About Me

Former corporate executive turned university professor and strategic advisor. The last few years I made some big bold moves in my life and am happier for it. Getting married, selling my home, quitting my job three times, starting my own business, and buying an untrained andalusian colt 2000 km away, sight unseen.

My mission is to help people and organizations take their next steps. I want to be the guidepost in their journey. I thrive on transformation and inspiring others to see their potential and taking those next steps.

I have many guideposts on my journey. One of them is my gelding Q. Sweet, sensitive and courageous. His gaits are smooth as butter and he adores the trails as much as I do.

As I continue to work on being in the moment, this blog is meant to record those special times.

Thank you for reading.

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Canter Protocol

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I do lots of different kinds of rides, with lots of different kinds of riders. But cantering always has me stumped. I have an established checklist of rules, but not everybody shares my view on this. Here is the short version I do not ride on trail with anybody who is not comfortable cantering their horse (at least in an arena). I don't want their first canter experience to be the spook and bolt when their horse sees a deer. I will occasionally make an exception to this rule for very short and controlled trail rides within proximity to the barn. I do not race. The order we start in, must be maintained until the end. No passing. With some of my trail buddies we will canter side by side, and it is glorious! I do not gallop. I have made a few exceptions to this rule with individuals that I trust, and on a trail I know well. The gallop stretch never lasts very long. I do not canter up ravines or anywhere I do not have a long line of sight. Again, I sometimes make exceptions to this on
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The Big 6 0

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Annual Trail Rides: 60/200 Its been a good week! Footing is great, weather is dry and sunny and almost feels like summer minus the bugs.Q has been giving me some good rides although he is testing the boundaries and I haven't quite perfected the lope on the buckle. Even yesterday he started out in a spooky mess jumping at shadows on the ground.  I had my first ride with buddy B yesterday. It had been three months since we had last ridden together because we were both on covid barn schedules that didn’t match up. For the past year, he has been on a barn schedule restricted him to 5 days a week in 2 hour slots. Unfortunately that makes for very limited trail riding when you substract the time to tack up, cool down and wash up. But his dressage BO doesn’t understand because you don’t need much more than 2 hours to ride in a rectangular box. But he didn’t want to fuss or object, so one year later he is still in the same spot. As for me, things had been pretty loosey goosey from May to D
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Stepping out in Hungary

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So its the last night at the ranch in the steppes, or grasslands, of Hungary. Its mostly quite flat in an undulating kind of way with patches of forests and marshlands. This national park is a bird sanctuary and we see the occasional deer along the way. While much of it feels familiar because of the sand and pine forests, there are a few notable differences. First, the sand roads go on for long distances which has us often cantering 3-5 km stretches. Thats 3-4 times the distance we generally do at home. Second, there are no electric high transmission power lines to mar the view. Third, the grass sections stretch out for miles in each direction with a view that is not customary. The ranch is great. We figured out a good rhythm after a few days that had us gathering in the sauna and jacuzzi in the evening because there is literally nothing else to do. The beat here is very relaxed, and we have all achieved a great zen state. We had a good reining lesson this morning when they p
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Ouch!

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Annual Trail Rides: 42/200 Spring weather wreaks havoc on the trails. On Monday it poured all day long. I didnt even bother going to the barn. It was mild but oh so dreary. Then the wind picked up significantly and within a few hours we were deep in an arctic freeze. From +5C to -20C in 3 hours.  Wonder what happened to those beautiful trails? By Tuesday, despite the deep freeze, I went to the barn without any intention of riding. Somehow (?) after a few days of mild sunny days my body no longer tolerated -20C. I wanted nothing to do with it. I instead played with Q and gave him an extra long grooming session with lots of bananas and carrots. My arms were tired after that! Wednesday was announcing a lovely spring day with sunshine and mild temperatures above freezing. Yeah! Unfortunately there had been a good dusting of 3-4 inches of fluffy snow that layer treacherously on top of hard packed ice in the parking lot, so it was worrying. Incoming trail riders assured me that the trail foo
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Redemption

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I knew it was coming but I chose to ignore (or minimize) the signs. On Saturday, I chose to tire Q out doing canter circles in the arena before our solo trail ride. It didn’t work. I had seen the dragon appear in the last few rides with some subtlety. Q would accelerate within the gaits, would anticipate turns that take us back home, would be reluctant to slow down. All little signs. I usually achieved compliance, but with a bit more effort and time than I usually expect. Our riding had gotten sloppy. On Friday's trail ride with lovely intern C, Q showed me something completely new. He literally pulled out a fifth gait from his ass and gave me the most incredible flying trot. I wish I had a video of it, but it was impossible to sit. It felt like rockets exploded from behind, and C's horse was galloping to keep up. The first few seconds were amusing, and then I started holding the reins to keep him in check. By the 30th second I was literally hauling on him to slow down, which h
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