Horse Tales from the LOPE Ranch

Buck Brannaman Clinic Part I: The First Two Days

Recently I rode in a Buck Brannaman clinic in Belton, TX at the Bell County Expo Center. Buck has been coming to Texas annually for many years, thanks to an especially dedicated clinic host and team of helpers.

Although the clinic was held in March 2013, it had filled by June 2012. When I signed up for it way back then, I had no idea that there might be some interesting challenges ahead.

The Horse

It was exciting to think of riding my QH ex-racehorse, Santo, in the clinic — and I confidently registered for the Horsemanship 2 class. Santo had trained for the track as a youngster but didn’t have the foot speed to be a good racehorse. He was purchased by a local horse facility shortly afterward. By the time I acquired and began riding Santo in 2012, he had had several years of classical dressage training — thus becoming the first ex-racehorse I’d ever owned with professional post-track training.

I was thrilled to have a horse that could teach me so much. At the same time, Santo still showed some leftover anxieties from his racing days. He is a chronic stall weaver (to the point where he can’t be kept in a stall for long without risking colic). Santo will also sometimes weave in the trailer. Additionally, he had some history of showing anxious behavior while in large groups (a classic racehorse characteristic).

An equestrian friend also told me that Santo once had a rider fall and break her arm while attempting to mount him from the fence during a clinic. From what I understand, this incident had created some tension for Santo about mounting — but his trainer at the time had helped him through that so he could put the episode behind him.

Santo and I seemed like a good match — and we thoroughly enjoyed our riding time together. He is a bubbly, cheerful horse with a ton of heart and personality.

As the months passed before the Buck clinic, several challenges appeared. I took a good-sized tumble from a young horse as I mounted him, injuring my back and neck. While I returned to riding within a couple of weeks, the healing process was slower than I expected — and my riding stamina wasn’t as strong as usual. Then an unexpected foot surgery had to be scheduled, throwing off my planned return to fuller riding fitness.

Still, I did my best to prepare Santo for the Buck clinic. A few months beforehand, we rode together in a Tom Curtin clinic — with a class of about 15 other riders. Santo handled that well — but he also was very familiar with the arena that hosted the clinic. As Buck’s clinic drew near, I regularly hauled Santo to another arena — where we often saw other horses, trail riders, and occasional dirt bikers. While Santo would get somewhat anxious, he settled down quickly — and I was happy to see how willing he was to experience new things with me.

Day One

The big clinic weekend arrived — and it was quite the scene. As Buck himself has commented, you can’t really prepare your horse at home for what one of his clinics will be like — especially since the release of the documentary about him. Over 40 horses were riding in the clinic (spread between two classes) — and the stands were packed with spectators. In addition, the Bell County Expo Center had multiple events going on during the clinic — so there were competing microphone announcements booming over the clinic arena.

If you want to get a true sense of what a Buck Brannaman clinic is like, I highly recommend the 7 Clinics DVD Series. There are 7 DVDs in the package, all of which contain footage of Buck at different clinics — and they are well-organized and full of excellent horsemanship advice.

Santo thought the environment of Buck’s clinic was simultaneously exciting, scary, and suspicious. Although we arrived a day early, scoped out the facility, and rode a little in a side arena, he was still tense and nervous by the time our class began. Full of distracted energy, he was also proving a little difficult to mount. I ended up plopping on to his back with a distinct lack of grace from the fence. My back and neck gave a warning twinge to not do that again anytime soon — but that soon subsided and we were officially riding in the arena with the other clinic riders.

For us, that meant we were doing short serpentines like mad up and down the arena — weaving between the other, calmer horses in the clinic. I found myself glancing into the spectator stands, to see if I knew anyone — so I could make eye contact with familiar faces as Santo and I danced by the bleachers. As it turned out, there were many friends there — and it felt great to smile and wave as Santo carried me past the crowd.

Like most clinicians, Buck starts his clinics by having the class stand in a circle around him while he talks and answers questions from the riders. Santo had relaxed enough to walk in longer, looser serpentines by then — but standing still wasn’t an option for more than a few minutes. Buck gave some excellent tips, telling me “A horse like this is a gift, for what he will teach you.” And he gently reminded me that it was important to do what the horse needed (which was useful direction for his feet from his rider) — and not worry too much about what the human wanted (which in my case was to stand still and listen to the clinician tell fascinating stories).

As we began moving as a group, Santo’s nervousness would ease off and then bubble up again. Buck refers to this as the “ebb and flow” of a young or troubled horse during a riding session. To him, this is a normal part of the process — and the rider shouldn’t get too worried about the “ebb” part of the equation. Instead, it is better to expect the horse to have moments of calmness and others of anxiety — and simply plan on trying to increase the calm moments, rather than get too caught up in trying to stop the anxious ones.

Sometimes this can be accomplished with the short serpentines. If that isn’t quite enough (if the horse is hopping around a bit or really is pushing on the edge of trying to whirl to the side), then another good strategy is to ask the horse to roll his hindquarters for a half-circle, and then bring his front quarters around for another half-circle (so you end up moving in the same direction you started, after a full circle).

When a horse is full of energy that needs to be redirected, this maneuver really gives the energy a good place to go. The movement is precise enough that the horse (and rider) need to think about the timing of the feet — but has enough “space” in it to contain a high degree of energy easily. As I did these circles a few times, I felt Santo moving dynamically underneath me — and we’d often finish the move with several pretty, flowing steps forward after the circle was complete.

But if my timing was off when I asked for the hindquarters to roll (when the inside hind leg was still on the ground), Santo would be off balance for the move — so it was a very good exercise for me to work on timing. I began to concentrate more on my aids and on setting Santo up properly for these exercises — instead of focusing on his tension as a negative thing, it now had become an interesting excuse to work on my timing and balance.

As the first day ended, Santo had calmed down considerably. I dismounted as the clinic class stood around Buck to listen to his parting words for the day. But as the crowd began to applaud at the end, Santo revved back up into anxiety and twirled around me. I did my best to ease his worries, but the walk back to the barn was a bit elevated for both of us.

Santo stayed amped up in his pen for quite awhile — pacing restlessly and neighing while the other riders headed back to the barn, hosed down their horses, and hand grazed them nearby. But we had finished the first day successfully — and I was looking forward to what the next day would bring at the clinic.

Day Two

On the second day of the clinic, the crowd was very large — and for some reason, the rabbit show in the next room of the Expo center required frequent, blaring announcements (often accompanied by random booming sounds and/or slightly hysterical female laughter) as part of its process. Country music was playing loudly on the clinic arena speakers, as we waited for Buck to arrive. Santo wasn’t amused by the crowd or by the rowdy microphone sounds from the rabbit area. As we entered the arena, he was a rocky mass of worry and fear — and our short serpentines were feeling more like sharp-edged Zs than flowing snake trails. I could feel him getting tighter, not looser, with each step.

In these situations, my first impulse is to immediately assume that I am doing something wrong — and that if I were a better, more skilled rider, my horse would not be showing any worry or tension. This time was no different — as I guided Santo through his steps, I felt certain that I was failing him in some way.

Recognizing that adding more anxious emotion to the picture wouldn’t help Santo, I pushed those thoughts aside and began to smile at my friends in the stands. “He must not like country music,” I quipped to a fellow clinic rider — who laughed and gave us a thumbs up sign as we zipped past him. One of the spectators asked, “Is that a green horse from the track?” Another wondered if Santo was a warmblood. I threw quick, cheerful answers over my shoulder as we rode by, glad for the supportive vibe from the crowd.

When Buck rode into the arena, I steered toward him and asked what I could be doing better to help Santo. He glanced at us and then reminded me of something he had discussed in the morning class. In that class, Buck had described the moment in a short serpentine when it’s clear the horse is flowing out of the arc into forward steps. It is like when you are pushing a ball up a hill. When the ball gets to the top of the hill and you feel it is about to roll down the hill, you relax and let the natural draw of gravity take the ball down the hill. You don’t keep pushing the ball at that moment — instead you allow the gravity to give a natural wave of movement to the ball.

As he said it, I realized that I had been keeping Santo too firmly in the reins in between each serpentine. I exhaled and released the reins lightly now at each of those moment. While Santo was still very tense, he began to take a small flowing step between each serpentine. Concentrating carefully, I kept my hands responsive and invited him to try a second flowing step between each curving serpentine (but was still prepared to roll back up into a more supportive position, if he needed that).

Within ten minutes, we were taking multiples steps “over the hill” — and our short serpentines had become long serpentines. Once again, the friendly mood of the spectators and my fellow clinic riders was a big help. There were still some bumpy moments. Santo and I often had to practice full circles by turning on the hindquarters and then moving the front quarters across (to reduce his tension and redirect his spiking energy levels). During one of those maneuvers, my timing was off and I asked for the movement too close to another horse — unfortunately, it was Buck’s horse (and I discovered to my horrified chagrin that Santo will threaten to kick at times). One of those moments where you’d really like to hang yourself in shame with a boselita right on the spot!

But overall we made steady progress during the class that day. The cow work was introduced toward the end of the class — and while Santo was concerned about the cattle at first, he soon decided that focusing on them was a great way to channel his nervous excitement. One of the horses next to us was very scared of cows — and as the cattle began easing his way (they like to seek out the least threatening horse, to test the boundaries), Santo sidepassed easily over to give that horse a little moral support.

The cows weren’t sure what to think of Santo, with his elevated stance, big eyes, and black dressage saddle. But they ultimately decided he was much too animated and focused to try to get past him — and they drifted away toward the center of the circle of horses. I was very proud of Santo and made sure that he knew that.

One of the seasoned cow horses (Kate) and her rider (Rita) walked around the little herd of cows. Beckoning us over, Rita invited me and Santo to follow them. Mimicking Kate, Santo leg yielded away from the cows while still eyeing them. I could feel his worry transform into energetic curiosity for several steps at a time.

It was a great feeling for both of us — and several spectators were rooting for Santo and his budding aptitude for cow work (even if it was only to circle the herd). The highlight of the day was when Santo touched a cow with his nose — then hopped back in surprise when it moved away from him. The crowd laughed warmly and Santo immediately made the connection that HE had made the cow move.

Caught up in the moment, I forgot completely how Santo had reacted to the applause the previous day — and wasn’t ready when the class ended for the day. Still in the saddle, I was dismayed to feel Santo’s anxiety shoot up to the same level as it was at the beginning of the class. Short serpentines and riding near a calm, seasoned horse helped somewhat — but I made a note to dismount and leave the arena early the next day (no matter how much fun Santo and I were having with the cows).

After the clinic, Santo continued to pace, whinny, and weave in his pen — once again, the swirl of post-clinic noise and movement (from people and horses) seemed to trigger a strong reaction in him.

Stay tuned for Part II of the clinic…

Ruff Slew Update

Ruff Slew (aka “Parker”) had been making terrific progress in his training with Holly Flint of Flint Equestrian. He was working quietly in his walk-trot-canter sessions in the big covered arena. Parker had begun stepping over poles as part of a long, slow introduction to jumping one day in the future too.

As a three-year-old right off the track, we were expecting to see a less smooth transition for Parker as he entered our racehorse education program. But Parker handled the training barn and Holly’s training sessions with aplomb and calmness.

Then a couple weeks ago, Holly called me with some interesting news. As part of Parker’s training, she had started teaching him how to lunge on a long line. Parker was displaying resistance and irritation during the process. From Holly’s description, Parker was balking, turning his hindquarters to the center, hopping up, and generally behaving in a cranky manner.

I went to observe a lunging session with Parker and Holly — so I could see what might be happening. As Holly led him to the arena, I had a pretty good idea what the issue might be. Parker was crowding her space — while he walked near her shoulder, he often stepped ahead. He was excited by the strong wind that day and pranced a little (which he felt gave him the perfect excuse to ignore Holly in those moments).

As Holly began lunging him, Parker did a perfect impersonation of a sulky teenage boy being asked to clean his room. He dawdled, scowled, stopped dead, hopped, and turned his shoulder to Holly. After watching for about ten minutes, I decided to check Parker out with some ground work exercises — to see if his responses were due to physical tightness or really were just a teenage boy reaction.

We removed the lunge gear and I put a rope halter (with a long lead) on Parker. As soon as I began to lead him, Parker very cheerfully bounded up to my ear and crowded me. I asked him once to step back (offering him a soft aid and a “good deal”). When that produced zero response in Parker (who was busy looking over my ear to the paddock next door), I gave a quick, firm aid in which I popped the lead rope back emphatically and with great clarity of intention (i.e., “Get back now”).

Astonished, Parker immediately retreated to a respectful distance — and I walked off again, leading him behind me, without continuing the aid. He had responded promptly and without offense — so it seemed likely that we were indeed simply dealing with a teenage boy situation.

After some ground work exercises, Parker made some very nice changes in demeanor and we ended the session by walking around the big arena and back to the barn. Parker stayed behind and was calm (he seemed to weigh hardly anything on the end of the lead rope, in fact).

Holly and I put our heads together — and decided that Parker had a little hole in his foundation from his long ago halter-breaking days. Many horses (including highly successful show or competition mounts) have this issue as well — they don’t lead, load, or lunge super well. It can be tempting to just ignore or work around this — after all, Parker is riding quietly and doing well in all other area. So why should we slow down his training process to go back and work on leading?

The answer is because Parker will begin to regress in other areas (including under saddle work) if he believes that he can push the boundaries of respectful distance on the ground. Again, the teenage boy analogy is very apt — as most parents know, teenage boys require structure and consistent leadership to be successful and to develop the right kind of confidence as young men one day. Ignoring disrespectful behavior (no matter how small) only leads to more difficulties in other areas.

As a three-year-old, Parker is a classic teenage boy. His body is growing rapidly, his mind is absorbing new information constantly, and he frequently needs to test the boundaries of parent and teacher authority. The good news is that Parker is a genuinely kind, sweet, and emotionally balanced young horse. He shows every sign of one day being a confident and happy partner for a lucky rider.

After many viewings of our DVD on Retraining Racehorses (with Tom Curtin) and its focus on the basics, I have become pretty familiar with the importance of ground manners and proper leading skills for a horse. In addition, LOPE’s library of horsemanship DVDs includes the 7 Clinics DVD series with Buck Brannaman — which includes much information about ground work as well.

Holly began incorporating exercises from both those DVDs into her training sessions with Parker. He is catching on very rapidly and has been a willing student. Even during an especially exciting day in the arena (with wind, flapping saddle pads on the fence, and a new horse arriving to the facility), Parker was able to safely express his anxiety to Holly, listen to her directions, and end the session quietly.

We are so pleased with Parker’s progress! This is an easy issue to overlook — and we appreciate Holly’s willingness to help Parker through the process of relearning some basic principles about appropriate ground manners and respect for handlers (even when they are leading you past something REALLY interesting, lol).

Parker has a terrific, cheerful temperament and would be a wonderful horse for someone experienced with young horses. He is the type of horse that you will be tempted to bring along too quickly, as he often displays a calm, seasoned attitude to tasks (especially riding). Parker is showing signs of being a terrific eventing or sport horse prospect too!

Parker is available for adoption now. His adoption fee is $1200 and includes ten weeks training with Holly at Flint Equestrian (plus he is up to date on all shots, coggins and dental work as of January 2013). Please contact LOPE for more information on Parker.

Call Me Cleo: Case Study

Assessment of Cleo

Call Me Cleo is a three-year-old gelding at LOPE. He was donated by his breeder after his initial under saddle work revealed that Cleo was not a good candidate for racing. As the trainer at the race training facility noted, Cleo is a big, growing horse — and he runs like a puppy, full of energy but without much efficiency or speed.

As a two-year-old, Cleo had an injury — a serious laceration to a hind leg. His breeder diligently nursed him back to full soundness — which took months and delayed Cleo from being started under saddle. Fully recovered, with no soundness issues, Cleo was officially started under saddle as a three-year-old — but with the giant puppy running style, his racing career ended before it had a chance to begin.

So Cleo came to LOPE with about 45-60 days riding under his belt — he was sound, green, cute, and very intelligent. But he also had some interesting patterns — while Cleo was sweet, he also was insecure and unconfident about the world. And he saw people as either a source of short-term comfort or as obstacles that would yield to his opinions when he was upset.

Many times when a foal or young horse has an injury that requires intense rehab, they will develop an unusual relationship with their human handlers. Because socialization by their mothers and pasture mates is so key at this age, a young horse is a like a big sponge where relationships are concerned. So if they must be handled for careful rehab (which might require lots of soothing behavior by human handlers as well as very close physical contact), young horses might begin to see people purely as treat and comfort dispensers — rather than as leaders.

At the same time, because they are young and by nature less knowledgeable, a young rehab horse is often insecure and uncertain about the world and their place in it. So they can tip easily over into anxiety — while never considering that the human might be a good source of leadership and structure.

Cleo fits this description. He is charming, sweet, and very appealing. People (especially ladies) feel an almost irresistible urge to pet and fuss over him. At the same time, when Cleo gets frustrated or anxious, he will brush aside people if they do anything except sooth or comfort him. Essentially, he has little true respect for the human as a leader — and treats them like favorite (but unequal) peers in the pasture.

If left uncorrected, this type of behavior could lead to a spoiled (and thus dangerous) horse. Spoiled horses crowd people’s space and have no regard for people as leaders. Once a horse learns to crowd a person’s space consistently, the next phase is nipping, kicking, running, or striking at the human.

The good news is that Cleo hasn’t had time to develop this full pattern — plus he was treated with genuine kindness by his breeder. We can’t stress enough how intelligent and sensitive (in a good way) Cleo is — this is a young horse with a huge capacity to learn and to be a good partner for a rider.

Rancho Bayo’s Approach

The first priority that Rancho Bayo focused on with Cleo was to reeducate him on the horse-human relationship. No matter how cute his facial expression or how sweet his eyes looked, Cleo was put into immediate “petting detox” — which means that the Rancho Bayo team resisted the powerful temptation to pet and fuss over him for no reason (other than his extreme cuteness).

He then was exposed to lots of ground exercises in which his trainer (Eric of Rancho Bayo) directed Cleo’s feet and asked Cleo to maintain a respectful distance and demeanor. This was often hard for Cleo — as he would initially run to Eric for comfort (almost literally trying to get into his lap) but then react with irritable frustration when Eric would not allow Cleo to crowd his space and kept asking Cleo to continue with the exercise.

The next phase was to increase the distraction level for Cleo — by asking him to still do exercises when he was worried or anxious due to windy days, new horses in the paddock, and so on. Cleo would often react by appearing to soften — but only for a moment — and then immediately trying to leave (either mentally or physically) when it was clear that Eric wasn’t fooled and was continuing to ask for Cleo’s participation in the work.

Eric has been careful to always maintain a calm, quiet tone with Cleo in his presentation. He doesn’t get ruffled if Cleo is evasive or showing signs of irritation (Cleo stamps his feet in frustration like a child when he isn’t getting his way). But Eric also doesn’t stop asking for a specific response until Cleo gives it to him. In that way, Eric allows Cleo to search for the right answer — and rewards him immediately when he finds it.

Eric is changing Cleo’s understanding of the role of people in his life. He is showing Cleo that people can be consistent, clear leaders — and he can rely on them to provide structure. This is what allows a young horse to develop true confidence in himself and in people.

Advanced Exercises

Because Cleo is unusually smart and is very tuned into his surroundings, Eric initially adjusted his approach to include some warm-up activities before beginning his ground work sessions with Cleo. One exercise involves tying Cleo and leaving some slack in the lead rope. Eric then will signal Cleo with a lunge whip (that has a plastic bag at the end of it — so that it can act as a long flag) to move away from him and roll his hindquarters.

This exercise requires very careful and precise timing, to avoid putting too much pressure on the horse or inducing panic. At first Cleo would fling himself to the end of the lead line, lean against it, and try to tune Eric out. But he quickly learned that by rolling his hindquarters, he could yield to the “feel” of the lead rope while also reducing the pressure from the giant lunge whip flag (for Eric would immediately stop moving the flag when Cleo rolled his hindquarters).

Another variation on this exercise requires Cleo to face Eric squarely (without his head tipping to one side or the other — a sign that Cleo is preparing to exit). Once he has done that, the flag pressure disappears immediately.

Both of these exercises are of the “don’t try this at home” category — meaning that they do require a very seasoned and experienced handler to execute them properly. Eric has decades of experience with this type of work — plus works with mustangs regularly — so his timing and technique are finely honed.

When done properly, this exercise allows a horse to work through tension and evasion issues much more quickly — and sets up the horse mentally for the next ground work exercise (which usually is quite short, so as to not overwhelm the horse).

Lariat and Rope Ground Work Sessions

Eric has utilized ropes and lariats in his ground sessions with Cleo. In one exercise, he looped part of his long lead rope around the saddle horn. While he held the end of the lead rope on the ground, he asked Cleo to bend in the direction of the pressure — by matching Cleo’s resistance on the other end (plus four ounces more pressure).

If Eric tried to pull Cleo's head harder and force the bend, it would be very counter-productive (for both him and Cleo). Instead, he quietly matches Cleo's resistance (with that small amount extra) — and allows Cleo to search for the answer. It is especially hard for Cleo to bend on his left side - after this exercise, Cleo was able to make a big change and relax deeply. The long rope helps Eric work the exercise at a distance and not crowd Cleo during the process.

The next level of session involves a lariat. During another day, I watched Cleo stay calm and relaxed while Eric tossed a lariat at him — even carrying the rope quietly on his back while still trotting in even, consistent cadence. Eric eventually roped Cleo and did some ground work with just the rope on (no halter at all). Cleo showed great improvement in his softness and willingness to follow Eric's cues (or "feel"). And for the first time, Cleo was able to stop when asked and then voluntarily yield his hindquarters and bend to follow Eric as he stepped back (without any pressure on the rope at all). This was a huge moment for Cleo — as it shows his trust in Eric as a handler and also demonstrates his sensitivity and potential for lightness one day.

What About Riding?

It can be time-consuming to put in all of these ground work sessions with a horse like Cleo. Many people might wonder why we just don’t saddle him up, mount, and “ride him down” to quietness. We don’t do that because it won’t work as well as Rancho Bayo’s approach. Sure, people might be more impressed by a flashy display of riding an anxious young horse into what appears to be submission. But at the end of the day, we won’t have accomplished anything — Cleo will be more worried, will trust people less, and will ultimately regress. This long, slow, “boring” work is what sets up a horse like Cleo for true success — because it gets at the root of his issues and rebuilds his understanding of the world, of people, and of how his body works.

Cleo will be back under saddle soon enough (in the next few weeks). And the first ride will be boring without any wild displays of worry or excitement — because Eric will have prepared Cleo for a successful, relaxed, and enjoyable ride.

That is what impresses us at LOPE.

More Details About Cleo

Cleo is available for adoption now at LOPE. He would be a terrific project for someone who enjoys working with young horses and bringing them along slowly. Because of his intelligence and athleticism, Cleo will be a fantastic partner one day for a handler willing to be patient and gain his trust.

Call Me Cleo

Call Me Cleo is a three-year-old chestnut TB gelding with a blaze. He went to a farm to begin his under saddle and race training in December — but didn’t show much aptitude for speed.

Cleo was home raised by a responsible and caring race breeder named Karen. She had waited an extra year to start him in training due to an injury. Cleo had a hind leg laceration as a two-year-old that was quite serious and required several weeks of care to heal properly.

Karen had bonded closely with Cleo while nursing his injured leg — he was a favorite of hers in every respect. When she received the disappointing news that racing was not going to be the ideal career for Cleo, she decided to donate him to LOPE. Karen was especially excited that Cleo would be going into our Racehorse Education Program to receive training and assessment from a professional trainer.

Rancho Bayo is one of LOPE’s favorite horsemanship facilities. We first heard of them at LOPE’s Annual Benefit Horse Show — a group of their riders swept the horsemanship awards two years in a row! It was clear that their program focused on in-depth horsemanship and foundation training (for both their horses and riders). Eric and Michelle of Rancho Bayo have decades of experience working with all types of equine training issues — and are patient, careful horsemanship teachers.

We were excited to learn that they had an opening in their training barn for Cleo! And so Cleo headed there on February 16. At that point, Cleo had about 45-60 days under saddle and training from a professional race training facility. Because of that and his young age, we knew Cleo would benefit tremendously from the foundation work at Rancho Bayo. Eric there is taking a slow approach with him — going over the basics of how to lead and ground work quietly, for example.

Cleo is a very intelligent young gelding with a cute face and athletic build. His hind leg healed well — other than a cosmetic scar, the injury left no damage that will impede his future as a riding horse.

At Rancho Bayo, they noticed that Cleo isn't confident about new situations. Whenever he is anxious, Cleo wants to make his own decisions about how and when to move away from the things that worry him. At first, Cleo will cling too closely to his handler for security — but then he'll get frustrated if the handler won’t allow him to take charge of the situation.

Cleo literally will stomp his feet like a cranky child when this happens. Eric simply redirects Cleo's energy in these moments — by asking him to something specific with his feet (like move to one direction in a specific way, for example). Cleo has already started to learn that foot stomping doesn't really get him his way (just like children do as well).

Eric is teaching Cleo that he needs to focus on Eric for guidance and not tune him out under pressure. What this means is that Eric will be kind and calm — but also will be a clear leader for Cleo.

At first, Cleo thought this was just a silly idea — why should he listen to Eric? Cleo thought it might be easier to step all over Eric's personal space or pull away from Eric on the lead rope instead.

In these situations, Eric smiles, stays relaxed — and quietly keeps directing Cleo until he understands what Eric wants. Interestingly enough, Eric doesn’t pet Cleo much during their ground work sessions (even though it is incredibly tempting, due to Cleo's cute face and sweet eyes). Eric wants Cleo to feel good about being near Eric and about listening to him — without needing to be petted or fussed over. Otherwise, Cleo might think Eric's main purpose is to pet or sooth him — which will only build the wrong response in Cleo at this time.

As I watched Eric work with Cleo during a session last week, I saw Cleo gradually become more and more relaxed. Like many young horses, he is still trying to understand the world (as well as how his own, rapidly-growing body works) — so it's hard for him to feel secure in every new situation. Eric is a patient, reassuring trainer — he gives Cleo consistent and clear guidance, so that Cleo can feel supported and understand what he is being taught.

Eric was careful to not overwork Cleo — he knows young horses need time and lots of repetition to master new skills. He allowed Cleo to stand near him and “soak” on the lesson they just worked on together (rather than quickly moving him into another round of activity before Cleo had time to process everything).

I liked Cleo’s state of mind at the end of the session. He was very focused on Eric (like an attentive student), but he also seemed to understand that Eric was there to help him.

This is a significant change for Cleo — and an important step in the right direction. Eric gave Cleo positive feedback immediately, to build on that moment and encourage Cleo to keep “trying” in that direction.

As a young horse, Cleo is still very much an open book. His breeder treated him with great kindness and made sure that he had the time he needed to recover from his injury. She also selected a good race training facility to start him under saddle. At this stage in his training, Cleo needs to be in a consistent routine and structure with a handler who will keep directing him toward success. For Cleo, this means that he needs to see the human as a trusted leader, to understand the boundaries of his role versus the human’s role, and to learn how to handle new situations while building confidence.

Cleo is available for adoption now and would be a good project for someone experienced with colt starting and foundation training. Please stay tuned for more updates on Cleo’s training progress!

Silver Red Bird Update

Red Bird has just finished her 30-day assessment with Laura at Poseidon Sport Horses! She has made great progress since her arrival there. At first, Red Bird was hesitant to relax in new surroundings — and she was quite worried about trusting new people. Her initial response was to go right into “flee” mode — Red Bird would either “leave” with her body (by moving her feet rapidly or turning away nervously) or with her mind (by tuning out the person working with her).

Slowly over the past few weeks, Red Bird has settled into her routine much more comfortably. Laura has found that Red Bird likes to learn via lots of repetition of simple, easy tasks — so that Red Bird can gain confidence that she really is getting the answer right.

Red Bird also needs her handler to be as soft as possible when giving cues for ground work. If you are asking Red Bird to begin moving forward while free lunging in the round pen, it is important to ask very quietly. Simply lifting your hand a little too quickly prompts a rapid response from Red Bird — but a slowly raised hand (or finger) elicits a much calmer departure.

Essentially, Red Bird is scared that she will get the answer wrong — and so she tries to rapidly respond with whatever she thinks is the right answer to the aid. But her own rapid reaction makes her anxious — and even more sure her answer is wrong. So it is important break down each request into small steps, to help encourage Red Bird to go slow.

Another key factor is emotion. We all can sometimes take things personally if a horse is responding in an unexpected way to our requests. With Red Bird, it is essential that her handler radiate a calm, relaxed mood — no matter how worried she is — so that she can feel more supported and secure. This doesn’t mean that she can ignore the request or evade it — but that the handler keeps asking in a steady way until Red Bird can process how to respond successfully.

At first, Red Bird was only worked in the round pen — the stimulation of being in the big covered arena was simply too much for her to process. She was too on edge and distracted. But after steady, patient sessions with Laura, Red Bird now is doing simple ground work in the arena! As you can see from the photos, she starts out feeling a little worried — but soon relaxes and is able to soften considerably by the end of the session.

Red Bird returned to the LOPE Ranch last weekend for some extended pasture turnout time and light ground work. Laura and I both feel that Red Bird needs some time to let down from the track in a natural, herd setting. She will be restarted under saddle later in the spring — much like Showtime Queen, she needs a more gradual transition from her racing career into a new job.

Stay tuned for more updates (and video) of Red Bird at the LOPE Ranch! Best of all, Red Bird will be going to a clinic with Peter Campbell in April. Thanks to a generous sponsor, she will be able to benefit from Peter’s support and expertise in a colt starting class!

Apalache King Update

King has just finished his 30-day assessment with Laura at Poseidon Sport Horses! He has done incredibly well with everything — and has become quite a favorite at the barn.

King came straight from Retama Race Park to Poseidon — he had run in a race just a few days beforehand. Typically, we like to give LOPE horses some turnout time between racetrack and retraining — but we decided to experiment and see how King did at Laura’s training barn.

It has been fun to watch his progress! Although he is young and green, King has a relaxed and confident personality — he thinks the world is a wonderful place and that he is pretty awesome himself. His viewpoint is reflected in his kind eye, relaxed walk, and lack of muscle tension throughout his physique. Many horses come off the track with the tight muscles of a professional athlete used to repetitive physical patterns.

But King has relatively loose shoulders and neck muscles, along with a relaxed topline. He moves quite freely and show much potential for multiple disciplines. King isn’t tight or sensitive about being touched anywhere — and he even loves to have his face sponged off and carefully rinsed. As you can see in this short video clip, King also likes to admire himself in the arena mirror!

Laura wisely decided to not rush King too quickly into more advanced training work. With such a receptive (and attractive) young horse as King, it can be tempting to speed up and try to get him to the next phase (or three) as soon as possible. The horse market can be favorable to trainers who can get a promising young horse in the show ring rapidly — but that often can backfire, as green horses sometimes truly need a steady, slow approach to a new job. A good foundation in training comes from all the time patiently spent doing “boring” things — like ground work, tying, handling and so on. Skipping through those steps might seem like a good idea in the short term — but it rarely works for long term success.

King is a tall, handsome horse with nice movement and a wonderful mind. We could have already rehomed him to someone who was prepare to adopt him without any riding assessment at all. But we felt it was best for King to give him more time before he was adopted — so that he could have some training rides with Laura first.

The goal of our training initiative program is to assess each horse’s individual needs and give them as much training support as our sponsorships will permit. For Red Bird, it is best that she receive more turnout time rather than extended professional training at this time. But for King, it seems more ideal to give him some additional time with Laura for riding assessment.

We will be setting King’s adoption fee sometime soon this month — and will also be setting up appointments now for interested adopters who want to visit him and watch Laura work with him. Stay tuned for more updates soon on King!

Apalache King

Apalache King is a super handsome, five-year-old @16.3H bay gelding now in LOPE’s training initiative program. King came straight to Poseidon Sport Horses from Retama racetrack — and he is now in a 30-day assessment there with Laura Whitfield. He will be up for adoption soon — we just want to get to know him better and begin the next phase of his training first.

King won a single race but then seemed to lose all interest in running. His race trainer decided it was time for him to find a new job, so she donated him to LOPE. King is sound without injuries — and looks like he will be a terrific prospect for many disciplines.

Because he came directly from the track to Poseidon, Laura decided it was best to go slow and give King some time to relax during his transition to a new career. King is one of those geldings who is “all boy” — we can easily picture him with a baseball cap turned backwards, walking around the UT campus with a Longhorn jersey on.

In contrast to Silver Red Bird, King is much more confident about the world. He is pretty sure that he is super handsome — and that everyone should pet and admire him (because he is kind of a big deal, lol). We love horses that already think well of themselves! It says a great deal about King’s foundation training as a youngster, as well as his handling at the track.

Where King’s confidence can sometimes go a little overboard is during the haltering process. King tried to tell Laura many times that he didn’t need to put his head down for her while she haltered him — he was much too busy doing other important, “guy” things to pay attention to silly stuff like halters.

Laura changed his mind about that pretty quickly — but for the first couple of sessions together, she and King had to work quite awhile on the polite way to be haltered. King soon decided that Laura had a point about all of this — and he now is courteous and respectful of the process.

As a young racehorse fresh off the track, King benefited greatly from this kind of simple (but extremely important) groundwork training. Laura discovered that King had the stereotypical racehorse way of leading — which meant that he did the leading, instead of the human on the other end of the lead rope. King also assumed that “leading” was the same as “crowding closely into Laura” — which took another series of quiet, steady sessions to explain the difference to him.

Throughout all of the work, King was cheerful and happy about himself. During the round pen work, King carried his head high initially (just the right position for galloping down the track). But in spite of the racing head position, I couldn’t help noticing that King actually was cantering quite slowly — he really wasn’t truly interested in running rapidly around the pen.

King showed nice movement with easy, ground covering strides. He seemed to have some nice action in his hindquarters — but with his head up, he wasn’t really engaging behind fully. We also noticed that King wasn’t particularly tight in his shoulders — which is a nice plus.

With Laura’s encouragement, King began to drop his head occasionally during the free lunge sessions. Whenever he did that, a remarkable change occurred in his movement. His shoulders immediately loosened, his hind end engaged more and his movement went from nice to downright elegant and flashy. King doesn’t seem to be carrying much tension or brace in his body — so as he learns how to carry himself for a job other than racing, his body can respond without resistance from old muscle memory patterns.

King is athletic, well-built, tall and kind-hearted. Although he is young and green, his emotional calmness and physical aptitude makes him a wonderful, willing project. He will be a terrific horse for someone and we are enjoying watching him progress with Laura.

King will be up for adoption soon. He is up-to-date on coggins, shots and dental work. In addition to other of his other marvelous qualities, King has awesome feet — he is currently barefoot and doesn’t require any special shoeing. If you are interested in more information about King or would like to visit him, please contact LOPE.

Ruff Slew and Flint Equestrian

LOPE is excited to announce that Holly Flint of Flint Equestrian will be working with LOPE’s training initiative program! A talented eventing competitor and all-around trainer, Holly has a special fondness for OTTBs. Holly was a long-time student of Nancy Lindsey (Richmond, TX). She also has worked extensively with Clark Montgomery (Winner of the 2011 CCI*** at Bromont), Ruth Sawin, and Barbara Jacobs.

Holly has a deep passion for retraining ex-racehorses to have careers as eventing mounts. She also has a significant amount of experience dealing with green horses and problem horses. One of her own competition mounts is a young OTTB too! As riding instructor, Holly strongly believes a good rider starts with solid horse management skills. The care a horse receives will ultimately affect the relationship between horse and rider and the extent to which a horse is willing to give his all!

We were fortunate that Holly had an opening in her barn at the start of 2013. On January 1, LOPE sent a young ex-racehorse to Holly for training. Ruff Slew (aka “Parker”) is a three-year-old bay @16.2 gelding who was incredibly slow during his training time at Retama track. His speed was so unimpressive that his trainer opted to not race him at all — it was very clear that Parker was meant for another type of career.

Holly will be working with Parker for at least the next month. She will be giving LOPE an initial assessment of his aptitude, temperament and potential athletic talent after 30 days with her. During the first 30 days, Parker will be gaining many important life skills in her barn — such as learning about cross-ties, round pen sessions and basic under saddle work. The work will be slow, steady and methodical — so that Parker can absorb the information in a non-stressful way.

Holly feels that patience is one of the most important factors in successfully retraining OTTBs. As she says,

“OTTBS come from the track with a whole book of knowledge, but that knowledge is not the same as what we want our riding partners to have. Everything we ask means absolutely nothing to them until we teach them what it means. Being able to patiently use repetition to teach them is the bottom line in re-training an OTTB.”

Welcome Holly and Parker to LOPE’s training initiative program! Regular updates will be posted on the blog about their progress together.

UPDATE: After about a week together, Holly reported that Parker is one of the calmest TBs she has ever worked with! From loading to round penning to general handling, Parker has shown good manners, a willing temperament and a sincere desire to please. We are happy to hear how well Parker is settling and are looking forward to watching him learn with Holly.

Mystery Blessing Update

Mystery Blessing had been doing well in her training with Laura at Poseidon Sport Horses. She even had a prospective adopter very interested in her as a possible prospect for eventing. But during a pre-purchase exam, Mystery showed lameness on her left hind during the flexion tests — which understandably made her a less than ideal match for an eventing competitor.

We quickly scheduled a full lameness examination with Austin Equine Hospital — including blocking, radiographs, and ultrasound. To our surprise, a proximal suspensory injury on her left hind showed as the source of Mystery’s lameness. In addition, the exam revealed a much older, well-healed medial suspensory injury on the same leg (which may have been from her racing days).

The good news is that Mystery had a good prognosis for recovery. She will be in rehabilitation mode for about four months. For her situation, the rehabilitation will start with her being confined to smaller pen or paddock (so that she can’t put extra stress on her leg by running or playing too exuberantly with her pasture buddies). For the first two weeks, she will be hand walked regularly — and then she will be ridden under saddle at the walk (starting with five minutes per ride, then slowly building up to fifteen minutes).

After six weeks, she will be re-examined to see how well her injury is responding to the combination of rest (through small turnout space) and plenty of steady walking (via hand walking at first, them riding). Our vet’s assessment is that it is very possible that Mystery will be able to do a variety of careers (possibly even light jumping) — if she heals as well as anticipated.

We were fortunate that the injury was detected before her training became more strenuous. Some milder types of suspensory injuries can be very subtle and difficult to detect (unless flexions are done) — they often can lurk under surface and not be apparent until increased work creates more demand on the strained ligament.

Thanks to Laura’s training work at Poseidon Sport Horses, Mystery has been well prepared to handle new situations and change in general. Mystery has been very sweet about her rehab so far — she is friendly, willing and polite (even when the weather is chilly, the wind is high, and she can see horses in the other pastures running playfully).

Mystery will stay with LOPE until her rehabilitation is complete. We are super fond of Mystery and look forward to helping her recover from her injury. Please stay tuned for regular updates of Mystery’s progress.

Showtime Queen and the Tom Curtin Clinic

Before the Clinic

At the beginning of November, I began working with Showtime Queen (aka “Queenie”) in the round pen. My goal was to prepare her for the Tom Curtin Colt Starting clinic at the end of November. We began with some simple ground work (walking circles around me, suppling exercises, backing up, and so on) — and then progressed to free lunging in the round pen.

Queenie was willing but tight in her body — especially in her left shoulder (but her right shoulder wasn’t very loose either). She has some old scars on her hind legs, and it was a little difficult for her at first to step her hindquarters in and cross the inside hind over. From that description, you can probably tell that bending wasn’t easy for her — Queenie’s shoulders really wanted to lead the way and her hindquarters were a bit stuck as a result.

She also needed help staying focused during the sessions — I was reminded of my own somewhat distracted personality as I watched her attention flit rapidly between me, the grass, our neighbor’s cows, her pasture mates, and random birds. I contributed to this issue, as I sometimes wouldn’t wait on her long enough (so she could respond) and instead was too quick to jiggle the lead rope and be somewhat spastic myself.

Overall, though, she was pretty relaxed and curious about what we were doing together in the round pen. She really wanted to be supported and helped! I worked with her on learning how to relax and drop her head while being held in place along the fence. At first, she thought she couldn’t possible fit in that space — but when she did exhale, relax her neck and raise her withers a little, Queenie realized that she felt much more comfortable.

That one simple maneuver seemed to build her confidence quite a bit. During the free lunging, she tended to trot with spiky, big strides — but with her head high and her shoulders fixed in place. As we practiced dropping her head and relaxing, she began to take a few steps in a draping, “long and loose” type of trot. Upon feeling that, she typically would suddenly put her head back up, hop for a few steps and look at me as if to say, “How did I DO that?” Very cute!

Colt Starting Clinic

Tom Curtin’s Colt Starting seemed like an ideal clinic for Queenie. She is very green, so the foundation work that Tom stresses is ideal for her. At the track, Queenie was known for being nervous and unhappy — and I thought Tom’s clinic would help reassure her that work doesn’t have to bring out that response in her. Tom creates a very clear tone in his Colt Starting classes — and the horses (as well as the riders) make progress quickly (especially the ones that might be anxious or worried).

And I was a little anxious myself. A few months ago, I took a good-sized tumble off a young horse. While that kind of situation can occasionally come with the equestrian way of life, I still wondered if I would be nervous with Queenie in the clinic. The last thing a green filly needs is a rider who tightens at the wrong moment — so I wanted to be as confident and relaxed as possible for her sake.

Another level of concern descended a few days before the clinic — at a routine chiropractor visit, some xrays showed that I might have some ligament issues in my neck (from the fall). Fortunately, after a hasty MRI and a consultation with an orthopedist (the day before the clinic), I was approved to ride in Colt Starting — but with the caveat, “please try not to fall on your neck.”

First Day of Clinic

At the clinic the next morning, I was doing my best to focus on the filly (rather than my neck). In a new place, with lots of other horses, Queenie’s nervous persona from the track appeared. She paced, jigged, and swiveled her head (and attention) almost constantly. Tom worked with all the colts individually on that first day in the round pen. Queenie responded immediately to him (as all horses do) — and I could see how hard she was trying to understand what was being asked of her. She really wanted guidance — and that is exactly what Tom gave her. By the end of their short session together, Queenie seemed more relaxed and comfortable with herself.

After working with all the colts individually, Tom had them turned out together in the big outdoor arena. From horseback, he moved them as a group and also worked with them one-on-one (using his flag and horse to encourage the right things and make the wrong things difficult).

By the end of the first day, we were all riding our saddled colts together in the round pen (using just the halter and lead rope on their heads). Queenie did really well — she was baffled by the whole clinic structure, but she knew that Tom was there to help — and she decided I was on her side too.

Second Day of Clinic

On the second day, we rode in the same way for most of the class. Tom flagged us from horseback while we worked on separating the hindquarters from the front quarters. This is a familiar exercise to many clinic fans. Tom would ride up behind us and say, “Come with your right hand and right leg — and move the hindquarters.” This was my signal to take the filly’s head around to the right, while cueing her with my right leg to move her hindquarters to the left.

When the hindquarters stepped over behind, Tom would then say, “Now come with your right hand and left leg — for the front quarters.” I would then take the lead rope to the right (at a straight line out and away from Queenie’s head), while cueing her with my left leg to move her front quarters to the right.

Queenie can be stiff in her shoulders, as noted before — but she gave this exercise her 100% try and we had some very nice moments in both directions. Tom praised her efforts as well — which meant a lot to both Queenie and I.

Our main challenge on the second day involved ground work. I was still slow on my timing when Queenie would start to get distracted — I was waiting until she was already mentally elsewhere and then would try to redirect. With Tom’s and his wife Trina’s help, I made some progress — but noted to myself that this is an area that I need to work on in the future.

Third Day of Clinic

By the third day, Queenie and I were feeling pretty good about things. We rode in the outdoor arena (in a snaffle bit) and she did a wonderful, floating, extended trot on a loose rein. It was the first time I had ever felt that from her in the saddle — and it was a really special moment for both of us. As Tom encouraged us to lope our colts, I fumbled in my stirrups and felt a little off balance.

As luck would have it, one of my doctors (also an equestrian) was watching the clinic that day. As I straightened myself in the saddle and reached for a better feel in my stirrups, I saw my doctor’s expression from the sidelines. Remembering the caveat, “please try not to fall on your neck,” I recognized that this was the moment to dial it down rather than push for glory. Silently apologizing to Queenie, I instead asked her to practice that lovely, extended trot — and left the lope for another, less neck-stiff day.

Our Colt Starting class concluded with the group riding out to the facility’s obstacle course. Queenie was bold and curious — until a truck went by. I could feel her wondering if she should get scared, be calm or dance around. With coaching from Trina, I simply worked on bringing her head around and walking her off confidently to somewhere I wanted to go (naturally, I chose to head toward Trina and her horse — always a good place to be).

We had a big encounter with a wooden bridge obstacle. Queenie really wanted to be brave and cross it — but she needed lots of leg and rein support to set her up on a straight line and keep her there. Unfortunately, Queenie and I both have some difficulty with straightness — my timing and aids were very disorganized, so I wasn’t much help for her. But Tom rode in and coached me (even taking the rein a couple of times, so Queenie and I could both feel the difference in his intent and feel over mine).

While it took quite awhile for me to finally make some changes, I was really glad for the learning opportunity — and Queenie and I ended by going over the bridge together while staying straight and confident. I then rode Queenie all the way back to our trailer (down a long driveway and past the busy barn). I could tell that Queenie felt really good about herself during that walk back — and so did I.

Huge thanks to Retama Race Park and Dana L. for sponsoring Queenie’s registration and paddock costs for the clinic! And I’d also like to thank Tom and Trina Curtin for their extra coaching and help — it made a big difference for Queenie and me.

If you would like to learn more about Tom Curtin’s clinics and his upcoming winter camp, please be sure to visit his website — his 2013 clinic schedule is already posted. Or check out the LOPE DVD with Tom, Retraining Racehorses: Back to the Basics.

A Tale of Two Rides: Mystery Blessing

Ride 1

Since our last blog post about Mystery, many fun and exciting developments have been going on with her training with Laura at Poseidon Sport Horses.

A few weeks ago, I took a lesson with Laura and rode Mystery myself! This was a big deal to me, as I had a fall from a green horse in August. Mystery was the first young horse I had ridden since my tumble — and she was just terrific!

Laura schooled me on how to support Mystery in turning and bending under saddle. Just as I described in my post about Mystery’s groundwork, the key was to do some occasional turn on the haunches as we navigated circles together. Mystery is extremely kind and willing — but her shoulders are learning how to loosen up, which is a new way of moving for her.

With Laura coaching us, Mystery and I figured out together how to angle her body so that she could feel her hindquarters begin to flow and track up to her front legs. As we helped her shoulders become more flexible, suddenly Mystery could feel that there was now room for her front legs to stride forward more freely. Which in turn created more room for her hind legs to push into deeper strides — and help her to balance on her hindquarters more (instead of on her front end).

While this all sounds very technical, it made sense to Mystery and me — and we had a terrific ride together. She is a very kind and comfortable horse — and I couldn’t believe I was riding such a young filly so easily! Mystery has a calmness under saddle that is reassuring and pleasant to experience — she is alert, but not nervous at all. This was a huge help for me — I felt relaxed and confident on Mystery. I had been worried that I might tense up or be tight while having flashbacks to my fall from earlier in the year. Thanks to Mystery’s sweet nature (and Laura’s guidance), I enjoyed myself thoroughly — and was reluctant to dismount.

Mystery carries herself as if she is a more seasoned horse. Several times during our ride, I felt her soften and bring her back muscles to my seat. I have only occasionally felt this before on a horse — and he was a classically trained dressage mount. As a four-year-old, there are plenty of things that are new and difficult for Mystery to master — but she approaches each request and aid with poise, intelligence and a sincere work ethic.

Basically, I fell in love with her! I told Laura I shouldn’t ride Mystery again — as I will be much too tempted to adopt her myself.

In Between the Rides

Over the following couple of weeks, Mystery passed several milestones. She and Laura began cantering together — Mystery has a very nice canter, with steady, ground-covering strides. She is very polite about not pulling and is doing her best to learn how to canter smoothly into the corners (which is often hard for young fillies).

Mystery also had her first free jumping session with Laura — and did well! Laura reports that Mystery was very brave to the fences and went over them happily. It was a great suppling exercise for Mystery too, as jumping required her to change her movement so that she could easily push off her hindquarters over the jump. Mystery is leaning almost every day now that her shoulders can be loose, her forelegs can swing forward more and her hind legs can step up and underneath herself — and how all of those things make every step and training exercise so much easier!

There also were some challenges for Mystery. She had lost some weight — most likely due to a combination of being in steady work (Laura works with her 5-6 days per week), a very strict new herd boss in her paddock (who seems to be stealing Mystery’s food), and an encounter with an unpleasant weed earlier in the month (it was tasty but had an extreme laxative effect). Based on Laura’s recommendation, we moved Mystery into a different paddock situation, added lunchtime alfalfa to her diet and had her teeth floated.

Ride Two

Soon Mystery had a session with another rider. Chloe came to ride Mystery — she is an experienced OTTB rider and works often with young horses. I was very interested in watching their ride and seeing how Mystery responded to a new rider.

I hadn’t seen Mystery in about ten days — and I was impressed with how much more balanced and rhythmic her movement was becoming. Often during the ride, her trot strides were showing the start of true cadence. Her hips were beginning to swing more and her hindquarter muscles were taking more of the work with each step. Several times she relaxed her neck and softened into the reins, while licking and chewing.

Chloe and Mystery were a well-matched pair and they rode nicely together (Watch video). Laura explained to Chloe how to help Mystery loosen and shift her shoulders on the tighter turns. Chloe focused on shifting Mystery’s shoulders (rather than turning her head) and riding her from the withers (since everything else follows the withers). With Chloe’s support, Mystery was able to avoid falling in at the shoulder while maintaining the circle and her own rhythm.

Chloe also cantered Mystery and did a good job with helping Mystery keep her pace steady (without dropping down to the trot) around the corners. Mystery really seemed to enjoy the ride and it was fun to watch her and Chloe together.

Mystery also demonstrated her steady nature during the ride. At one point, a very noisy truck rumbled close by the arena just as Mystery and Chloe headed down the middle of it. Mystery barely flicked an ear at the commotion — which caused Laura and Chloe both to joke at how “spooky” she was! It was a nice display of Mystery’s temperament as well as her work ethic — the truck was truly spectacularly loud and would have caused many an older horse to pause and snort.

By the end of that ride, it was clear that Mystery is progressing super well in her training with Laura — she ended the ride relaxed, calm and happy. We all fussed over her and praised her — what a super filly!

Showtime Queen

Showtime Queen (aka “Queenie”) was donated to LOPE a few months ago. She is a cute and intelligent filly — but she absolutely detested the track lifestyle and racing. Queenie developed serious ulcers at the track and had a great deal of difficulty holding weight.

Her race trainer (Tammy) is an excellent horseman and cares deeply about her racehorses. She had tried numerous treatments for the ulcers — and did her best to come up with feed combinations that might help Queenie gain weight. All to no avail — Queenie lost more weight and seemed miserable.

Although Queenie showed some promise and had attracted offers from other race trainers, Tammy felt it was best for Queenie to find a new home and different job. She donated Queenie to LOPE for that purpose.

As you can see from the photo, Queenie was quite underweight when she arrived here. Her coat was healthy and she had been fed properly — but nothing was sticking to her ribs, so to speak.

We decided to take the long, slow approach. Instead of medicating her further, we simply turned Queenie out to pasture with a couple of retired geldings (who primarily spend their days eating and dozing). In addition to the turnout lifestyle, we adjusted her diet to a low starch pellet feed and gave her alfalfa twice a day.

Between the grass, mellow Zen pasture mates and a complete lack of “to do” items, Queenie visibly relaxed within a couple weeks. She steadily gained weight — and we simply left her alone to unwind and de-stress. Sometimes we like to maintain a routine of “benign neglect” for anxious, thin horses — where we make their lives as natural as possible with little human interference (other than monitoring health).

Queenie blossomed into a much rounder version of herself. In addition to the new curves, something else emerged — her personality. Queenie is an extremely intelligent and sensitive filly with an appealing quirkiness. For awhile, she insisted on sharing her feed bucket with her BFF in the pasture (Tulsa) — she liked his company over dinner. Queenie also turned out to quite curious and bold about new things in her pasture. We learned to pay attention if Queenie suddenly seemed to be inquisitively tracking something at the edge of the pasture (which turned out one evening to be a pack of feral hogs) .

Most of all, it became clear that Queenie is one of those super feminine fillies. She never, ever gets muddy (or even dusty) — and she carries herself with absolute certainty that she is pretty and everyone is looking at her.

Now that Queenie’s weight is back to normal, we have started her back into ground work. Our plan is to take her to a Colt Starting clinic with Tom Curtin. Tom is a great horsemanship teacher and is the star of our DVD on Retraining Racehorses. His Colt Starting clinics are a great way to restart a horse who hasn’t been ridden in awhile — and who might need some extra help with going over basics again. Huge thanks to Retama Park for sponsoring Queenie for the Tom Curtin class — thanks to their generous support, LOPE will be able to take her to the Colt Starting clinic!

Stay tuned for another update soon on Queenie — we have begun doing ground work with her to prepare for the clinic and plan to have some video up soon of one of our sessions.

Ground Work Assessment Sessions

Recently, both PJ’s Wish and Mystery Blessing received some ground work and assessment at LOPE. With multiple trainers interested in working with our new training initiative, we wanted to do some preliminary sessions with both horses — so that we could decide which trainer (and discipline) might be the best match for each of them.

PJ’s Wish and Mystery Blessing have been turned out together in the “new horse” pasture here at LOPE. The pasture is full of trees — plus it is a nice size (not too big, not too small) for young horses coming off the track.

One of the first activities we like to do with new horses is to lead them from the new horse pasture down to our round pen. That might sound like a simple task — but the walk is nearly ¼ mile down our driveway. We have found that this long, leisurely walk often tells us a great deal about each horse — since the way that a horse leads is often very much related to how he will ride, how he was handled and how he views the world in general.

Each horse was led to the round pen and assessed on leading skills, personality, attention span and so on. Once at the round pen, we did some ground work exercises and general handling of the horses as well.

PJ’s Wish was the first horse we worked with. He is a sweet, young, three-year-old gelding with kind eyes. We had noticed that he was the shyer of the two horses — in the pasture, it took him a little longer to be confident about new people (but once he became familiar with someone, he would approach the person for pats and grooming sessions).

While being led to the round pen, PJ showed that he had been well schooled in good manners — he wanted very much to please his handler and tried his best to stay focused. However, there were many interesting distractions on the walk (lots of fresh grass, several other horses in the barn pasture, the sound of Mystery Blessing neighing) — so he sometimes kept forgetting to walk and wanted to stare at all these fascinating sights. All very normal and understandable responses for a three-year-old. He also was careful to not crowd the handler’s space (even when he really wanted to turn and look at something new).

In the round pen, PJ’s Wish was a little unsure of himself and seemed worried about what to do. We did some work on the end of the lead rope (yielding hindquarters, walking around the handler in a circle) and also practiced some simple flexion exercises. His anxiety level reduced quickly as he realized that the exercises would stay slow and simple (he really wanted to get the answer right — which is very typical of young OTTBs). Soon, he was able to stay focused on the ground work — and feel more comfortable “guessing” the answers if he wasn’t 100% sure what to do.

We did some simple free lunging in the round pen at that point — just to see how PJ moved and how he responded to being in the round pen loose. He is a lovely mover — very elegant and light on his feet. PJ’s Wish did seem to prefer the lead rope exercises to the free lunging — but he gradually got more comfortable and began to lick and chew. With that very nice change in his demeanor, we decided to end the session with a long walk back to his pasture.

Mystery Blessing is four-years-old and has been off the track longer than PJ’s Wish. She also has had some professional training (w-t-c with some exposure to jumps) to help transition her from the track. Her personality is calm and kind — she radiates quiet intelligence and seems poised for her age.

Her walk down to the round pen was very quiet. She led softly from the lead rope and didn’t seem anxious about all the new sights. Mystery Blessing was aware of the same interesting things that PJ experienced on his walk (new horses, lots of grass, neighbor’s cattle, etc). She was calmly alert and looked at everything — but never once broke her walk stride or signaled tension. We were very impressed — especially when two of our retired geldings put on a prancing show (in an attempt to catch her attention). Mystery Blessing flicked an ear at the commotion and kept walking steadily.

In the round pen, she handled the ground work easily. She wasn’t entirely certain what we wanted but seemed to feel confident that she would figure it out. We noticed that Mystery Blessing is very tuned into her handler’s body language. Without being in any way jumpy, she would respond quickly to small signals to move away, bend or lead forward. She is a fast learner and seemed to enjoy the new activities.

When the time came to free lunge her in the round pen, we were pleased with how easily she adapted. Mystery Blessing is an athletic, sporty mover — she slowed down, moved out and stopped nicely with little tension.

Because of her easy responses, we decided to go a step further and saddle her. Mystery Blessing stood still for her saddle and girth (even with the handler simply looping the lead rope under an elbow, instead of tying the filly). When we realized that we had selected too short a girth (she is a very well-built mare) — she stood quietly and waited while we retrieved another girth from the nearby tack area.

Once saddled, Mystery Blessing did well with both ground work and free lunging again. We were impressed again with her willingness and dignified demeanor — and decided to end the session.

Typically at LOPE, we do one or two of these kind of round pen sessions before riding the horse. The sessions aren’t very long (we don’t want to sour the horses on round penning) but they help us see key aspects of each horse’s temperament, maturity levels and background. We adapt the sessions to each horse’s needs (some do best with very short sessions, others gain confidence with longer sessions but with fewer exercises). Since we started the LOPE Ranch, we have found that these pre-riding sessions greatly help the first rides — so much so that our first rides have almost always gone well (with a pleasant result for horse and rider).

After working with PJ’s Wish and Mystery Blessing in these first sessions, we came to a couple of conclusions. First, we felt that PJ would probably do best with more transition time from the track. As a tall three-year-old, he is still growing quite a bit — and would benefit from some slower schooling activity (rather than going into a full training program). His terrific race breeder agreed — and PJ will return to his original home to have more growing and simple schooling time. He will be available for rehoming from his breeder at some point later in the future.

Second, Mystery Blessing demonstrated quite a bit of willingness and preparation to begin some specific, more structured training. Her personality, movement and demeanor showed calm athleticism — and seemed to indicate that she might be a terrific candidate for eventing type work. We could see where she might also benefit from some classical dressage schooling work — to help her build new muscles and develop her athletic talent in a new sport outside of racing.

We began interviewing potential trainers for Mystery Blessing last week — and have been excited by the level of professionalism each trainer would bring to the project. It is wonderful to see so many trainers who want to work with the LOPE training initiative! We will announce Mystery Blessing’s trainer in the next blog post — and can’t wait to watch her training progress over the next several weeks.

The LOPE Training Horses: PJ’s Wish

We are very excited to announce that PJ’s Wish, a handsome three-year-old gelding, has joined the new LOPE training initiative! His breeder and race owners — Phil and Glenna Leckinger and Star Bright Thoroughbreds — donated PJ’s Wish to LOPE specifically to be part of our new training program.

PJ’s Wish has a famous father — Tinner’s Way — who won almost $2 million at the track. Tinner’s Way was a son of Secretariat, so PJ’s Wish has a very impressive family tree. His dam (Wishes n’Dreams) was also a special horse — she was Phil and Glenna’s first home-bred racehorse and a favorite at their farm. Sadly, they lost her not long after PJ’s Wish was weaned. And Wishes n’Dreams’ dam was their very first racehorse — so you can see why PJ’s Wish is a very important young horse to Phil and Glenna.

Like many local race breeders who come to LOPE, Phil and Glenna care personally about each of the horses they breed and race. They are reluctant to let their horses go (even if they aren’t racing competitively anymore) unless they can be certain that the home is exceptionally good.

PJ’s Wish raced a few times and didn’t show much interest in running. He was big for his age when he went to the track — so his owners made sure that he was trained slowly and steadily (so that he could have time to grow into his body). PJ's Wish trained well but was less than speedy about several aspects of the job. For example, he walked easily into the starting gate — but never quite got that he was supposed to leave the gate much faster than how he entered it. “A little too laid back,” was how his race trainer described his track demeanor.

PJ’s Wish is a super handsome bay with a big blaze and four socks — full of chrome with a kind face and lovely conformation. He is about 16.1H and still is growing — from a distance, PJ’s Wish seems much taller, with his long legs and strong hindquarters. He has been at the LOPE Ranch for nearly a week — and has been very gentlemanly and sweet to handle and work with.

His race breeders tell us that PJ’s Wish isn’t just all looks — he also has much determination and desire to please — which they just know can be put to good use in a second career. At LOPE, we also have noticed the PJ is quite sweet for such a young horse — he has the air of a gentle giant in the making.

We are very excited about PJs Wish and will be assessing him over the next week or so. From what we can see, PJ’s Wish might have many career options (hunter/jumper, eventing, maybe even dressage) based on his willing temperament, lovely movement and athletic build. Stay tuned for more details and updates about PJ’s Wish and his training progress.

Special note from PJ’s Wish’s owners:

Glenna and I have been involved in the Thoroughbred business for twenty years. It all started as a whim to own a racehorse — but we have since become involved in almost every aspect of the industry. In 2004, we built our own ranch in Tioga, Texas where we now have the opportunity to raise our foals and live with our horses and assorted other critters. We chose the name Star Bright Thoroughbreds for our ranch partially naming it after Wishes n’ Dreams and her first foal, Wishes Bright Star.

Today we own and board broodmares, weanlings, yearlings and horses in various stages of training. We are also involved in the stallion side of the business and currently stand Special Rate at Key Ranch in Salado. We have been fortunate to meet many wonderful people in the industry who have helped us along the way to become better horsemen, and hopefully responsible stewards to our horses and the industry.

Glenna and I are supporters and believers in the work that LOPE Texas does for the industry. Additionally, my partner and I retired Tinners Way to Old Friends in Kentucky a couple of years ago. Both Lynn Reardon, who has done a fantastic job developing LOPE Texas, and Michael Blowen, who established Old Friends, are people who through their dedication to the retired racehorse will help this industry thrive.

Phil Leckinger
Star Bright Thoroughbreds

Catalissa’s Fans

Catalissa is our most serious rehab case here at LOPE. Read more about his history and injuries.

Recently, I received a call from Laura, a local exercise rider at Texas tracks. She had heard about Catalissa’s injuries and wanted to see how he was doing. Her voice was emotional as she described working with him at the track -- clearly, Catalissa had been one of her favorites. Laura cleared up the mystery of Catalissa’s very feminine name – she said that his breeder named all his foals after his daughter Lissa.

Then, a few days later, an email came to my inbox from Hilary. She is the assistant to Michael Stidham, a very successful race trainer. Hilary wrote:

“[Michael and I] had no idea about Catalissa; he was claimed from us long ago. But we were shocked when one of the outriders here at Arlington told us of his fate. We would love to help and donate.”

Soon, a check for $400 arrived from Michael Stidham’s racing operation. Hilary also told us some stories about Catalissa -- he was the favorite of the racing barn when they had him. He had a big, confident personality -- and liked to make sure he bucked everyone off (but usually just once -- as a kind of “initiation”).

And last week, Bill, one of our favorite adopters (and silent auction supporters), contacted me. Catalissa had caught his eye -- he had decided to sponsor him!

To top it all off, today I received yet another email about Catalissa. Amber, a former vet tech at Austin Equine Associates, had sent LOPE a donation -- and she wanted to apply it to Catalissa too!

Many people assume that no one cares about ex-racehorses -- especially the injured ones like Catalissa. But as we’ve discovered, Catalissa has quite a fan club from both his racing and rehab days. Thank you Hilary, Laura, Michael, Bill and Amber for supporting Catalissa!

Update on Catalissa

Catalissa has been one of the most serious rehab cases we've had at LOPE. In his last race, he fractured his sesamoid on his right front. Catalissa didn't like to put pressure on the injured leg -- instead, he kept shifting his weight to his other legs. He then developed laminitis in his left front.

It was a potentially dangerous situation -- Catalissa had to be kept in stall rest, to limit his movements. And we took extra steps to keep him comfortable: his stall actually has a cushioned stall "mattress," (provided to LOPE with a generous discount from Lucas and Liebe) and we would often keep his front hooves in Softride comfort boots.

After months, Catalissa was then was approved to be in a small pen, only about twice the size of his stall. Slowly, his laminitis receded and his sesamoid fracture stabilized. However, his left front still had a very thin sole, leaving it susceptible to possible abscess and inflammation. So Catalissa had to stay confined in his small pen for week after week, as we waited for his sole to thicken.

Catalissa never once showed resentment or frustration, even during the most painful phase of his rehab. He was always cheerful and calm, making us all into his fans. The other horses also like Catalissa, often crowding around his stall's dutch door to "talk" with him. We like to joke that Catalissa secretly has a tacqueria stand and that's why the horses always hang out with him -- they're placing orders.

Last week, Austin Equine Associates X-rayed Catalissa's hoof. The news was good! His sole had grown out substantially -- and he was approved for a much larger turnout area. Two of our favorite volunteers, Melinda and Tom, came out Saturday and helped us expand Catalissa's space. We tripled the size of his turnout pen and attached it to the barn -- Catalissa can now go out of his stall directly into his deluxe-sized turnout. It's quite the bachelor pad -- the other horses (especially Pogo) seem a little envious.

It was a big weekend for Catalissa -- he seemed so happy, as he walked around his big pen then in and out of his stall. At feeding time, he nearly trotted to his bucket -- after months of tight quarters, his muscles are finally able to stretch and move more.

Congratulations Catalissa!

First Rides at LOPE

I don't always have the opportunity to ride the horses at the LOPE Ranch -- sometimes they get adopted too fast. But usually I'm the one in the saddle during their first post-racetrack ride. Many people assume that these rides must be pretty wild and crazy, with lots of excitement for everyone (me, the horse, any spectators).

It's really not like that at all.

For example, last week I rode Pogo, a three-year-old gelding here. Pogo's last ride was in fall 2008 during his very first race. He chipped his knee during the race and came to LOPE (read about his surgery from Austin Equine Associates).

After a very successful post-surgery rehab and rest period, Pogo was ready to begin work again. As I led him into the round pen, he pouted -- clearly he had become used to the couch potato lifestyle here at LOPE. But after some ground work and free lounging, Pogo settled into the "in school" mode. He tuned into the cues, his face relaxing into a calm, attentive expression.

Even though it had been months since his last ride (as a two-year-old), I decided to mount Pogo. Actually, I decided to "try" to mount Pogo and just see how things went. I'm not a professional trainer, so I do a lot of the "let's see how this goes" approach. Pogo had this cheerful look of expectation in his eyes -- I felt like I'd be somehow letting him down if I didn't at least put my foot in the stirrup.

Once my foot was in the stirrup, it seemed like a shame not to hop up once or twice, and then maybe even lean over Pogo's back. Pogo stood quietly, his head lowering. Then it seemed downright silly to not mount him. I was already there, hanging over the saddle, petting the right side of his neck.

So I then I swung my leg over and sat in the saddle. Pogo seemed comfortable with that and so we walked around the round pen a little. He steered pretty well for a green ex-racehorse, wasn't spooky about my legs, and (best of all) he stopped when I said "whoa." Pleased with how relaxed we both were, I decided to dismount Pogo and call it a day.

Our ride was short and completely unexciting. Just the way I like a first ride to be here at the LOPE Ranch.

AP Dashin On My Mind

AP was donated to us in January. Sure, he has a few minor challenges, like an arthritic knee and turned-out front toes. But AP has another problem – a condition so disturbing that it may scare away all but the most committed adopters.

He has a mullet.

That’s right, an equine mullet.

And what’s worse, AP likes his hairdo. He displays his NASCAR style with pride in his eyes (and says things like "that was a sweet crash, yo").

All we can do is hope that AP is adopted into a loving family that can talk chassis rolls and weight jacking with him.

Pogo's Successful Knee-Chip Surgery

Pogomeister, an adorable three-year-old gelding, had blazing speed in his workouts at the track. But in his very first race, he chipped his knee, ending his racing career. His breeder donated him to LOPE soon after, hoping we could find him a new, less strenuous job. Pogo was the perfect candidate for our Homestretch Heroes program.

When Dr. JoLynn Joyce, the equine surgeon at Austin Equine Associates (LOPE’s veterinary sponsor), heard about Pogo’s knee, she and Austin Equine Associates generously sponsored a surgery to remove his knee chips.

Pogo’s surgery took place in Austin Equine’s new surgery clinic in Driftwood, where he received top-notch care in a brand-new, fully modern operating room.

Pogo’s chips were removed in January. After six weeks of stall rest and daily handwalking, Pogo is 100% sound. In another week, he’ll be ready to start back into light work. Thanks to Dr. Joyce and Austin Equine Associates, Pogo now has many more career options available.

If you are interested in learning more about how to adopt Pogo, please visit LOPE’s adoption page.

Pogomeister and His Knee Chips

Pogomeister (aka "Pogo") was all set to win his first race. Even though he was only 2 years old, he'd shown great speed in his workouts. His sire was the champion Texas stallion Holzmeister, and his dam, Princess Pogo, had produced many promising racehorses too.

Pogo was a confident youngster, full of fire and ready to blaze down the homestretch ahead of all the other horses. Even though he was kind of small (15H) and not very flashy (plain chestnut), Pogo flew around the track, certain he was the best horse there.

But in spite of all that, Pogo didn't win his first race. Instead, he hurt his knee, chipping it badly enough to need surgery. The injury was serious enough that his breeder decided he should never race again, even if he had surgery.

So, she donated him to LOPE – coincidentally, right after Dr. Joyce and Austin Equine Associates told us they'd like to help us with chip removal surgeries.

Pogo will be the first LOPE horse to receive a sponsored knee chip surgery from Austin Equine Associates. After his chips are removed, he'll have a some stall rest in our barn – and then a nice long turnout in our pastures.

After a few months, he'll be ready to be a riding horse again, to do trail riding and flat work. With his "big horse" personality and his endearing habit of making faces for the camera, we think he'll have no trouble at all finding home when his knee is healed!

Burnt Mill Road

Burnt Mill Road had an incredible racing career. He ran for 12 years, retiring just a couple months ago as a 14-year-old. He even won his last race this year too! Burnt Mill ran 158 times in his career and earned almost $347,000. His last race win in 2008 was for the same purse money as his first win in 1996. This January, the Texas Thoroughbred magazine featured a nice article on Burnt Mill's career.

A Texas bred, Burnt Mill was known for his calm disposition on the track. We were immediately impressed with his gentle personality here –- not to mention his terrific good looks. Although he has been off the track just about a month, Burnt Mill is already learning how to ride Western and go on trail rides. And he even has an adoption pending with a wonderful horse family!

New Arrival at the Ranch: Beau's Town

We recently had a special horse come to the LOPE Ranch. His name is Beau's Town and he won over $700,000. Beau was a terrific racehorse, and still holds a course record at Santa Anita. He has been retired for over a year - but is getting a little bored with pasture life. So we will soon be placing him up for adoption. Beau is so talented and gorgeous, we think he'll be a wonderful riding horse (or maybe even a show horse). See his pedigree here.

Beau is 10 years old and is one of the most handsome horses we've ever had here, with his big blaze and three stockings. He is good friends with Trick Bag (see blog entry below), and is the boss of his pasture.

Beau was donated by David and Kathy Hulkewicz - they love Beau and often call to tell me great stories about his racing days.

Stay tuned for more of Beau's career highlights!

Tristano

Tristano is one of the handsomest young horses we’ve ever had here. A 4-year-old Texas bred gelding, he has a sturdy build (almost looks like a QH) and is a gorgeous shade of dark chestnut. He even has black spots on his hindquarters too.

But what I like best about Tristano is his sweet face. He has the kindest eyes – very Bambi-like! Tristano’s face is so appealing, we have used it in some of our ads in local horse magazines, and on the cover of our 2007 Capital Campaign letter.

Tristano has a classic story for a LOPE horse. He was very well bred (download his pedigree) and everyone had high hopes for him. He showed early promise as a 3-year-old at the track, even winning a race – but then developed an ankle injury.

His race owner (who also bred and raised him) just wanted Tristano to go to a good home – and so he donated him to the LOPE Ranch. He could have easily kept racing him, but decided Tristano deserved to retire from a sport that was now too hard for him.

Tristano is now ready to be adopted, to be a pleasure or trail riding prospect. Green, but willing, he would be a fun project for someone who likes to work with young horses – and who appreciates a good looking horse with kind eyes and a spotted rump!

Update: Tristano was just adopted!