After Racing: Retraining Thoroughbreds

I am very pleased to announce that I met a wonderful woman who is a new volunteer with FFI. She is going to become Stormy's primary rider and will be working with him under my supervision. I met Erin, the new volunteer, on Wednesday night. Although a tad rusty, she obviously has quite a bit of experience handling horses. I was pleased to see her comfort level with Stormy and how well she handled him both on the ground and under saddle. I'm looking forward to good things from her!

As we make room for two new thoroughbreds at the barn, it will be wonderful to have some assistance in working with Stormy to make sure that he continues to progress and learns to trust yet another human. Keep checking back here as I will definitely add photos and hopefully some video of Stormy and his new human. :) I'll also be adding pictures and information on the two new horses we are scheduled to take in on the 17th!

We're making room for new foster horses at the barn. Next week, after the Paddock Sale at Hoosier Park, we're expecting two new horses fresh from the track. I'm looking forward to helping transition these horses to new lives and careers.

...so says Stormy. Stormy is really happy just being out on the trail. He is happiest moving at a walk. He will trot and canter if you ask correctly, but pretty much prefers to take it easy. A confident rider is necessary, not because he is tricky, but rather because he can lack confidence if his leader lacks confidence. He has been taken on public trail rides (see the post below) and did VERY well. Not only did he take great care of his rider, but he didn't even get nervous when they lagged behind a bit and he couldn't see other horses. He does have some bursitis in his hip which means that he shouldn't be ridden on hills or jumped. But other than that, he's good to go.

So if you know of anyone who is looking for a low-key trail horse, please let them know about Stormy!

Sara Busbice (the president of FFI) and I decided to participate in the B&O Trail Ride fund raiser at Natural Valley Farms. She rode Stormy and I rode Jewel. The third member of our TB contingency was made up of Sue Pratt and her TB gelding Printout. Although we knew that Stormy had been trail ridden extensively before he came to my barn, we still wondered what he would do.

It turns out that he was awesome. Not only was he confident, he really had no qualms with needing to be near the other horses. In fact, Sara says that there were a few times when he thought it would be great to just go down a different trail. She reported that most of the day, she rode him on the buckle. He would trot off a few times to catch up with the group, but in general was just awesome!

As far as soundness is concerned, he had an issue with jumping up the bank to get out of the creek. Oh yeah, we rode through a creek too. Because of the bursitis in his right hip, he was sore after being required to jump up the bank in order to get out of the creek. I gave him bute for a couple days after the ride and it seems to have helped. Due to a cold I've been dealing with, I haven't been out to the barn in a few days though. Assuming he stays on fairly level ground, I think Stormy has found his calling. Here are a few pictures from the day: