Thoroughbred Makeover Diary: Slow and Steady Approach Paying Off With Odin

Aftercare
Leah Alessandroni took Off-the-track Thoroughbred Odin to Masterson Station Park on March 20 for his first solo trip and he exceeded expectations. (Courtesy of Leah Alessandroni)

My first ride on Odin was Jan. 8, 2022. It was a quick ride mainly designed to assess his brain to make sure this horse that I had recently bought was not inherently naughty and would be something that I could ride and train at this stage in my own journey back to the saddle. In the subsequent short rides that followed, it became clear that Odin was a solid citizen with a good brain but that my work was cut out for me as a rider.

Thoroughbred Makeover Diary: Back in Saddle, and Excited for Future with Odin

Off-the-track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs) come off the track with a lot of skills and experiences that other horses wouldn’t have at a similar age, and while they are well schooled in some areas, rarely in my experience do they come with what people in the sport horse world would call “proper” basics.

Odin, right, after recent lesson. (Courtesy of Leah Alessandroni )

Yes, they can carry a rider, stop, go, turn, and have an auto lead change usually. Yes, they are used to trailering around and being in new environments — often big, chaotic environments. They are used to being trained, have a work ethic, and hopefully have been taught good ground manners. But often, they haven’t really been taught how to truly use their bodies. Race training requires a large amount of conditioning and so what we often have are very fit and strong horses, but not necessarily a well-educated horse when you consider the wider realm of equestrian sports.

As a rider, I found I had somehow forgotten how truly green a new OTTB feels. I’ve ridden many in my life, most of those being fresh off the track, and yet after many years away from the saddle and only riding well-schooled horses, I had somehow forgotten how disjointed a new OTTB can feel. When you ride a well-schooled event or dressage horse (or jumper, hunter, etc.) you are used to the feeling of the horse in correct contact in your hands, used to them holding their shoulders and balance up in turns, used to the feeling of them pushing from behind instead of pulling from the forehand, used to having a plethora of aids at your disposal to truly work the horse through all parts of its body, whether it be in long and low work or in full collection. When you get on a new OTTB expecting that feeling, you will be in for a rude awakening as I was quickly reminded.

Odin is like most new OTTBs that I’ve ridden, willing and happy to work but without the ability to stretch through his back, to work fully over his topline, and to work in contact (to even understand WHAT contact is). Therefore, he doesn’t have the ability to really utilize his hind end and really push from behind, to free his shoulders, and to really lift his belly and back. On circles, he completely falls to the inside, unable to balance himself properly without the correct muscle and strength to hold himself up for extended periods of time. This requires a lot of work for the rider to essentially help the horse to stabilize while they learn how to do it themselves. The best comparison I can think to make is the difference between a brand new 2022 car with all the bells and whistles that it practically drives itself (the well-trained sport horse) and a 2000 model car with hand-roll windows, a cassette player, and maybe the rearview mirror is broken off (the new OTTB). Both cars get the job done, both cars may be fast and powerful, but one is much more enjoyable to drive (or do a dressage test on).

As someone who has worked in the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry for more than 10 years now, the way we train our horses has always intrigued me. Throughout my career, I have met plenty of gifted Thoroughbred trainers, but having come from a sport horse background and retrained my fair share of OTTBs it always confused me how a horse that has questionable balance, a limited top line, and only the most basic ability to truly use its body could ever be successful on the track. Clearly many horses ARE successful on the track, and I think that probably comes down to the sheer talent of the horse, a talent that a good trainer and horseman with understanding of conditioning can bring out! 

However, a trainer can only do so much with the talent that the horse naturally has. I think a lot about the phrase “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” Maybe the better phrasing for this situation is “well-rounded work beats talent when talent is relying on talent alone.”

I do think the reason a lot of racehorses underperform is because those horses are the ones who would truly benefit from a “whole body” approach to training. On the other hand, how much better (or potentially sounder) could we make the already good ones by incorporating some of these training tactics? I think that is probably why we have seen more and more aspects of the sport horse world, especially the dressage world, showing up on the track or via cross training at farms. At this point there have been many articles from around the world written to highlight these training tactics in Thoroughbred racehorses. Every time I see one, I light up.

This is a topic that I have become increasingly passionate about and one that I am hoping, through my journey back to the saddle with Odin, is an area I can truly educate myself on more to enhance my own knowledge of the equine biomechanics required for things like dressage and how that could be transferred to our horses still on the track.

With all that being said, to say my first few months of riding this year were extremely frustrating to this rusty rider would be putting it lightly. Plagued by frustrating green rides and the inconsistent weather of winter leading to spring was really making me question if competing in the Thoroughbred Makeover in October was a realistic goal or not. Most of our rides consisted of walking, some trotting, and lots of little moments of working on leg yields and rewarding even the smallest attempt to move into contact and get in front of my leg.

Odin at Masterson Station Park on March 20. (Courtesy of Leah Alessandroni )

So finally, after probably our most frustrating ride to date and a week off to rethink my training approach, I was absolutely thrilled when I took Odin to Masterson Station Park on March 20 for his first solo trip. I found that despite some nerves about being alone, he had finally put together a lot of the pieces we’d been working on and was really starting to work in a frame with some nice moments and better movement! It couldn’t have come at a better time, either, with our first official lesson scheduled for the next day.

Prior to the Masterson trip, I was not even certain that we had enough tools to be worth the time and effort to take a lesson but I knew that I needed some help, as a rider, with developing exercises that I could utilize at home when we didn’t have access to an arena. During the lesson, we really focused on balance and rhythm, which were two things I was really struggling with at home, and found that Odin was not only picking it up but picking it up quickly and happily.

I think I have underestimated the amount of work that we have been doing during our short and simple rides these past few months. It was a nice reminder that slow and steady often does win the race, and I immediately felt better about where we are, as a team, in the training process. It didn’t hurt that my friend, after watching the lesson, remarked, “I think you found the perfect horse to get you back into riding!”

Now that I have more solid aids, I can really start working with Odin to strengthen his topline through long and low work as well as begin incorporating more lateral work to continue building his balance and strength. At this point in the process, I am still working mainly at the walk and trot. I am sure a less rusty rider would be able to take him at this point and do a lovely walk/trot/canter dressage test, but I want to make sure I am solid in my own riding and training before we take too many big steps forward. For now, I am thrilled with our progress — both Odin’s as well as my own — and can’t wait to see what we’re doing after another four weeks of working on our homework! Stay tuned!

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