Horses have a funny way of keeping us on our toes, don’t they? Just when you think things are going one way, we constantly have to pivot another way.

Our last update saw the big horse Mr Nobility getting ready to display his progress at the LongRun open house. Unfortunately, he had other plans. The day before the open house he had blood and mucus coming out of his nose. The next day, the morning of the open house, more mucus, coughing, and lots of blood pouring out of his nose. The veterinarian came out for an emergency endoscopy to see what was going on, and unfortunately didn’t really find much other than a very irritated soft palate and a lot of bloody mucus in the throat. Needless to say, we did not ride at the open house.

Mr Nobility naps in the weirdest places. (Courtesy of Lauren Millet-Simpson)

Since we are getting down to the wire as such, we really needed to start going off property and experimenting with different adventures. My coach booked a schooling time at a local show barn for myself and her other student who is going to the Makeover for an off-property ride.

The week leading up to going off property was one of the most frustrating weeks for us in a while. Mr Nobility seemed for forget all manners and went back to his super studly behavior that I thought we had worked him out of. I think we maybe had five minutes of actual forward trot the entire week — one day he was so completely ridiculous on the lunge I didn’t even get on him.

I decided to throw him on the trailer anyway and that, at the absolute worst, he would walk around on a new farm and watch another horse working in the ring. I set my expectations six-feet underground so there was no way we could possibly fail!

Once again, horses surprise us. He surprised everyone that day and was a very good 5-year-old for a lot of firsts.

After walking around the arena for a while getting him used to the fact that another horse was working around him, and teaching him it’s OK to let the other horse canter by and not react whatsoever, Mr Nobility was level-headed enough to hop on. In my mind, this was already a victory as I truly thought I wouldn’t even get this far. He had never been in a ring with another horse and handled that well, anything else was bonus!

He was good enough walking around that we did some trot work. He had issues circling to the right and steering was optional, but I chalked that up to inexperience, lots of distractions, and new things. Overall, he was being pretty good!

My coach then set up a little X to jump over. He had never jumped before but she thought he was a horse who would thrive the more we asked of him … and boy was she right! Once he fell over the X the first couple times and sent the poles flying, he learned to pick up his feet and ended the day jumping a little vertical with filler. He loved it! He actually paid attention and had better steering while jumping than flatting. Go figure!

We have continued jumping in our lessons and he amazes me each time how much he enjoys it and how engaged he becomes. He is almost a completely different horse when a jump is front of him versus attempting to master a 20-meter circle while balanced and supple. We have now put four jumps together and done a flying change in a very short period of time! Not to mention his most balanced canter seems to be the first several strides after landing a jump.

We have also discovered that his massive, teenage-boy growing body does require some maintenance as we transition into this new career. He is getting regular chiropractic treatments, which he responds really well to, and occasional osteopathy sessions.

Mr Nobility does not appreciate fly gear … or flies. (Courtesy of Lauren Millet-Simpson)

As with any athlete, it’s important to listen to the body and react appropriately when something is not 100%. Mr Nobility is a little bit like “princess and the pea” and he makes no qualms about letting me know immediately when he needs a treatment. He is definitely expensive, but at least he is pretty!

As we continue to progress toward (hopefully!) going to Kentucky in October, and I discover more and more about this wonderful creature, I am amazed at how much they also teach us about ourselves. After my accident a year and a half ago, when a horse I was riding tripped and fell and my leg got pinned underneath him, my confidence was definitely shaken. Prior to that, I would get on anything and not think twice about it. Now there exists a little voice in the back of my head that just adds a moment of hesitation when a horse is acting frisky or stubborn. But Mr Nobility, in all his 17 hands-plus of pure athlete, is re-teaching me to ride the big trot again and to not be afraid to trust in the foundation of my riding and the skills we have developed together. He is a really nice horse that I’m very lucky to be riding, and when we have those harmonious moments, it really is the most amazing feeling.

I hope to take him to our first show in a few weeks and see what we have to work with. As with everything on this journey, I am expecting anything but smooth sailing, so stay tuned for our next update to find out what crazy things are thrown at us this time!

The Jockey Club supports many aftercare initiatives including the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, the only accrediting body in aftercare, and Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P.), which encourages the retraining of Thoroughbreds into other disciplines upon completion of careers. View all of the initiatives supported by The Jockey Club.