After Racing: Retraining Thoroughbreds

Ryan Clarke, my farrier, was out today and was able to find the abscess in Jimmy's heel. Fortunately, Ryan didn't have to do too much digging to find it and pop it open. He did say that it was pretty far up, but didn't have to create too much of a hole. Its packed with an antibiotic padding and wrapped up. Tomorrow I'll change it out and hopefully find that it has continued to drain. Between the drainage and the antibiotic, I expect Jimmy to be feeling much better in the next few days. :)

I've started calling Jimmy "Gimpy" or "Gimpy Boy." It seems to suit him. For as big as he is, somehow you'd think he'd be tough. But really, he is very sweet and sensitive -- and he gives you this look with these puppy dog eyes that seem to say "please make the ouchy go away." :(

All of you out there in blog reading land will be relieved to know that Jimmy appeared to be much more comfortable today. While still fairly gimpy, he was at least putting weight on the right front. He did have banamine again today to help him stay comfortable. It will be interesting to see how he does tonight and tomorrow without it (Linda's out of it). I was happy to see that the duct tape was still holding the sugar-dine solution to his foot as well. Angie Blackwell, Jimmy's vet, also provided him with some antibiotics, to make sure that he has all the help he needs in fending off this infection. I'll soak and repack his foot tomorrow night and that should hold until the farrier is out on Monday morning.

Hang in there Gimpster! :)

Well, Jimmy seems to have an abcess that has caused an internal infection. Last night he was so lame on the RF heel that he could hardly walk on it. He also had a fever and was significantly hot to the touch. I gave him a gram of bute for the pain and after talking with the barn owner, called the vet for further recommendation. She suggested 12cc of Banamine and packing the foot with a sugar-iodine mixture. We did both. He was very thirsty and drinking lots of water, which made me feel somewhat better. We're going to get him started on some antibiotics today so that he can get some help fighting the infection.

Linda, the barn owner, and I have theorized that he has an abcess. He was sore a few days ago, but then he was fine for a couple of days. We've theorized that it must have popped and relieved some of the pressure/pain. However, we think it must have popped internally because there never has been discharge from the heel (or anywhere on the foot). We also think that there must be two abcessed pockets in the heel because he was fine for a couple days and then yesterday, could hardly walk on it. Of course, we don't know how badly it really hurts or if Jimmy is just kind of a wuss and a drama queen when it comes to pain. It was clear that he was very uncomfortable though. If if it is still all internal, then that makes sense why he would have a fever (his body if fighting infection).

I was relieved to find that there was no abnormal heat in the leg with the bowed tendon. He has been putting a lot of pressure on the bowed leg, as well as his hind legs (shifting his weight back and forth onto the hocks from his front end). He actually spends a lot of time laying down, which I think is his comfortable position. I was told that he did a lot of laying down when he initially bowed the LF. He's not dumb! Laying down has got to be more comfortable on all the legs than standing on 3 of them.

Jingles for Jimmy in making a swift recovery!

I worked Jimmy on the lunge yesterday. He seems to be feeling better. At first, he was a little gimpy on the front right, but when I asked him to trot, he didn't have any problems aside from his usual stiffness. It takes him a good 5 minutes or so to loosen up.

He worked in sidereins yesterday and did quite a bit of trot work. We also worked on canter transitions. His canter is improving, but his departs are pretty crappy. He tends to race off for a few strides, then come down to a more relaxed tempo, but he can't yet sustain it -- especially on a 20m circle (lunge line). He doesn't yet push from behind as much as he pulls from the front. I also noticed that he would only do the canter depart when circling around to the long side of the arena. When he would canter towards the short side of the area, he would always slow to a trot. I think strengthening the hind end and back will help him be able to sustain the canter on bending line. Right now that is very difficult for him.

I got a call from my barn owner that Jimmy is sore on his right front leg (the non-bowed leg). He was fine this morning, but is sort of gimpy on it this after noon. Linda checked his feet for stones and found only that his grooves are very deep and his heal seemed tender. There was no heat or swelling. She did apply some coppertox just in case there was any thrush growing in there, although she said she didn't smell anything foul when she picked the foot out. We both think he might have an abscess coming. She's going to give him a gram of bute and see if that helps him feel better. We're going to play it by ear and see how he does.

I had my first ride on Jimmy today. I took my time tacking up to make sure there were no bad habits or behaviors that he might have. I was not surprised to find that he stood still throughout the grooming and tacking process. He does toss his head a little bit when bridling, but I believe this will stop as he figures out the routine. I have also found him much more sensitive to men than to women. While he is very aware of hands moving around his face, he is much more reactive to it when its a man's hands.

On to the riding part...we started out getting used to the mounting block. Because I am rather short and Jimmy is rather tall, I used a small kitchen step ladder for mounting. He wasn't too sure about it, nor about my dressage whip. I did spend a good 10 minutes rubbing the whip all over him to assure him that I was not going to hurt him. However, I ended up ditching it before I got on because he is extremely sensitive to it and I didn't want to end up accidentally tickling him once I was on. I will be working on the sensitivity issues to the whip with each ride so that he understands he won't ever be punished with one again.

Jimmy stood quietly while I mounted, but as soon as I took contact with the reins, he charged off at a quick walk. I immediately started working on yielding him to one rein at a time. He quickly learned that when I take one rein, if he stops moving his feet and lowers his head, he gets to have the rein back. After he was consistently stopping his feet, I required that he give the bit. This took him a bit longer to figure out and I don't think he's quite 100% yet. Through this process, I quickly discerned that he is very hard mouthed and extremely stiff through his body. At first, it was very difficult for him to even bend his neck to the right, let alone relax or flex at his poll.

In addition, because of the bow on the front left, he has become accustomed to keeping the majority of his weight on his right front leg. This makes it VERY difficult for him to lift the right shoulder or not fall in to the right when walking. It is EXTREMELY difficult for him to walk in a circle to the right while moving his shoulders outwards (expanding the size of the circle). He just wants to spiral inwards to the right. We worked mostly to the right because he was so stiff this direction. Towards the end of our ride, he was able to shift some of his weight to the outside (left front) and take small steps outward on the circle. He definitely needs work to the left as well, but as to be expected, he is definitely more fluid to the left.

While we only walked on this ride and only rode for about 20 minutes, I found Jimmy to be very quick to pick up what I was asking. I also realized that when he's confused, his tendency is to shut down and stop. Whenever he wasn't sure what I wanted, instead of rushing forward, he would come to a stop and wait for me to tell him what to do. As soon as he was clear on what the command was, he was happy to try his best to complete the task asked of him.

I was able to spend a bit more time working with Jimmy on Friday. Paul had mentioned that Jimmy didn't really care for cross ties, so I clipped the ties to the bottom ring of his halter instead of the side rings. He didn't mind this at all. He was very sensitive to pressure on his head when he would step forward, but was happy to stand still once he found a comfortable position. It was the first time that I gave him a complete grooming since he arrived on Wednesday night. He seemed very happy to be curried and brushed. He's still shedding, so I'm sure it felt good! He did try and groom me a couple times when I was currying his shoulder, but I simply told him a quick no and he stopped.

After grooming, I tacked him up with my surcingle and fitted a bridle to him. I did have one bit that was large enough for his mouth: a D-ring french link snaffle. He stood quietly with the bridle removed and although he did shake his head up and down a couple times when I initially went to unhalter him, he quietly accepted the bridle and bit. I must say, he looked very handsome in the bridle! Next time I'll take my camera with to get pictures of him. Overall, he was very polite and quiet while being groomed. I did find that he has a pattern to having his feet picked. LF, LR, RF, RR. I'm used to Jewel who will pick up both front feet regardless of what side you're standing on.

Because of the glorious weather we had, I decided to lunge him outside. I also figured it would be a good opportunity to see how he would react to traffic, other horses in the pasture, people stopping by at the garage sale across the road, etc. He was so sensible. Even when tractors or motorcycles went by, he just took it all in stride.

As for actually working on the lunge, he's pretty stiff to start out with. His hind end is fairly weak from not doing anything for the last 8 months and it takes him a while to get loosened up. I started out with the sidereins on the longest setting to allow him to just get used to them. After a few minutes and traveling both directions, I shortened the reins a few wholes just to give him something to think about. He bumped against them a few times, but then relaxed nicely into them and eventually softened his poll and dropped his head. Considering this is probably the first time he ever worked in sidereins, I was very please with him. We worked most at the trot for about 10 minutes in each direction.

Our next lesson will be getting him used to the mounting block. I'm excited to get on him too. :)

Paul, Jimmy's former foster dad, delivered him to the barn last night. Jimmy was very looky and sniffed at everything, but settled in quickly. We offered him some grain and hay which he happily munched. Many thanks to Paul for taking time from his evening to bring Jimmy over!

After fussing with my own TB mare, Jewel, I got Jimmy out of his stall to see what he knew regarding ground work. He stood ground tied in the groom stall and let me pick up his feet. He also allowed me to measure his height. I have an "official" stick with a level and was shocked to see that he is officially (only) 16.2h. I would have guessed closer to 17h. Jewel is just shy of 16.2h, but she looks much smaller than he does until you're standing next to her. However, her height is in her legs. Jimmy has shorter front legs, but a massive chest and shoulder. He's very evenly built and has a very large hip and hind leg as well.

After measuring his height and picking his feet, I decided to see how well he led. Without using a chain (just a nylon halter and rope lead) we walked around the indoor. I started jogging and after a couple strides, Jimmy began trotting right along with me. He did shake his head a little as if to let me know that he was feeling good. After that, I decided to see if he would move his haunches and shoulders over. I swung the end of the lead towards his haunches and he quickly figured out to step them over. Then I swung the lead towards his shoulders. This was a little more tricky for him, but after a few minutes, he figured out how to step over versus stepping back.

Because he seemed so responsive and polite, we decided to venture outside for a bite of grass. The outdoor arena is a grass arena and makes the perfect grazing spot in the evening. Jimmy was very polite about walking around the outdoor and only stopping to nibble for grass when I stopped. Even with traffic whizzing by and kids playing ball across the road, he was very sensible. He was able to get a view of the other horses on the property when we were in the outdoor. He called to them a couple of times, but never got upset or worried. I even introduced him to my dog Landry, and he took it all in stride.

Below is a picture of him from last night.

As of tomorrow night, Jimmy, a 9 year old 16.3h bay TB gelding will be under my care. His registered name is Mynard Road. He raced and was also used as a pony horse. He has recovered from a bowed tendon which happened last fall. He was rescued because his owner was either going to euthanize him or leave him to starve because there wasn't room on the trailer to take him home to Arkansas. Thankfully, Friends of Ferdinand intervened and Jimmy was saved. FFI will be covering all expenses for Jimmy while he is in my care for retraining.

I went to visit Jimmy last night as his current foster home where he's been as part of the rehab process. His foster family is very nice. They take great care of their horses. Both Jimmy and Cheers (also an OTTB) were in very good weight - especially for coming out of winter.

Paul, the foster "dad," got Jimmy out so I could take a look at him. The bow is nasty looking, but appears to be cool and doesn't seem to bother him too much. He occasionally rested the left front (the bowed leg) but it seemed to be more out of habit than soreness. After had a good look at him, Paul lunged him for me. Jimmy looks to be a bit stiff in the hind end. The to the left, he carries his left hind underneath him and steps a little short on the right hind. I'm not too worried about it since the diagonal pair to the RH is the LF, which has the bowed tendon. Plus, he hasn't really been asked to work at all in the last 6 months due to the recovery process. When going to the right, he carried himself much more evenly. He has a lot of thrust and a nice, springy trot

His canter is a bit funky. The rhythm is pure, but the tempo isn't consistent. I think it will improve has he as the chance to be outside regularly and rebuild some of the carrying muscles. He's a little full of himself when asked to move out on the lunge, but that is to be expected given the rehab time he's incurred.

His ground manners were very nice, although he did have a chain under his chin during our meeting. I plan to fit my rope halter to him and see how he works in that. I don't like to use chains unless they're warranted for safety measures. Jimmy doesn't seem to be rude or obnoxious when being handled, so a rope halter may be all he needs. We'll see.

His current foster family will be delivering him to the barn tomorrow night. I'm very much looking forward to working with Jimmy and helping him through the retraining process.

Greetings all! My name is Amy Latka and this blog will be dedicated to the Second Chances horses that I will be working with. Second Chances is a retraining program created by the Thoroughbred rescue organization, Friends of Ferdinand. www.FriendsofFerdinand.org

I'll be posting pictures and training updates on any of the horses that are sent to me for training. My hope is that through this blog, the horses on these pages will be able to find good, permanent homes where both horse and owner will thrive.

Friends of Ferdinand, Inc. is an Indianapolis-based 501 (c)(3) organization founded in 2005 to provide options and alternatives to Indiana’s horses that are no longer able to fulfill their intended purpose. FFI took its name from a championed racehorse named Ferdinand, who won both the Kentucky Derby and the Breeder’s Cup and was named Horse of the Year in 1987. During his career, Ferdinand earned four million dollars and was retired to stud in 1989. In 1995, he was exported to Japan where he was led to slaughter.

“Second Chances” is a self-sustaining retraining program for retired racehorses that is truly unique to the state of Indiana. It promotes a practical concept for organizations and advocates involved in the welfare of retiring racehorses. Instead of merely rescuing these horses from their current situation, FFI plans to provide them with a new skill set that will allow them to transition more easily and permanently into new lives as riding horses.

I invite you to read through this blog and learn about the horses that are available. For more information on any of the horses available through Friends of Ferdinand, Inc., please visit their website at Friends of Ferdinand, Inc.