Kristen Kovatch
Going Dutch: On Tennessee Walkers, ‘Big Lick’ and Equine PTSD
Candace Wade speaks with Dutch Henry, an equine author, advocate for equine rehabilitation and critic of the Tennessee Walking Horse “Big Lick” show industry.
A Comic to Kick Off Your Week
Need a little comic relief for your Monday? You’ll get a kick out of Kellie Lewis’ latest comic!
KickyBrand.com is an online horse lovers site currently selling clothing, greeting cards and stickers. It also routinely publishes a cartoon strip by Kellie Lewis that has a little bit of kick to it.
‘Oh Crap’ Monday
Here’s our latest batch of reader-submitted photos and videos!
SmartPak Monday Morning Feed: Equinox 365 Q&A
Have you heard of SmartPak’s Equinox 365 program? We’re sharing a Q&A session about this program courtesy of the SmartPak blog.
Kentucky Performance Products: Transitioning the OTTB, Part I
Introducing a new six-part article series from Kentucky Performance Products to help horse owners prepare for the various challenges of transitioning an off-track Thoroughbred!
The 7 People You Meet at the Feed Store
Akin to the equestrian’s bar.
Best of Craigslist, Volume 44
In today’s edition: a serious price drop, a mare with her own rulebook and a work-wanted ad like none other.
Best of Craigslist (and Facebook, and equine advertising sites … we don’t discriminate) is a constant treasure trove of the fascinating, the bizarre and the tragically misspelled. We gather the best that the internet has to offer and package it up in one neat post for your reading enjoyment.
We’ll kick things off with this ad from Halle: “I honestly can’t decide if this one’s a joke or not … ”
We can’t tell either. What we do know, however, is that this is one serious price drop — grab that bargain while it’s hot, people! From Jill:
We do love ads with plenty of description, as well as an illustrative photo that shows us conformation. Like, you know, this one, from Halle:
Hey, this seller’s being plenty honest! From Jill:
This list of rules is pretty hysterical, but at the end of the day we have to admit that Princess Cam sounds like our kind of girl, and we hope she finds a good home. From Sara:
Cam is a 16hh, 10 year old Standardbred that is moody, has a flair for the dramatics and hates the term “Primadonna” as she prefers the title of “Princess Cam”.
Rules of Royalty & Things To Know:
1. Princess Cam expects her subjects to fawn over her every move, if she rolls in the dirt she expects to hear applause at the size of her dust cloud. If she graces you with her presence, give her a treat for her to enjoy while she gazes at you in disdain. Sour Skittles and flavored Oatmeal are her favorites.
2.If she asks to be groomed she ONLY allows her black and pink bedazzled princess brush to be used on her luxurious grulla coat. When it comes to her pedicures, she is a willing subject but if a peasant dares to handle her roughly she will remind them of their status with a judicious kick of frightening speed and power. Princess Cam will also fart in the face of those who waste her time with hoof picking as she believes her royal hooves stay naturally clean.
3.Princess Cam is gifted with natural athleticism and speed. She frequently shows her god given gifts by running from one end of the pasture to the other while breaking the sound barrier. If in a jovial mood she will perform airs above ground, especially in the presence of tiny birds that fly out unexpectedly.
4. Princess Cam is a big supporter of state parks and promoting conservation. Trail rides through the various local state parks are her favorite physical activity…second to fighting crime.
If your kingdom is currently in need of a bold ruler that will quell all opposition and potential barnyard uprisings, please text 8-six-five-765-four-3-three-six.
So you found enlightenment and the true path — we’re all about that, and we’re happy for you! But we’re not entirely sure what it has to do with your work-wanted ad … from Mandy:
And we’ll close out this week with a little Facebook humor — because we know we’ve enjoyed plenty of “thoroughbreads” in Best of Craigslist before. From Jill:
Readers, if you run across an “interesting” ad in your Internet wanderings, send it our way! Email the link to [email protected]. Who knows – maybe you’ll help connect a horse with a safe, loving home. Go Riding.
Photo Challenge: Top 10 Funniest Horse Faces
Whether you happened to catch them at a bad moment or they’re particularly good at making bizarre facial expressions, these 10 reader-submitted horses take the cake for funny photos.
Standing Ovation by Ovation Riding: Turning for Home
Each Friday, Horse Nation teams up with Ovation Riding to spotlight an individual or organization doing good work in the horse world. Today, we recognize Turning for Home, an OTTB placement group based at Parx Racing.
Video: Horse Riding Horse is So Meta
The creepy horse mask will never not be sinister and unsettling, but we’ve got to hand it to this reader for creative application.
Photo Challenge: 20 Reader-Submitted Equine Funny Faces (Preliminary Round)
We received so many good entries for this week’s photo challenge that we decided to exhibit them in two rounds! Today, we’re taking a look at the honorable mentions in the preliminary round.
#TBT: Elite Daily Sends Fake Jockey to Belmont Stakes
And it’s pretty hilarious how many intoxicated racegoers seem to believe that he’s the real deal.
Horse Radio Network Featured in New Podcast Documentary
The story of how our favorite podcast for horse lovers developed into a globally-recognized network — and how founder Glenn the Geek helped pave the way for podcasters in all fields — will be featured in ‘The Messengers’ podcast documentary!
SpectraVET Performance of the Week: Tepin Takes Ascot
American mare Tepin traveled to England to run in the Grade I Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot. Against some of Europe’s top male milers, she conquered a number of challenges for an impressive win!
World Equestrian Brands Helmet Cam: Combined Driving Marathon at Elk Creek
This video is long, but trust us: it’s worth it to ride along with the navigator for the marathon portion of combined driving behind a pair of unstoppable AraboFriesians while rocking out to Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Age of Ignorance: ‘Rescued’ Dartmoor Foal Dies Despite Best Intentions
A group of well-intentioned but ill-informed hikers carried a foal for over an hour in Dartmoor when they believed it had been abandoned. The foal was bottle-raised for five days but ultimately died.
Twitter Tuesday
Each Tuesday we round up the funniest, most random horse-related tweets on the internet, plus introduce our weekly hashtag. Let’s get tweeting!
Chicago’s Balmoral Park to Become Hunter/Jumper Venue
When the iconic Chicago harness track closed its doors in 2015, many feared it would be sold to developers and demolished. However, Balmoral Park will get a second life — as a horse show destination managed by HITS.
#horsenation ‘Grams of the Week
Another week of horse life, rounded up in your images.
Tuesday Video: Slow-Motion Snort
Reader Lynn Howland sends us this surprisingly entertaining slow-motion video of her horse snorting.
Says Lynn, “I accidentally took a slow-motion video — I didn’t even know I was filming! As it turns out, if you turn the sound up it turns it all into a lot of sinister growling.”
We find it interesting that this extreme slow-motion horse snort-turned-growl sounds remarkably like some movie sound effects, like, say dragon growling. Hollywood, we think we may have debunked you thanks to this reader video!
Go riding!
‘The Equestrians’: Teaser Trailers Collection
While we’re still lacking some details (such as when, where and how this series will eventually release) we’re still totally captivated by these new teaser trailers from ‘The Equestrians’ docu-series!
Creator Pulls Off a Photo Finish Belmont Stakes Victory
Catch the replay here!
Only at Wal-Mart: Cowboy Ropes Bicycle Thief
We could make a case for having a cowboy on duty at every major shopping center in America, really.
Oregonian rancher Robert Borba would probably argue that he was simply in the right place at the right time … and we’d add that he also had just the right set of tools and a quick-thinking mind, as well as what every good citizen needs — a great cowhorse.
Borba happened to be at the Wal-Mart in Eagle Point, Oregon last week to pick up dog food (with his rope horse in the trailer) when he heard someone shout that her bike was being stolen and for someone to stop the thief. When Borba realized this would-be thief was going to get away, he did what any good cowboy would do when a rebel breaks from the herd — grabbed his rope horse off the trailer and got to work.
Borba was able to throw a nice heel catch on the bicycle bandit and bring him to the ground, where he was able to hold him until law enforcement arrived.
This video via NBC News catches up with Borba in person:
We tip our hats to you here at Horse Nation, Robert Borba. The world needs more cowboys like you!
Go cowboys and go riding!














