OTTB Success Stories

Posts Tagged ‘Trail Riding’

Elizabeth ,

I wanted to send a brief update on Hollywood Vic and with some photos my friend took of us.  A few weeks ago we signed up for a cross country clinic in the amoeba class of course!   Hollywood was very excited that morning. . . it was such a new experience for both of us! We plowed on through his excitement, he settled down and  was a real trooper as usual.  I hope we can do more of the X-C because we had a blast. . . but we will definitely stick with the “small jumps”!

We have lots of trails where we board so we get in lots of trail time which we both love. Hollywood has a huge pasture and every morning he gives his pasture mates a workout by running them around! They have a great time. . . he still acts like a “knucklehead”!  Forever the athlete!

I wanted to thank you so  much for helping me find my boy it has been two years and  when I look at him I still can not believe he is all mine!   What did I do before I had him? I can not imagine him not in my life.

I wanted you to know  that  your articles on your website about training Reign Day sure helped me. . .we are always a work in progress.  All those reminders really help!

One more interesting tidbit: I saw an article on Old Friends Equines’ website back in the winter on Academy Award.  I was so excited to see Hollywood’s Sire that I emailed Old Friends to tell them that I had Academy’s son and I sent them a photo of  Hollywood. They were so nice and seemed excited, too and  invited me to come up and meet Academy Award any time. I hope to do so this summer! They even emailed me a couple  of photos of Hollywood’s Daddy!   Scroll about mid way down the page via this link and see the write up on Academy Award.  So neat!

Thanks so much. . . we sure miss all out Bits and Bytes friends and hope everyone is doing well. Tell Bubba (Lynn’s Vision) that Hollywood says Hi!

Cheri Jackson

Hi Y’all

So sorry I still haven’t gotten the (Tuck’s St. Aly one year) video to you. I’ve semi finished it multiple times and keep getting better pictures and figuring out different video tools and since it’s such an important one I want it to be just right before I send it permanently.

However, I have been riding every other day almost without fail the last 2 or 3 weeks and we’re doing great. Aly and I are both getting back in shape together, and Aly is getting his hay belly ( DON’T tell him I said it, he doesn’t have too much of one, but he’s got a little pooch :p ) worked off, and starting to look like a sport horse again.

The weather has been unbelievably gorgeous most of the time during the last few weeks. There were 2 or 3 days of 30 mph winds, a regular occurrence as Texas hails the coming of springtime, but other than that 70 degree days, totally blue skies, and perfect riding weather. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be mid 70’s and then we have a chance of small amount of snow on Saturday….that’s Texas for you, and back to 70’s the whole next week.  We are very excited as the pastures, with faithful watering and care, are starting to have a green carpet coming out all over them. Aly is a little miffed frequently as we have two of his pastures blocked off, but I let him know that he will thank me when he goes in to a huge pasture of 5 inch fresh green grass in a week or so. He is Sooooooooooooooo happy about the green coming back.

Tuck's St. Aly has a special "friend"

One of my mama goats dropped a baby 3 days ago, and he is keeping a faithful eye on it in the nursery. The goat that dropped backed in January, that is shown in the picture, sitting on Aly’s baby, named Bitsy, is attached to Aly by the …um, ankle? They are constant companions, and even though Bitsy’s brother and mom live in the pasture with  Aly and her, for some reason Aly and Bitsy just love each other the most. We have definitely decided that she will not ever be up for sale; it would break Aly’s heart. I mean it!

I’ve been riding bareback about 1 out of 3 times I ride; Aly loves it, and it’s a good thing to do when I don’t have as much time to tack up. It does amazing things for my seat and helps my leg position immensely. We’ve started jumping a tad, but as I’ve been somewhat tired lately, we’re going back to it gradually. Aly did a great job the last time I road, we jumped about 6 times; so my dad and I are going to build a few jumps, and as soon as I get the jump cups in, we’ll have some pictures of that. Almost every time we ride, we go out on the roads by our house, probably anywhere from 2 to 5 miles, and Aly is incredible. I can tell you without hesitation, it is his favorite, and when he sees the outside fence being opened for us to go out, the whole feel of his body changes. He is extremely well behaved outside.

Riding bareback improves the seat.

The time before last, when we went out, some neighbors down the rode, had a racehorse out practicing along the long stretch of loop about 1/3 of a mile from where we ride; Aly at first did not see the horse, but the other horse saw Aly. Woooo, that horse was so excited, and Aly did prance a tad, but I could not believe how well he behaved when I just looked at the road ahead of us and said, “um, silly boy, you’ve seen racehorses before, relax!” And he did. He has seen longhorn cows that are very heavy with calf come up to him, trash blowing along the road, a dog running by his heels, horses trotting by his pastures getting excited, a shotgun going off right next door, his stall door slamming from 50 mph winds when he was in his pasture, a sprinkler starting up while he was standing right by it, a dirt bike tearing up and down the street by his pasture and backfiring all the while, an ambulance and fire engine whiz past us with sirens going while out riding….you name it, in the last 3 weeks he has seen that and more. And I know he probably would have behaved well when he was at Bits and Bytes, but he is different now…way different. It’s not just that he tolerates all the crazy sounds and happenings while he’s quivering and being drama king deluxe. He is way past that, he just raises his head, blinks his eyes, and, stands on 3 legs as he continues snoozing.

Anyway….this reallly is not our 1 year story….I just wanted to update y’all; if you want to use this story, of course that’s fine, but I’d rather give you a more story-like email when I get the video done. I’m sending some of the best of the pictures we’ve gotten in the last weeks.

I have a lottttttttt more pictures, but as they are pretty big files from the pixel, they will be in the video that I upload, so that you can see them all that way. these are just a few.

Hope all y’all are doing well.
Hugs,
Aly&I

See more photos of Tuck’s St. Aly.

Hi Elizabeth,

I sure hope it was as beautiful in Canton as it was here! It took until about 11:00 for the dense fog to burn off and the sun to bring about a beautiful day. It hasn’t been this nice in forever it seems. I went and picked up some hay this morning and got back around lunch to prepare for my afternoon ride.

Lindy and I took our first of many long trail rides cross country. I’m guessing it may have been a first for her since she looked at everything. We rode up and down the hills, through the fields and on the trails through woods for about two hours. It was wonderful!!! She was very brave and very honest– no silly or thoughtless moves Lindy learned about stepping over logs and by the end of our ride she was a pro.

Our next outing will involve the little creek. Read the rest of this entry »

The trail ride was the true test of whether I successfully ride my new OTTB.

Elizabeth,

This seemed like a fitting time to do an update story for you on Maverick. I really am both excited and sad to be moving Maverick next weekend. I honestly can not believe how lucky I have been to not only get Maverick, but to have been taught by you and to have met so many great horse people at your farm.

Update on Maverick:

5 Weeks and Our First Trail Ride

I have proudly owned Maverick now for 5 weeks and aside from marrying my husband and having my children, it has been without a doubt the best 5 weeks of my life. Maverick is the sweetest horse I could ever imagine and he is incredibly smart. Some people think of OTTBs as wild, crazy horses that might run away with you at any given moment. While I think that might be true of some OTTBs, I can tell you that it is not true of Maverick or any of the other horses I have had the pleasure to watch at Bits & Bytes.

This weekend Maverick and I will take the next step in our journey together. We will be moving him to his new home closer to me. I am excited to think that I will be able to see him every day, but I am also sad to see him leave his wonderful, temporary home at Bits & Bytes. In addition to it being a great facility, it has been a place of real learning and confidence building for me. I have learned from an expert (Elizabeth) how to do everything from selecting tack that works best for Maverick, to ground work, to riding in the ring, to our first trail ride together last weekend.

The trail ride for me was the true test. Read the rest of this entry »

I didn’t get to ride as much this weekend due to the rain, but Rap had a good day Saturday. I worked him in the ring schooling him over ground poles to improve his stride and then over low jumps up to 2′. He is doing great and gets better with each session. I also took him on a nice quiet trail ride after the ring work and he did great on that too! We rode out across the hayfield while the tractors were raking and baling hay, he never paid a minutes attention to the tractors.

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Rap It Up learns to open gates which will come in handy during fox hunting.

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Rap It Up learns to open gates which will come in handy during fox hunting.

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Rap It Up learns to open gates which will come in handy during fox hunting.

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Rap It Up learns to open gates which will come in handy during fox hunting.

Rap It Up at his first fox hunt

Rap It Up at his first fox hunt

Here are some pictures of Rap opening the gate to the ring. If ex-racehorses lived up to their stereotype, Rap would have had plenty of opportunities to have a “meltdown” since he has been at out farm. He has encountered tractors, ATVs at night complete with headlights, he has been around foxhound pups, our border collie who trail rides with us, and constantly runs under Rap’s feet and he continues to be okay with all of it! His experience at the track has only prepared him for life away from the track because he has seen and done so much. I think this is the reason that he is already so steady even though he is only 4 years old.

Just wanted to let you know that he is doing great and I am very pleased with his attitude and his progress.

Marvin is fabulous! He is so adorable that I never want to take a step back to snap a picture.

Just like Becky said-he is very quiet and sane. I can ride him up to a gate and he’ll stand quietly while I unlatch it, and doesn’t mind helping me close it after we’ve passed through it. Any day of the week, I can hop on him and walk/trot/canter anywhere I want to go without a care in the world. He’s best in an open field. He acts like a ring is too confining. Our goals right now are rhythm, relaxation and impulsion.

He had his fall vaccinations Friday, so I gave him the weekend off.

Will talk to you soon.

Best,
Kathryn

Rap It Up at the creek crossing. This is about a 4' slope down the bank to the water.

Hey Elizabeth,

Just thought I’d send you a quick update on Rap. He had a great weekend. I was able to ride him all 3 days, between rain storms. My wife and I set out an a trail ride Friday evening, a little later than we had intended, we took our usual route out across the hay fields and down to our trails in the woods. We rode across creek crossings and up and down several hills and Ol’ Rap did great. It got dark pretty quick so we decided to head back to the barn. As we were making our way back we met one of the guys who deer hunts the area who was riding his ATV with headlights on and Rap acted as if he saw stuff like that everyday. After chatting with the deer hunter briefly, we headed on back to the barn, by this time, it was very dark in the woods and Rap led the way as if he had been on those trails all his life rather than just for the last month. When we got back from our ride, I clipped his bridle path and the whiskers on his muzzle, he stood in the middle of the barn hallway with his head down completely unrestrained while this was going on. Read the rest of this entry »

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Just a week after arriving in Athens, AL, Rap It Up is being ridden by his new owner David Goodman.

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Just a week after arriving in Athens, AL, Rap It Up is being ridden by his new owner David Goodman.

I rode Rap It Up for the first time today and he did great!!!!!!! He was actually pretty lazy! Not at all what I expected from him! He was pretty rowdy on Monday, but the more time he spent NOT confined to a stall, the better he was. He is adjusting to his new home very well. He spent some time on the hot walker today and was an “old pro”.

My Dad and my brother were there today to help with his first ride and both were impressed with how quiet and laid back he was, and let me tell you, it takes a lot to impress those two! We will take him out on trails, Sunday or Monday. So far everything is great! I trust and quietly often seek the opinion of my father and my brother when it comes to horses and they both like him a lot! My brother rode him today and had nothing but good things to say about him.

I am attaching a couple of pics from today’s ride. Everything is going great and I am very pleased with Rap’s progress so far. I believe that he will continue to improve with time and work. I anticipate that I will be using him as a staff horse before this (fox hunting) season is over.

I hope that you and Barry are having as good a weekend as we are having.

Sincerely,
David

Icy Event is doing much better – putting on weight.  He is so good-natured and appreciative.

Laura

While we don’t have any new photos of Icy Event, we have fun photos to share of “Dudley” aka Josh, one of the 25 Special Horses and Coinmaker.

Coin June09

Dude! Are we gonna BBQ?

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Not to be outdone by Dudley, Coint enjoys a cool trip through the stream

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Dudley, aka Josh, is not at all worried about tip toeing through patio furniture

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Finding a cool stream on a hot day is refreshing for Dudley

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Brave thoroughbred! No worries about obstacles for Thoroughbred Dudley

The "A Team" - Alex and Tucks St. Aly

Elizabeth and Barry,

Well, it’s been a bit since Tucks St. Aly and I have sent in a report of our doings, but all the better, we have so many things to tell. I’ve been riding very steadily for the last week or two, sometimes every day and almost always every two days or so.

Day before yesterday in fact, I rode bareback for the first time. It was really neat!!! I must say, I’m sure it was a bit uncomfortable for both Aly and I, as I didn’t even use a bareback pad (we’ll be getting one very soon!!) however I was really, really happy with how great Aly behaved. After a good 30 minutes in the pasture, we even road around the rode beside our house. Aly was a superb gentleman. I trotted him a good bit, and even though it was somewhat painful, as Aly has such high withers , I didn’t really have trouble staying on! I am really excited for when we get the bareback fixed up, I think doing some trotting and canter bareback will be the very best way to get a good seat when in the saddle. It’s amazing how much it encourages you to reach your legs down and really have your legs in the classical position opposed to the ‘chair position’. Read the rest of this entry »