After Racing: Retraining Thoroughbreds

Over the holidays, I was lucky enough to be able to travel home to Wisconsin and spend some good old quality time with friends and family.  On December 23rd, I headed to Madison to spend the day with Pam Groth, adopter of Sawyer, one of my first foster horses.  Sawyer's registered name is Jimmy Kool and we called him JC.

Through the months since Pam adopted Sawyer, I have gotten photos and little updates from her.  However, this was the first time I had been able to actually go visit him since he left here in March.  I'm thrilled to report that Sawyer is doing fabulous.  I didn't get to see him under saddle because Pam had the chiropractor out the day I was there.  However, he is in excellent weight and appears to be very happy and healthy.  In addition, its quite obvious that Pam simply adores him.  They are a good match.  Please enjoy the following photos of Pam and Sawyer.

So I should have known better than to go trail riding on my mare without lunging her first.  Especially since the ground has been icy, so none of the horses were really able to run around even when turned out.  She was alert and aware when we set off from the barn yesterday with Holly (another boarder) riding her mare Trendy.  But even with birds, deer, dogs barking and bunnies literally coming up between her legs, she remained calm and just walked.  We were a good 20-25 minute out on our ride when something, lord knows what because neither Holly or I ever saw anything, caused Jewel to do a nice rollback and then start bucking.  The rollback got me a bit off balance, but when the bucking started, that was it for me.  With Jewel's help, I made it to the ground hitting my left side pretty hard.  Thank goodness I always wear a helmet because I landed on my left hip, shoulder and side of my head.  I felt like one of those football players who comes up with grass stuck in his helmet after a good tackle.  That was me, except it was snow!  Holly had some precarious moments as Trendy considered joining Jewel's escapades, but she stayed on and got Trendy settled.

Jewel decided to head back to the barn, except that she got most of the way down the trail (bucking and snorting) and then turned around and galloped back.  She did a few circles in the cut cornfield managing to get both her front legs inside the reins (but didn't break them) before finally coming to a stop and letting me catch her.  Unfortunately, at 16.2h, she's just too big for me to get on from the ground.  Or rather, I'm unpracticed at it as I always use a mounting block.  So we headed back to the barn -- both of us on foot.  When we got back, although sore, I mounted up and we took a short ride around the neighboring hay field.  This was more for the "fall off, get back on" theory than anything else.  By the time we made it around that small field, the adrenaline had worn off and I was beginning to feel the soreness.  With that, I left Holly and Trendy, who ventured back out to the corn fields where Jewel and I had parted ways.  I untacked Jewel, turned her out and headed home for the comfort of the hotpad and ibuprofin.

I'm happy to report that I'm still sore, but feeling much better today.  I might even ride this afternoon...but not before lunging my horse!

I'm happy to report that Roxie has had a pretty major breakthrough with her ears.  I think she finally realizes that they're feeling better and that it isn't going to hurt to have me touch them.  Yesterday, I took the bridle on and off three times without issue! Woo hoo!  What a good girl!

She also had a breakthrough about the mounting block.  She figured out that it is a good thing to stand still at the mounting block.  She is also learning to come to me at the mounting block.  This is going to require a bit more work, but she's trying.  She's figuring out that the whip isn't a bad thing and that when I tap her with it, she needs to move that body part (that got tapped) away from the whip, even if its towards me.  This is a new concept for her, but she seems to be catching on quickly.

Under saddle Roxie is wonderful to ride.  She thinks a lot and gets frustrated if she doesn't understand what I'm asking.  She shows this by swishing her tail.  In typical TB mare fashion, she would prefer to do what she knows and just take over the situation.  But she's doing well.  Yesterday, she did very well at moving off my leg laterally.  She is very responsive to shifts in body weight.  She started trotting off of my seat (didn't even need to use my leg) and then came back to a halt from trot off my seat.  She's light in the bridle, but wants contact.  She's comfortable stretching down into contact.  She is going to make someone a very nice horse!

I'm thrilled to report that She's Got Wings, one of my former fosters, has been adopted!  Congrats to Susan on her adoption of Wings.  Susan recently lost a special horse and in her healing, has grown particularly fond of Wings.  I'm thrilled for them and I know that they will have many good adventures together.  Yay!

I got on Roxie for the first time yesterday.  She is still uncomfortable having her right ear bent when putting the bridle on, but aside from that, she was just fine tacking up.  Dave held her for me for mounting.  She was a little unsure of the whole standing still thing, as well as my legs being down so low on her sides.  However, she quickly relaxed and stretched down into contact (yay) and we walked and trotted around the ring.  It was no big deal.  

Roxie has been doing really well.  She has a wonderfully thick coat (for a Thoroughbred) and has put on weight since we added a cup of Ultimate Finish to her feed each day.  I'm really pleased with how she is looking going into winter.  I'm also pleased to report that she is doing very well in her ground work and prep for riding.  She is consistent on the lunge line (w/t/c in both directions) and works well in both the bitting rig and the side reins.  She is really coming along nicely!

The only thing standing in our path is her ears.  Yesterday, the vet was out to remove aural plaques (believed to be a form of papilloma) from her ears.  This is typically a young horse thing, so we were surprised that at 6 years old, she had plaque in both ears.   While the papillomas are benign, they make her ears incredibly painful and sensitive to touching.  As you might imagine, this makes bridling an issue.  So, yesterday we had them removed.  I was originally planning to ride her today, but we'll see how she is when I get out there today.  I do have a schooling bridle that is easily taken apart so that I don't have to mess with her ears.  That may be the answer.  I'll report back later today as to what I do and how it goes.

Jewel is doing very well under saddle too.  The chiropractic adjustment last month has made a huge difference.  She is really coming along nicely with a lot of power from the hind end.  Right now, we're just doing strength building exercises.  I started a little bit of collection work yesterday after having doing a few weeks of long and low work to build back muscle.  She still isn't strong enough for a lot of collected work, but she can do a little bit at a time with frequent walk breaks to stretch and relax the muscles.  I was quite pleased with her work yesterday!

Jewel is also looking great going into winter.  She too has a thicker coat than usual.  Hmm...are the horses trying to tell me something?  I've given both of them a modified bib clip so help the dry a little faster after working.  In the past, Jewel has been a little on the thin side going into winter.  However, I think we FINALLY found a good combination of feed and fat supplements because she has PLENTY of excess weight right now.  Of course, she did have most of the summer off due to my schedule, so that allowed her to just pack on the pasture.  Oh well, I would rather have her head into winter being a little overweight (knowing that she'll loose some) than to have her be thin.

Other exciting news is that I'm planning to attend the schooling dressage show up at Foxton Farm on December 12.  Weather permitting, I'll be heading up there to ride Jewel in a couple dressage classes.  I'm thinking of doing Training 1 (in the side saddle) and Training 4 in the regular saddle.  We'll see how things go.  If you're there, please stop by and see us! :)