Elusive Sky has totally turned the corner. He was one that I bought in late March off the track and he experienced the big crash. He wasn’t in good condition and he was just miserable. I realize how easy it is to transition the canter horses to their retraining because they have already had plenty of time off when they come to me. This guy needed time!

His body hurt him and he wasn’t exactly pleasant for a while. He was sweet as can be on the ground but when your body hurts you tend to not want to be touched. He was allowed to have a light work schedule to give him time to physically and mentally heal. Now he thinks he is pretty darn awesome. We figured out the one thing he loves more than anything is jumping. This horse seriously perks right up when he sees a jump. We haven’t done really much flatwork because his body is still healing but jumping allows him to build muscle while going forward so we work with it. He is starting to put on weight and muscle. He loves trail riding and going out and about. He is going to be an eventing machine. The girls have been riding him for me because he really did need a lighter rider for a bit while his back muscles got stronger.

Letterman has been excellent. We are starting to smooth out the canter! Gib has been working hard with some lunging just to get him more consistent. I feel like riding has been hit or miss due to the amount of rain that we are getting. Something crazy like 10″ in the past few weeks. Enough!

I will be bringing Legend back here soon and am thinking I will bring another CANTER horse over to restart shortly (well after my month break!). I want to give myself less work so that I can really focus on Gib and Letterman. Sales are great $$$ but they keep me so busy that I often don’t get a chance to ride my own horses. I think Sky will sell here shortly which will put me at a very managable number of personal horses (right now I have 2 personal horses (junior & letterman) and 2 resale horses (sky & legend). Gib stays until the end of the makeover so at least until October. Ridge is my only boarded horse. Six horses is our magic number in terms of ease of work. If Sky sells I will likely bring a CANTER horse to keep it at 6 horses. Maybe if something perfect comes along I will get one more resale but we will see. I keep that fairly open-ended because it really has to be a horse that speaks to me. See..I am already talking about possibly buying another. I need to learn self-control but that was very apparent when I picked up yet another cat over the weekend.

My husband will soon ban me from all thoroughbreds and cats. Long story short we had went to dinner in Wilmington and on the walk back to our car this cat saw me crossing the street and gave me the “look.” I stopped to acknowledge him but he then proceeded to follow us for the next 10 min. Kurt tells it like I kept slowing down to egg the cat on which may or may not be true Kurt pleaded with me to keep walking and ignore the cat but I think he knew that I had already made my mind up. Poor Tom Cat was so skinny, covered in bites from fighting, had ticks and fleas and in need of some quality care. I picked him up and he just let me carry him to the car. Kurt doubted this cat would ride in the car but he rode the 1.25 hrs curled up on my lap. He was so hungry that he dove into his wet food and then ate his dry food too! Drank a whole bowl of water. Poor cat! Thankfully, he understands the litter box. He is in the quarantine room and has an appointment for a snip job on Tuesday We are calling him Willy and Kurt secretly loves him. I am sure I stole this cat but if he did belong to somebody they didn’t deserve him. He is the friendliest cat!

Kurt is a very understanding man. I think to live with a horse crazy/cat crazy woman you have to just roll with it He doesn’t believe me when I say that I am taking a break from buying horses so maybe putting it in writing will help me stay strong

July he had started to learn a bit more about softening but you can tell just how weak he was all over. He could barely go forward and was still very angry.

October he started to stretch and let go of his back a bit more. He had been doing a ton of hacking and started to jump logs out on the trail. Less angry but still very stiff in his body and in his mouth.

This video was 6 months later in January of 2012. Looks like I was just working on stretching him at the canter. I can see how stiff he is in the trot and how he wants to just grab the bit and lock up but there is absolute progress. He is less angry and he is pushing from behind and moving forward on his own. Look at the muscle that he has built and the topline!

3 months later he is much steadier in the bridle, softer in the body and pushing from behind. We even jump because we have some sort of control on the flat finally!

Not long after that lesson he fractured the first splint and earned himself a lot of time off.

He came back in September of 2012 and because we could only do flatwork it was time to focus on really making him rideable. Kelly started to help us and our first lesson was just all about having him move off the right leg and not brace in the transitions. I remember her riding him and just saying how tough he was and that every time you asked him a question with the leg or the hand the answer was SCREW YOU. Anything remotely hard made him angry but I had to keep asking him if I wanted him to improve.

I worked super hard on making him straight and available in both reins and off both legs. We took another lesson in November of 2012 and he felt great. I was so thrilled with our progress. He was becoming fun on the flat! He wasn’t perfect but it sure was a lot easier and he wasn’t getting so mad when I asked him to move laterally.

We were able to foxhunt a bit and then he fractured another splint in the field and this one took forever to heal up. We didn’t start back in work until May so he had five months off. He is just now getting fit again but he did retain a good deal of the training. The canter needs fitness and I have some more work to do to now get him back into the left rein but I am excited about it.

His body has also changed shape and he is now so muscled over his topline, down his back and over his rump. He has the muscles to push and now we are just starting to develop some gears. I can ride him up or down but mostly allow him to go a bit lower and rounder because he is a horse that braces in his neck. Allowing him to stretch over that back helps with the relaxation. I honestly look forward to every ride on him and flatwork is fun. He is a challenge but it is so much fun to look back. I think he is a horse that you easily could have said hated flatwork and never was going to be rideable on the flat but I do think if you are patient almost any horse can be made better on the flat. He just had such a tough mouth after 60 starts but now his mouth is very soft. You can move him with just a touch of the finger and a whisper of the leg (most of the time). I wish I hadn’t lost almost 9 months because of splint injuries but such is life with horses.

He now has his own paddock with his stall door always open so he can just come and go. We cater to him but I find him worth it

We headed off with Letterman, Gib and Junior on for company. Letterman was first up and came off the trailer a bit jazzed up. He was freaked out and I should have not tied him to the trailer..famous last words. Something spooked him and he broke the snap on the lead rope and got loose. Thankfully he just took a tour of the sand ring and let me catch him after a few minutes. Letterman…gosh he is such a brat.

We started out really working to get him straight in his body when going left. Little bit of counterbend and lateral work to move him from the right leg to the left rein. Focusing on making sure that I was straight and not letting him just grab the left rein. Do I have him on the right rein and can I control the right shoulder?

Worked on picking up that right lead. Using a bit of an overbend going right so I can slid him off my right leg. Scooping with my hip to pick up the canter. I need him to be more available in his right side so that is something to work on in this canter.

The left canter was a hot mess. I had been doing a bit of counterbend but it wasn’t working. He was going so high he could just avoid me. She got on him and said that she was wrong and the issue was more of a left rein issue. Every time she touched the left rein he inverted or grabbed it and ran. She worked and worked on it with a bit of success but that was my homework.

Overall, I was thrilled with Letterman. My blog readers know what a journey he has been especially on the flat. He feels so good you all just wouldn’t believe the difference. He used to be so hard in his mouth and just stiff. Now he feels so soft and I can move him all around with just a light touch of the leg. It is all going the right direction.

I wrote about Gib on my makeover blog so I will like you there to go have a read.

We had planned to take Elusive Sky, Mister P J, Gib, Letterman and Ridge. Sky developed an abscess at the very last-minute and PJ is still dealing with complications from getting gelded. We packed everything into one trailer and headed to thoroughbred show in Bel Air, MD. Mid Atlantic Horse Rescue was hosting and I can only imagine the amount of work that goes into hosting one of these shows. I know that Wicomico did an amazing job hosting the show that benefited CANTER.

Amanda was going to ride Letterman because we figured Gib was the wild card. He had been a bit silly at home lately and he just needed to be ridden in a way that gives him confidence. I expected Letterman to be his normal cocky self but he was at a whole new level of Letterman yesterday. It started off in warmup when he came trotting in the gate and did one of his epic spook/spin moves unseating Amanda and then running all around like a total dummy refusing to be caught. Way to clear the ring, Letterman! Gib thankfully did not toss me and we all managed to get it together. Sorry to everyone that we upset. Green horses are unpredictable and things happen. Ridge Amour was being shown by his new owner who was fairly nervous but I think she realized she got the bargain of the century when he just looked at Letterman galloping around and rolled his eyes. What a stupid horse…Ridge has no time for dummies.

Letterman did just fine once she was back on.

All the horses showed in some in-hand classes. A good way to get them used to the show ring. Letterman did the war horse class which had over 20 horses in there. He didn’t place but we were all thrilled with Sue Smith (Canter PA) won it with her lovely horse. He was gorgeous!!!

Letterman was still wet from the sponging we had to give him after he got so worked up.

We entered Letterman, Gib and Ridge in the in-hand class for adoption owned horses.

Letterman was 3rd, Ridge 4th and Gib was 5th.

We put them all back on the trailer and then we all decided to just do the same division because we were hot, tired and wanted to go home. Hunter shows kill me Eventing seems much easier to me!

The division was a walk, walk/trot and trot poles. Ridge got 5th out of 19 in the walk class but got a fly on him and started bucking during the trot class. Gib was absolutely awesome and while he didn’t place he totally blew me out of the water being so relaxed in such a huge group. Letterman..let’s not talk about Letterman anymore in this post He was just not having any of this stupid walk stuff and started to wind up not down. He went back to the trailer because at that point I couldn’t watch him and give instructions on how to get him to behave!

Doris said she actually tried when she got called for a ribbon in that huge class. I am so proud of her! She really has developed such a bond with Ridge and he is a wonderful horse. I am so happy to have both of them in my barn.

I found myself laughing hysterically when I saw this picture of Letterman. Yep, that about sums up his day.

Poor Amanda! Letterman and I have a lesson with Kelly next weekend..pay back Letterman!

Great show and it was so much fun to see all the gorgeous thoroughbreds!

I am not really a chestnut fan but he spoke to me for whatever reason. I am one of those people who just buys based off my gut feeling. He is 4yrs old and 16.1. He last raced in September of 2012 and has since just been hanging out. I am looking forward to seeing what he is all about.

He had a great time stretching his leg out and actually went right down the jump chute all on his own the first two times. He thought that was super fun!

I wrote a new post on the thoroughbred makeover site about how I like to do my first ride and talked about Gibs first ride.

http://retiredracehorsetraining.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=259:the-first-ride&catid=97:jessica-morthole&Itemid=393

He is coming along nicely but has a lot of typical green horse types of training issues that I can discuss.

We are taking a bunch of horses to the TB show this weekend supporting Mid Atlantic Horse Rescue. Elusive Sky is being ridden by Whitney. Amanda is going to ride Letterman, Doris is riding Ridge and I am riding Gib. We are just doing some in hand classes and very baby divisions. Sky, Letterman and Gib have not been to a horse show before so who knows what the reaction will be! We are prepared to not even show if they are too worried. We are just doing the poles and x-rail divisions so I think we can manage it but we shall see. It is going to be a very hot day so I am glad that we will be in and out before it gets to hot. I think it is important to support these shows and show off our horses (well not sure if we will show off but at least people can see them out and about).

I was going to take PJ (grey 3yr) but he has been battling a fever/infection in his gelding site. Poor guy. Letterman has been slightly ouchy as well so we are very slowly bringing him back into work. He got out on two trail rides over the weekend and boy was he beyond thrilled. He jumped some logs like they were 4ft Um, the vet said no jumping Letterman!!!

If you happen to be at the show this weekend please come and say hi!

and they are posting all the trainers entries here- http://retiredracehorsetraining.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=17&Itemid=373

I had also found out that I was selected for the RRTP Thoroughbred Makeover- http://retiredracehorsetraining.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=243:26-thoroughbred-makeover-trainers-selected&catid=79:thoroughbred-makeover. There are 26 of us who were selected from over 142 applicants. There is a really diverse group and I am excited to read more about the other participants.

I wanted to do the makeover to highlight the CANTER MA retraining model and illustrate that 501c groups can be a great place to horse shop. I liked the format of this particular project because it wasn’t a challenge of who was the better rider or which horse progressed the fastest. You basically are going to just show your training process and the real good, bad and ugly side of retraining Tb’s. That is the whole reason that I write this blog. It is so much fun to get to see all the steps.

I was thinking that I would go “shopping” at our CANTER farm but when the parameters of the project said that a horse could have less than fifteen rides and still be considered not to have retraining, I decided to use Gib. I need to make sure that I don’t get so busy that I can’t focus on this project (and my regular job..let’s not forget that!) so it made more sense not to add another horse to the list of horses that I need to ride. Gib only had about six or seven rides on him so we can consider him eligible for the makeover. I still have Letterman, Sky, PJ, Legend (rehabbing) and Gib in my rotation so that is quite enough already. I hope to get Sky and PJ sold but no real hurry on that. I am lucky enough to have a great bunch of girls who help me with the riding. We are going to have so much fun this summer!

We will be keeping a page on the RRTP website to chronicle the process. I may post both places but I haven’t figured that all out yet.

I thought it might be interesting for readers to see what I wrote about on my application. I am bit insecure when it comes to talking about myself but I will post it here because it is real and from the heart.

When you sell green horses you often are just going on your gut as far as determining what you think a horse will be capable of in the future. How do you know it will be able to do prelim? Well you can never say for sure but if you have a lot of experience at riding/training a lot of green horses you can develop a good feel for what directions horses may want to go. The buyer who came this weekend has a goal of prelim. I would want a horse that is uphill, forward thinking, brave, sound, good feet and has the athletic ability to bail themselves out when they get into trouble on course. Prelim isn’t necessarily big (3’6″) but for amateur riders I think it takes the right horse who wants to do the job to get you to that level. Soundness is important because of the higher speed/bigger jumps.

I had four horses to show including the two new horses who had just been gelded. The buyer is experienced, has a trainer and understands the process of bringing along a young horse. She wanted to see the two new horses who I had not even ridden yet because they just arrived and then got gelded. I had recruited my friend who just got home from college who is very light so we could throw her up for the first ride while I handled them on the ground. Sometimes the ground person is the most important person in first rides.

We started out with Gib. Gib has been with me for 2wks but had 10 m0nths of relaxation at the CANTER farm. He really isn’t ready to be shown yet but everybody has wanted to see him. I refuse to rush my training so basically he being brought along as I see fit. He thought he was retired and his body did too He has been excellent to bring back into work but right now is a bit fussy. Too be expected when your muscles are flabby! He is learning about contact and bending. He protest a bit so right now it isn’t the prettiest picture but this is all part of training and you can’t expect anything more right now.

This was a video we did on some flatwork where I am working with him to get him to soften. He is all over the place but is wanting to make the right shape.

He is weak in the hind end and canters because he doesn’t know how to trot. All very normal for a horse in this stage of training. I can see through all of this to what he will be and it excites me. The buyer really liked him quite a bit. She thought he was super comfortable, forward thinking and had a great feel.

Next we rode Elusive Sky. The buyer had initially thought he might be the one. She actually vetted him ahead of time (yay for clean xrays!!!) but I had explained to her that he was 2 months off the track and was one that was just hitting the wall in terms of body soreness. The CANTER model is so ideal because the CANTER horses get so much time to just rest their bodies and minds!!! Makes a big difference and I have been able to see why they are all so much easier for me to retraining.

Sky is super talented and gorgeous but needs more time. He doesn’t feel as impressive as you would want him to be right now. She liked him but felt the sore back/hind end soreness. We all acknowledged that it will resolve itself but needs more time. I think that is something you have to understand when you buy horses off the track. Some take more time than others and you can’t rush the process. His ankles (both front and back) are clean. Lovely hock films. He has an old bow that ultrasounds nice. The whole horse can xray fine and they can still be body sore. Muscles can take some time to come around.

Random picture I took of him while free jumping the other day and you can just see how tight the muscles still are right now.

Next up was Mister P J. Both PJ and Lansingburgh were horses that I bought from a contact that I had great success with before. I am always nervous buying horses off of a picture. I knew nothing about them besides they appeared nice, sound and she really liked them. PJ was a cribber and while I don’t normally buy cribbers for resale he was the right color which can override cribbing. I trusted her so I sent money and hoped for the best. I hadn’t had a chance to see them move around much because they were gelded and they were just hanging out. I told the buyer she could see them but it would be their first ride and it could be interesting..ha!

I had thought that PJ would be more of a hunter. He seemed extremely quiet and he just has the looks/movement of a nice hunter. He stood perfectly still at the mounting block. I walked Amanda around the ring on him (leading him) and he was just as relaxed as can be. I turned her loose and we hoped for the best. I think all of us were a bit shocked at what came out of him. He started to trot and we all looked around at each other. Wow, just wow. He is 3yr who is 2wks post track and just got gelded a few days prior. He was just super relaxed with this big stride. Never looked at anything. Happily cantered both directions. Great steering, good brakes and just overall super nice.

He was a very good boy. Next up was Lansingburgh..we were calling him Lance. This guy struck me as an event horse just looking at him. Uphill, athletic, forward thinking and a bit more up but in a good way. I walked him around the ring first in hand and he looked at things but took it all in stride (this was their first time in the ring). He stood great for mounting but jigged a bit as we walked off. No biggie. We walked around with me leading him and he settled in. He was forward and  the type that was built on the bit. He wanted to be in the contact. He was a bit eager but was good about it. He humped his back a bit in the canter but not in a mean way. Just not sure how to balance it all yet and he almost got too round.

Amanda is not used to a hotter type of horse but she tried to figure him out and he was patient. The buyer let him walk a bit and just had him a lot more relaxed. He had relaxed as he figured out it was much easier than racing.

She couldn’t make up her mind on who she liked better. She was joking that I had given her way too many choices and just couldn’t believe that she was seeing so many nice horses. She had been shopping for a long time hauling an empty trailer all around the U.S. (not joking!) but not finding what she was looking for in terms of conformation, soundness and athletic ability. She said while she liked Gib, she was still between the grey and the dark bay 3yrs. She wanted me to offer my thoughts. Oh boy.

What would I do? I still think for me it would have been between Gib and Lance as an eventer. The grey seems more of a hunter to me and not sure if I see him as an upper level event horse. I LOVE Gib but Lance struck me as one that was going to be easier/steadier in the contact quicker. He would need more let down and time to see the world but he was likely more my sort of ride (I like more compact/shorter horses).  At the end of the day it really comes down to what feels best to you as a rider. They all are nice big horses who are sound with great brains. It was personal choice as to which felt better.

She ended up picking Lansingburgh and he left to go home with her the same day. He has settled in great and she is very excited about his future. I can’t wait to watch him progress. It was wonderful to get such good feedback on our program. Good word of mouth is everything (she had been sent to our farm by a friend who recommended us).

I have a plan of some lunging in side reins and hacking out for Gib to build his muscle. The same thing for Sky! PJ will get some time to just let down and be a horse. We may ride him lightly but he deserves some R&R. I get so excited about the process of bringing along my crew of young horses.

Jess rode Gib while I was teaching the lesson and he was really looking good. Such a classy animal! I plan on introducing the side reins to him today on the lunge line and the riding. Now that we have him settled into work it is time to start to ask for a bit more.

I had sold Ball Park World aka Slugger last week and right after he sold I got a call from my contact up in NY about two horses she had coming in. I had gotten Hope and Jazz from her and they both were amazing. She really has a great working relationship with a trainer up there to ensure a nice supply of sound but slow horses. These were both 3yr  colts who were sound but slow. One ran once and the other twice. Was I interested? Uh, man I had plans to put that money away to finish off my lunging ring but she said they were really nice horses. Kurt and I  talked it over and agreed they had to be really nice for us to do it. She sent some pictures and I agreed to buy them on the pictures. I know she knows my type and she said they would be great resale projects for me. 

I don’t get worried about horses that may not be gelded for personal projects. Gelding is a relatively easy process and most horses at the track don’t realize they have “man” parts. They can sometimes be a bit nippy but the younger one’s aren’t too bad. We can’t take them at CANTER because our lay up farms are just big fields and often mixed herds or mares nearby. I have been turning them out together and they are both super easy with great manners. Not studdish at all. Both got manes pulled, clipped up and a bath yesterday. We took some quick pictures.

Lansingburgh is simply gorgeous. He is about 15.3 right now and just stunning. Even prettier in person than these pictures. Very typey TB with a gorgeous head and neck. Really nice mover.

Mister P J is just as nice but is absolutely in a growing phase right now and is a bit butt high. He is just over 16h and I think he is going to be a big boy. He seems so relaxed and confident in himself. He is a cribber (which I knew when I bought him) but I am not really bothered by that. It can make selling harder but sometimes a nice horse is just a nice horse and you can’t worry to much. I have had a lot of cribbers so I can easily live with them but I know some people won’t.

What is interesting is that they both have really nice thick tails. Most of my young horses come in with these weedy little tails. Nice to have pretty tails. Ha, how vain is that

I just really enjoy having a farm full of nice Tb’s. We all feel blessed that we are lucky enough to ride such classy horses every day. Each horse is nicer than the next and they are all NICE!

I mean how can you not enjoy looking at this face every day? This is Elusive Sky and I just adore him.