Woolandoon Thoroughbred Retraining and Rehoming

12/12/2024

‼️VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED‼️
12 months.
12 months since all my hopes and dreams came crashing to an instant halt. Not even a week before I was swooning over the fact that Derby who is my dream horse had mastered his canter lead both ways and was already practicing novice dressage moves. To have a horse already working at this level with so little off the track education is truly something special.

12 months today I got the news I didn’t want to hear. “Your horse is on the wrong side of the fence and is bleeding”. When I first saw the injuries I wasn’t sure of the extent of them. A vet visit later determined the cut was down to the bone and the chance of proud flesh and infection developing was at 100% due to the heat. A full leg bandage for a month with everyday changes and 2 lots of proud flesh removed.

Now 12 months on Derby’s leg is fully healed but the road is not clear. It’s being a long 12 months of blood, sweat, tears and frustrations as we take one step forward and 2 steps back in his injury recovery and rehabilitation. Due to the result of the injury he has unfortunately developed a hitch. Consults with vets think with time it should disappear as he gets used to using and strengthening the leg again.

Our future is still full of what ifs, but for now he is a happy, healthy boy and that’s all that matters. Here’s hoping we can kick things in the butt and see improved results and hopefully get back to where we were pre injury in 2025.

24/11/2024

A casual Sunday stroll on big boy Barney. Both boys are enjoying their time in the paddock with the odd ride when i feel like it. Time for Cleo to come back into work and hopefully Derby aswell as it’s been almost 12 months since he injured himself!

10/10/2024

Pony Camp + Jamboree 2024

Bingara as always turned on the weather for a great week and a half of enjoying our four legged friends. This was Barney’s first PC and to say I was impressed would be an understatement. Bob also tagged along and got to spend a few days relaxing at pops before coming back to prepare for the few days of competing. Despite an unfortunate elimination during the PC ODE on Friday, we bounced back and redeemed ourselves on Monday taking out 1st place B grade associate at the jamboree ODE.
Over the last 3 days Bob has proved how versatile thoroughbreds are, showing that they can excel in various disciplines coming away with 1st and 2nd place in the AM5 and A2 jumps, and placing 4th in the flag race and 3rd in the mug race on Tuesday. We also managed to secure ourselves 2nd place in our hack, 3rd in the rider, and 4th in pairs (Bob's preference for doing stuff solo was pretty evident 😂) and 2nd in the B grade 6 bar on Wednesday.
I couldn’t be more proud of both boys and how they are continuing to learn and improve all the time. They are more than happy to be back in their paddocks and relaxing today 🫶🏽🫶🏽

19/08/2024

🎉🐎NSW Pony Club State One Day Event and Combined Training🐎🎉

A beautiful weekend with lovely weather and even better horses. Tickets For Youth (Bobby) carried me around safely to take out NSW reserve champion B Grade Associate in CT and 3rd in the B Grade ODE. Full Of Flavour (Barney) did a beautiful showjump round and a fairly reasonable dressage test to sit us in 8th place but unfortunately the cross country was too overwhelming with everything going out on course and we ended up being eliminated. Big pats and carrots for a brave boy who tried his hardest. Off to Warwick Horse Trials this weekend with Bob in the 95cm and Barney out to try our luck again at 80cm. 🐎❤️

01/08/2024

OTTBS can do ANYTHING!! 🐎🏆

When your $1000 off-track-thoroughbred takes you to the Olympics 🤩

Shenae Lowings and Bold Venture in action at Versailles 🙌

Photo: Australian Olympic Team

01/08/2024

Happy horse birthday to the Woolandoon OTTB team. If you have a former Woolandoon retrainer, post a picture in the comments to celebrate! 🐎🎉

25/07/2024

We’ve been abit quiet lately on here as not much has being happening! We are back into the swing of things now that the second half of the competition season has started up again. Bob has just had his first eventing start back after a bit of break and absolutely aced the 95cm course at Tamworth. Both Bob and Barney will be heading off to State One Day Event and Combined Training at Coonabarabran in a few weeks which I am so excited for! Not only is it such a privilege to ride for my zone at state level, BUT, it is such a privilege to take not 1 but 2 horses that I have trained myself. Barney has fully exceeded my expectations and I am so excited to see him cruise around his first 80cm ODE (not bad for a horse only 7 months off the track with one eventing start at 45cm 😂).

25/07/2024

TINY EMPEROR (Remi)

13/06/2024

CONJOLA PHOENIX (Finn)

13/06/2024

Good boy Remi! 😍 Remi’s second ride back after a 4 month spell and he behaves like this. Not only is Derby about 2 hands taller than him but he is also full of oats and quite pushy. As you can tell Remi isn’t phased and pretty happy to push back if he has to. He is still looking for his new home, a beautiful quiet boy that would be a perfect teens project or future kids pony club horse.

20/05/2024

Cleo! 😍😍
I think I have a handy little mare on my hands. Little miss had her first outing yesterday since retiring and man did she exceed my expectations jumping up to 75cm with a few green rails, as to be expected. Oh, did I forget to mention she only learnt to jump just a week ago! What a freak. I’m sooooo excited to see this mares progress, I think she is going to be a real force to reckon with in probably the very near future 😍🐎

10/05/2024

Quirindi Long Format 3DE on my best boy Bobby (Tickets For Youth). Looking and feeling more than ready to step up to that next height in the second half of the year 😍.
📸Chris Miller Photography
📸Britt Grovenor Photography

Off The Track
Thoroughbred Sport Horse Association
Off The Track NSW
Team Thoroughbred NSW

06/05/2024

Introducing Yuruga Lass AKA Cleo to the Woolandoon team! Cleo came from the Stephen Dixon racing stable in Tamworth to begin her retraining here with us. Isn’t she stunning? By Nostradamus, look out for this girl in the future, apparently the breeding can jump! 😍😍

29/04/2024

The last few weeks have been jam packed with fun and adventures! 3 ODEs down, 1 to go before Bob earns a very well deserved rest.
This horse never ceases to amaze me. 2x 80cm ODEs double clear with promising dressage tests at 60.59% at Tamworth International Eventing in March and 64.72% at Warrumbungle Eventing this month, then his first 95cm ODE double clear with an amazing dressage test at 73.68% back at Coonabarabran again managing to snag us a 4th place. Lots to improve on, especially our time around cross country but we are learning and getting better every time! Off to Quirindi this weekend!
We also had big Barney out for his first competition on the weekend at the Coonabarabran PC ODE and Hunt having a go at the E grade course, needless to say it was wayyyyy to easy for Mr Lanky Legs, so we will aim to have him ready for Tamworth in July to do a 60cm course! Good boys! 🥰🐎🥇

📸- Chris Miller Photography

24/04/2024

Tiny Emperor (Remi)
Holy Roman Emperor X Cilla.
15.3hh rising 6yr old bay gelding. Retired sound OTT 01/01/2024. Spelled and ready to go on with. Has had a handful of rides off property since retiring. Sweet natured boy with loads of potential. Selling due to no fault of his own, unfortunately just stuck with time constraints. Located Inverell, NSW.
$1,500 for hassle free sale. Please pm for further info.

27/03/2024

Absolutely in love with these stunning pics from both Oz Shotz and Britt Grovenor Photography of Bob from TIE on the weekend. This was Bobs first 80cm start and it was way too easy! We are feeling more than ready to step up to those higher heights and face a few more challenges. ❤️❤️ Time to find a place where I can ride to really open him up and get a feel for some longer faster strides to get our XC times looking better.