OTTB Charm

To me, the most fascinating thing about working with, or getting, a new horse is all the "firsts" you get with them. Everything is new, and you are constantly learning more about your horse with every interaction. Over the last handful of days, I have gotten some really fun insight into how Wonder works, and how he thinks. The #1 thing that I have noticed, is that he always seems to want to do the right thing. He seems to have very minimal training though, so he doesn't know what the right thing is. And he has the attention span of a gnat. However, he is friendly, and always wants to come over to you in the pasture. He is less of a fan of getting caught, but is always game for a scratch and cuddle. He leads well, but tends to be a little pushy about wanting to go where he wants to go, and as fast as he wants to get there. Poor kid was a little miffed that I shut that down really quick. Also, I have found that Wonder will do anything   for a peppermint. I mean an...

Charmer is my first straight off the racetrack horse. As such, I got him in race-fit condition. To clarify, he was not  in bad shape. He was in the condition that he was supposed to be in for the sport that he was doing at that time. Charmer was loved, treated well, and cared for. This is not whatsoever a post to say I "rescued" him or whatever. Because I didn't. If you get a horse straight off the track, you did not rescue them, you gave them a place to retire to. Charmer was in a fantastic home and his owners loved  him. Both on and off the racetrack, he was treated like a king. But that said, racehorse fit and sporthorse fit are very, very different things. Ever since the first day I got him, I was fascinated and excited to see how his body would develop as he changed disciplines. As he went from a horse that needed incredibly lean muscle to run as fast as possible, to a horse that needs thicker, different muscles to carry his body in a completely different way. Pl...

I really want to post, but its the middle of December and I have ridden my horse all of probably 4 times this month due to the weather and construction going on in our barn indoor. So instead of a recent ride post, I am going to just do a series of fun trot progression pictures. Enjoy! July 2015 August 2015 September 2015 October 2015 May 2016 June 2016 June 2016 July 2016 July 2016 August 2016 August 2016 September 2016 September 2016 September 2016 October 2016 November 2016 Sorry about the huge gap during wintertime. It was cold and I did not have a photographer. So I tried to make up for it by some doubled up photos from this year when I finally got Jayne  who takes pictures for me 24/7 and its fantastic. I also doubled up photos because I couldn't choose between some of them and I couldn't leave out any of my favorite pictures!

I have a tendency to ride how I expect my horse to be. Sometimes that means I ride super defensively because I am expecting to be riding a rocketship, and I end up having a quiet, controlled horse. But I don't adjust my riding accordingly. Other times, I am coming out expecting the actual broke horse that I know he can be, and I get a very unfortunate surprise. This would be the broke horse, that I like to ride. He is the one that I can send forward and bring back and I can jump. This is the horse that I was expecting in my lesson today. I got him for maybe 30% of the ride, when I expected 70% of the ride to be riding a broke horse.  Needless to say I was a little unpleasantly surprised when I got this instead:  I came out expecting to ride my fairly broke horse and get some serious tips on my own riding (because I need it). Well my baby ex-racehorse decided he didn't want to be an ex-racehorse anymore. And after one of the jumps (a freaking crossrail no less)....