Just a quick history of myself so you don't think I'm some nut buying a horse off the track with no knowledge. I've been riding horses for 18 years. I primarily focused on dressage during my teenage years. I went off to Oregon State (because they have a horse barn) and was able to be a head instructor in their riding program and assistant farm manager. I worked many summers as a trail guide, ran a horseback program at a summer camp, trained QH's and Paints in basic western skills, held a level 3 CHA certification in western and english, and had owned my mare for 14 years when she died. I had been on a break from horses, but I wasn't coming into this green.
Smokey Rhythm, or Rusty as he likes to be called, arrived at his new barn 3 days later. He was lucky enough to be moving to a beautiful private barn that housed four other OTTB's (off the track thoroughbreds) and one TB yearling filly. He would fill the sixth and final stall. I'll spare you the details of hauling him, except to say I would warn against using a straight load trailer with a horse used to running straight out of a starting gate. It didn't make much sense to him to back out.
He settled in nicely with his new barn mates, quickly proving himself to be very much the lover and not the fighter. We took things very slowly at first. Countless hours were spent on the basics. When you are brushed behind the girth there is no cow kicking allowed. When brought into the grooming bay it is not acceptable to run over your handler to escape the tickle torture of brushes. To bite your human friend is not an act of kindness. And the biggest lesson of all... Rearing, bucking and spinning are not acceptable when being led away from your friends. I remember thinking we were never going to master any of these "simple" lessons, but over time they slowly came to be and now I have a difficult time remembering it ever being all that bad.
Within a few weeks we were onto lunging. The barn possesses a very nice round pen that worked well to control his learning, Rusty took to lunging as if he'd been doing it forever. He must have had pretty solid training in it when he was being broke for the track. He was quickly responding to voice commands and allowing himself to be saddled and bitted up. By late February it felt like it was time to give him a ride.
Our first few rides were beautiful, he has a very soft and kind mouth, his gaits are splendid and he tried very hard to do what he thought I wanted. He was rather dead to the leg, but after urging would move out. We attempted to walk around the property on occasion, but this often ended in temper tantrums and frustration. At some point his willingness in the arena took a turn for the worse and he started to become very difficult to move. No amount of urging with leg, seat or dressage whip seemed to move him forward at an acceptable rate. He also started spooking. At everything. At the trees in the corner of the arena, at the hayfield, at the other horses, at the chickens, at anything. Basically, things started to fall apart. So we took a break.
A few months later I started taking riding lessons. Rusty and I had started up riding again. It was moving along all right, but nothing seemed like it was really clicking for us. The trainer I was working with had an open slot to take a horse on for a month so we agreed that it would be a good chance to get Rusty in and assess what his needs were. He spent the next 45 days in training and we had some really great rides. He seemed to really kick into gear for a few weeks and then toward the end his little oddities started coming up again. Now they seemed even a little worse. He wanted to buck instead of trot. Rear instead of canter and he does this amazing move with his head where he lifts it straight up and then sticks it sideways. We were still getting good work, but he was growing frustrated with something and I didn't know what. His saddle fit well. He'd been vet checked since I bought him, had a visit from a chiropractor who found nothing wrong, and had his teeth checked.
So this brings us to where we are now. He's at home again. We're not able to ride much due to the rainy, dark Oregon winter and the lack of a covered lit area. We have a trainer coming out weekly to give us lessons. We've managed to come to an agreement on the head, he's still trying to figure out the perfect spot, but he's definitely not nearly as much of a giraffe. Our transitions and forward motion are still just not there. During a transition he wants to stick his head straight up, shorten his stride and fight into it potentially even really objecting with a buck. Once we're trotting we might sustain a nice gait for a short amount of time, but will often end up in a battle over continuing forward again resulting in a potential buck or two. A canter is difficult to get to, but once he does it is quite lovely and his whole being is much more relaxed at that gait.
I've found when looking though various stories about OTTB's that people often share wonderful tales of the easy transition off the track and the miraculously easy going nature of their OTTB. I felt the need to share my story. I love Rusty he is a kind, sweet. and comical horse. He's a quick learner, but he's also a challenge with his odd habits and training dilemmas. I'm hoping to use this blog as a way to track our progress, share it with others and hear from anyone who wants to share their questions or tips or stories with me!
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