I've turned into a form of early riser. I like waking up at about 8 in the morning, lounging in my pajamas and drinking coffee. I've also developed quite an addiction to muffins. Especially cinnamon streusel muffins. MmmMmm.
So to start, I would like to comment on how old my horses are getting. It makes me notice my own aging process, and I'm not particularly fond of it. Bailey just celebrated her 4th birthday on April 2nd and Bella turned 9 on the 7th. It's hard to believe we've been together for over 7 years now. Then, of course, Patrick turned 5 on St. Patrick's Day.
I don't believe I mentioned this before, but I was a bit worried that I would have to cancel taking Patrick to the hunter show this Sunday because I got put on the work schedule without being asked. I had resigned to doing it, since I've already requested next Wednesday-Friday off for Culpeper. However, our newest employee, who as it turns out is pretty awesome, offered to cover the morning feeding for me so that I can take my little monster to the county show. Now it's rush rush rush! Oh wait...it's pouring rain outside.
I registered him on the circuit under the show name 5 & D Court Jester. I've been debating his name for a while now. I bought him with the name "It's The Luck of the Irish!"...which is just plain stupid, and yes, it DID contain an exclamation point on his sale documents. But I thought long and hard about it, and I decided I wanted something that clearly stated that he is the class clown (which, now that I say that, THAT would have been a cute name...). So on a whim, I chose Court Jester. It's not in the USEF yet, so any thoughts?
Now, on to the good stuff.
The last two days were a bit of a setback and a realization period for me. I mentioned that I've been having difficulties with Bella on our right sides. The other day the mares were left in for 48 hours because of our dreadful weather, so after riding them I let them stay the night outside so they could have some time to be horses. When I brought Bella in the next day, she was dead tired. I didn't think much of it until I started to curry her and she was hollowing her back out under the grooming! Thankfully, I HAVE owned Bella for 7 years, and we know each other like the back of our...hooves? Normally she loves being curried. She leans in and makes faces and cocks a leg and just enjoys it. This was clearly something different. Her eyes were worried, her ears were dialed to 'stressed', and she was flinching. Now, we have been jumping back into some serious training to prepare for next week, so a little bit of soreness is to be expected, but I had a hunch.
I decided to check my saddle fit. Low and behold, my $3,000 saddle bought just for her doesn't fit her anymore. At all! It was a horrible fit, even with any of my pads. My old Bates fits her slightly better, especially with a riser underneath, but it's still not the greatest. I know a lot of this is because I fit her saddle at the peak of fitness and now her topline and shoulder aren't muscled out like they should be. However, this has created quite the dilemma for the time being. Now I know why top trainers get saddles in all tree sizes...
Anyways, I realized an important lesson. Sometimes preparing for the marathon is more taxing than the race itself. It's easy for us to realize when we're sore and don't feel like working hard, but our horses, even on a light training day, still have to wear a potentially ill fitting saddle and carry the burden of our weight on their backs. Despite what our goals are and when their deadlines may be, sometimes we just have to step back.
So that day I just put her on the lunge with really low set side reins and let her stretch out. She was visibly stiff (she DID run a lot in the field because I put Eden out with the girls for the first time) and quite uncomfortable in the beginning. So I kept pushing her forward and encouraging her to stretch those muscles out. By the end, she was a little better but still not herself. We rounded out the afternoon with a nice bath, a body brace rinse with liniment, and a gram of Bute. I repeated the lunging again yesterday, and there was some improvement. Hopefully I'm on the right track, because we only have a week until Culpeper!
Eden, on the other hand, has been simply fantastic. I've never worked with a horse off the track before. Those OTTB people talk like they're something special and the horses require a certain knowledge. I haven't found that to be true. It's just a matter of knowing your basics and sticking to them. Naturally, a certain amount of patience is necessary, but it's just training.
Here lately I've been starting her on the lunge with low-set elastic side reins. One thing that is nice about racehorses is that most of them (given the correct conformation) already know how to set their head. However, the challenge lies in moving forward, believe it or not. When racing, they lean on the jockeys hands for support. This causes more of their weight to be shifted onto their forehand, which when translated into the arena means they don't track up. It's a tricky thing to notice because they aren't heavy in your hand. Quite the opposite actually; you can possess no contact with the mouth and they still carry their head 'in a frame'. I think this tricks a lot of people into thinking they just need to slow the horse down, and ta-da! They have a show horse!
So my mentality has been to shift Eden's balance and push her forward, forward, forward. Rein contact with a jockey is high up. Then they bridge the reins, plant their hands, and the horse moves into that contact. By placing the side-reins low and using ones with elastic, I've forced her head and neck into a position to engage her topline, however I've given her nothing to lean against. Naturally, in this position, where she off balance and unfit, she moves about at a snails pace. So this is when I constantly push, cluck, and encourage an extended trot. She's catching on so quickly, I'm genuinely impressed.
I originally thought I'd just sit on her, get her going w/t/c in a ring, and then throw her online for some small bit of money to flip her fast. Nowww....I think I'm going to keep her around for a while ;) After I lunge her, I hop on her and walk trot around a bit. She. is. smooth. as. glass. to ride. I'm so excited! I never expected this, but I'll admit, I DID hope for it! Hopefully video will come soon!
I don't know if the whole re-training a racehorse thing is interesting at all...is it worth documenting?
I'd like to know how Eden comes along, though I am a bit bias! They are always different though.
ReplyDeleteHaha it's been interesting so far. I might turn to you for advice, since you've been through it before! Speaking of which, she's actually more balanced to the right, but counter-bends to the left...is that normal?
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting. I worked with a couple OTTB at my barn and they're fun to retrain and work :D I think its amusing when people think any off the track horse needs to be trained any differently than any other horse. Yes, I show my standardbred in DRESSAGE. It is possible with the exact same training as an other horse, lol.
ReplyDeleteArmani was actually much easier to ride to the right, though I really couldn't explain to you why that is..It isn't like that now, and that is a recent development in the past year. I'd imagine the counter bending is just because when they race they don't truly bend because if they did, and were say close to the rail, at such a high speed they would be much more likely to fall. They look like they are bending, but from my understanding, they are actually running straighter than what we can see.
ReplyDeleteI can now agree with both of you! It's been way easier than I expected, and Eden is easier to ride to the right as well!
ReplyDeleteIt's almost as if she thinks she knows what she's doing to the left, so it's a little more of a battle. But to the right, she's so uncomfortable that she just trusts me and does what I ask without question.
It's very interesting! Hopefully I'll sit on her today and have another story to relay!