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10/23/2026

DIY horse enrichment doesn’t have to be complicated! 📦🐴💙

Here’s how to make a simple puzzle feeder using a cardboard box and some horse-safe treats or forage.

A few things to keep in mind before handing it over to your horse:

⚠️ Safety first
• Inspect the box carefully for sharp edges, staples, exposed metal, or anything else that could cause injury.
• Remove loose tape and any tape your horse might chew on. If your horse likes eating cardboard or chewing on boxes, remove all tape.
• Always supervise your horse with new enrichment items, and remove the box if they start eating it, damaging it in an unsafe way, or getting frustrated.

🌱 Make it easier or harder
• Easier: Leave the box completely open so treats are easy to find.
• Harder: Once your horse understands the game, partially close the box to make the treats a little trickier to reach.
• Consider the box: A flexible box is generally easier to manipulate than a very sturdy one. Gelly’s box is quite stiff, which made it a harder puzzle than you might expect!

💡 My biggest tip: Start EASY!

For the first session, leave the box completely open and let your horse explore and forage without needing to solve a puzzle. Give them time to figure it out at their own pace. You can always add difficulty later!

Enrichment should offer opportunities to explore and problem-solve, not become a test your horse has to pass. For reference - Gelly gets a puzzle box every couple of months so he knows the drill by now💚

Save this for your next enrichment day, and let me know if you try it with your horse!

10/21/2026

Quarantine, but make it ✨enrichment✨ 📦🐴

One of the challenges of stall rest, quarantine, or any kind of confinement is finding ways to keep our horses’ brains busy when their usual activities are limited.

Enter: the DIY puzzle feeder!

This little box encourages natural foraging behaviors, lets horses investigate something new, and gives them a chance to problem-solve at their own pace. Sometimes enrichment doesn’t need to be fancy or expensive. Sometimes it’s just a box, a few snacks, and a curious horse. 💙

Gelly is settling into quarantine at his new barn, so we’re getting creative with ways to make his days a little more interesting.

Because enrichment isn’t just about keeping them busy. It’s about giving them opportunities to explore, make choices, and just be horses.

Stay tuned - I’ll share how to make your own! 👀

What’s your horse’s favorite way to get a little extra enrichment?

10/07/2026

Some great views from my clinic From Stiff to Strong!

09/16/2026

💧 Friendly reminder: a full water bucket doesn’t necessarily mean a clean water bucket!

It can be really tempting to just top off a bucket when there’s still plenty of water left, especially when it looks mostly clean. But horses can drop hay, dirt, slobber, feed, and all sorts of other things into their water throughout the day. That stuff can settle on the bottom and create a nice little environment for bacteria and algae to grow.

Even if your horse's bucket is still full, dumping it out, giving it a quick scrub, and refilling it with fresh water is an easy way to keep their water cleaner and more appealing.

Clean water is one of the simplest - and most important - things we can provide for our horses. 💚

Consider this your friendly reminder to dump, clean, and refill - not just top off. 🪣✨

Be honest… when was the last time you scrubbed out your horse's bucket?👇

Welcome to what may or may not become a series! 😄 Don't worry—I'm not big enough to be sponsored (yet). These are all pr...
09/11/2026

Welcome to what may or may not become a series! 😄 Don't worry—I'm not big enough to be sponsored (yet). These are all products I've personally purchased, use regularly, and genuinely like. Most of these are things I get asked about by other people at my barn, so it felt right to share!

In no particular order:

🪣 The Better Bucket: Gelly has the larger 20 qt size, which can be hard to find in stores and usually requires oversized shipping, BUT it's totally worth it - especially for older horses! It encourages a more natural feeding angle, and for Gelly it helps him eat all of his food without making a mess.

⚡ White Lightning: This has been an absolute godsend when it comes to dealing with thrush and white line infections in Gelly's delicate OTTB hooves. I usually only need one or two treatments to knock out an infection.

🐴 yeezo Hoof Soaking Boots: I found these on Amazon, and they've held up to more than three years of heavy use! I love that they come as a pair, have a foam pad to help them keep their shape, and include extra Velcro straps to keep them secure. They work great for Gelly's White Lightning treatments.

💊 Omneity Premix from MadBarn: I started using this when I suspected Gelly might have PPID because it contains complete B-vitamins, and I'd read research suggesting B-vitamin supplementation may help lessen symptoms. I'm happy to say I saw a dramatic improvement in Gelly's coat, mood, and overall condition. Gelly still gets regularly tested for PPID, but he no longer shows the signs that initially had me concerned.

🧽 CoolDown Rinse: For those hot, humid summer weeks, this stuff is amazing! Gelly is very sensitive to the heat, and I like to sponge him down with this after a cold rinse to help him stay more comfortable. It did take a little getting used to because the menthol has a slight tingle, but once he realized it actually felt good, he had no problem with it.

Have you tried any of these? Let me know in the comments 👇

I'd love to hear what products you swear by -I might have to check them out!


Gelly’s Story 🖤Gelly and I met when I started leasing him sometime around 2020. I swore up, down, and sideways that I wo...
09/09/2026

Gelly’s Story 🖤

Gelly and I met when I started leasing him sometime around 2020. I swore up, down, and sideways that I would NOT be buying him. I even made a list of arguments for myself, just in case I ever changed my mind.

Well… I lost that battle. 😂

Somewhere along the way, Gelly fell in love with me, and I fell in love with him. I knew I couldn’t leave him behind, so I bought him in March 2022.

At the time, Gelly - or Gelato, as he was called then hence the "G" in Gelly - had spent about 10 years as a lesson horse at a jumping barn. Before that, he had raced from the age of 2 to 5. He had spent much of his life being asked to work, and by the time I met him, he had accumulated a LOT of baggage.

He was known as the grumpy, difficult horse. He had a reputation for biting, throwing kids, and being extremely girthy. Under saddle, he could barely maintain a canter for more than a few strides, and he had learned to drag himself around by his shoulders rather than engaging his back and hind end.

I strongly suspected he was uncomfortable, possibly even dealing with kissing spines, but I didn't know exactly what was going on yet.

What I did know was that I couldn't just ask him to try harder.

So when I bought him, we slowed EVERYTHING down.

I worked on his nutrition. I gave him months off from riding and lunging. For about six months, his job was simply to exist, decompress, and learn that when he said “no,” I would listen.

And slowly, he started to change.

I found a barn where he could spend as much time outside with a herd as possible. We started doing groundwork and gradually rebuilding his strength.

But the biggest change wasn't physical.

It was Gelly.

He became curious. Trusting. Interested in his surroundings. He started coming to meet me instead of avoiding me. He became eager to be caught and excited to have a job.

We still didn't ride much, and honestly, we didn't need to.

We went for walks. We worked at liberty. We explored. We played. And somewhere along the way, Gelly helped shape the groundwork program I have today.

Now, at 21 years old, Gelly and I still only ride about once a week, if that.

And somehow, he looks younger now than he did at 15.

People who meet him today can hardly believe he was ever labeled an aggressive horse.

But that's exactly why his story means so much to me.

Behavior is communication.

For years, Gelly was communicating that something wasn't right. Maybe he was in pain. Maybe he was overwhelmed. Maybe he simply didn't understand what was being asked of him. Probably all of the above.

Whatever the reason, his behavior was telling us something.

And when we only label a horse as “naughty,” “mean,” or “difficult,” we can miss the message entirely.

Gelly didn't need to be made tougher.

He needed someone to listen.

I'm so glad I lost that battle with myself and bought him anyway. 💙

Because Gelly didn't just become a different horse.

He taught me to become a better horsewoman.

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