After Racing: Retraining Thoroughbreds

Okay...so he didn't leave at midnight, but Magic did head southward to his permanent home in Georgia at around 8AM this morning. Over the last 5 months that he's been here, he has relaxed considerably. He's figured out that trail riding is pretty much the best job ever. I'm really proud of how far he's come. :)

I had a really excellent ride on Flirt today. Instead of having any preconceived hopes of what we would accomplish, I just focused on having a calm ride. It worked! She was great, despite the "dance of the riding lawn mowers" going on across the road. Apparently it was a good day to mow the lawn. ;) Anyhow, Flirt took everything in stride. She had a very nice, relaxed trot. Transitions to walk came easily. Lots of walking on a long rein. She was fabulous. And so different than last weekend. We're definitely going to have to deal with her issues of working with another horse. However, I'm thrilled with how well she did today on her own. This filly is going to make somebody a *really* nice horse. Know anyone who wants a (nearly) 16h 2005 dark bay TB mare? Send them to Friends of Ferdinand. The website link is above. :)

Kim came over this morning and we played with Flirt and Wings. Kim rode Flirt, who was anxious as ever in the outdoor arena. After a good 20 minutes outside, we went back in the indoor because it started raining. Flirt calmed right down. Its quite obviously her comfy place. After about 20 minutes indoors, we went back outside where she stayed quiet and Kim had a couple really nice walk-trot transitions and then finished on that note. Kim's going to come out and ride Flirt as her schedule allows. I think that is a good thing.

Afterwards, we played with Wings for a while. I hadn't done anything with her. We turned her out in the outdoor and got some video of her moving around at liberty. She's a lovely mover. When we went back inside, she was pretty anxious at first and called a lot to her buddies (Darcy). I stuck her on the lunge line and she pretty quickly figured out that she was supposed to go around in a circle. Once she figured out that her buddies weren't going to save her, she settled in and started paying attention to me. We worked both directions on the lunge line. I would have liked to have used the round pen but the footing was pretty mucky. Anyhow, after about 10 minute each direction on the lunge, we did some in hand work, getting her to yield her haunches and shoulders. She picked up on it very quickly. Afterwards, she stood quietly in the cross ties, allowed us to groom her and love on her, pick up her feet, etc. She also stood reasonably well for pictures. All in all, she was really good. She seems to be a very intelligent horse who learns quickly. She also seems to be a thinker rather than a reactor. I like this. :) She's very athletic and I couldn't see any lameness or prior injury that would keep her from doing anything. We'll see what Doc Angie says. :)

Well, it was a bit of an eye opening thing to ride Flirt outside with another horse. To date, I haven't ridden Flirt with another horse. It makes sense that she would be strong and unfocused with another horse cantering towards her, but somehow I didn't think of that when we were riding. I'm hoping that Erica will be out soon to ride Darcy so that I can ride with another horse in the ring. I think using Sara's feedback about the two horses working at opposite ends of the ring and passing each other on figure eights will be useful for Flirt, especially since she tends to have a lot of tension (perhaps from the track) about working around other horses. Her only skill before then was to run with them. So it makes sense for her to not understand that we don't want her to run.

I had a nice ride on Flirt today. I finally got to canter her outside. Even though I had ridden her quite a few times before, the footing and weather outside just never worked out for me to get to ride her out there. So finally, today I did. And while she was distracted and seemed to have forgotten most of what she had learned just 6 short weeks before, she eventually settled into steady, stretching contact and worked well for me. We even got to canter! Her canter is quite stiff, but she really listened to my seat and body position and was pretty quiet.

Hopefully on Sunday after the prospective adopter rides her, we can get some video of her going under saddle.

I was planning to ride Jewel as well, but unfortunately it looks like she got kicked in the belly. She has a nice arc-shaped wound on her belly right in front of her stifle. She has some funky drainage pouch on her leg. I'm not sure if the two are related or not. Regardless, she was kind of stiff and not wanting to move out on the lunge (which is very a-typical of her), so I cleaned up the wound and turned her back out. My guess is that she'll be fine in a few days.

Well someone is coming to look at Flirt this weekend! :) It is a lady who, I'm told, is a dressage rider from the Chicago area. She is going to ride Flirt and Nightwing (one of the other FFI horses). Both horses are quite nice so hopefully she picks one of them!

Well I picked up Magic today and he is like a completely different horse. MUCH more confident. Really laid back. Its as though he finally took a deep breath and realized that life just doesn't have to be rushed. I was thrilled to see him go so well and even more thrilled to get to ride him. Jan gave me a tour of the property during a 30 minute or so trail ride. Magic did great and I know his owner Chris is going to be thrilled with him! I'm looking forward to some good trail rides in the upcoming weeks.

Since I had access to the truck and trailer, Sara Busbice, the FFI president asked if I could move a couple of horses around. After getting Magic back home, I headed down to Horse & Hound Vet clinic to pick up Bartlett, who was left there after not passing his vet check to the desires of the adopter. He went back to his foster home and will be starting training for a beginner level horse trial later this summer. He seemed excited to be home. From that foster home, I picked up Darcy (registered name Sea Dar) , who will be heading up to Jan and Archies in June.

When I got back, I brought in Flirt and Jewel to ride them. Jewel had a swollen knee with what looked to be a scrape. Turns out to be a cut. It looks like she just cut the surface skin (the hide) on her right knee. I have no idea what she could have cut it on. The whole knee is swollen, and while she's sore on it, she isn't lame. She trotted sound on the lunge line. I cleaned the wound as best I could and determined that the cut at least is superficial. I can't find anything that looks like a puncture or a deeper slice. I have no idea what she did. I guess it could be a kick, but the cut is so clean that I'm tending towards a wire cut. I gave her a gram of bute and tucked her in her stall for the night. We'll see how she is doing tomorrow. I wish I'd seen it before I drove to the vet's today to pick up Bartlett because would have hauled her down there just to be on the safe side.

Flirt was filthy. Just absolutely gross looking. Such is what happens when we get 7 inches of rain in one week. She was also shedding like crazy, so I decided to give her a bath. She got a good scrub down and looks so much better! She's a bit thin for my taste. She just looks racing fit. I'd like to see more fat on her, but I think the issue is that she's gone through another growth spurt because she is no longer butt high. I left a note for her grain to be increased. After the bath I lunged her out on the grass arena. It is actually dry enough to work out there (I'm surprised!). If the weather holds out tomorrow, I hope to get to ride her out there. Keep your fingers crossed!

Well, I had a couple nice rides today. I didn't expect greatness from my horse since she's had about a month off and it sometimes takes some convincing that she should actually work again. But, I was pleasantly surprised the good effort she gave. I would have like to have ridden outside, but it was just to wet out there yet. Heck, I nearly lost my muck boots just walking out in the paddock to get her. My muck boots go up to my knees and I had mud within two inches of the top. At one point, I wondered if I should continue further. Thankfully, it got shallower instead of deeper.

Anyhow, after riding Jewel, I rode Flirt. She is doing really well. I'm really pleased. She w/t/c both directions on the lunge with ease. Her lateral work on the ground is really coming along. I do have to remind her (under saddle) to move her shoulders to the outside. She really wants to fall inwards. We've been doing some turns on the haunches, which require her to pick up the inside shoulder and shift her weight to the outside in order to do so. They're a little sloppy yet, but getting better. She is also standing quietly in the cross ties and standing quietly at the mounting block. I'm proud of where she's at and how far she's come!

After riding Flirt, I was pretty much wiped out. Linda was giving a lesson to another border and there was quite a lot of dust in the air. I just needed to not be breathing all that in. In other words, Roman got another day off. The good news though is that someone is interested in him and is scheduled for a visit on Wednesday. From what I know of this person (based on her adoption application), she would make a great home for him. Hopefully it all works out!

Its been an interesting April. Flirt is doing really well and I'm very pleased with her progress. Hopefully the weather clears up so that I can get on her outside without tearing up the footing in the outdoor. I'd really like to get some cantering under saddle time on her before she leaves.

Roman has had it pretty easy. The family that came to look at him from Ohio determined that they probably weren't going to be a good fit for him. While they were great riders, they don't offer nearly the same amount of turnout that Roman gets at my barn (nearly 24 hours in the summer). They were concerned that his very mild cribbing could become an issue if he is left in a lot more. I too think it could be an issue. Plus, physically, he does much better being turned out than standing in his stall.

Jewel continues to be the princess. She is fat and sassy as ever. There is a clinic this weekend with Linda Heiny, but I don't know if I'll be riding in it. Probably not. Considering my riding has been restricted this month pretty much to client horses, I think I'll wait until next month when I have the chance to ride my own horse a little more frequently. :)

Magic is doing very well up at Jan and Archie's place. They sent photos today of him being ridden out on the trail. It looks like he is really coming along well and I couldn't be more pleased. Its exactly what he needed!

Well its the end of the quarter, so I guess I'll do a little update on the ponies.

The first is Flirt, who I haven't written too much about. Flirt is a former FFI horse that was adopted in March 09 by Stephanie from Michigan. She is a 2005 filly and a Seattle Slew grand daughter. She is a super cute filly and tends to learn pretty quickly. She has made major improvements over the past month. Round pen work has been great for her. She really needed to understand that she wasn't in charge and that it was okay for her to trust a human. She has also calmed down in cross ties as well. She didn't freak out in them, she just danced in them. However, I think we've finally gotten that taken care of. Under saddle, she is improving greatly in regards to balancing herself. She still needs help moving over to the right (lifting the right shoulder and stepping outwards), but she is happy to yield her haunches. The ground work we've been doing has been helpful as well. She's understanding more that she needs to step under rather than just shuffle sideways. Its a combination of a young horse and track horse thing and she's very willing to learn a better way. All in all, I'm pleased with her progress.

Magic is the 2nd horse that I'm working with. He continues to be nervous with a strong flight instinct even after the two months with me. After some discussion, it looks like someone will be taking him up to Jan and Archie Pickets for 30 days of trail training. He'll actually get worked every day, which is exactly what he needs. He is only getting worked 3 times per week with me. Anyhow, I think it will be just what he needs to build confidence. And then he'll still have a final 30 days with me before heading down south to his new home.

Roman is the 3rd horse. Technically, his official training time is over, but I will continue to ride him and help him progress until he is adopted. I was able to ride in two clinics with him. Linda is really thrilled with his progress and how much more supple he is getting. He's still a stinker about wanting to give to the bit, but he's getting better. And he's a very smart horse, so part of it is just him testing the line to see what he can get away with. But, he learns so quickly that I really think that with more consistent work, he's just going to blossom! There are also people driving from OH this weekend to see him. I'm really excited about that because it sounds like they're going to be a perfect home for him.

And finally we have Jewel. More and more, I look at Jewel and just can't believe that I own such a nice horse. Her weight is fabulous. I think the worming every month was exactly what she needed to maintain her weight. I recently rode her with Linda Heiny, who said that aside from working on some position stuff with me, she felt that Jewel was ready to show 2nd level. This is so gratifying for me. We're finally back to where she was before the colic surgery. I couldn't be more pleased with her.

And so there we are after the first quarter of the year. :)