Getting a green OTTB started over fences

[Christa_P]

The first time I took my current OTTB to a different barn she came off the trailer sweaty after a 20 minute trailer ride and was seriously stressed. Then we were walking in an indoor arena and another horse turn ed and walked toward her head on and she lost it for a few seconds.

She only raced at 4 and from I can tell went from barn she was raised at > training barn to get started as a late 3 year old (her first race was in March 2011 as a 4 year old) > the track, where she raced at 3 tracks under 2 different trainers > then was basically dumped with 5 other TBs at a rundown farm where I picked her up on Christmas eve 2011, a few weeks after she left the last track.

I think when I took her to the other barn she thought it was back to the track or at least a different home. It took a few trips before she figured it out.

[Ajierene]

Good points, I rode a warhorse type that had a LOT of trouble settling. Never did settle if riding in the indoor with lesson students cantering/jumping around. Was sent to be the horse for the owner of a horse rescue but sent back after the owner got pregnant and her husband worried about her riding such a spicy horse.

On the other hand, rode a half million dollar warhorse that went full schoolhorse - mosying along no matter what anyone else was doing, virtually no spook, even stayed happily at the back of the pack when we went on a trail ride with someone on a test ride on a different thoroughbred. Just cantering happily behind everyone and less than a year from the track.

[Mcl1]

Thanks for all the advice about showing! I am way more nervous about myself being the embarrassment at a show - it has been 10+ years since I last showed. He absolutely thrives on excitement and new things (he’s the drag you onto the trailer type), so I think he may really enjoy the show environment…but every day he surprises me in new and different ways - both good and bad . Luckily there are low key, very inexpensive schooling show options so I figured I will just show up and decide what I want to do the day of - whether that’s just school, trot a course, etc.

@RAyers @Tha_Ridge I totally understand the sentiment but it feels a little misplaced here. I should have phrased the lead change thing differently - I figured it was implied that he knew how to do changes on the track, I just meant they weren’t something that had been drilled into him after that which could explain anxiety/anticipation about them. I think it’s a stretch to imply that he is being treated “like a baby who knows nothing” or with kid gloves. He came off the track directly into a pro’s program (who has successfully taken many TBs from the track to the h/j show ring). She gave him a great foundation to the h/j world. He then came here, where he is ridden 6-7 days a week for ~45 min a day (of actual riding - lateral work, poles, hills, etc.).

The pace I am going with him has absolutely nothing to do with what I think he does or does not already know, and everything to do with the fact that I am well aware that he is a hot, sensitive, athletic animal who DOES know a lot, and will try anything I ask of him. If I were a pro who was 100% confident I could get on, set him up perfectly for every lead change and find every distance - I would certainly ask more of him…but I am not, and for that reason I would rather err on the side of taking things slow so that I can be confident that I am setting him up for success.

[Mcl1]

@Grey623 We tried playing him various racetrack sounds and…blank stare. We have a long running joke that instead of thoughts his brain is just a constant loop of elevator music - so we figured maybe he couldn’t hear the sounds over that .

[Mcl1]

@dmveventer

Not all of them come off the track in the same physical or mental place as others, you have to look at the horse in front of you and meet them where they are.

Absolutely! I am not discounting the effect of training and past experiences but SO much of how horses handle situations is just their individual personality. It took my TB a good three weeks to settle in here, and he was so worked up during the first week I was honestly worried that he was either going to run through a fence or colic.

I adopted my mustang from the BLM two weeks before the TB came home. In a span on four days, he was shipped across the country, chased through chutes, put into a small pen, surrounded by people, loaded back and brought to a new place where he was completely alone for the first time ever…He hopped off the trailer, trotted about five steps and started grazing.

If I give my TB a few days off, I KNOW it when I get back on to ride. Yesterday, I hopped on my mustang (who has less than 10 rides total) bareback after he has had 2 months off and he walk and trotted around like a little lesson pony.

None of that is because the TB had bad experiences in life (in fact, given his history I am sure he has experienced excellent care and training his entire life), or that the mustang had good ones, they just exist at totally different baseline stress and excitement levels.

Everything about my TB is 10000% - he RUNS when I call him in, I just think about asking him to do something under saddle and he does it, if he is upset about any minor inconvenience the world IS ending…meanwhile my mustang exists in slow motion and getting him to think about trotting requires more leg strength than I thought was possible .

@nutmeg Thank you so much!! And yes, thanks for the smoke, Canada . This property has required a TON of work but the view from the arena makes it worth it.

[glitterless]

Love the videos and progress he’s making! I hope you continue to update the thread.

And sorry about the smoke from up here lol! It does make for pretty sunsets, though.

[Bending_Line]

We have two warhorses, by by the same sire, one year apart in age. One of them: easy peasy for lesson students, does not care if he leads or follows, does not care if turned out horses nearby are galloping around, but he is a pain in the stall–he is a ball of tension in a stall, spins, gets diarrhea (he lives mostly out at our place). The second one is still too competitive to canter in a group, and at the trot, needs to lead the group. At shows, he can do the over fences but not the under saddle. Pretty easy by himself in the ring, very easy in the stall. No spook in either of them. Very different personalities despite similar upbringings and genetics.

[Ajierene]

Horses gonna horse, amiright?

Slightly different topic, I always find ex race horses being stressed in stalls interesting. There’s a lot of “they spent their youth in stalls, they should be fine!” But I know quite a few that once they go to living out 24/7, you stick them in a stall and they are a MESS. These are horses that were known at the training facility so they were known to be calm/fine in stalls.

I knew one that was put in for a storm and tried to jump out - didn’t make it and hung his back legs on the stall door. Was rescued and recovered but was NEVER put in again. Another time one was brought in to show a prospective buyer and the buyer was late - one hour in the stall and he was a ball of anxiety.

My horse has always spent her life pretty much 24/7. She’s pretty fine in a stall, until she hears my voice, then it’s all “MA…MAAA…MAAAA…I’m here Ma, come say hi! MAAAA I want to go out and play…MAAAAAAAAAA” Same thing in the trailer and since I don’t own a trailer (she is better now but did try to take someone’s trailer apart before), it is hard to get her out of the habit. So I either walk quietly to sign in for the show or take it out right away and tie her to the side. She’s fine tied to the side…I guess because she can see the goings on? Not sure.

It just goes to show, horses gonna horse.

[Larbear]

@Ajierene

Slightly different topic, I always find ex race horses being stressed in stalls interesting. There’s a lot of “they spent their youth in stalls, they should be fine!” But I know quite a few that once they go to living out 24/7, you stick them in a stall and they are a MESS.

Ha ha yeh this is my guy, in to eat and then he’s itching to get back out. He’s like that even in the worst weather too.

[Mcl1]

@Ajierene

But I know quite a few that once they go to living out 24/7, you stick them in a stall and they are a MESS.

I made the mistake of bringing my guy in during a storm warning…lasted about 2 minutes before before I turned him back out:

I find myself having to remind him that he has lived in a stall when they act like they are being cooped up and deprived of freedom when I keep them in their smaller (1 acre) pasture for a day.

In bad or really cold weather they will stay in their run-in and hunker down…which is always followed by hours of theatrics when they emerge all full of energy.

[Mcl1]

@mmeqcenter I have to thank you because the counter canter work has done wonders for him, both in being stronger and more balanced, and in him realizing that being on the ‘wrong’ lead isn’t the end of the world.

He is coming along so well, with getting stronger he started doing his left to right change very consistently.

He is officially going to his first show next weekend (as long as his shoes stay on ). Planning on doing a class of crossrail jumpers first to get him in the ring, and then the 0.65 jumpers. It will be my first time showing solo without a trainer (and first show in … 10+ years). But, it’s a big and very nice venue and likely low numbers so should be low stress for him.

A few weeks after that, I am going to bring him to a rated show at the same venue. No expectations for him, it is just my chance to tag along with a trainer (his former owner), and do the 0.65 jumpers again if he’s up for it. I got him a stall to be able to hangout in but it’s an hour away and I plan on trailering him back and forth so that he can come home and get turned out at night.

Here he is looking handsome in his new hackamore:

My favorite part about him is his expression over fences:

Practicing his little jumper course (had to cut them up to small clips to post):

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[mmeqcenter]

Lovely! Glad to hear it, he’s looking fantastic.

I find it easiest to upload videos to Youtube then share the link, instead of embedding in COTH posts.

[Mcl1]

Well our first show was delayed due to hoof/farrier issues but luckily there was another schooling show in the area so I was able to get him off the property prior to the show later this week.

I started him in the .6 m, they had a warm up class option where you could go in and jump any jumps you wanted for 90 seconds. I was going to do the first course but he walked in and his eyes bugged out of his head. He stopped “at the first jump” (about 5 strides out). I just let him trot and then canter a lap around, got him over the first one (told him he was the best boy ever), got to the second one, he again refused, I let him take a moment and came back and jumped that (again, lots and lots of praise) and time was up. I had no idea what to expect from him going back for the first class but was just hoping to at-least get him over those two jumps. He was a little unsure to the first jump but once he got over that his confidence just grew exponentially and he jumped around the entire course (I did all the adds because I really wanted to ride him to the base of each jump). I had him entered in one class at .7 and was on the fence but decided to give it a shot and he went in and marched around so confidently, and got the step all around. I don’t know if anyone has ever been more proud of a 28 time fault jumper round .

Overall it was such a great confidence building experience (for both of us, it was my first show in 12 years and first show totally solo). I will admit that I have become a bit of an overprotective and obsessive horse mom and was so worried that he would be anxious and unhappy about the whole experience but he was so good (*as long as I stayed within 2 ft of him - my husband had to get a crash course on show entries to handle the office side of things ).

Here’s the video of our .7 course, obviously not perfect but also hard to believe that less than an hour before this he didn’t want to get near a jump:

https://youtube.com/shorts/zOwbcMlXI1k?si=jWyeso6rfvbHN7-v

And pictures of my handsome guy:

[nutmeg]

He’s adorable! Conscientious to a fault about his changes I see but you do a good job of de-escalation. Congratulations on a successful first outing. Life gets so much easier with that under your belt.

[Mcl1]

Thank you!!

The place I was planning on bringing him to his first show at has much larger arenas which would have been nice to have more time to set him up for his changes and/or simple changes. This course was super tight and I felt bad about throwing that at him but he surprised me for the most part! But he definitely does not like missing changes - it has been a while since we faced that at home, he now generally gets the full change or doesn’t even try which has reduced the drama substantially .

[nutmeg]

You do a lovely, unobtrusive job. Just found this in an article discussing how a sporthorse can perform to the best of its ability and it most certainly applies to a racehorse figuring out corners and jumps:

[ParadoxFarm]

Great first show! You both did an excellent job. Congrats.

[Ponyplusaninch]

I love that there are classes you can just walk in, do what you’re gonna do for 90 seconds, and then walk out. What a great way to build on solo confidence.

I said this upthread but in general, I find TBs overall to more quickly “get with the program” and settle vs. warmbloods. They may start off very high alert but once they understand the ask they go to work which I personally appreciate, having also owned a WB who had the memory of a goldfish (for better or worse).

Hope y’all get to go do some more outings!

[IPEsq]

You are doing a great job. As someone who rides alone a lot and runs into the same problem, I will kindly ask you to work on shortening your reins. A lot. It will help you with the steering (getting your hands wide without needing to go down and back in order to make contact with the rein) and the half halts to be in a place where your elbows don’t get so behind you. I’d also suggest your martingale is a hole or two too long because he is at maximum inversion when he finally gets pressure from it. You are a soft enough rider that you can carry your hands more forward.

It was mentioned early on, but given how he went at the show, I’d throw in some work on a single jump on a circle at home. Not an oval. Circle, like pretty much no straight strides. And a generous but not huge one…20m or so. Not only does it help with rushing and lead change anxiety (reason for it being mentioned the first time), but it will help him tune into you a bit more and follow your hand before, over, and after the jump. At your more advanced stage now, you need better control over the track. Set something small so that you can pick a tighter distance over a longer one. I also like putting the jump across the center line so you get some assistance being on a short side, although you don’t have much of a fence/wall at home.

Next level up is to counter canter some jumps as well. Make it easier like something on the long side. Thinking about the counter canter helps them wait and focus on you a little more.

[Mcl1]

Well I am still a little bit in shock about the update on his second show. I brought him to three days of a rated show (hauled in and back home at night), which seemed like a big swing for him and the only reason I even considered it was that it is my one chance a year to show with a trainer. I figured that if nothing else, I could just get him in the ring for the .65 m classes and get a few lessons. My goal was just to eventually get him around the ring and over everything. All the jumper classes were in the big Grand Prix ring and there were no warm up classes or chances to school in the ring ahead of time.

Despite being EXTREMELY fresh the first morning when he showed up…he stepped right into that big ring and jumped around every single course all week, and even did the .75’s. He really barely even peaked at any of the jumps, he did have some green spooky moments in one corner but would immediately refocus as soon as he had his eye on the next jump. He had a few situations where some baby moments led to him not getting his eye on a jump until the last minute, and although stopping would have been justified he just perked his little ears up and popped right over.

I have been very curious to see what his step is like because it is hard to tell when he is the only one jumping at home. He had zero problems getting down the lines, even with the small jumps.

I am just so, so proud of my little guy. All week I watched way more experienced horses stop out in that ring and to have him just go in and be so bold and honest was incredible and we truly could not have asked for any more from him.

And @IPEsq thank you so much for the advice and exercise suggestions - I had the chance to ride with my trainer friend this week and her advice and feedback was literally identical to yours. I definitely have homework to do for myself (shortening my reins) and for him (working on our turns/drifting issues).

Here’s a few clips of my very good boy:
YouTube link in case the embedded ones are slow:

https://youtube.com/shorts/a4UYSCqvwqk?si=WTHgzYh0D-skvM9I

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