I cannot believe I am already sitting down to write our May update for you all! What a busy month it has been. Salesman has been traveling all over and seeing different environments, learning more and more about his new job and all the fun and difficult things about horse show life!

We started this month off with Salesman joining me on a trip to Texas Rose Horse Park in Lindale, Texas, for a USEA horse trial with one of my other mares that was competing. The horse park is a large, lovely facility with multiple arenas close by that mimics the environment of the Kentucky Horse Park where the Thoroughbred Makeover will take place in October. We had no plans to show, but wanted him to have the time to come out and take it all in. He was just as observant as ever, but just as good mannered as well.

Kristina Hobbs photo

The dressage warm-up ring had 20-30 horses bussing around, golf carts, bikes – you name it, it was going on all around him. He settled rather quickly after we were able to find some quiet space in the center of the arena, so much so that he handled a girl getting bucked off and the horse galloping past him like a champ! Have to thank the race track for that as I am sure that’s not the first time he’s had a loose horse gallop past him. He hacked up to all of the arenas and was able to just stand quietly and watch everything.

Sunday we went out to the cross country, and Salesman started off relaxed and jumping things in the warm up nicely. There were some other horses that joined as we were heading out to the course and were jumping some things close by at a higher pace. This was the first time I’ve actually ever lost this boy’s brain. So we took a step back and went back to the basics: rope halter on for some ground work, lunging over fences, into the water and even over some ditches! Once I had his brain fully back we continued on mounted and wrapped up lovely! It was a much longer schooling than I’d hoped, but sometimes things like that happen, and it’s important to make hard situations educational and positive for young horses regardless of if this was “the plan,” because as we all know, you need multiple plans with horses.

I felt confident enough with how he handled that weekend to go ahead and enter him in his first horse trials at the end of May. We continued to school on and off property throughout the month and realized this boy doesn’t love water. While that can be a hard “boogeyman” for a horse to get over, it’s not abnormal for them to hesitate with water. Thankfully we have multiple ponds and creeks at home that he now visits every few days trying to get comfortable and confident with it.

This past weekend was his first horse trial at Willow Draw in Weatherford, Texas. And he really stepped up to the plate. Was he perfect? No. But there was so much good that happened!

On Friday we headed over to have a school and hack around the property, as he had never been to this facility. While he was chatty as he was taking everything in, he was his typical “old soul” self, observant but relaxed. We are local to the show, so he got to go home Friday night and have his normal turnout. Saturday morning, we loaded up and headed back, and he warmed up incredibly for the dressage – relaxed and rhythmical, lovely stretching and lots of transitions. He went into the ring, and as most do, got a little more tense but stayed super attentive and listening. He was a little quick at times but still great. He got a 34 for his first test ever and I was thrilled.

Kristina Hobbs photo

Heading into show jumping and cross country back to back, I felt he was as prepared as he could be but as with all young horses you never really know what to expect from their first show until they are in the arena doing it. Let me say: in show jumping this guy surprised and impressed me! He warmed up so nice, jumping lovely. And it was clear as we started our course that this boy was really starting to come into his own over fences. He jumped nicer than I’ve ever felt him jump in the show ring. With the quieter types it is always so fun to feel them perk up and try a little harder over show fences. Did he have some bobbles? Yes, but overall he stayed in a lovely rhythm and jumped so nicely. Not much more you can ask for in their first round!

We didn’t have much time between jumping phases since I had two horses in the same level. So we changed his gear and mine and headed to cross country. Coming out of the box the boy was a bit impressed by this being the real deal. Fences one and two were a bit hairy but he got more and more game as we carried on and started to jump fences more out of stride and in a rhythm. Unfortunately his “boogeyman,” the water, got him. Even with the option to go around the water we still had to go super close to the water to get to fence 10 out of the water. Since he was so concerned about the water he wasn’t locked on to fence 10 quick enough and just had a baby moment. He circled around and popped right over it and finished the course strong with lots of time to spare.

I spent Sunday reflecting on the event: Where do we go from here, what adjustments do we need to make, and so on. When I watched all the videos back, I was just so impressed with his show jumping round. He was so happy and confident and jumping with such good effort. Although I am not at all upset with his performance in cross country, as he just made young-horse mistakes, it started to make me wonder if he wouldn’t be successful in the straight show jumping world as well. So now we will play with that discipline this summer too. Salesman will continue to cross country school, and plan to go to another event in a month. But we are also going to add a jumper show into the schedule and let him show us what is going to be best for him to prepare for the Makeover! I am beyond blessed not only to have such a lovely horse under me this year for the Makeover, but that his owners Gary and Audra trust me and simply want this boy to shine in whichever discipline he chooses.

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.