Blackburn Legacy Ranch

04/07/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DAjf3ADBZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

04/06/2026

My happy place 💜

04/04/2026

I’m right there with ya Genie…

I haven't been writing much lately. You see, I prefer to stay on the positive side of life...wordsmith about the humourous or thoughtful, and I fear this cold spring has me simply knuckling down. I can't seem to find enough inner happiness to spread around.. And of course, there is plenty of sorrow, meanness and negativity to drown us all, the world doesn't need me adding to it. And God knows there are more than enough horse trainers on social media giving advice these days, talking about all things from the ground work up and mental health too. A lot of it written with the help of AI, so it reads like it comes from the same heart and mind.

Boring.

I'm afraid I roll my eyes and scroll on. Yes, I am being judgemental...if they aren't your words, they don't impress me much. It's that simple for me. I dislike artificial pretty much anything. I want to know the real you. What do YOU know? What do YOU think? I don't care if I agree. How dull would it be if we all agreed? 🤷

Anyway because I haven't been writing, every day my page shouts headlines like REACH DECREASE!!! Like it's important that I stress about this too. I don't. I simply don't feel like talking much these days. I have nothing particularly worthy of saying at the moment that is going to add color to the world around me. No worries though. I am still riding a bunch of horses, roping some critters and hanging with Ting and Varmint. And even if I'm not feeling chatty, I'm still soaking up material for stories to come at a later date when the words begin to bubble over again.

Have a good day folks. 😊

Photo credit to Dawn Knapp.

04/01/2026

Ha! I never put much thought into Jesus riding an unbroken c**t. Good Word this morning.

Happy Holy Week! I'm sorry I'm behind this week but God knows it's bull season and thanks be to Him and Jesus, I am forgiven. :)

I've written about Palm Sunday in my blogs and in my books many times. If you've read my stuff at all, you know that I believe Jesus was a cowboy because of this particular Bible story. Jesus riding in on a c**t was another miracle nobody really talks about.

As a rancher who raises and deals with c**ts daily, just leading one is no small task. Scripture actually says "unbroken donkey c**t." The disciples do as Jesus says, they go to town, find this donkey tied up with a c**t next to her, take the c**t, and bring him back. He's a he, he's a "c**t" so he still has his working parts, he's likely never been tied up, they are able to put a halter on him and lead him back, and Jesus just hops on and slowly walks into Jerusalem.

Once they arrive, people start waving around palm branches, shouting, cheering, flailing their cloaks and dropping them in front of the c**t for Jesus to pass over. Folks, if a piece of trash blows by in the pasture, our c**ts will fully freak out. A Walmart sack alone is simply terrifying. I have one in the barn right now, granted not a donkey, but if you make any sudden movement, including just feeding him, he's in the back of the stall sideways. Jesus having the disciples go fetch this c**t, them being able to easily lead him back (because they were in a hurry) and then Jesus just hopping on, and riding in, well that's a miracle. Full control. Power. That's God. This would have gone down very differently with an average bunch of humans, even cowboys. I'd actually like to watch it and I wish someone would re-enact it as mere mortals at rodeo, because that's what it would be. But God.

Secondly, in those days, your coat or cloak had signficance. Royalty wore purple and gold and it was made of fine linen, priests wore certain colors and had it all had very specific meanings. People of wealth wore colors because the fabric was expensive. Color was expensive. It took dyes and a lot of hard work to make fabric. I got to see how things were made when we visited Turkey and the dying process was amazing. Walking through all of the beautiful colors was fascinating. The looming process alone took so much time, it was very costly. So the OT story of Joseph's "Coat of Many Colors" was very significant as well. His dad was proclaiming he would rule. Brothers were angry. Clothing mattered.

Well when Jesus came in, everyone took off their cloaks. Wealthy people and peasants alike, laid them on the ground before Him, signifying they were not only paving the way for a king, but as an act of surrender. They were giving their all to Jesus and His movement. They were laying down not only their garment, but their status. They were united. It was really a beautiful scene that can still teach us so much today if we will just listen.

When you choose to follow Jesus, you are in one family. It no longer matters how much is in your bank account, how many followers you have or if you are wearing the latest fashion. We are to follow one God and one God only and it's not a button we click on Facebook or Instagram. It's a new way of life.

I heard a preacher this week say, "We need to get off of Facebook and get our FACE in THE BOOK." And my goodness that is so true.

Folks, this Holy Week I hope you take the time to study, pray and listen for God's voice. I hope you know how very important this week was almost two thousand years ago. He wasn't just a man, He was THE Man. And there is nobody who ever walked the earth that people are still talking about, two thousand years ago, except for THE MAN.

Without the cross, there is no salvation. There is no reason to celebrate Easter. Without Christ there is no Christmas. This is the soul changing, life sustaining week that matters.

God loves you so much that He sent His one and only Son to die for you. Jesus loves His Father so much, that He obeyed.

Who do you choose to follow? This would be a great week to lay down your garment...your pride, your selfishness, your hatred, your addictions, your idols, and let the King ride right over them and lead you to the peace that surpasses all understanding. He is the King. Will you decide to inherit the kingdom? Who will you follow?

03/30/2026

It was a beautiful day on the farm yesterday. By the looks of those posts, I’m guessing there is fence work coming up 😆.

03/30/2026

Olive sure is a stout girl! She loves people too.

03/29/2026

Let’s admit it. We can have many ‘less than’ feelings, when we show up on the truly green horse. The horse we loaded at home can (and probably will) be very different to the one we unload in public.

Long ago, I learned that every time we start a horse from scratch, every single step of our day out is steeped in horse training. Not in reminders, not in fine tuning. No, I’m talking foundational building blocks, hugely unwieldy stuff that doesn’t just fall into place.

It bears reconsidering some of our comfortable old viewpoints.

From unloading a horse who is in a hurry and taking the time to change that, to entering a spooky space, to not being all that well socialized with other horses. Maybe that green horse is going to get very chargey, a real handful, or maybe he is feeling threatened by strangers coming too close behind and now, he’s suddenly wanting to kick.

From bridling a horse who is distracted and staying with that, until he is focused and accepting… to working quietly with others zooming around, all on their own agendas. Finding and keeping your youngster's mind, so he's not so inclined to buck.

“Oh, you should do better groundwork!” Well-meaning people will say, as though the thought hadn’t occurred to you. At some point, we just have to step up.

Starting young horses means being able to seemingly ignore the pressures of those around you… and of the clock, all the while being absolutely aware of those around you… and of the clock.

Every single thing we do with the green horse, the very same things we’ll take for granted on the quiet goer, is a chance to train, or re-train. Seeing as we all love a confident and skilled horse, we should be on board with this notion. We shouldn’t be so quick to point fingers at horses who are visibly struggling.

If this is you, I can only urge you to feel grateful you’re on the trustworthy, well-schooled veteran, rather than feel inconvenienced while you watch my horse try and try, again.

If this is you, on the young learner, I can only urge you to keep your eyes on the destination. You're getting out there. You're doing good work.

I’m often fielding questions from people as to why my young horses aren’t good at standing tied in a row of strange horses at the public arena. Or of why they might struggle at the mounting block, or while opening gates, or picking up the canter in a relaxed and effective posture, or stopping and backing well, or… even just walking past a jacket left hanging over the arena rail.

I can only answer that they're not good, yet.

One of my green horses absolutely lost his mind over the sight of another horse wearing a cooler, a while back. He completely checked out of Dodge! Such a seemingly small thing derailed him and much of what I thought he knew for sure.

Horses must to go through all these stages, learning all these seemingly little things, before they can become the abiding partners we can rely upon. Because they do not know these things naturally, they are not hopeless cases. They are not ‘bad-minded’, as I was once told by an observer, at the end of a long day.

Little did either of us know, I happened to be sitting on a future champion. She saw only the depths of our struggle and she felt the need to warn me off.

Learning isn’t always pretty! Horse or human, there will be some hard days. I don't know why we seem to buy into the notion that we can somehow avoid them and still, finish strong.

Horses are not born knowing all the things we expect. We shouldn’t be surprised, or dismayed, or embarrassed, by having to teach them. Should we?

Here, Mike and I ride out on the Welsh Cobs, Atticus (now Jagger) and Bobby, as babies. Aye, carumba! With a rambunctious young dog at our heels, there are bound to be surprises... but I ask you, how else are they going to learn?

Photo: Iain McLean.

03/25/2026

Piper has to be one of the most jealous horses we’ve ever owned. And she aggravates some of the others. I just wanted to get a little video of Tawny.

03/25/2026

A happy healthy stallion is top priority for us. Can you sense the contentment in this video?

03/25/2026

This video won’t mean much to most people, but it means the world to us. The life of a stallion can be a lonely life in a stall or their own lot. One thing that’s important to us is making sure our horses are out being horses. Ironman has been out with Dunni and hopefully she is bred and he can continue hanging out with her. This video brings me so much joy and peace.

03/24/2026

I 100% believe in whorlology and got one of Noche Miller’s books for Christmas. I am always analyzing the whorls.

I’ve written before of the information found in our horses’ hair whorls, particularly those found on the forehead and the symmetrical placement—or not—of those found along the body. Until now, I have always prefaced this with the admission that this is what I believe to be true.

However, science is now confirming for us that hair growth and its direction are developing in each fetus at the same time as the formation of the neural pathways. No longer an old wives’ tale, or a bit of horse trader mythology, the subject is worthy of our consideration.

I’ve ridden enough horses to know that the one central hair whorl right between the eyes is usually just an easier horse to get along with—and to train—than, let’s say, the fellow with two diagonal whorls, high up on his forehead.

I’ve learned that the horse with the right-lying mane finds it easier to circle to the right and to take the right lead, than do the corresponding work to his left… as an example. This, because the mane fall was decided when he was curled up in his mother’s womb, either to the right or to the left. (If ever you’ve tried to train a left-laying mane to lie ‘right’ for the show ring, you’ll know that it is a never ending task.)

I’ve found that the horse who has mismatched body whorls on his near and off sides is going to be unbalanced and tends to be more challenging to straighten. He is so one-sided that things that come easily to other c**ts are very hard for him.

Now, none of this means that any of these horses are untrainable but they will never be the easy c**ts in the barn.

I have learned that those diagonal whorl horses must never land in beginners’ hands, if they’re going to work out. They’re just wired that way.

This pony is a little different. I’m pointing to a notable hair whorl shown on Matador’s left cheek and in the comments, you’ll see another photo pointing to a second whorl, up by his off side TMJ. Unusual, perhaps, but no big deal, right?

Wrong.

At his first dental appointment—likely, in the poor fellow’s life, which is sad because the fourteen-year-old gelding I'd just purchased was a well-schooled, high-mileage pony—the dentist noticed with surprise that he was missing both the second lower molar on his near side AND the sixth upper molar on his off side (numbers 307 and 111, in the trade).

Due to the unchecked growth of the opposing teeth, over an inch longer than they should have been, he guessed that the pony had been born without these normally occurring, or erupting molars. It occasionally happens, though this is rare.

Dr. Google states that an estimated one to four percent of all reported horses (to receive dental care) have true ‘missing’ or unerupted molars, so it's certainly not a common affliction. Known as ‘hypodontia’ we do know that in specific populations, such as miniature horses, the incidence of developmental abnormalities is considerably higher than the equine norm.

Matador was obviously something of an anomaly.

It wasn’t until turning Matty out with his friends, after his first dental visit (the work needed ended up taking three separate visits, for his own comfort) that I really paid attention to the placement of his two unusual jaw whorls. Yep, they corresponded exactly with the location of the missing teeth. Not nearby, not close to. But bang on.

Hair whorls. Some horse(wo)men scoff, others will argue. I’m standing over here with just enough information and real-life experience, to believe.

***

For more reading and information on the subject, Linda Tellington-Jones bravely wrote on understanding the importance of hair whorls, placement and facial bone structure, decades ago. She was far ahead of her time in publishing information that, until then, was largely considered folklore.

Colorado State University, under the leadership of Temple Grandin, has conducted a massive study in Whorlology, with both equines and bovines. A master’s thesis published by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences shows mixed results, though from within a small study group, by their own admission.

Here are links to old Keystone posts I’ve penned on the subject:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DjH44ux4g/

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16oiMxWpze/

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18W7C9yYLq/

Perhaps follow Noche Miller’s page, “Equine Whorls/Swirls Study” on Facebook. You’ll see case studies evaluated, with group members posting questions about their horses… and you can begin to freely draw conclusions of your own. Noche has also authored a new book on the subject.

As I say, not everyone is a believer. Is the study of Whorlology merely coincidence? Suggestion? Gullibility? Judgement? Blind faith? You be the judge.

I can only say that I’ve known too many good horse(wo)men who openly support(ed) the reading of hair whorls to blithely discount it.

One of my friends who happens to be a top working cowhorse trainer/competitor will NOT take on futurity prospects with two diagonal face whorls, or unmatching whorls on each side of the body. In an already cutthroat industry where time, talent and money require constant balancing, he winks and says, “Let’s just say that I choose to err on the side of caution.”

03/22/2026

Sunday morning before church rides are the best!