The perfect opportunity for me to take BOTH of my RRP hopefuls presented itself in May at the New Vocations’ 21^st Annual All-Thoroughbred Charity Horse Show. This show would give me the chance to work out details with my packing list, provide long distance trailering experience, give more show experience for the two horses and prepare me for the Thoroughbred Makeover with two horses. It’s always been in the back of my mind: can I really compete two horses at once? How am I going to do this?!?! Am I crazy??

First thing was to decide what classes to show in. This three-day horse show had classes ranging from in-hand, jumpers, dressage, and western to reach all disciplines of riding for any Thoroughbred!  Drafted has already been competing in some local shows so he has more experience. On the other hand, Widget just got over a bad abscess and has had very few rides on him. So, I decided this show was mostly for Widget to experience as he has had little traveling or show environment experience since he stayed at one track most of his career. I entered Widget in the in-hand classes only and drafted in the in-hand, dressage, and pleasure classes.

Katie Tarasevich photo

Packing for any type of trip can be stressful and exhausting, but I have had plenty of experience with my endurance riding and overnight horse shows. This time around, though, I was packing for two horses! The drive down to Aiken, S.C. is about nine hours each way, so to ensure I did not forget anything I bought two rolling storage bins to have for each horse to try to make my life a little easier and it did help. My husband had the duty of helping load it all in the trailer – he is very good at fitting everything into its place and still having room for more! This trip he gave me some looks of, “Why am I packing so much,” but you just never know what you may need away from home. I was able to load up the trailer a few days prior to the show, which makes it a little less stressful knowing everything is packed, and it gave me some time to remember anything I may have forgotten.

The day before and day of our trip, I gave the horses some electrolytes and ulcer meds knowing that it was going to be a long hot drive to South Carolina. Both loaded up smoothly and we headed south. I like to give the horses breaks every three to four hours to let them rest their muscles. One stop that is my husband’s favorite (and maybe was a perk to convince my husband to come with me) is to Buc-ees! If you have never been to one before, I highly recommend going. I can only describe it as a gas station mixed with a Walmart and Costco, and with the best BBQ!

Most every stop we take, I let the windows down to let the horses stick their heads out, and the best part of this is the people watching them. I am huge advocate for Thoroughbreds, and when people come over to look at the horses I always tell them each horse’s stories!  You can see the smile on their faces, and knowing that you provided more knowledge and may have changed someone’s opinions of a Thoroughbred is priceless.

We arrived at the show grounds Thursday afternoon, received our stall assignments, and got the horses out to their new home for the weekend. On Friday morning, Widget’s legs were a little swollen from stocking up, so I scratched him from his morning in-hand class but was able to ice them and get the swelling down for his afternoon class, “Fresh Off the Track.”

This was Widget’s first overnight and largest show experience, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. He was not spooky with the environment, but was just a little fidgety standing in line and waiting to judge in hand – he has the patience of a little kid! He survived his first class and placed second in the “Fresh Off the Track” class! We also entered in the in-hand Gelding class which was a large class of 15. We did not place but he behaved, and had a positive experience.

For Drafted, I have showed him at local smaller shows, and this would be his first large show. There were a few class time changes which made our schedule a little hectic with back-to-back classes. In the morning, we showed in the war horse in-hand and placed eight, and in adopted in-hand we placed eighth as well! We then entered three dressage intro classes and placed second, fourth, and sixth!  

Katie Tarasevich photo

As the day went on and the show got more crowded, I noticed Drafted was not acting his normal laid-back self. I realized that with the larger crowds the more amped up he got, and I assumed this reminded him of his racing days because back then, as more people came the more excited he got. I hoped as the day passed he would become more relaxed, but on Saturday I showed in my first class and he was still not himself. He was not the horse I schooled at home or showed at the local shows, and I was a little disappointed. I finished my first Saturday class in the walk/trot pleasure class placing ninth but it was not a positive experience for both of us. I decided to scratch the rest of Saturday’s classes as I did not want to have mores bad experiences in those.

On Sunday, the show got a little less crowded and I wanted to try again with Drafted. He seemed to be in a better place when schooling him before the class, so we went into the W/T war horse class. My horse was back! Drafted was his cool collected self again and placed ninth in the large class. Drafted also received the special award of the highest-earning Thoroughbred at the show with $1,171,593!

With only 10 months to re-train OTTBs for the makeover, you learn something new about them every day. The New Vocations horse show was the perfect opportunity for me to test the waters of a large show similar to the Makeover early in their training.  I try to make every opportunity a positive experience – even if that means not showing. I always put the horse first no matter how long I traveled, how much I paid, or how much it means to me. The New Vocations charity show raised over $180,000 to support the organization’s mission to rehab, retrain, and rehome retired racehorses, and I couldn’t be more proud to have brought my two RRP makeover hopefuls to the show!