Green Horses & Green Riders; or, the Confidence Bank

It’s a cold fact, but we’ve all seen it. Green riders riding big, fancy, talented horses—and they are scared to death. They lounge the horse until it is exhausted, wait until the arena is empty, or find a secluded part of the show grounds, and get on with great trepidation. They hold their breath and tighten every muscle in their body. Through clenched jaws they mutter “Ho! Ho!” in some attempt to make the horse “relax.” Meanwhile, the horse, which looked completely calm while lounging, now has his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Mom doesn’t think this is a good idea, so why should he? Inevitably, they won’t have a good ride, the rider will lose even more confidence, and the vicious cycle will continue.

To break the cycle, the best case scenario is to get the horse in training, followed by the rider getting lessons as well until horse and rider can form a partnership. Another perfectly reasonable decision would be selling the horse for something more suited to the rider’s speed. This could be anything from an OTTB packer, to a TB/Draft cross that comes with brains “pre-installed.”  At the end of the day, we’re out there to have fun, and how much fun is it to ride a horse that is bred to do Rolex, if you can’t get him around a novice course?

Confidence, for you AND your horse, is like a bank. You can put confidence in, you can take confidence out, but you can’t take out more confidence than you put in. If you and your horse have been jumping 2’6” really well for a few months, you’ve been making small deposits in to that bank. If, then one day in the course of a jump school you raise one jump to 3’ and it goes well, you just put in a BIG deposit for your next beginner novice! If, however, you raise the entire course of show jumps to 3’, you will likely become a little strung out and frantic, and even if all the rails stay in the cups, you just took a big withdrawal out of the bank to make it happen.

Many upper level riders will only ride preliminary sized cross country efforts in the lead up to their biggest shows for this very reason. It’s important that horse and rider have done their homework well in advance of these big shows, so for the final lead up, they work on doing something the horse knows he can do, and feel good about it, adding money to the bank. When he gets out on the Big Course, hopefully his rider is giving him a good ride, but if the rider has a little bobble somewhere and the horse has to fend for himself and get them both out of trouble, he takes that big Withdrawal, but hopefully keeps going.

So think about that the next time you’re asking a big effort of yourself OR your horse. Is there money in your confidence bank?

OTTBs

I took Wolfn for our last gallop together this weekend, and there is nothing in this world like a fit thoroughbred galloping underneath you. They gallop and jump and compete for the same reasons we do—for the sheer joy of it. It is such a wonderful feeling, but it got me thinking. For the first time since 2001, I will not have an OTTB in the back of my trailer this season. It made me very sad. Nothing can compare to a thoroughbred’s work ethic, their speed, or their heart.

Photo courtesy Xpress Foto

Thoroughbreds and eventing go together like white on rice. Or, at least they used to. As the sport changes to being more dressage and show jumping oriented, with less emphasis on the grueling speed and endurance day, horses who might once not have had the stamina to keep up for 26 miles of cross country are now able to dance a little bit better, and jump a little bit higher than their thoroughbred counter parts.

At the same time, the thoroughbreds are continuously being bred down ever lighter and faster, and that is making them break down ever sooner. The thoroughbred industry has become, like most things in America, a throw away culture. A horse on the track who lives to finish his career usually only has two, maybe three options. The “lucky ones” go to the breeding shed, some slow horses with considerate owners might be sold privately into “second career” or retirement homes, but the rest— like my horse Wolfn, find themselves at a meat auction. We need more horses like Zenyatta-- big, beautiful, started slowly and correctly, and oh yeah, BIG WINNER!! Seeing her get as much attention and doing as well as she did gave me some measure of hope for the racing industry.

In today’s most elite events, warmbloods are creeping into the winner’s circles, because they are finely tuned machines, purpose bred. But I believe that as long as this sport is still about running and jumping, the OTTB will always be in the fight to have a place at the podium!

We, of course, need to do our part as well. Awareness is so important, so I’m going to share some links of some great work that Steuart Pittman of Dodon Farm is doing out east to help promote OTTB’s into 2^nd careers. His project is called the Retired Racehorse Training Project, and starting in a few weeks, they are doing a training challenge where 3 elite trainers (including my mentor, Eric Dierks!)  will take 3 OTTBs for one month, and then be judged by a panel including Jimmy Wofford! Very cool!

To learn more:

Like the Retired Racehorse Training Project on Facebook

Or visit there website:

http://www.retiredracehorsetraining.org/

Also,

If you have an OTTB, register him or her on the BloodlineBrag

If you are a horse trainer, list yourself FREE on the Trainer Directory

On Love at First Sight

Looking for the right horse is no easier than looking for the right person. Many horses look wonderful on paper, or are breath taking to behold. Some have wonderful, loving personalities, others have the movement and jump to be winners. And ALL horses have quirks. Some quirks can be lived with, and others are non starters. We need to be smart enough to look for the horse (or the person!) who's quirks fit with our own.

With all this in mind, I traveled to Virginia to go horse shopping. I was on a tight budget, but there were certain things I was non-negotiable on-- the horse had to be started, had to have excellent conformation in order to stand up to eventing, and had to have that "spark" of greatness. I definitely did my homework on all the horses I went to look at--any one of them would make an amazing event horse.

Driving up to the last farm on my agenda, I had a clear favorite in mind, this last horse was really only a formality. I had found her last minute-- a previous horse on my agenda had been sold the day before I flew out, and somehow I came across this 3 year old filly, tucked into another horses ad.

Zahra as a two year old

As soon as I stepped out of the car, I was in love with her. She was breath taking in the cross ties. The owner informed that this was only her 7th ride, and then hopped on and rode her on a loose rein down to the outdoor like it was nothing. Her gaits were all beautiful, she was enthusiastic and forward, and oh yeah, she can jump!! 

Zahra is the full package, for sure. Even though it's a Wisconsin winter, I can hardly wait to go to the barn each day after work and teach her something new! We're going slowly since she's so young and still growing, but every day is better than the day before.

I am so blessed to have found a horse like her. I think I've always believed that since I was a good rider, it meant I couldn't have a nice horse. I thought I could take a horse that was "good enough" and do well with that horse, and I did, and those experiences made me the rider that I am today... but now it really feels like the sky is the limit!!

A Tough Decision

I’m currently between great horses. My first real competitive partner, Sgilti Lightfoot, has officially retired, despite my best efforts to hold him together a little bit longer. Genetics finally won the long drawn out battle, and in June of 2010, I officially retired my first FEI partner at the young age of 14. Meanwhile, in May of 2010, Streetlight Manifesto was born. “Puck” is by the Elite Hanovarian stallion Sir Caletto, out of my OTTB powerhouse mare, Wolfnbankersclothn. At the GOV inspection, he received Premium status, with excellent comments from the judges. My personal favorite was “It is surprising, given his jumper pedigree, but this colt has an excellent trot!” Puck is now a wonderful looking yearling, and I can’t wait for the future with him, but the future is still a few years away…

Wolfn at Otter Creek Fall 2011. Photo courtesy Xpress Foto.

Wolfn was supposed to fill in the gap. She came back from motherhood a little calmer and a little wiser, but still fiercely capable of anything. It was such a joy watching her dressage really come together this year… from my trainer Alex Gerding politely asking “When is the gray horse coming back?” to breaking into the 30s at Training level at her last couple shows. And cross country? This girl was a machine! She loved to go fast, and talk about scopey! She wasn't even trying til it was 4'. She was and is everything I want in an event horse: brave, enthusiastic, and extremely rideable. Sgilti used to make the Intermediate jumps ride like a hunter course, and he doesn’t hold a candle to Wolfn’s athleticism.

So, it was with great sadness that I finally came to grips with the fact Wolfn could never be the eventing partner I wanted her to be. She has an old racing injury in her foot—she broke her sesamoid bone while she was on the track. They gave her time off, everything healed up, and back to the track she went! When I did her pre-purchase, I knew the injury was there, but everything looked good in the x-ray, so away we went.

But horses are complex creatures, and the x-ray did not tell the whole story. Soon after we got her, we began to have major problems with trailering her. Over the years, to try and accommodate her, we put on and took off several different types of boots and wraps. We put her in a stud stall, an open stall, a box stall. We tied her. We let her loose. Nothing helped. Sooner or later, she’d lose her mind, and start viciously kicking the trailer as hard as she could. When we finally arrived at the show, my nerves would be shot, her legs would be bloody, and there’d be a new set of dents for the trailer guys to fix.

It took me until this fall to realize these things were connected. I never gave a second thought to that old track injury, but suddenly it dawned on me. Old injury. Arthritis. Even if it doesn’t affect her on a day to day basis, it must be the reason she went crazy in the trailer. Like the old football injury that can predict a rainstorm, it doesn’t have to hurt to be an issue. The vibration of the road through the trailer must have tickled that injury, and she was going to do anything in her power to make that irritation go away!!

So, I'll have to hold out hope she passed to Puck all the traits that I love about her. In the meantime,  I’m going to Virginia to go horse shopping. I need a horse that I can get going and build up to the 2* level, paving the way for Puck to have a smooth road to the 2* level… and beyond?
Stay tuned!