It's been 10 years since I first published a little booklet for horse show parents.  That led to a website, and eventually writing assignments for many equestrian publications.  It also led to an audience and following of those who've visited this site, asked questions, ordered tip sheets, and read my intermittent newsletter. It's been fun to connect with you, both while I was an active "show mom" and since.

And now my interests and experience are taking me in a new direction.  Many of you may have already visited my Ride Without Fear website, about using acupressure desensitization techniques to help riders and horses with fear, anxiety and stress.  I feel these techniques, which have helped me and others so much, are how I can best assist riders, their families and their horses now.  Tips and hints for show parents and horse show newbies are covered very well by many other publications, sites and writers.

To that end, I'm re-purposing The In-Gate website.  Through the years of sending newsletters, I've noticed that usually, the most clicked-on item in each newsletter are my humor essays.  Making people laugh is a great joy for me, so I'm keeping The In-Gate as a forum for humor essays, and removing the advice, tips, and book sales component.  I'll plan to keep blogging on this page, and posting humor essays on the laughs page. 

If you're on my email list, you'll be receiving an email asking if you'd like to be transferred to a Ride Without Fear email list.  I hope we'll stay in contact.

Have those of you in the English riding world been bemused or delighted by the advances in styling for riding boots over the past few years?  There's Tretorn's Puma-influenced boot, with sneaker technology and space age styling; and their Gore-Tex boot, Womens Falsterbo GT.  There's Nike's Ippeas with the swoosh motif built in.  There are bound to be some more out there I haven't seen yet.

I had a lot of fun ruminating on these fashion-forward looks in the new questrian luxury ifestyle magazine, Equine Flair.  Look for my article, The Devil Wears Puma Tall Boots on p. 14.

It's fun to see how we adapt fashion flair to our chosen disciplines.  While our most outrageous versions don't always catch on for the show ring, they do get people talking.  What's the craziest fashion thing you've ever seen in the show ring, or in the warm-up?