September 26, 2025: Right or Left, Training Lessons, Summer Sores, and a New Barn Friend
This week has been full of lessons, discoveries, and new faces at The Ponderosa. Let’s dive in.
Which Way Does Bee Prefer?
My coach, Ashley Holland of Rock Solid Performance Horses, and I had a long chat about why some horses turn barrels better to the left and others to the right. Science calls this laterality — it is basically a left–right preference, much like humans being right- or left-handed. Horses are built a little uneven from the start, and training, conformation, stress, and even a rider’s dominant hand can all play a part in which way they feel smoother.
But it is not as simple as saying all horses are lefties or righties. A big study found that what you notice on the ground does not always match what you feel in the saddle. In fact, “results obtained outside a riding context do not appear to predict laterality during riding.” In other words, just because your horse grazes with the left foot forward does not guarantee she will prefer left circles under saddle.
Stress can play a role too. Researchers have noticed that horses often become more “left-eyed” or “left-legged” in stressful situations. That left-side bias is tied to how their brains process emotion, and it can make a horse spook or react differently depending on what side you are working on.
Conformation matters as well. Conformation simply means the way a horse’s body is built, including the shape of their legs, shoulders, back, and hooves. Just like people, some horses are naturally a little uneven. One study showed that about half of foals developed uneven front feet simply because they always reached the same leg forward while grazing. That kind of everyday habit, combined with how a horse is built, can shape how they move later in life and can make one side easier to bend or carry weight.
And of course, we riders play our part. Studies show that a rider’s dominant hand can influence rein tension, which means we may accidentally teach our horses to lean more one way. My right hand is stronger, so I have to watch that I do not make Bee feel like she has a built-in “better side” just because of me.
So, why do some horses like left barrels and others right? The answer is all of the above. Biology, brain wiring, body build, everyday habits, stress, and the rider’s own hands all shape those preferences. Top barrel trainers often say the best way to decide is to test it. Ride both ways and see where your horse feels strongest and most balanced.
For Bee, I believe she is a righty. She feels much smoother turning right under me, while left still feels a little bumpy. After checking with her former owner Jackie, it makes sense. Jackie always started Bee on the left barrel, and you can even see it in the photos of them running together. Jackie’s granddaughter, though, went right first. So Bee has done both, and I am starting to feel the same preferences Jackie did. Some days I laugh because I can feel which side she is happier on, and other days she surprises me. That is the beauty of horses. No two are exactly alike.
Bee and Jackie killing it a year after the clinic and winning the Paint Barrel Racing Worlds!
Jackie and Bee turning the first barrel at a clinic.
The takeaway? Do not fight your horse’s natural side. Train both directions to build strength and balance, but when it comes to the arena, play to their strengths. Like people, horses are not perfectly even, and that is okay.
Training Updates
We are still working through the fundamentals with the Clinton Anderson Downunder Horsemanship No Worries Club. The treasure trove of training videos gives me homework every time I step into the arena. Just because Bee has an A+ in a subject does not mean we skip it. Take desensitization, for example. She never flinches when I swing a rope around her body, legs, neck, or face. But today when I tossed a rock out of her stall with the muck rake, she startled. That told me something. I need to keep at it until she no longer reacts. So I stood there swinging the rake up and down until she ignored it completely.
Bee has also really improved at yielding her hindquarters and sidling up to the fence when asked under saddle (this lazy girl’s got to get her water bottle without having to dismount). We still have work to do on yielding her forequarters and respecting personal space, so I plan to practice that with my trainer’s guidance. Next up is “sending,” which is basically asking her to lunge in the direction I point. Right now she is not reading my hand signals or responding to the stick well. That is on me, not her. These lessons are as much about training me to be a better leader as they are about training her.
Bee’s Summer Sores
The summer sore battle continues. We have been treating them with Ivermectin dewormer once a week for three weeks, applying it directly to her lips and covering with Alu-mend silver spray to keep the flies off. The cooler temperatures should help bring down the fly population, but the sores are still hanging around. One side looks smaller, but the other is still oozy (I will spare you photos of that part, let me just say ewww). We are keeping a close watch and staying on top of treatments.
Meet Calvin
Bee also has a new “neigh”-bor in the barn. Calvin is a registered AQHA (American Quarter Horse) gelding, which means he is a boy horse who has been snip-snipped. He is 11 years old and has been owned by Melinda since he was three. Calvin and his owner, Melinda, show in a whole string of classes with very official-sounding names. When I first heard them I thought, what on earth does all that mean? So I did what any good horse mom would do — I Googled it. If I had to look them up, I figured you might like the cheat sheet too. Here’s the translation:
Western Pleasure: basically the horse version of “Sunday driving.” Smooth, slow, and easy.
Horsemanship: this one is about the rider. Think of it as the teacher grading your posture and steering skills.
Halter: no saddle, no riding; a beauty contest for horses.
Showmanship: handler and horse showing off ground manners. It is like dress rehearsal for a job interview.
Trail Classes: horse obstacle course. Gates, poles, backing up in tight spots. Like a horsey “American Ninja Warrior,” but slower.
Hunter Under Saddle: same idea as Western Pleasure, but in English tack. Horses move with longer strides and more “go.”
Equitation: again, this one judges the rider. The equestrian version of “sit up straight and use your inside leg.”
Meanwhile, I am just over here trying not to fall off the horse, and I have this tenured rider next to me. That’s not intimidating at all, right? Maybe some of Calvin’s good manners and polished behavior will rub off on Bee while we share the barn aisle.
Calvin also has some special care needs. He developed lameness in his front left hoof last year, possibly from navicular syndrome. Traditional joint injections did not help much, so Melinda turned to Dr. Sammie Pittman, a podiatry and lameness specialist in Collinsville, Texas. He diagnosed Calvin with a deep digital flexor tendon abrasion right where the tendon slides over the navicular bone and attaches to the coffin bone. His treatment included rocker shoes, modified stall rest, and a plan to rebalance his feet so they heal.
Melinda also installed a special light in Calvin’s stall. No, he is not growing tomatoes, the light is used to “trick” his body into thinking the days are longer, which keeps him from growing a thick winter coat. For show horses like Calvin, especially in halter classes where appearance matters, staying sleek and shiny year-round is part of the job description. Yes, I had to look that up too.
He and Melinda moved to Texas from Oregon in 2021, and we are glad they have landed here with us.
The Takeaway
Every week with horses brings something new — sometimes it is science lessons about lefties and righties, sometimes it is humbling training homework, sometimes it is gross summer sores (sorry, Bee), and sometimes it is meeting polished show horses with stall lights and resumes longer than mine.
Bee may be bumpy on the left and smooth on the right, but we are figuring it out together. Calvinand Melinda may be the seasoned pros with all the fancy moves, but maybe some of that polish will rub off on us. Either way, The Ponderosa feels a little fuller and a lot more fun with all these lessons, laughs, and new barn friends.