/2026

I published a new Fading Hoofbeats post this morning and meant to share it sooner, but the day got away from me.

This one grew out of the incredible stories people shared after my raincoat post about Floki. What stayed with me was the deeper pattern underneath so many of those comments: belonging. The feeling that, sometimes, a horse is doing more than reacting. Sometimes, he may be counting us in.

This new post is called Does Your Mustang Accept You as Part of the Herd?

When mustangs accept us as part of the herd, their behavior can change in quiet but powerful ways. A reflective look at belonging, trust, and the horse-human bond.

03/21/2026

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what kind of “rules” should come with having horses.

Not rules about control. Not rules about winning. More like the quieter kind — the kind built from paying attention, making mistakes, learning to listen better, and remembering that horses are not here just to serve every human plan.

So I wrote down 17 horse rules I believe in.

Things like:

Trust matters more than obedience.
If they say no, ask why — and accept that they get a say.
Progress without consent is not progress.
Don’t expect withdrawals from the trust bank if you haven’t made deposits first.

This one came straight from living with horses who have taught me, over and over, that the relationship is shaped by what we put into it.

If you’d like to read it, it’s here:
https://www.fadinghoofbeats.com/horse-rules/

And I’d really love to hear this part too:

What horse rule would you add?

These 17 horse rules are about more than obedience. They’re about trust, consent, dignity, safety, and building a real relationship.

03/13/2026

Has your mustang ever tried to protect you from something that scared him?

On a rainy morning, my hooded raincoat made both horses uneasy. But once Floki decided I was still me, I believe his concern shifted from fear to protection. What he did next didn’t feel like “bad behavior” at all. It felt like he was trying to get the strange thing off me.

This new post is about trust, herd instinct, and one quiet moment that meant a lot to me.

Read here:

Mustang protective behavior can show up in surprising ways. On a rainy morning at the farm, Floki went from fearing my hooded raincoat to trying to get it off me because I believe he thought he was protecting me.

03/10/2026

Do your horses notice when something changes in you before you do?

This morning on Fading Hoofbeats, I’m sharing a post that grew out of something I’ve been quietly wondering about for a while: whether horses sometimes pick up on subtle changes in us long before we fully understand them ourselves.

Not dramatic changes. Smaller ones. Quieter ones. A little more hesitation. A little more distance. The kind of thing horse people often feel, but struggle to prove.

This new post is about Floki, Lagertha, and the possibility that horses may notice far more than we realize.

If this has ever happened to you, I’d truly love to hear your story.

https://www.fadinghoofbeats.com/does-your-horse-notice-when-something-changes/

Does your horse notice when something changes in their humans? A personal look at how Floki and Lagertha reacted after a health change, and why horses may sense more than we realize.

03/01/2026

Today’s new post is about something I have been learning slowly with Floki and Lagertha: the difference between a horse who has gone quiet and a horse who is truly with you.

For a long time, I thought being gentle was enough. And gentleness does matter. But these two have been teaching me that even soft handling can still become pressure if the horse is never allowed a real voice.

I want more than compliance. I want conversation. I want to listen better, ask more carefully, and make room for the horse’s mind, not just his body.

This new piece is about that shift, and about why treating horses as sentient beings changes the way we should think about trust, behavior, and what we call a “good horse.”

I also made a matching Trail Break word search to go with it for anyone who wants a quiet extra moment with the theme.

You can read the post here:
https://www.fadinghoofbeats.com/learning-to-listen-instead-of-demand/

And the Trail Break is here:
https://www.fadinghoofbeats.com/trail-break-learning-to-listen-instead-of-demand/

Take a quiet break with this Trail Break word search inspired by Learning to Listen Instead of Demand and the themes of trust, patience, and respectful horsemanship.

02/12/2026

A horse is invited to a pan of feed, hesitates, commits… and then is beaten for trusting the invitation.

That isn’t a boundary. It isn’t “bad timing.” It’s a trap — and a trap isn’t training.

I wrote this because the horse pays the price when we excuse betrayal as “education.” Here’s what it does to trust, to the nervous system, and to safety around food — and what fair boundaries look like instead:

Read it here:

A horse is invited to food, then punished for trusting the invitation. Why “bait-and-punish” handling damages the nervous system, trust, and safety in the moment trust is broken.