Aurelius Loyal

06/12/2023

08/09/2023

18/07/2022

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27/05/2022

Finally got a hold of at least one nice photo for my Equine Affaire summary ! (And only a month and a half late this time)

Roach handled this entire event phenomenally, and completely blew me away,, of course he wasn’t perfect, but I couldn’t have asked him to be any better for such a huge event 😌
He really used his brain every time we entered the colosseum, and I could feel him getting overwhelmed and then manage to calm himself and think it through to keep us both safe and on course.

On top of the show itself, he got to meet tons of people during the after show meet and greet and represent OTTBs while he did. Everyone who asked about him was blown away hearing what breed he is/how young he is/how long he’s been in training, and even moreso that he was showcasing something so far removed from the disciplines that thoroughbreds are typically used for.
Huge success on his part, and I can’t wait for whatever comes next with this big guy.

(Note: I typically wouldn’t choose a photo of him playing with the bit, since it’s such an easily misinterpreted moment in time, but the composition of this photo was just too good to leave)

30/03/2022

Final update post after my sudden hiatus ✨

Shortly after I left for Wisconsin, Roach decided to manage the incredible feat of impaling himself on .. something ?? We never figured out what it was, but nearly the entire time I was away, he was on stall rest. His months of hard earned weight and muscling that had the vets at the makeover in awe had deteriorated by the time I got home, and we started from the ground up all over again 😔

I’ve been home for two months now and he’s back to where he was with a perfect body score and the strength for everything he’d learned prior and then some. Now we’re hard at work getting ready for a big trip up to Ohio.. so if anyone is coming to Equine Affaire 😅

Roach and I will be performing in Fantasia during the event, which is a huge step up, but he’s never disappointed before, and I’m sure he’ll continue to handle everything thrown at him. 🍂

30/03/2022

Update post number two!

Almost immediately after the makeover I made a trip up to The Dancing Horses Theatre up in Wisconsin to perform through their Christmas season. It didn’t end up being ideal long term for my current goals, but it was nice to get back to performing and doing rosinback for a bit after so long ✨

29/03/2022

So I’m about about half a year late and a lot has happened since but I figure it’s about time for a summary on how Roach and I’s RRP went.

Overall, he was phenomenal and handled the event like a champion, completely unphased. Unfortunately from a competitive standpoint things didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, from not being able to practice in the dressage arena before our test to practice a demo, to a huge tack malfunction that stole our freestyle away (still a bit bitter about that one) Regardless, Roach placed fairly well in dressage with a 70.5% and even got us into the top ten Amateurs. Our freestyle attempt was such a poor representation of him, and how confident and attentive he always is, but nonetheless the whole event served as a great stepping stone towards his next Big Thing

This guy turned into such a remarkable horse last year, and the perfect riding horse for me, I can’t believe how lucky I was to end up with him, even if I really didn’t want to end up with another horse ✨

12/10/2021

Roach and I arrived and got settled in at the Kentucky Horse Park last night ! The drive was a lot longer than expected due to some wild traffic, but today we finished checking in, had our arrival exam and lameness check, and have since explored and schooled in hand. I couldn’t be happier with how Roach is handling the environment, with hundreds of horses in the area all getting worked or worked up for their own classes, he tends to get pretty empathetic but he couldn’t be quieter 😌 Later in the day we’ll be schooling in both of our competition arenas for dressage and Freestyle, and then our dressage gets done tomorrow at 10am ! ✨
(Photo from our layover in GA, which he enjoyed quite a lot)

29/09/2021

It is now less about a week and a half before Roach and I leave for Kentucky to compete in the Retired Racehorse Project ! Crunch time is usually pretty stressful but I’m feeling pretty confident somehow, even though none of my freestyle props are actually done. He has two more planned outings to school before we leave, and his last one REALLY blew me away with how gentlemanly he felt, both for dressage and freestyle practice. He’s becoming more and more consistent with every practice and it’s getting me pretty excited ! I can’t wait to get up into the cooler weather and compete with everyone 😌✨

18/09/2021

Roach and I just finished our last schooling show before heading to Kentucky next month, and I can confidently say that it was his best test yet overall. It did also manage to be our lowest score out of any of them, mostly because of one big bobble that we’re still working on (you’ll know it when you see it) He may not have been “round” in the neck the whole time but he felt far more connected and upright and open this time which, even if it’s not considered quite as pretty, is going to be so much better for him in the long run ✨

06/09/2021

Roach just had another outing this weekend to keep working in different arenas, and we managed to get some half decent photos from it, with the exception of some blur due to bad lighting.
We’re getting closer and closer to having our act together for the Freestyle division at the RRP, so I’ve got high hopes ! ✨

30/08/2021

Roach and I just had our third dressage show this weekend, and finally tackled Training 2, which is what we’ll need to do at the Makeover. We had some bobbles at the end and he’s still adjusting to his canter transitions without a voice cue, so neither of us looked great, but we still pulled through with a 66% 😌 between that and our training 1 score earlier in the day we managed Reserve Champion in our division, which is way better than I’d hoped ! We have one more show planned before October, and lots of schooling in between, so hopefully we can polish it up in time ✨

22/08/2021

Roach’s training is coming along pretty smoothly and the stressful final month before the makeover is almost here :’) we’ve got two more shows planned before then to hopefully be prepared, and multiple tricks and maneuvers that are still unfinished, but hopefully we’ll have something up to my standards by October ✨

19/07/2021

And we’re finally showing WTC ! I’d been holding off until he was a bit more solid in picking up his leads, and it paid off just as hoped 😊 Roach got out to his second dressage show yesterday and handled it super well. He had a few baby moments but came back from all of them right away. Our tests weren’t the prettiest thing in the world but now that we’ve passed our biggest hurdle, we can start pushing towards the real exciting stuff before the makeover ✨

15/07/2021

This past weekend I took Persy out for an obstacle play day out at Nancy Slater Natural Horsemanship 😌 She was super super brave for the obstacles (which are far from her strong suit) and halfway through we ended up ditching the tack to do some swimming, which she really enjoyed ✨ (there are more photos/video on my Instagram that Facebook wouldn’t let me add)

28/06/2021

Eventually I’ll get photos that are actually good and not just grainy screenshots from far away- But Roach is progressing a lot with his body control at liberty! He actually prefers it this way, and learns/transfers more difficult movements undersaddle from liberty much better than the other way around. He’s still figuring out where to put his head in the tighter canter, but he’s getting there 🍂

16/06/2021

There hasn’t been a whole lot of exciting stuff to post recently, but Roach is always learning new things and taking to everything amazingly 😌 he’s got such a unique mind, and is very picky about how he learns, but he’s SO smart and attentive for his age ✨

30/05/2021

Yesterday Roach had his first ever proper dressage test ! We started off simple with intro, and it wasn’t the pretty thing in the world, but I’m beyond proud of how calm and responsive he was able to be 😌 our first test pulled in a 65%, which I’d say is pretty great for a first go ! He was pretty tired by his second test, so we lost a few points on impulsion, but even then he managed a 62%

Hopefully we can hop up to Training level at the next show that rolls around ✨

16/05/2021

Roach just finished up his very first show! He had a bit of nerves in the beginning and schooling around so many horses that we ended up sticking with walk/trot this time to make sure everyone stayed safe, and that it was a good experience for him, but overall he did really amazing! Once he’d had some time to think and move his feet a bit he settled right down and was walking around the park on a loose rein ✨

15/05/2021

He do be beefin’ up a bit 😳
Today Roach went on a little field trip to another arena in preparation for his first show tomorrow! Just a pleasure show this time, but hopefully he’ll have his first dressage show this month too !

Canter circles undersaddle have been the hardest thing for him to pick up between not using those muscles much as well as learning how to carry me, so most of his canter work has been from the ground so we could tackle one obstacle at a time. Lately he’s been carrying himself way more comfortably at the canter to tell me he’s got enough muscle there to start working harder with me up there too ✨

02/05/2021

This past Thursday I took Persy out to go schooling on a cross country course, which was a first for both of us 😊 I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile, and Persy did super super well with it! It’s not totally impressive to look at, but Persy is the most reactive horse I have when it comes to new obstacles, and we managed to jump every jump we tried by the end of our ride, which was really a huge improvement for her

Hopefully we can go out again once she’s a bit more in shape and tackle some of the harder, scarier stuff ✨