TL;DR I caught feelings and now Flip is not going to HTBA. Because I love her and I cannot consign her to 22hrs a day in a box. It’s really that simple
I think a lot of people get caught up in tossing their young horses out to grow, think that’s right.
And it is, to an extent. But you’re also missing out on amazing opportunities to teach them about life.
Flip has a a sales prep under her belt, so had a sense of a job. She also had a boldness and strong sense of curiosity. She likes to be involved.
So I have bought her in for 4 week periods a couple of times over the past 6mo to go over past lessons and teach her some new things. Sometimes she comes along to lessons or arena hires (she practically loads herself).
She tells me when she’s ready to go eat and sleep and grow again. That’s what she’s doing right now. But she still wanted to get involved, and now she knows what it’s like to have someone above her. Not bad hey
Horses are honestly just big dogs 😭
Believing that the racing industry can do and be much better for the racehorses is not anti, it’s not woke and it doesn’t make me a do gooder. It just demonstrates that I love horses and think racing could do a much better job of being “horse first” than this pantomime it’s currently doing.
I can never say this to enough: your horse learns at a young age that they get support from you at their shoulder. This is even more true of ex racehorses; there’s always a groom.
Whether you hand walk a new trail, an old trail or are willing to swallow your ego to dismount and help your horses process a concerning thing. They will thank you.
Tourn here walked past the notorious agapanthus without sending it backwards, and even took a minute to inspect the scary council spray paint markings on the road. And he released and released and released.
We get so caught up in our own goals, we forget about our horse’s emotional experiences and helping them experience okayness and even confidence
I never thought I could canter competently. And then along came Tourn, who one day bolted.
For some reason I was riding him bareback at our temporary agistment - and please keep in mind he was OTT for maybe a month at this point - when he spooked suddenly at a perfectly innocuous water trough.
I did the classic but totally unhelpful pullback on the reins. And he went faster. Down a laneway toward his paddock. He’s not silly.
Except we were approaching a closed gate. Thank F**K he slid to a stop instead of trying to jump ☠️ miraculously with me still on. So after that I thought ‘maybe I can’
What’s the hurry anyway?
I recently saw a thought provoking video that pointed out that our 30/60/90 day training blocks for horses were borne out of war time. Cavalry horses had short lifespans and they needed to be “battle ready” at regular and reliable intervals.
So with that context, I cannot understand how we can still be slave to these rigid, nonsensical and unhelpful timelines.
We are understanding now better than ever how individual horses are and what it means to train them ethically. But not enough people are moving with the times. Conveyer belt breaking is still very much a thing.
I have always said ‘they need as long as they need’ when having my OTTs retrained post racing. Because they’re individuals. And every day Lissi reminds me that the conveyer belt system did her more harm than good. Because she inherently values being seen and heard. Her willingness to try comes from mutual trust and respect.
Something as simple as accepting the bit during bridling pressures her. But there’s no hurry. I wait for her to feel comfortable, to be ready and to say yes.
After some 370 days or so of waiting, lil Pearlsnap is earth side 🫡 She is just gorgeous and totally worth the drama and endless foal watches. Very happy for my bestie having a healthy and vivacious filly (who is exactly as ordered 😜). Thank you for sharing this experience with me and for all your trust ❤️🔥 Can’t wait to see all the mischief you two create
The equine vital signs; how many can you name? Do you know the parameters?
I was actually stunned to find that I didn’t know some of these mid year. It is so basic that I think no one bothered to teach me. But these things are so important to know!
They’re your first port of call in assessing your horse and I encourage you all to get familiar with your horse’s “normal”. There will come a day where this information matters!
If you found my video about King Kirk and lack of owner education offensive, you have an issue. In the aftermath people have been absolutely shocked to find out that racehorses swim in pools.
There is so much effective education can do.
People really like to talk about “problem horses”. But what if I were put to you that horses actually just have people problems.
Would that challenge and change the way you navigate your partnerships?
Racing has a problem. A lot of problems actually. But many of those problems stem from the gap between the community and real, live horses. Your average person just doesn’t have any proper concept of a horse or what horses and horse care is like. Horses aren’t part of day to day life for the average person in the ways they used to be.
Racehorses, expensive as they are, have suddenly become very tangible for new markets of “owners”. Thanks to companies like MyRacehorse and MiRunners, micro shares have bought more people to racing than ever before. Which is great.
Except that these syndicators take absolutely no responsibility for helping their portfolios of owners learn, engage and understand horses and the life of a performance horse.
So when a horse like MRH’s King Kirk dies in an accident… the grief is plastered all over social media. The ownership is confused. They have questions and touchstone.
There is a very clear space here for engagement and education. Because bringing horses to the community in tangible ways matters. Why else do these micro shares get eaten up?
But why would racing ever try to get ahead of the game 🙄
