Let's try it under saddle now...

Today was ride #5. My coach happened to be around, so after warming him up at the trot, she decided I should send him over a little x-rail (2' at the middle, or less). Although we had a WTF? moment trotting up to it the first time and he ran out, he was super honest about it, and if I hadn't been crapping my breeches I could have got him over.

Second approach, after some hesitation, we went over really well!... and proceeded to nearly take out a jump standard while cantering around the corner on the wrong lead. Couldn't leave it on that, so we did it a third time, and I was ready for the dart inside this time. We trotted in soft and round (or getting there, it's only ride #5!), jumped well, and cantered BEAUTIFULLY on a soft, 12' stride, straight to the fence line. It felt SO good.


And we cantered! We hadn't cantered yet either. It was so fantastic, and smooth and lovely! I LOVE THIS HORSE!

That being said, we had to have a "go with Jesus" discussion before we could even get to the ring. (By the way, whoever, came up with that phrase, I love you. I now use it regularly.) He has decided there are some invisible lines on the ground in some places, and WILL NOT pass them without much coaxing. It's not fear, it's just attitude. He's been doing this for the two rides before today, and I finally had enough. I don't LIKE going backwards because I am terrified he is going to rear. I don't think he would, but that is the one thing I do NOT want to have to deal with. In any case, so after struggling for a bit and resorting to smacking him on the but with the hand, out came the crop - "Jesus." I told him to go with "Jesus" once... and amazingly, the decided that was a pretty damn good idea! LOL.

And amazingly, the invisible electric fences with horse-eating dragons underneath them disappeared! And it was good, and he got many pats.

I love this horse.

Jump, please

So, as part of the pre-purchase evaluation, we decided it was time to free jump Digger to see if he has any sort of natural form. The answer - yeah, sort of! In any case, he doesn't dangle, and that's all I wanted to see. The rest can come later.

I apologize for all the crap at the end of this video - my mom was video taping it for me, and she doesn't really understand crazy new-fangled technology like my 5 year old digital camera.


I hope hope hope hope hope hope he can pass an x-ray. Honestly, that is all there is left to do. The rest, we can work with.

In which Digger learns to go forward

It's amazing how horses eat up time. I've been getting home at 8:30-9:30 almost every night lately, or at least on the nights it's not been raining. Our sand ring is now sand SOUP. Water is everywhere. But first, an update on what I've done today.

We worked on more lunging. He has learned to respond to my voice (although "whoa" is still problematic, "walk on" and "tttrrrot" now work, as and kissing for a canter mostly does.) My coach gave me some excellent help on driving him from behind to keep him from stopping on me. We are now working on a smaller circle, but I'm walking with his hip to prevent too much strain on his legs. It's amazing how spoiled I got lunging all those trained horses. It's not that I didn't KNOW how to lunge properly, it's just that I wasn't using some of the basics that I haven't had to use in years. Yesterday we lunged without stopping once, and stopped calmly and quietly. Hooray!

I have now put TWO rides into him. The first ride was interesting but not in bad way. After a nice gallop on the line, I walked him over to the fence and stood him there. He stood, not really caring. I had a slight panic attack. He was interested in the grass at the fence line. I held my breath and swung up on his back. I tried very hard to swallow my panic attack. He stood there not caring. I forced myself to take a deep breath and relax. I was up, and I was comfortable. He stood there, still not caring. Then came the kicker. I asked him to walk on. He stood there, not caring. It took me 2-3 minutes to actually get him to start walking - he gets very dead to the leg when he doesn't want to do something. Eventually I had to pull him off balance by turning him, rather than pushing him forward. He walked on! We walked around the arena, wobbling all the way, realized that the horse trailer at one end wasn't all that scary, and even put in a few steps of trot. The whole thing was more for my benefit than his. He was completely fine! At the end of our session, my coach asked me to walk him over a set of trot poles on the ground - he didn't balk in the slightest, and walked over them perfectly straight!

I then got off my good, brave boy. He got lots of carrots, his mane pulled, and then we had a little photo session. Hard to believe he is the same horse!
Due to rains and a vacation I had planned before I got him, he then had several days off... we had one lunging session that went not so great (before my coach helped me), and then two days ago, we decided to venture out to the back riding ring. There is several inches of mud and water and long grass through the 'aisleway" back... but the ring itself is wonderfully dry with excellent footing. Of course, on the day we decide to try it, it is 10 degrees Celcius, threatening to rain, with winds gusting to 50 km/hr.

He was a little FIREBALL. He knew better than to mess with me, but there was much dancing, much side-passing, and much attempting to trot home. The new things - jumps, coloured poles, and barrels - were not scary, but nature, oh my god, TERRIFYING. It's amazing how these track horses see all the crazy things we'd expect them to freak out about, but when we they see things like trees blowing in the wind (which, for the record, he has outside his paddock too), the WORLD is ending. He got mad at the wind and started playing, striking out with the front leg on the far side of me. He got yelled at VERY LOUDLY. I honestly didn't know what else to do than be calm and repeat walking by the area until he was calm too... I made my displeasure with his actions known with a yell and a snap on the lead rope, but I didn't want to punish him for fear and reinforce it. Eventually, he was willing to put his head down. We walked back to his paddock, and I lunged him briefly in his paddock (the only place with solid enough ground at the time), where my coach helped me work through my frustrations.

Yesterday, despite the predictions of thunderstorms, the weather was beautiful and the breeze was gentle. After a brief lunge without a SINGLE stop, I told myself it was time to get on. He couldn't have cared less. I parked him up against a fence line, dragged out a mouldy bale to mount off of (I'm out of shape, leave me alone), and stood there slightly panicking again.

My mental conversation sounded something like: Oh my god, there's a gust of wind. So? He doesn't care. But yesterday he did! But today he does not. Oh my god he's trying to eat grass so he's off balance. Let's spin him around and approach the "mounting block" again. I am such a wuss. Okay, this time. Up. Go. But I put my foot in the stirrup and he flinched! Okay, spin him around and approach the "block" again. He's fine, he just wants to graze. Do it! Go!

And so I put my foot in the stirrup and swung up. He was fine. He stood there. I asked him to go forward with my legs, and he did this time. We walked around puddles with no balking. We walked over to the aisleway of dooooooooom (at least it was in my mind). There was no wobbling. He seemed steady underneath me. He looked at the mud and puddles as we walked up, but walked right on through! There was one big deep puddle before the entrance to the dry ring that he grew roots at, but I eventually got him over it after taking a circle and getting some momentum up to it. We sort of trotted through, but he was still a good boy and got lots of praise.

After that, we had an INCREDIBLE ride. He was relaxed, calm, forward and attentive. He dropped his head naturally, not in an on-the-forehand way but just in a comfortable way. He moved off my inside leg when asked. He bent. He was steady and straight under me. He was eager to work - he even locked onto the trot poles on the ground and trotted right over them, despite my trying to steer him away. This was his FIRST time trotting over poles, and it was 3 of them no less! He did it with excellent rhythm, like he'd done it a million times before. We learned about the halfhalt. We walked. We ignored the OTTB in the pasture beside us whinnying and galloping like a lunatic. In essence, I could not have ASKED for a better ride. Honestly, I was nearly ready to try his canter.

I'm scheduling a vet check for him for next week. Honestly, he's a fantastic guy. I'm so glad my gut was right... I was worried I was getting myself into something crazy/dangerous. He still needs a lot of work, he's so smart that I can see us doing flat classes at the shows this fall - easily.

Plus, he's handsome as all get out. Yay for Digger!

Discussion 2: Remembering how to lunge

Today was Digger's 2nd day of work, and he has really started to settle in. He is still rather dependent and came trotting up to the fence line when he saw me drive up. Apparently this morning there was a deer in the yard, and he was so puffed up his little 16 hand frame looked all of 17 hands. He is still fascinated by staring off into the distance at unseen things, but when I hand walked him, he was more than happy to chow down on all the grass he could get his muzzle on. We walked around again, and all the places that made him nervous yesterday were pretty dull today. Grooming at the post was no issue and I was comfortable tying him after I started by picking his feet. He stood fine, and even gave to the pressure on his poll when he stepped a little too far back.

He learns quickly.

We had a big scary incident when my coach's Husky puppy started yowling. He had his head down grazing, and all of a sudden he was gone. Fortunately, he's not a bolter, just took several scattering strides sideways and backwards, and then stopped to stare at her. I encouraged to come back where he was, and after a few wary looks, was grazing peacefully once again. Good boy!

Today was the introduction of lunge line work. He got to put the bride on, with my nice soft french link D-ring. He made some faces, but I suspect he needs his teeth floated. I then set him up with some loose draw reins to encourage him to drop his head and work his topline. His topline is AWFUL right now. (The picture is from when I went to go see him for a second time two weeks ago) I would have been happier putting him in side reins, but my coach insisted it is better to start them on the draw reins in case they rearing and flip. Fair enough.

So he gets the concept of the draw reins within 3 minutes and is going with his head just above level with his withers, nose still slightly poked out. Good boy! He has been taught how to trot and canter on the line, but not walk, so we trot in both directions (though he does NOT want to go to the right, and backs up to avoid being pushed out at first) and then I walk him out by hand. 10 minutes of work, in total, but it's warm and he's just starting to break a sweat, so I leave it on a positive note. I pull off the equipment and walk him out in a halter, challenging him by walking around to places we didn't go yesterday. There are again, things way off in the distance that are fascinating, but the grass takes priority over the invisible-way-off-things. We walk it once slightly tense, and on the second loop, the grass is way more fascinating. Good boy! He gets carrots and we call it a day.

Tomorrow, the big plan is to actually work him on the lunge line and teach him to go forward. He has pretty good natural rhythm as it is, but he also has a tendency to quit when he doesn't feel like doing it any more. I don't want to ignore that he's tired, but I also need to challenge him to build up some muscle. I'm going to try for a soild 15-20 minutes of work tomorrow, but I won't push it any more than his attention span can handle. Then maybe I can get up on him on Wednesday!

Discussion 1: Introductions

Sunday, June 1 marked the beginning of Digger's re-education. Not surprisingly, he was rather uppity. He was fascinated by the other horses on the place, the cows mooing in the distance, the crop dusters overhead, the traffic on the far away highway, and about everything else in existence. He's very quickly made it clear he's an intelligent guy, and rather than forcing that busy mind to shut off, I walked the property with him for a bit, encouraging him to focus on me, grab a mouthful of grass, and generally relax. I handled him like I would a stallion, turning him away from me and pushing him out of my personal space, rather than turning him towards myself. In his insecurity, he wanted to be RIGHT next to me, and although a spook never came, I could just picture him flying right over top of me. He wouldn't graze much, but in the end calmed himself down enough that I could consider taking him over to the hitching post to groom him.

Easy, I thought.

Well, I walk him up to the post and ask him to "Whoa." He knows whoa and likes it. You ask him to whoa and he SLAMS on the brakes. Excellent. I start to move to pick up a brush, and he spins to face me. I bark whoa at him again, walk a circle and ask him to stand. Whoa.

Spins to face me again. I repeated this 5-6 times before I decided maybe he wasn't ready to relax yet, and did a short walk, a mouthful of grass, and asked him to stand. If he would, I praised him and asked him to walk away before he got the idea himself. After a few repeats, he got the idea, and decided "Whoa" meant not only stop, but stay. Good boy!

I didn't tie him (not wanting to create a bad situation) but I grabbed a brush and started with his neck with a rubber curry. The trucks and deer and cows and planes were INSTANTLY forgotten. The underside of his neck and his chest, according to him, is the best place in the world to get scratched, and if I'd gone on for another hour he would have been quite content to stand there and let me do it. Once he realized what I was doing, I had absolutely no problem. He stood there loving every minute of the grooming and was completely zoned out. Once he was shiny clean, we walked around the arena to see if it was scary (it wasn't) and went into the round pen for a 5 minute trot in each direction for exercise. He was all business - no bucking or playing like he does in the paddock. Hopefully he's just as good when I decide to get up on him.

Groomed him down and put him back in the paddock. There were a few stones in his paddock, so I walked around picking them up and putting them off to the side. He followed me, inches behind my shoulder, the entire time. It was both bizarre, and adorable. Poor guy needs a friend, but I don't want to turn him out with the other horses until I buy him. The last thing I need is a huge vet bill on a horse I don't even own.

All in all though, I was surprised and impressed by his disposition. He's terribly intelligent and willing to please. He tries very hard to figure out what you want. I just can't imagine why anyone would want to send this guy for meat!

Meet Digger

First things first. This is my training log of a 4 year old off-the-track Thoroughbred (OTTB), registered as Exotic Force and affectionately known as Digger at the track. After a big stakes win as a 2 year old at our local track, he lost his passion for running, and last fall, after much changing of hands (and through no fault of his trainers at the track), ended up at a meat market, terrified of humans, covered in ringworm and several hundred pounds underweight. He was then rescued by a kind hearted soul, who rehabilitated him over the winter and taught him how to trust humans again. I am a grad student, hunter/jumper rider, and horse lover to the core. I've been riding for 10 years, and have spent a few years winning championships on the A circuit with the help of some phenomenal horses. Having not owned in two years, I decided it was time to ride for myself again, and found myself on the market for a young prospect to train. After several promising leads fell through, I came across this ad:

4 yr Old Registered Thoroughbred Gelding
Beautiful TB gelding looking for a good home. Make a great English horse.

Off the race track and has had ground work done. He is green broke and ready to go on to make a great horse. No time and need to sell asap.

He looked sort of sad and lost, and as skinny as he seems in the ad, apparently this is a shot of him fattened up. I drove out the hour to go have a look. He was sensible for his age and level of training. He had energy but did not direct it against me. A few weeks later, I went out again, and this time braved riding him. It went well, and I offered a 30 day trial on him to his owners. They accepted, and on May 31st, 2008, he became my 30 day project.

I paid a professional shipper a ridiculous amount of money to pick him up in a beautiful 3 horse slant trailer. It was worth every penny for the positive experience. He hopped right on in after an initial balk and we shipped him loose. He arrived nervous and slightly sweaty, but trailered otherwise like an old pro. In his paddock, he has more room to run than he has had since he went onto the track as a yearling, and has friends just across a grassy aisleway. It's not perfect, or fancy, but it's a good place to start - quiet, relaxing, and with plenty of good quality hay and beet pulp to fatten him up.

Here he is in his new home, ready to begin his education!