As we approach May, I cannot believe that we are already five months away from the Thoroughbred Makeover in October and halfway through our training period. Overwhelming as that may seem, I feel so confident in Salesman and his progress. With five months to continue to take the foundation we have created in him at home, we will go on the road and start competing in eventing. I thought I would take some time to bring you in on what this last five months has included.

Courtesy of Kristina Hobbs

When Salesman arrived in December, he was very race fit. He needed time to let down some of that fitness, while building up the new muscles that we require off the track. There were some days you could look out and see us bouncing around, very lightly and with minor effort. Salesman is the type to shake his head and act playful while always being a gentleman and knowing where that line lies that he is not allowed to cross.

The first few months were focused on settling his brain a bit. That was accompanied by slowly working him into full turnout. We live on 67 acres and the horses are turned out in groups in nice big pastures. First, we have them close to the barn in smaller pens and a small indoor building. Once I get to know their personalities, I can pair them with a good horse to learn from. In Salesman’s case, he is very playful with others, antagonizing anyone he can in order to get them to play. So, he got paired with one of my personal horses, Judge This Trip, who did the Makeover last year. I feel bad she’s been selected as babysitter when I see him being that annoying “little brother” trying to get her to roughhouse with him. Thankfully, she keeps him settled and behaving. Once he transitioned to bigger turnout he really turned a corner in his work, being able to be more settled and listening. This is when he really just turned into something special and became lovely now to ride in the dressage and jumping courses with ease!

In early March, Salesman got to have his first off-property trip to a local hunter-jumper show. We try to allow the younger horses to travel with the more experienced horses the first few trips to help them stay settled. We started that day by leading him all around the show facility, eyes wide as they could be. It was a very cold, windy and misty rainy day. We sat next to the ring with all of the old ponies and horses happily packing the tiny kiddos over poles. Even though he was quite tense and watchful, I decided to get on, just to see who he was in the worst-case scenario. I find the first few trips to be more of a fact finding process that is helpful to gauge how much traveling the horse will need to do to prepare for the Makeover. There was zero pressure for him to do anything right or wrong. But wow, did he blow me away! Was he a little tighter in his body than he is at home? Absolutely. But very quickly he was relaxed, stretching like he had done this his whole life.  We were able to have such a great and positive first experience off property.

Next up was to take him out cross country to see what his natural instinct would be. We loaded him up and hauled him just 20 minutes away to Denton Creek Farm. In the very same way, he was wide-eyed, observant and still a gentleman. I like to start my youngsters just in hand over a few very small and inviting logs. This allows them to think through what's being asked on their own in a very kind and inviting way, while looking to the handler on the ground for instruction. I hopped on him and let him just open up and have a little hand gallop around, starting to introduce to him the adjustability of going forward into the bigger step and then coming back when my body opens up. It is in many ways like what is done on the track, requiring quicker responses, though of course not with nearly the speed required. Once the horses start to catch on to that then we start presenting them to the fences.

Courtesy of Kristina Hobbs

We started over the same ones we had lunged over. Very systematically, I ask for a bigger canter step, shorten the stride and settle, making sure that he sees and reads the question in front of him, and then jumping it. This natural progression is a step beyond just asking him to go over new things after he gets to go put his nose on it. The real test is just cantering up to different style jumps to see if he had the natural bravery and trust he would need in the future: this is where we see if they really love the job and just get it. Man, did he get it! Not only did he say “yes” to every question presented to him but he stayed so relaxed and adjustable the entire time. I could just relax the reins between fences and he would just stay in a rhythm and wait for what was next. Of all of the young horses I've taken over their first cross country schoolings I think this was the most fun and uneventful (in a good way) of them all.

Of course with horses though, the highs are typically followed by some hiccup. Upon pulling back into our farm his pasture buddy started nickering for him which quickly upset and made Salesman get anxious in the trailer. He banged his knee against the wall which led to a little stocking up for a bit. So we took a second to step back and give that a minute to rest to ensure nothing long-term remained.

The last few weeks have been some quiet time with my buddy. While he has remained in full work we have proceeded cautiously, giving the body time to get that little bit of inflammation out and heal nicely. Lots of icing sessions, hand grazes, and his new favorite game of pulling my ponytail while I put his wraps on. BUT! He seems to now be nicely mended and we have a busy next few months planned for the big guy, starting with him tagging along to Texas Rose Horse Park with my 2020 Makeover Grad Shelbenie to a USEA horse trial. There we will get to expose him to a very big and busy environment much like that of the Makeover that he will see in October. And after that will continue to go cross country schooling and prepare for his first horse trials right here in Weatherford at Willow Draw at the end of May.

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.