Rick News - Rick Lamb - Spalding Labs

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Spurs

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 10 years ago

Recently Greg emailed the following question about spurs: “Why would a Natural Horseman need such a cruel aid??” Greg gets triple his money’s worth because I’m going to treat this as three questions instead of one. First, are...
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Black Riders

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 10 years ago

Black riders. Even typing those two words makes me feel a bit uneasy. It's a shame. We could talk all day about senior riders, or female riders or beginning riders or trail riders or gay riders. (Look up gay rodeo if you doubt me on that!) But introducing...
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Curiosity

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 10 years ago

My home office looks out on our backyard. I have an unobstructed view of our two horses all day long. They can also see me. In fact, some days they get as close as they can and just stare at me for what seems like hours. If it’s feeding time, I...
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Drinking from a Mud Puddle

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 10 years ago

It’s a rainy day and I’m watching my horses drink from a mud puddle in their turnout area. They actually walked away from the fresh, clean water I gave them in order to drink from a mud puddle. What’s going on here? Times like this are...
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Touching Your Horse

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 10 years ago

With horses, there are a handful of things you can do that always help. They help to relax the horse, advance the relationship, and reinforce your leadership position. They help regain control and focus when things get muddled. And they help you get more...
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Be a reporter for The Horse Show!

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 10 years ago

Okay, here’s your chance for that 15 minutes of fame. You – yes, YOU – can be a field reporter for The Horse Show. Call it a contributing editor on your resume. No special training or equipment are required. Just use your imagination...
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Chunking

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

I was chunking before chunking was cool. Chunking is an instructional design practice that breaks content into small, focused, and easily-repeated chunks. I started chunking in 1999 with “The Horse Show Minute,” my daily radio feature and...
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Trailering

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

Recently I had David Bodin, “the horse trailer guru,” on my radio show and it reminded me of a mishap in my trailering past. I suspect that you’ve done something similar if you’ve done much trailering. Usually this involves backing...
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Paying it Forward

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

A few months ago I was looking for content for my TV show when a press release caught my eye. It came from friend and marketing guru, Julie Bryant. Not every compelling story makes a good TV episode, but this one seemed to have the necessary elements...
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Slow down your molecules

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

Every now and then, I come across a term or phrase that is so right I just have to pass it on. This one comes from our dear friend, Karen Scholl, who has helped Diana and me immensely on our horsemanship journey. Horses mirror us in many ways. When...
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Clarity

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

I consider clarity to be an essential quality of a horseman. Without clarity, I’m expecting my horse to guess what I want. It’s unfair to her, increases the likelihood of conflict, and decreases the chance I’ll get the results I’m...
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Forage is First

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

If you’ve been following my TV show this season, you’ve seen Dr. Judy Reynolds of ADM Alliance Nutrition offer specific feeding recommendations for a wide range of horses. All recommendations have the same form: Feed your horse lots of forage...
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Ponying to Improve Riding

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

The horseman’s journey plays out in two dimensions, the mental and the physical. I normally help folks with the mental dimension, with understanding the nature of the horse and how they can use that nature to reach their goals in safe, effective...
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Facilitating Learning

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

Although I often call myself an educator, it’s a lie. Okay, I’m being overly dramatic. It’s just not the most accurate way to describe what I do. I don’t educate people; I facilitate their learning. If you train horses or raise...
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Good pen. Bad pen.

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

A few years ago, I witnessed a neighbor’s horse die from an injury sustained in an unsafe pen. (See “Death in the Alley” in Human to Horseman .) Ironically, the pen was designed very well, with an open feeling, good air circulation,...
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Riding Boots

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

Woody asks on Facebook: What are your thoughts on laced boots vs pull on boots when riding in the arena or on the trail? Rick’s answer: Hi Woody. Choice of boot is largely personal preference. However, in competition, there are sometimes rules...
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Spooky horse

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

Barbara asks: I have a mustang/Morgan who is sweet, kind and respectful but a little fearful of things like smoking burn piles, moving noisy electric gates with plywood figures on them. He refuses to go past them unless lead. The real issue is my friend...
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Aussies win RTTH 2012

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

Let’s see. If you count the two wins of native Australian Clinton Anderson, the three wins of Florida native Chris Cox, who grew up on an island off the coast of Australia, and add in this year’s two Aussie winners, Guy McLean and Dan James...
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Road to the Horse!

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

Road to the Horse 2012 is two weeks away. I’m already hyperventilating! You’d think after hosting the "Super Bowl of colt starting" eight times, it would get easier. It doesn’t. But I do enjoy it more every year and I seem...
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Jogging in the Neighborhood

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

A new favorite activity for my horses and me is jogging in the neighborhood. Actually, we jog for a while and walk for a while. It’s about a two-mile loop and they really seem to love it! The last quarter mile, I climb on one of them (with the aid...
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The Florida Cracker

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

In coverage of the Florida GOP primary, I heard a commentator get his knickers in a knot over the term, “cracker.” You see, in some circles, calling a white person the “C” word is akin to calling a black person the “N”...
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Being a Good Receiver

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

Every horse is a nonstop transmitter of data about his state of mind. Ears show us what has captured the horse's attention and the intensity of his feelings at the moment. Up and forward tell us he's focused on something ahead. Ears swiveling...
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A Christmas Story

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

I seldom pass on stories like this but today I'm making an exception. Keep the tissues handy. This story was sent to me by my old friend, Jonathan Abel. The author is unknown. A brother and sister had made their usual hurried, obligatory pre-Christmas...
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Neighborhood Parade

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

I have to brag a little about our horses. Last night I rode Candy and Diana led Fidla in our neighborhood Christmas parade. It was the first time we’d done this. Come to think of it, it’s the first time we had done anything of substance with...
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How horses think

by Rick Lamb

Posted over 11 years ago

If I were to make a list of the most fascinating people I've interviewed, Dr. Temple Grandin would be right at the top. I find her life story inspiring (and it made a great HBO movie), but even more interesting to me is her explanation of how horses...
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