Outside of naming names this week has been an eventful one already. Just after she first arrived I found some very tender spots along her back and since then I’ve been giving her regular back massages (aren’t you jealous?! I know my boyfriend wishes I’d give him a back massage!), the benefits of which are becoming readily apparent. Her gaits on the lunge line are loosening up and she no longer has that coursely defined line through her back muscle on the right side when trotting. I spent some of one evening standing on the mounting block, it is a great way to teach a horse to LOVE shimming up to the mounting block rather than shying away. Once they get close start massaging their back or rump, when they move away you stop. Miss Kitty was quite happy to stand stock still next to the block while I rubbed her down, even as some of the other boarders came in riding their horses all bedecked in halloween costumery – complete with wings.

I’ve been monitoring her weight gain and she is beginning to fill in rapidly. Her ribs can still be easily felt along her sides but no longer pointing into the sky along her back. The deep hollow behind her shoulder blade and under her withers is filling in and her back bone doesn’t protrude nearly so much. I’ll be getting some more photos to show just how quickly she’s turning around. At the moment I have her on an economy quality senior feed with rice bran and two cups of vegetable oil, all twice a day with high quality grass hay and a flake of alfalfa each feeding.

On Monday there was quite a ruckus of excitement on morning turnout. I was told that not only was she eager to get outside, she was ready to go out without her handler and attempted to blast out of the stall before he could get the halter on her. Once out the door she drug him half-way out the barn before he got control again, and once he got her to the paddock and was taking off her halter she decided to bolt past him OUT of the pasture and back up to the barn. There she stood looking at him for a moment before setting off at a dead gallop straight back towards him. To get from the barn to the pastures you have to cross over a wooden bridge. He stepped out of the way and as she raced across the bridge she came down hard on one of the boards and split it in two before continuing back into the pasture she previously fled. It took him a while to get her calmed down, checked over and cleared with no injuries. Some good came from the situation – one was that he checked over the rest of the bridge and found a few other boards that were due to be replaced. With no injuries she just may have saved someone from falling in while driving a tractor over or another horse breaking through and even breaking a leg. Additionally, it has come to my attention that her insecurities are coming to a head now that she is settled into her new environment.

Kitty is interestingly very intimidated by all of the horses at the barn, particularly when she has to walk past them. In part because they can (and more often than not do) reach out a little window of their stall and pin their ears and say nasty things to her when she walks by. Her neighboring horse likes to do this just when she is walking into her stall – which has now become when she bolts into her stall (or out). So Monday night when I was out I spent several hours just playing with her in her stall, walking forwards and backwards, walking in and backing into her stall as well as walking out and backing out. That wasn’t addressing the real issue of being afraid of the other horses, but the traffic through the barn with boarders and lessons was too much that night to do anything about it. Last night however I spent more time with her walking through the barn aisle-way past all the horses, stopping in front of their stalls when she was nervous and making the horses step back from their window so they couldn’t call her mean names and stick their tongues out at her. She was about ready to fall asleep by the time we got back down to her stall for the night.

I also trimmed her back hooves on Monday night before the crowd grew too large. As of last evening she appeared to be moving out better and more balanced which could be attributed to either the hooves or the back massages she’s been getting – or both.

Oh! And terribly exciting as well… the most glorious trot to walk transition occurred late last night just before I quit for the evening. Kitty was trotting to the right, her weaker side not only due to track life but also her muscle soreness. Her speed was rather rushed with no benefit to the length of her stride so I merely asked her to slow her tempo at the trot, which she did. After a full circle at the new tempo I began to ask for a downward transition when she stepped underneath herself, changed her posture beautifully and stepped into the walk with grace and balance. She impressed me to no end and it was quite the highlight of my day!

I’m looking forward to seeing her move once I am able to get her front feet trimmed. I plan to take before and after pictures of her front hooves to show how common underrun heels and long toes are on track Thoroughbreds, as well as to start documenting her hoof rehab. They aren’t horrible, part of why I impressed with her was that her feet are not a disaster, but there are still issues with them that need to be addressed before any heavy work starts with her. And another side note – I noticed upon closer observation yesterday that this little girl was given a Caslick’s… if you don’t know what that is I recommend you do a quick read on it here. I had assumed her vulvar conformation was due to her low weight which can often be the case, but time will tell once she packs the pounds back on whether the procedure was warranted or not when she was on the track.

In a short exchange of introductions I met Laurie, who is boarding a couple of her horses at the stable for the winter, and just moments later she asked me what my mare’s registered name followed by Laurie’s reaction that she somehow knows her. Turns out that Laurie is an exercise rider at Emerald Downs, where she was raced, and after a phone call to confirm her trainer Laurie realized not only did she know the horse but had also at some time ridden her on occasion!

I may have the chance to sit down and go over some of her history as well in the coming weeks and hopefully get a hold of her papers, which unfortunately (and quite naturally) they were not sent with her when she left the track. Laurie also shared with me this photo of her on the track with rider Jamie Comber up. Apparently she was not known to be the nicest mare to ride on the track…

As I mentioned previously, she doesn’t yet have a noteworthy barn name so excuse me as I continue to refer to her in a way that seems nameless (and I’m too lazy to write out or copy and paste her registered name at every reference… that seems overboard). She arrived at her new barn on Friday after a long trailer ride from the coast. She marched onto the trailer with little effort and was a flawless traveler, impressing me and her previous owner as he remarked that she had been rearing and bucking when they last loaded her in a trailer just days ago. The key, I think, is that I wanted to avoid an argument at all costs with her and she seemed to take to that approach.

Stepping off the trailer she marched confidently to the arena where she got the chance to stretch her legs and wander around for a few hours taking in the sights and smells. She can now lay claim to her own stall at night and the chance to run around a pasture all day. A sociable horse she is keen to have her eye on everything at once, while at the same time having a sort of calm about her actions. Of course that was until she saw a lunge whip yesterday and decided she was back on the track… but more about that later.

I like to approach new horses without assuming they know anything, it seems to help in the process of training because any holes that are there seem to show up in a slightly ordered manner and can be dealt with right away. So now I know she trailers well, leads, yesterday she got groomed in cross-ties for the first time and had horses passing through the barn past her with no issues. She doesn’t really know to lower her head when asked – and believe me it is a tall head at times! She’s good with picking up her front feet and holding them for trimming (I already nipped a couple chipped flares off two days ago and plan to do a formal trim soon)… her hind hooves she still needs some work. She likes being groomed with one particular curry but not another and is decidedly sensitive at her flanks, stifles and the way back of her belly. Still she is very affectionate and loves having her face groomed, even if she does still believe that people make great scratching posts.

Overall she is a lovable mare, and I’ve been told that one of the barn owners has now ranked her as his favorite at the barn. If she attracts people to this degree when she is considerably thin, out of shape and still has that racetrack inattention… I can only imagine what sort of magnetism will ensue once she is fat, fit and on point.

Right now I am in the “messing” phase – the part where I am not really doing anything formal but rather just trying to get a feel for what she does and doesn’t know. Ground work at the moment. Not surprising she is better working to the left than to the right but I’ve dealt with far more difficult horses in this regard who weren’t track horses. Her concept of personal space is a little tight so that is a place we need to start at – teaching her to step away when I tap on the side of her shoulder and to step back when I tap on her chest. I know that this isn’t exactly classical – many promote using the chest as a cue for the horse to move forwards. In all practical sense however I want her to be safe and sane around people who aren’t classically trained.

I put her on the lunge for a short while, first without a lunge whip and later free lunged her with a lunge whip. She seemed to have flashbacks to track racing when the lunge whip came out and it was soon put away. Without knowing the exact history on a horse it can be surprising some of the triggers that they have. She has a beautiful trot and lovely canter on the lunge, nice forward gaits. I forgot my camera when I went out yesterday but will have to capture some pictures of her moving soon… and some video – she is quite vocal when she starts moving around at the canter and the noises are humorous. She reminds me of a half-Thoroughbred filly I had who was also quite vocal, considerably more so than any other horse I had encountered at the time.

For now it is a fine balance of beginning to initiate her ground work while at the same time not eating up too much of her energy. She has a ways to go with gaining weight and with winter coming the faster she puts it on the better. For now she is on a grass/alfalfa hay mix and senior feed with a generous helping of rice bran to top dress it. I need to make a run to the grocery store still and pick up a container of vegetable oil as well to help give her some extra fat calories. For the most part though I think she is taking quite well to her new digs and seems to enjoy the added attention from everyone.

At least that is the plan, and the project.

If you frequent Writing of Riding then you will know that there are several new things – new site layout, new navigation system, new search features… and now the addition of Project Thoroughbred. Without too much ado, I’ll introduce you to the star of the show (surprising, it isn’t me!) and the purpose of Project Thoroughbred.

Enter stage left, a grey Thoroughbred mare known to the Jockey Club as Lit de world on fire, and to her former owner as ‘Tink’ (and I’m still scratching my head trying to figure out where the nickname came from). I spotted her on Craigslist, followed some intuition and discovered quite the unpolished gem hidden right along the Pacific coast near Aberdeen, WA – the town made ‘famous’ (or at least recognizable) by the lead singer in Nirvana, Kurt Cobain. Of course Washington is well known for many other things and one of them includes racing. Emerald Downs is just a hop and a skip (and a short drive) away from me, and unfortunately so is the Enumclaw Livestock Auction where many former racehorses (and a plethora of other breeds) find themselves dropped at the mercy of kill buyers and rescuers.

It is not helpful for my imagination to go wandering very far, but let’s simply say that she was bought from her last track owner by a gentleman living in Enumclaw who later resold her to the man south of Aberdeen. That makes for six known owners in her lifetime so far. I haven’t yet come up with a suitable nickname for her around the barn, Tink just makes me think of ‘Dink’ and ‘Tinkerbelle’ – a name that is a far fetch as she towers around 17 hands. So for now she’ll remain a ‘she’ until I either get clever or someone suggests a name that sticks (submissions are more than welcome).

She is 5 1/2 years old, started her second and third year and in total winning just over $20k during her racing career. She came off the track not due to an injury, but rather it was more likely because of the 10 races she ran as a three year old, not a single one did she make it in the money. Still she has a look about her that is confident and slightly sassy, and she likes to vocalize her excitement when she’s racing around the arena.

Despite all of the publicity that horse racing receives, the vast majority of horses that race do not go on to some illustrious breeding career. Rather a great deal are run from one broker to another, through auctions and dealer’s lots, and even onto the trucks headed for slaughter plants in Canada and Mexico. I just recently posted about undercover video surveillance of the traumatic process of slaughter at two plants in Canada… the fate that horses face when headed to slaughter is nothing shy of horrific. Even those race horses who are in the money and show much promise and value are not safe as was demonstrated when Derby winner and Horse of the Year Ferdinand was ‘disposed of’ at a Japanese slaughterhouse when he usefulness as a stallion had lapsed.

Rehoming a Thoroughbred fresh off the track however is not an easy task either as most equestrians are not prepared or interested in learning the process of rehabbing and retraining such a horse. They have quirks and kinks and odd habits that naturally arise in such an environment as track life and race training. With careful consideration these horses can turn into amazing partners and it is my hope through Project Thoroughbred to not only document the process of rehabbing and retraining Lit de world on fire, but to also bring some awareness and publicity to the needs of Thoroughbreds coming off the track. In a perfect world the horse racing industry would not be solely money driven and thus provide an environment where the horse’s training and future after racing were prime considerations, unfortunately it is a very imperfect world and these horses need us to speak up for them.

Ready to jump on board and learn more about Project Thoroughbred?

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Learn more about Project Thoroughbred & Lit de world on fire

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