I also trained him to rotate around to meet me at the mounting block, aka log, for easy mounting. I don’t even know if I can get on from the ground anymore! I use those logs, haha.
1 Like
I guess I have a video of that, too! Love my ottb! It’s not perfect, but he was getting it.
8 Likes
I am glad to see that my boys aren’t the only ones who have a fascination with machinery. I have to lock them up if I want to do anything with the four-wheeler in their pasture because it immediately becomes the most exciting thing that has ever happened to them. In this video I thought I could get away with a quick drag while they were out back and out of sight…they found me immediately:
IMG_0651
My TB will chase the drag like a dog attacking a vacuum cleaner, here he is inspecting my cultipacker job:
IMG_0281
We call my mustang the property foreman because he has to watch and inspect every single thing that occurs on our property, and our neighbors property. When our neighbor farms his field, he watches it like it’s TV 
.
The one thing they absolutely cannot get over is when the Amish horses go by on the highway. It just blows their minds and incites absolute chaos every single time.
2 Likes
He’s a good boy! Once I was over forty (and a few lbs heavier) all my horses learned to sidle up to the fence, gate, rock, or whatever I had climbed on 
At a county fair I signed up for tons of classes, English and Western plus fun ones. The trail class was kind of dumb. There was a small “log” that your horse had to jump the front legs over and then stop, and then you side passed off the log. I wasn’t about to half jump my horse that I used in hunters. So I trotted up to it and then walked about two strides to step him over and then side passed off. I wasn’t trying to win anyway.
He was perfect for the bridge, mailbox, flag exchange, and backing through the L shaped cavelletti, but I was not going to tempt fate on that teeter totter! I had a vision of him leaping 20ft sideways when it started to move.
We had a blast in the ranch horse class and I think we should have won. But when you’re in cow country and quarterhorses rule the judge isn’t going to place a tb in a huntseat saddle first. But he rocked the two canter to gallop circles, gallop down the long side and roll back and gallop back. Stop (no one did a sliding stop) do a 180, stop, then a 90, stop. Trot to the center and park. All on a loose rein.
3 Likes
When I first got my beloved pony from the track, we took him to a show just to go w the others. He was quiet so I decided to show him over poles just to trot. He naturally has a beautifully balanced canter …we trotted the first pole and cantered the second pole, came back to the trot and trotted into the next line, cantered out and before I could ask for the transition to the trot, he did a flying change and never looked back.
8 Likes
Not a TB, but a Hackney pony: I’ve posted about him a lot in various threads. He had never driven outside an arena when I got him at age 22 from what I could tell, at least not around a neighborhood. Road graders actively grading, fire trucks with lights and siren going, my neighbor hitting the air horn on his 18 wheeler as he passed us, fighter jets screaming overhead, trash truck driving past us while compacting trash–no problem! Mailboxes and newspapers sitting at the end of driveways were a whole other thing. They clearly ate cute bay ponies. Black trash bags were OK, white ones were not. He seemed to want to read all real estate signs.
I knew we’d come a long way when I could get him to stand long enough for me to get my mail.
A side note about the fighter jets–when I bought him, he’d been living next to Buckley Air Force base for ten years. So fighters were old news. But evidently he never saw a helicopter (at least not up close and personal) until the day one landed at a neighbor’s house as we were trotting by. Major panic! He also panicked at the sight of a kindly old Morgan mare that he saw most times we went out–that was a near disaster as he bolted into an overgrown lot, and it took quite an effort to stop him. I had no idea what was under all that brush, and I was so afraid one or both of us would be badly hurt. We got lucky that day and only ended up with two flat tires.
My grade pony who was a terror under saddle was totally chill in harness. Nothing seemed to bother him until the day we encountered a small tree branch lying in the road. We had to pass it to get home, and I tried every way I knew to get him to go by, and he threw a fit. Luckily my neighbor came out and saw what was happening. She went to move the branch, and as soon as she touched it, he calmed right down. He must of figured if one of the neighborhood treat dispensers touched it, it must be OK. The only other time he totally lost it was with a drone right over our heads. We were on a trail that passed a park, and people in the park saw him melting down and got the drone operator to land it so we could go by.
I always wished I could read their minds to know what they thought was happening when they panicked, and why some potentially very scary things didn’t warrant even an ear twitch.
3 Likes
I wonder if he thought it was a snake
2 Likes
Not a TB, but my 4.5yo draft X filly and I went out for our first trail ride together today. I have hand walked her on trails, into the ocean or through a stream, no problem. Today, running water 4" wide did us in! I ended up getting off to lead her through, she would start following me, then see the light reflecting off the running water and plant her feet. Over all it was a very positive ride though. She loves exploring.
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=122170815896327403&set=pob.61559822106154
2 Likes
He was OK with snakes. The branch was covered in leaves, so it was pretty recognizable as a branch. I think the reason he freaked is because it wasn’t there when we passed it on the way out, and according to him, branches don’t belong in the road. I tried to explain to him that it must have fallen off someone’s trailer, but he wasn’t having it.
5 Likes
So funny! Both my OTTBs are fascinated with my small John Deere tractor. They see me riding it to empty the manure spreader or mow and they’re convinced it’s a green pony of some weird kind, especially Banjo. He will take off the seat cover, sniff everywhere, test the back of the seat with his teeth to see how cushy it is, look for carrots in the back pocket, lick the hood. Every time it’s parked up at the barn. When I’m mowing or shredding pastures, they have to come and stand in the next places to be mowed and they hang out. Banjo just has to see and figure out EVERYTHING. He is super curious and super smart. Bounce is smart, but older and more stand-offish a lot of the time.
2 Likes
Long ago I was pretty much given a TB who had only been raced. He faced everything pretty courageously. Muddy hill-np, steep incline-np, weird stuff laying around-np, galloping next to the train track-np.
Single fence post in a field? Whirl, run away as FAST (remember this is an OTTB) as you possibly can…
5 Likes
My first OTTB was hot and reactive, especially when ridden with other horses. He could teleport like no ones business and good luck staying with him.
My new guy, however… I wouldn’t call him bombproof, but not a whole lot bothers him. He takes comfort in being with other horses, so I try to do new things like hacking or going to the outdoor ring with a buddy. When he does spook, its a full body flinch, or a little scoot that he comes back from easily with no further dramatics. A few weeks ago I was riding with someone and they fell off, 4 feet away from us, and her airvest went off. That loud bang scared me more then it scared Bodhi! He flinched and stared at the inflated vest. He reacts the most to my own tension, though, and that gets him worried. Our outdoor is surrounded by hay fields and can be windy, and its also a bit of a distance from the barn, so its like we’re out there all by ourselves. He does best if we do some work in the indoor before going outside. Any ideas on how we can make the transition smoother would be wonderful.
6 Likes
I posted this photo in the racing forum but I think it fits here too.
Former racehorses that went to a ranch and are ridden and trained by the rancher. He doesn’t feed grain, fed plenty of grass hay in the winter and pasture in the summer. The horses are only stalled during blizzards (they’re in SD). They get worked a lot on trails and with cows. And look how they are tied in their stalls.
I follow this ranch on Facebook, he doesn’t look for ottb’s that are calm and quiet. He gets sound horses that are done racing. And with good stable and feed management and hard work they all turn into productive citizens.
10 Likes
I feel like TBs sometimes have superior long term memory and reasoning. I leased a WB who would need to inspect anything that changed around the property. And there were “spooky” things that were always there but he spooked every time. The cows in the neighbor’s pasture were spook worthy no matter how many times he saw them.
My OTTB (about 1.5 years off the track) actually pulls me in the direction of those same cows like he is dying to go visit them. I recently took him to a friend’s property. There is a lot going on there and she owns a mini donkey who is turned out in view of the riding area. The mini donkey was a little concerning at first but after a few walks around the area he was chill. My friend also sticks pinwheels under her jumps. I took OTTB over to a pinwheel and my guy did not spook, and spent a good minute just blowing on it and making it spin. LOL!
I have taken him to a few shows and I think the similarity to the racetrack got him more worried and alert, but he has started to settle in and I notice him becoming much less reactive to things he initially reacted to (for example, the sound of a rail being knocked on a jump). I am taking my time getting him situated in the show environment.
6 Likes
That’s funny.
3 Likes
I thought of this thread the other day when my husband was using a sawzall to disassemble an old trailer in the horses pasture. They were way out of sight at the other end. I went into barn to do something else for 10 min and accidentally had my phone on silent…I emerge to find 6 missed calls and my husband frantically screaming at me for help, with horses on both sides of him. Turns out the sound of the sawzall called them in. The mustang was trying to inspect the rusty, pile of sharp metal that was the trailer at that point, and the TB was trying to disassemble the four wheeler. Every time he ran one off of one object, the other snuck back in .
It landed them in pony jail and they had to supervise from the other side of the fence:
IMG_8301
@equest My TB is also fascinated by cows in the neighboring pastures. He even tries to whinny at them occasionally (they do not respond 
). There’s a feedlot across the street from my place and when I first got him, he spent so much time staring at the cows I was legitimately concerned that he would jump the fence to go join them.
11 Likes
My OTTB was still on walk-trot status (for me, not so ambitious) when we went to a special “Obstacle Training” offered by a local horsewoman, open to all comers. There were about 8 horses, all trailered in. A morning instruction class for the humans, followed by morning groundwork session with the horses. Afternoon riding session for humans, horses and instructors.
I had thought out an option plan for whatever behavior my OTTB exhibited. I was surprised at how well-mannered he was, even at the times that he was staring and snorting. He did nothing alarming. He did most of the obstacles, which I did not expect.
I did not expect that he would have anything to do with the tilting bridge. That was his easiest one. Did not bother him at all, just strolled on across multiple times.
I thought he would step through the mass of tires fairly easily (laid flat on the ground so that they had to be stepped through). We had practiced at home stepping over stuff. On the morning groundwork, he dropped anchor with his toes against the tires, while the instructor and I paid out line to coax him to get into them. He finally gave a deep sigh and jumped over the whole mass of tires. Landed quiet and still on the other side with an expression “I crossed the tires as you insisted, hope you’re happy”. I didn’t ask under saddle, wasn’t sure about getting launched if he jumped again!
Rode through the herd of inflatable snowmen with no problem. He shared some disapproving ears and facial expressions, but he did it.
The only thing he refused to do was the backup through the short backup-maze, made of railroad ties. Although he backs readily. Something about the maze didn’t hit right with him. I let that one go, he did so much else.
I was really happy to have opted into OTTB for the first time.
13 Likes
I like that you didn’t force him. In my younger days I would have, but being older and possibly wiser, I see how it’s better to go slow and quiet.
3 Likes
As I said in another thread a few years back, my own experience can be summed up as such:
6 yo OTTB gently clips a rail in an otherwise faultless 1.0m trip. Gnashes his teeth & rends his garments: “I have disgraced my lineage all the way back to the Godolphin Arabian! Please, let me retreat to the center of the ring to self-flaggelate!”
6yo WB after hurling you 20’ thru the air with a dirty buck: “F you & the horse you rode in on!! Riding is stupid! You’re stupid! And, btw, those new $400 white show pants make your butt look big!!”
14 Likes
The coth article about a trainers journey with tb’s is spot on. Her main boy, Rigby, is better the harder he works. He’s always thinking and he showed his preference for dressage over eventing. They’re both succeeding because she listened to her horse. I hope she gets the gold medal. I bet they will.
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/hannah-schofield-has-learned-to-listen-to-her-thoroughbreds/
8 Likes
