Highlights from our Five Seasons
Best Horse Practices Podcast
Welcome to Best Horse Practices. My name is Maddy Butcher and I produce this podcast. Our show is a space for riders and horse owners of all disciplines to learn best practices and to discover skills, strategies, tools, ideas, and insights for better connecting with their horses, with all horses, and for getting work done. We love to hear from listeners and contacting us is easy . We offer these shows for free. If you think it’s worthy of a , we sure would appreciate it. This is our final episode of the show. Since the middle of the pandemic, when Jec Ballou reached out...
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Jec and Cody Harrison talk spurs
Best Horse Practices Podcast
We love to hear from listeners and contacting us is easy . We offer these shows for free. If you think it’s worthy of a , we sure would appreciate it. This is Episode 8 of Season 5 and in it, Jec interviews , a horseman specializing in classical dressage and based near Denver. Jec and Cody talk specifics on spurs. It’s a really interesting conversation and one I think you will enjoy. Hey, before I get to sponsors, I want to remind you to register for the mini , coming up in April in Santa Fe. Visit for info on the presenters and presentations. Act now and we’ll give...
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Daniel Dauphin on Bits and BHPS
Best Horse Practices Podcast
This is Episode 7 of Season 5 and in it, I talk with Daniel Dauphin about bits and the upcoming Best Horse Practices Summit. I met this Louisiana man several years ago when we were considering possible presenters for the Best Horse Practices Summit in Lexington, Kentucky. Since then, he’s come on the show several times to talk about a range of horse issues. Most recently, he’s stepped up to the Board of Directors for the Best Horse Practices Summit. He will also present at the in Santa Fe in April with Katrin Silva, Jec Ballou, and Ben Longwell. All of the presentations will be...
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Gillian Higgins on Anatomy and Biomechanics
Best Horse Practices Podcast
Our show is a space for riders and horse owners of all disciplines to learn best practices and to discover skills, strategies, tools, ideas, and insights for better connecting with their horses, with all horses, and for getting work done. We love to hear from listeners and contacting us is easy . We offer these shows for free. If you think it’s worthy of a , we sure would appreciate it. This is Episode 6 of Season 5 and in it, Jec interviews Gillian Higgins, an expert in horse anatomy and biomechanics. She’s known internationally for her painting of horses’...
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Carl Bledsoe and Help for the Gaited Horse
Best Horse Practices Podcast
We love to hear from listeners and contacting us is easy . We offer these shows for free. If you think it’s worthy of a , we sure would appreciate it. This is Episode 5 of Season 5 and in it, we welcome back my colleague, Jec Ballou, for her first show of our fifth season. Yay! We’ve heard from several folks who have suggested discussions on gaited horses and people with expertise around gaited horses, so Jec has done a great interview with Carl Bledsoe, from Talking Rock, Georgia. I was really excited to produce this interview as it’s clear Carl has been on a...
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What Does Abuse Look Like? A Talk with Daniel Dauphin
Best Horse Practices Podcast
We love to hear from listeners and contacting us is easy . We offer these shows for free. If you think it’s worthy of a , we sure would appreciate it. We’re dedicating another show to horsey intellectualism. Intellectualism roughly means thinking, studying, and/or discussing complicated ideas without getting emotional. I guess what we do on this show is a sort of low-level intellectualism, redneck intellectualism, because we’re not consulting great philosophers or significant texts. But we are bouncing around ideas that are complicated and less straight forward than...
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Life and Death of Livestock and Pets, a Short Conversation with Nina Fuller
Best Horse Practices Podcast
We love to hear from listeners and contacting us is easy . We offer these shows for free. If you think it’s worthy of a , we sure would appreciate it. This is Episode 3 of Season 5 and we’re dedicating the next few shows to some horsey intellectualism. I like to look up words, to make sure I’m saying what I mean. Intellectualism roughly means thinking, studying, and/or discussing complicated ideas without getting emotional. I guess what we do on this show is a sort of low-level intellectualism, redneck intellectualism, because we’re not consulting great...
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J.B. Zielke - The Lost Cowboy
Best Horse Practices Podcast
Our show is a space for riders and horse owners of all disciplines to learn best practices and to discover skills, strategies, tools, ideas, and insights for better connecting with their horses, with all horses, and for getting work done. We love to hear from listeners and contacting us is easy . We offer these shows for free. If you think it’s worthy of a , we sure would appreciate it. This is Episode 2 of Season 5 and in it, I interview , a writer, music video producer, and most of all, a cowboy. JB has cowboyed on six continents and written about it in The Lost...
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Worst Horse Practices and News
Best Horse Practices Podcast
We love to hear from listeners and contacting us is easy . We offer these shows for free. If you think it’s worthy of a , we sure would appreciate it. This is Episode 1 of Season 5. For this show, I’m speaking on behalf or maybe I should say as half. Half of the interview crew for this podcast. Jec and I have had a hiatus and Jec is still doing her thing and enjoying summer. She’ll be back later this season. I thought I’d make this a short episode to let you know what I’ve been up to and to ask you what you’ve been up to. As I mentioned, we love...
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Season Finale: On the Fence with Jec and Maddy
Best Horse Practices Podcast
We love to hear from listeners and contacting us is easy . We offer these shows for free. If you think it’s worthy of a , we sure would appreciate it. This is Episode 27 of Season 4. In it, Jec and I have a fun On the Fence conversation in which we talk some about identity and, mmm, maybe a bit of barn politics and shenanigans that we sometimes see in horse communities. The topic came up when I was listening to an interview that did with , a professor at the University of Chicago. Oh, and we also give a nod, or maybe a shake of the head, to the cover art for , which...
info_outlineWelcome to Best Horse Practices. My name is Maddy Butcher and I produce this podcast.
Our show is a space for riders and horse owners of all disciplines to learn best practices and to discover skills, strategies, tools, ideas, and insights for better connecting with their horses, with all horses, and for getting work done.
We love to hear from listeners and contacting us is easy here.
We offer these shows for free. If you think it’s worthy of a small contribution, we sure would appreciate it.
This is our final episode of the show. Since the middle of the pandemic, when Jec Ballou reached out and asked if I’d like to collaborate, we have produced over 120 episodes. It’s been a fun journey, full of interesting presenters, a diverse array of specialists and generalists. Since Jec and I come from different horse places, which is to say, different disciplines and philosophies and approaches, the collaboration has been fruitful for producing short, open-minded segments of education and points of view.
Thank you, dear listeners, for supporting us and being in touch.
Thanks so much to our title sponsor, Lucerne Farms, producers of quality forage feeds, extremely handy and healthy bales of alfalfa, timothy, and grass blends. Lucerne has been a title sponsor since our inception and we are so grateful for their commitment to the show.
We also would like to thank Renegade Hoof Boots. The team at Renegade has been crafting hoof boots for years and has an excellent customer service reputation. Renegade is the official hoof boot of the Tevis Cup, the renowned 100-mile race in California. Learn more at here (renegadehoofboot.com)
Here are some of our favorite shows:
Therapy Horses, with Josh McElroy and Toby Cross
You can join me and several podcast guests at the mini Best Horse Practices Summit in Santa Fe in New Mexico. That is happening October 31 through November 2 and includes Katrin Silva, Ben Longwell, Daniel Dauphin, Patrick King, and Jim Masterson. A heckuva lineup!
My new project, Awe, Nice! is live. Check it out!
Thanks to Redmond Equine for generously sponsoring our show. I’m finding two of my horses really, really love the Rock on a Rope this winter. They are going through it enthusiastically. Considering hanging one on the fence or in the stall. We think they’ll love it. Order a box at Redmond equine dot com.
That’s it. Our final episode in the can and out of the barn. Thanks for listening y’all.