Eventing-A-Gogo!: Sunday Success Stories

Showing posts with label Sunday Success Stories. Show all posts

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Sunday Success Stories

(Sunday Success Stories have returned to Eventing-A-Gogo! Each week, we feature a reader's own personal journey through overcoming difficulty and adversity, sometimes against all odds, and pulling through no matter what. These stories are about those who never gave up, and who made a difference in the life of an animal who just needed a little love and care in order to turn around and really bloom again. Send your success stories, past or present, to EventingAGogo@gmail.com!)

This week's Sunday Success Story comes from Jess, who writes in to tell us: "I wanted to let you know a little about myself and my story with horses. I have a YouTube series called The Quest For Champion. I am currently training three rescue thoroughbreds, and I am documenting our progress. I've been told that they will never amount to anything but wasted time and money. They are all still very green, but we are training hard every day, and making excellent progress. You can really tell a huge difference in my boys. Just as you said, I plan on proving people wrong, and raising awareness about the wonderful horses that can be saved. I post up an new video each week, and mix fast paced eventing with awesome dubstep. I also do some dressage from time to time!" Without further ado, here is their story!

The Quest for Champion

My name is Jess, and I've been riding since I was seven years old. I've been showing for about five years now, and it's safe to say I'm hooked! I love all English riding, so I show in many disciplines with no particular favorite. Showing has become an addiction for me, I'm at every one I can get to. Throughout the years I've owned many wonderful horses, but I've never felt more fortunate to own a horse than I do now. Please allow me to explain.

I am the proud owner of not one, but three AMAZING rescue horses. I hate to think about it, but these guys were basically headed for slaughter when I found them. I saved my first horse back in 2007, His name is Lago, but I call him Gam. He was only two and a half years old, and had raced about ten times. He had some issues with fluid on his abdomen, and some other really scary stuff. We went through six months of treatment, and he recovered fully! We started our training shortly after, and had our first show in 2008. He's been going hard ever since. He's hands down the smartest horse I've ever had the pleasure of riding.

All three of my boys were in really bad shape when we met. Now they are healthy as can be, and are all currently showing with me. My goal with these guys is to take them from a bunch of "Racetrack rejects" to Champions of show. I want people to know that you don't need to have a thirty or forty thousand dollar horse to win shows. I'd like them to know that they can save a horse, and with enough love, time, and patience, anything is possible. I'd like to prove to all people that had negative things to say just how wrong they were. I was talking to a friend about all of this, and they brought up the idea of making a Youtube series. Something about the idea seemed like it was meant to be.

I made my first video in November 2010 and posted it to YouTube. This was actually Bay's first show with me! Since then, I have uploaded thirty four videos starring my boys. It's a way for me to look back, and see how far they progressed. I wish I had video when from when I first met them. It makes me sad to think of how skinny Bay was, or how Judge wouldn't stop trying to kiss me. Now they win ribbons, and do what many people said was impossible. The videos are not only is it a tool to gauge progression, but I've also been told that the videos are a great asset beginner riders.

I named my show The Quest For Champion. I wanted something that reflected the different personality's of the me and my boys. Something completely different from what anyone has seen before. It's shot in a really special way, to almost put you ON the horse and IN the show! You'll see what I mean! Your with me during every walk, trot, canter, and jump. Your with me through the refusals, and even the falls! It's really intense! I've even overcome my camera shyness and I intro every show, and share some crazy stories from behind the scenes. I upload a new video every Monday, and I'd would really love it if I could share the show with you and the readers. I was so ecstatic when I found your site. I think we may be kindred spirits. Much like Gogo, my boys event, and show barefoot :D

You can find my Youtube channel at: www.youtube.com/quest4champ
I'm also on Facebook: www.facebook.com/questforchampion/

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! Gogo wants you to!)

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Goodbye Ernie

I am sad to report that I just got an e-mail from Abbie over at The Chronicles of Ernest, whose main character Ernie was featured in our Sunday Success Stories some time ago. Ernie was let go a few days ago after old age finally caught up with him, and Abbie is heartbroken. Life, even if it is long and fruitful, is still fragile at the end of it all.

Go hug your horses today. And go tell Abbie we're all thinking about her. Life is precious and don't forget that for one moment.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sunday Success Stories

(Sunday Success Stories have been revived here at Eventing-A-Gogo! Each week, we feature a reader's own personal journey through overcoming difficulty and adversity, sometimes against all odds, and pulling through no matter what. These stories are about those who never gave up, and who made a difference in the life of an animal who just needed a little love and care in order to turn around and really bloom again. Send your success stories, past or present, to EventingAGogo@gmail.com!)

This week's Sunday Success Story comes from Kae, who blogs over at Partners In Crime. She writes in to tell us about her new and budding relationship with her mare Reina, whom she found just five weeks ago in someone's muddy backyard. In just these past few weeks, Reina has begun her transformation from balking and sour to confident and forward. It's only onward and upward from here!

Partners In Crime - Reina's Story

I first saw Reina in small pen in someone's muddy backyard. She was tall, super thin, muddy, and her hooves were a mess. But she was still breathtakingly beautiful. The first thing I thought when I saw her: "What's a pretty thing like you doing in a field like this?" She was bought to be a trail horse for the man of the house, but she was too tall for him to get on by himself. So, she sat in that field, doing nothing, for at least two months before I came to visit her. They said they got her from a big breeding farm in Kentucky, and she had papers, but she was never raced.

We had two rides - one on a trail - together before I bought her. She didn't understand basic direct-rein steering, and she certainly couldn't neck rein. Any pressure on any rein meant "STOP! BACK UP!" and back up she did. That was just about the only thing you could get her to do under saddle on cue, actually. She would go forward, but only if she wanted to go forward. Any leg pressure for a trot and she'd hump up, pin her ears, swish her tail, and continue walking. If you somehow managed to get her into a trot, and wanted to canter? She'd let out a giant buck! And then canter. A stride or two, maybe. But there was something about her - aside from the sad state she was in - that I loved. She was smart, and even with all her ridiculousness under saddle, she wasn't spooky on that trail. She went under, over, and through whatever I asked (as long as it was in the direction she wanted to go, at the pace she wanted to go, of course).

So, I bought her. I brought her to the barn I had all picked out, got her feet trimmed, put her on free choice hay, started pouring feed into her, and groomed her almost every day. I decided that we would try to go bitless, since the bit thing obviously wasn't really working for her. We did flexions, worked on leading, manners, standing - anything she told me she needed work on, we did! Everything she learned, I taught with clicker training - and wow, did she ever respond to that! And, of course, we played and bonded. I wanted her to love me and trust me, so I made sure my visits were enjoyable for her. I didn't ride her again until about two weeks after I bought her, when I was satisfied that she would listen in a rope halter and that she'd gained a little bit of weight.

I hopped on her bareback and rode her around at the walk just to make sure she understood the steering situation. I rode her once, maybe twice more after that, before I took her out on a trail ride with one of the co-owners of the property. She was really nervous at first, with her head in the clouds. But she never spooked at anything, never took off with me, and there was no trace of the sour, lazy, grumpy horse I had first ridden! She was absolutely perfect, and would stop and back up with light pressure from her rope halter at all points throughout the trail ride. And about halfway through that first trail ride, a switch went off in her brain - she finally started to relax.

That was three weeks ago. Earlier this week, we walked, trotted, cantered, and galloped around a paddock. She listened perfectly. She moves off my leg and is happy to do anything and everything I ask of her. She understands my cues and works hard to please me. Her ears are always pricked up and she loves to go for me! What a difference from the horse who would only walk in one direction! I'm so proud of her progress I can barely even stand it. And she looks so much better - happier, healthier, fatter! And she makes me laugh constantly. She drinks out of the hose, plays with her tongue, yawns at me when she's bored... not only is she smart, but she has a great sense of humor!

We did trotwork today, and she responded beautifully. She moves into a trot at the lightest squeeze, and she stops within strides of when I ask. She never fights me anymore and I swear she feels like a different horse. I can feel her happiness and her relaxation in the way she moves, and I can see how easy it comes to her now - she carries her head almost level with her body, instead of flung up in the air. After our trotwork, we went on a trail ride, where she led the pack and kept up her happy, swinging walk the entire time. She didn't look, stop, or spook at all; we just enjoyed each other's company the whole ride.

And all of this... in five weeks... and bitless! I can't believe how much I lucked out with this gorgeous girl I have; she's really made me believe we can do anything!

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! Gogo wants you to!)

Monday, February 14, 2011

Sunday Success Stories - on Monday!

(Since I wrote about Penny yesterday, we get our Sunday Story on Monday instead! Enjoy!)

(Sunday Success Stories have been revived here at Eventing-A-Gogo! Each week, we feature a reader's own personal journey through overcoming difficulty and adversity, sometimes against all odds, and pulling through no matter what. These stories are about those who never gave up, and who made a difference in the life of an animal who just needed a little love and care in order to turn around and really bloom again. Send your success stories, past or present, to EventingAGogo@gmail.com!)

Story removed due to owner's request.

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! Gogo wants you to!)

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Sunday Success Stories

(Sunday Success Stories have been revived here at Eventing-A-Gogo! Each week, we feature a reader's own personal journey through overcoming difficulty and adversity, sometimes against all odds, and pulling through no matter what. These stories are about those who never gave up, and who made a difference in the life of an animal who just needed a little love and care in order to turn around and really bloom again. Send your success stories, past or present, to EventingAGogo@gmail.com!)

This week's Sunday Success Story comes from Kate, who wrote in to tell us of her horse Zeus. When Kate and her sister aquired the only offspring of her sister's mare, Shantori, they were faced with the prospect of unraveling the damage an uneducated owner had done to the gelding. Lots of hard work, training and love helped turn Zeus right around!

No Such Thing as a "Free" Horse

Zeus was given to us by his previous owner because he had become more than she could handle. Actually he came to my sister because her horse was also Zeus’ dam. Zeus’ owner boarded at the same barn where my sister kept her Arabian Mare, Shantori. My sister and Shantori were an unstoppable pair, this did not go unnoticed. This border noticed and wanted a baby by Shantori. My sister went along with this idea, curious to what her beloved Shantori would have.
Zeus was born in May of 1999, he was nothing but legs. The owner was so happy to see Zeus was a paint. My sister warned the owner that the spots would fade in time, as Shantori was a gray mare. However, my sister wormed this owner of all the trappings of bringing up baby. All warning went unheeded and the proud new owner of Zeus went on her way. Eventually my sister got her own property and no longer needed to board Shantori. Over the years she would hear occasionally how Zeus was doing: as a three yr old he was sent off for training, the owner was riding him occasionally, the owner got bucked off and would like to sell Zeus back to my sister, thanks but no thanks. Owner got bucked off and cracked some ribs, Zeus is now just a pet. Then, please come get Zeus, he is yours for the taking. After some debate, you know the usual, what are we going to do with a free horse? There is no such thing as a free horse, we will have to feed him, ferrier him, vet, and above all could we try to ride him? I said yes, yes , and yes, lets go get him! After all he was the only foal Shantori ever had and would ever have.
We got Zeus home and could not do much with him at first, I had just had my second child and my sister was expecting hers. So, Zeus would have to remain a pet for a little longer.
After the baby was born, my sister tried to work with Zeus, you know the usual, lunge, dead man, walk , trot then canter, it seemed to go well, that is until it didn’t. Zeus was not wanting to canter one evening, so he bucked my sister off, and also managed to kick her in the head. Sister was wearing a helmet and she was physically fine, but shook up. Zeus became a pet again.
I the spring of 2008, I began to work with Zeus. Just lunging at first and worked my way up to riding him, just walk with the occasional trot thrown in. Then it happened, June 22 2008, Zeus bucked me off. There was no apparent reason. My mom was in the indoor riding arena watching me ride. There was nothing that her or I could see that sent Zeus into the bucking horse he became. We were baffled. I was not physically hurt, but it shook me.
After some more debate, on what to do with Zeus, my sister and I settled on sending him for training. We would split the cost and if it looked like the bucking was not going to stop, Zeus would go up for sale.
Now all we had to do was find a trainer will to work with a “bucker”. Most trainers said no, but all pointed in one direction. This particular trainer was known for her Natural Horsemanship techniques and for taking “problem” horses. This combination had earned her a reputation as “crazy”, I took that as a good thing. We told her our problem, and the goal. I wanted a horse I could ride without getting bucked off, for starters. Then I would like to show him, and trail ride him. My new crazy trainer took on this challenge. She started with ground work, which as I learned was much more then lunging. Zeus had little respect for his human counterpart, being kept as a pet for so long only reinforced that idea for him. As far as Zeus was concerned, humans were for bringing him treats, and that was it. The trainer worked with him on respecting human boundaries and the riding slowly began. I also learned some new Natural Horsemanship techniques that I could apply when I took Zeus home. I learned to control his feet, and Zeus learned to let me.
I continue to ride Zeus to this day, I have taken him on overnight camping trips, shows, and clinics. I now take Dressage lessons on him twice a month and plan on showing him this coming summer. I am grateful for my “free” horse, I have learned more about riding horses, and horsemanship from Zeus and my new “crazy” trainer than all my years of riding safe horses.

By Kate Damp
1/25/2011

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! Gogo wants you to!)

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Sunday Success Stories

And then the accident happened when he was 5 years old, on his birthday in 1997. We went to the Blumenort Fair that's not far from where we live and we were doing pretty good that day. My Dad was taking him in Barrel Racing and took him for a warm-up, just working on the bending for the turns. Dad was working this at a slow lope on the grass and Dollar tripped and came up dead lame. He got Dollar over to the trailer as fast as Dollar would move but the damage had already been done. We were lucky at this point that there was a vet trailered right next to us and she told us the devastating news: Dollar had pulled a bowed tendon in his front left leg and probably wouldn't show for the next year or so. I was in tears and devastated that my best friend was hurt and I didn't know what to do. We got him home as gently as possible and called our vet over. He confirmed what the other vet had said and gave us 2 options: we could either put him out to pasture for a year and let the leg heal, or we could put him down and save him from all the suffering. I broke down completely when I heard this news, but my Dad was smart and said that we would keep him out in pasture and see how he does.

So for the next year, I spent every day cold hosing and tubbing his leg twice a day to help with the swelling and then down to once a day when winter hit. He seemed pretty content, but I could tell the look of jealously when I was riding another horse and he was standing in pasture glaring at me.

When we were finally able to do work on him, his attitude had changed. He was no longer the run-away, but he was extremely stubborn and would only basically work for me. Sometimes someone else if he was feeling willing. My sister took him to 4-H Provincials in 2001 and I took him there in 2002.

In early 2002, I really wanted to do Reining big time, but because Dollar was reaching the age of 10 and because of his leg, he wasn't able to take me there. So I had to make the decision to sell him (which didn't help being forced by my Dad to do better and not caring that I was letting go of my best friend). The 2002 4-H Provincials was the last time that I rode him, as he was being delivered to his new home the day after competitions had completed. So needless to say, I was an emotional disaster, but we still walked away with 2nd in Reining.

The day I sold him was the worst day of my life. I stayed in the trailer with him while we delivered him to his new home. I bawled my eyes out and I handed his lead rope over to his new owner. I was assured that he had a forever home and that if any opportunity came up, I would be the first one to get him back.

Since that fateful day, he was sold to a riding student that fell in love with him and did a little bit of showing with him. But she brought him to a barn when he was 14 and got Heaves. He was then sold back to the person that I sold him to.

I kept on enquiring about getting Dollar back and saw him again in the fall of 2009. And he recognized me immediately. I asked what was being done with him and that's when I was notified about his Heaves condition and that nobody was really riding him at all. I told them that when they make up their mind about what to do with him, to give me a call.

In February of 2010, I got a call from his owner. She told me that they were going to sell him and that I had first dibs. They were asking $500 for him but at this time, I had no job and no extra money to buy him. I had asked my Mom if she would be interested, but after dragging me along for about a week, she said no. So I had to call back the owner and let them know that I would not be able to take him, very much to my regret.

March 11, 2010 came around and I got another call regarding Dollar. The owner said that if I wanted to, Dollar was free for me. She said that they had people looking at him, but they weren't the right people and they needed to find a home for him. So I called up my Dad and asked if I could leave Dollar at their place and explained the situation. He said yes! Then I had to pass it by my husband and he as well said yes!! So I called the owner back and told her that I would pick up Dollar on Saturday.

And what a joyful day that was. And I think he knew that he was coming home for the last time. When I unloaded him from the trailer he was 18 going on 2. He wouldn't stop jogging circles around me as we were walking down the driveway and was just a happy camper all around. And so was I. After searching and pleading for almost 8 years, I got my best friend back.

Since then, we have found relief for his Heaves (steroids are a wonderful drug), have competed in several shows and winning some ribbons and just enjoying our time together. I'm hoping to do some entry-level eventing or dressage with him next year as he is still my all-around horse (although I know he prefers doing Trail Class. It's much easier on the old man.)

And I made a promise to him that I will keep: that he stays with me until his dying day.

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! This series is new and can't get underway without YOU! Gogo wants you to!)

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Sunday Success Stories

(Sunday Success Stories are a new series here at Eventing-A-Gogo. Each week, we feature a reader's own personal journey through overcoming difficulty and adversity, sometimes against all odds, and pulling through no matter what. These stories are about those who never gave up, and who made a difference in the life of an animal who just needed a little love and care in order to turn around and really bloom again. Send your success stories, past or present, to EventingAGogo@gmail.com!)

This week's Sunday Success Story comes from Amanda, who blogs over at A Little Black Pony. Jack is affectinately described as a 'bull-headed old pony,' a type I am all too familiar with myself! When Amanda and Jack first met, it wasn't exactly love at first sight. But with time, patience and hard work, the two of them developed a bond that is still getting deeper by the day. It's something about those black horses, isn't it? I know I always will be a sucker for a tough old little black horse. Go check out A Little Black Pony for more information on Jack!

A Little Black Pony - Jack's Story

((Right: Gulliver)) I came to Canamer Stables in July 2009. I had been doing an on property lease at another lesson/boarding barn, but the barn owner was a money hungry pig who didn't want to spent a dollar to take care of his 30 horses, most of which were unhandled, wild and just going to waste. He didn't even get their teeth floated. I had little to no say in my lease of Gulliver, not on any matter, I was basically just getting an extra ride outside lessons, and I realized I was not going to progress as a rider in the environment, all it would be was stress and hurt because I really could do nothing for my horse.

I had a real bond with Gulliver, and I was broken to pieces inside to leave him, but it wasn't helping anyone for me to stay.

I really liked the new barn I was taking lessons at. I missed the responsibility of leasing a horse, but in a way I suppose it was nice to just go have a lesson and not have anything else to do. The first horse I rode was a large chestnut pony gelding named Teddy. Awesome pony, schooling 2nd level dressage. But I didn't feel a connection, and I didn't feel I felt that way just because I was missing Gulliver

I remember one horse caught my eye in the paddock. He was cob type, maybe a little shorter than Teddy. Black with some modest white socks, and a gorgeously thick, wavy mane and tail. I thought to myself, "Wow, what a beautiful horse!" And then reminded myself you can't ride pretty. But somehow, I think it might have even been just the second lesson, I found myself sitting on that beautiful black beast. Jack was pretty, but he was rather atrocious on the ground. Not aggressive, but very strong, and disrespectful. Definitely dominate. Under saddle, he was...well, mediocre at best. His gaits were sluggish and plain, and I got tired just trying to keep him moving he was so lazy. He was concrete hard in my hands, nose stuck firmly in the air. He wiggle-wobbled all over the place, ran out of the arena at random times. We were not a pretty pair!

I hated him. I just hated him. And for some reason my new trainer couldn't see how much I hated him, and I wasn't sure how to tell her tactfully that I felt that way. I tried riding Teddy again a couple of times, but for some reason, even though he was better trained, I didn't like him as good as Jack. I talked with my trainer about shows, but opted out of going, not only because I didn't feel I was ready, but I hated that pony and I knew we would stink up the dressage arena. I reminded myself that when I first met Gulliver, I hated him too, and he wasn't very promising under saddle either. I kept telling myself that I didn't really hate the black pony, I was just not ready to give my heart to another horse.

Then in October, we went to a show just to school so we could practice as a pair in the show environment. He did better than I'd ever seen him do. He softened, he steped out, and he collected so beautifully. And I was sold on him after that. We didn't ride much for the remainder of the year. It literally rained SO much here, it was too wet to ride, and was usually raining to prevent riding anyway.

When it finally died off, I realized that I had truly formed a bond with the bull-headed old pony, and decided to lease him. For the first couple of months, it was a power struggle. He was out of practice with both ground manners and dressage, and I was determined to get through to him who was in charge, and remind him of his under saddle work. Finally paid off. Instead of knocking me down and running away when I took his halter off to bridle him, he reached out and took the bit himself. Instead of kicking at me when I picked up his back hooves, he handed them to me calmly. Instead of dragging me around when I lead him, he walked side by side with me. Under saddle, his nose came down and he accepted the bit. He started to step out and we discovered he had beautiful gaits with lots of suspension, with natural talent and intuition in the dressage arena.

He was a different horse. We went to our first show competeing together in April, and it was only Jack's second show competeing, and took fourth (overall, juniors and seniors combined - and I was just barely not 19 yet, still considered a junior), and we took Reserve Champion for the junior division. In May at our next show, we took second and third, and would have done better there had he not stumbled and broke his gait during our second test.

We still have some issues. He's by no means perfect. He tests me all the time, both on the ground and in the saddle. He has such spirit to him, and he is so athletic and full of energy, it's easy to forget that he is 18 years old. Especially when he acts about 3! But I am so amazed and so proud of how far he has come, and how much potential he has to go even farther. He was a trail horse with I believe a little barrel racing on the side for 15 years before he came to Canamer Stables. He went from not knowing how to leg yield to doing beautiful shoulder-in work in less than a year. The way he understands and learns so quickly amazes me every day. The most important thing is he has helped me to heal after having to give up Gulliver, and also helped me to overcome many fear issues I have had after a bad riding accident in 2008.

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! This series is new and can't get underway without YOU! Gogo wants you to!)

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Sunday Success Stories

Early in 2007, Rio started getting used again, and was back to his ways. Much to my *joy* he was the horse I was to ride in my first show in April. Of course he was. At the show, he bucked another rider off, but was wonderful for me. I got 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and I was happy. I came away feeling much better toward him, but still was hesitant. So in June, I rode him in a camp, and something changed. I learned everything on Rio that summer. My first gymnastic lines, first oxers, first courses… I was in love with this horse. I volunteered to ride him every day, and he started changing, too. He was TERRIBLE for other riders, but for me he was awesome; and people started noticing.

So I got Rio for Christmas in 2007. Around this time, I had decided I wanted to do Eventing instead of hunters. So I moved to an Eventing barn, and realized that I had a VERY green horse on my hands. He had no Dressage training, he had never seen a XC course, and had never been taught to jump correctly. So, all of early 2008 was spent training. At the same time, he blossomed. No more kicking or biting, he was shiny and happy.
Our first event was a schooling event put on by our pony club. We did the 2’ level, and we WON on a 31.5. So the little yellow horse CAN do dressage! We worked harder and harder and were ready for a beginner novice by the end of 2008. We had setbacks however, mainly financial, and couldn’t do anything but schooling shows in 2009. Even so, we won nearly everything, and Rio turned into a FABULOUS show horse.

This has been our year, though. Our biggest accomplishment is that we won Midsouth Regional Pony Club Rally. We will also be going to the AEC’s this year! I feel so proud to have come this far with the horse I pretty much trained myself. Everywhere we go, someone asks if he is for sale. He has really turned into the best possible horse. People who remember him from his lesson-horse days cannot believe that it is him! I, sadly, am outgrowing him, and he is now packing my 9 year old sister around. We are proof that you don’t need a $100,000 horse to succeed, you just need a great partnership and a dream!

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! This series is new and can't get underway without YOU! Gogo wants you to!)

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sunday Success Stories

I was heartbroken after I gave Griffin, the huge dark liver chestnut manly man, away to a walking/trail only home. He and I had some true bonding moments, like the first day I brought him home and walked around the track and into the woods with nothing but a halter. He was such a special guy, but just couldn't stand up to the jumping. His knees weren't cut out for that kind of impact.

So began my search. I had been working OTTB's and loving it, so I decided to start there. My problems were many. I didn't have a truck or trailer, I couldn't travel very far because I only had a few days off during the school year, and I wanted to be sure this horse was THE ONE and also 100% sound. I came across a local ad for a group of Thoroughbred mares just about 40 minutes from me. This was an opportunity for sure, not only could I try a few, but I could try them multiple times if needed, and I could use a local vet that I trusted.

I walked onto the property to a whole barn full of emaciated mares. Hip bones, full scapulas, and all the ribs were showing on most of these mares. Turns out this woman had been having trouble paying her bills and just couldn't afford to keep or even feed her broodmare band any more. She was liquidating them before she'd have to pay for more feed. They were all started under saddle, but that was about it. After we had ridden them I'll be honest, there wasn't much of a love at first sight for any of them. They all needed so much help, but who would shine most after some well deserved polishing? I went back later that week to try the bigger of the two again, a bay Thoroughbred with an adorable snip and a name that suited her stereotype, Jane. The mare was so not into it that when my friend reached in to pet her she got ears pinned and a nip!

I took her home a week later on the 14th of November, 2009. She got a new name, one that I hoped she would grow into. Bijou is french for trinket, or be-jewelled treasure. I knew I was asking a lot, but anything was better than Jane.We started having communication problems. She would blow up at what seemed to be nothing. I would walk up to her with a saddle pad that she'd seen eight times before and she'd rear and break away from where she was tied. She would not be caught. Lunging consisted of every shape imaginable (with many about-faces) except for circles. Walking away from the other horses was not ok! I found that her calm demeanor had actually just been a severe lack of calories, and when calories were close at hand, the calm demeanor disappeared and in its place I found exactly what I had not wanted. A plain, hot, spooky, herd-bound, skinny, bay, Thoroughbred mare. There were some second thoughts running through my head, but I didn't want to quit.

We moved to a barn with much better facilities, which gave me more motivation to be a real rider, and not one who just lunges their horse in triangles/parallelograms/serpentines all day. Bijou went out on pasture all day, which made the weight that she desperately needed to gain appear out of nowhere! It also meant that I could stop feeding her grain, which I know now was a huge contributor to her hot-ness. Things were looking up, summer was on the way, and I'd be riding every day until then so I could begin showing. Until I broke my ankle. I tripped and twisted it just bad enough to break it.

I had mostly ignored the groundwork up until this point. I had hoped that just by doing the prep to ride stuff she would get enough of that. When I broke my ankle I had to take 6 weeks off. I came back humbled, weakened, and slightly more timid. I didn't want to get hurt again, so I became hyper-aware of Bijou's body language. It worked. Turns out all the miscommunications were because I wasn't paying enough attention. I could tell when she was tensing up before a blow up, and back off before it happened. We spent hours in the roundpen. Tarps, balloons, feed bags, jackets, saddle pads, whips, astro-turf, and many other spooky items later, I think she finally learned to trust me just as it was time for me to get back in the saddle again.

We're now working calmly under saddle at walk/trot/canter (and even going over bright freshly painted poles!), leaving the herd behind, lunging in round circles, in good muscle tone and weight, and have a shiny coat to boot! I am currently keeping her barefoot, but we might end up wearing some plastic shoes at some point because the ground gets so brittle. I'm still trying to learn all I can about barefoot horses and I have plans to buy or try a bitless bridle. I think we'll even be able to show W/T in August!

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! This series is new and can't get underway without YOU! Gogo wants you to!)

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Sunday Success Stories

((Quelle horreur!! You say I haven't done my End of June Analysis yet?? Nor have I finished my next post on Gogo's feet?? O what a world!! Don't worry, it will be soon!))

Were you to ask your typical horse-crazy kid what their first horse was, the answer is usually one of three things: a pony, a former school/lesson horse or a dead-broke packer. The answer is rarely (OK, never) "that crazy old Thoroughbred gelding from the back pasture". Take a guess at which one I ended up with.

Ernie is a 29-going-on-4 year old former TB racehorse. When I say former racehorse, I mean he was an absolute racing fail. If his racing name, "Crohn of My Own" isn't bad enough, try this one: of a whopping three races entered, he was DQ'ed from one for busting through the gate, walked off the trailer lame and scratched from another, and acted so wired at the other that the trainer threw in the towel and retired him altogether. From there he went to a big H/J training farm in Maryland where he was to be turned into a jumper, which turned out to be another miserable fail when the trainer found out he hated to jump. From there spans a period of over a decade years during which I know nothing about where he was, what he was used for, or who owned him. All attempts to contact former owners listed on the back of his Jockey registrations papers have failed. I met him in the fall of 2000 after I began taking lessons at a H/J barn a few miles from my house. The barn owner had bought him thinking he'd be a good modified equitation lesson horse, and had gotten an old, angry, beat up horse with no real trust in people.

I was never really supposed to buy a horse, especially being a kid and not terribly learned in the saddle. However, Ernie was the perfect price: free. After leasing him for two years, I was in love. He was (and still is) everything most people hate about Thoroughbreds: nervous, anxiety-prone, terribly herd-bound, a chronic weaver when stalled or upset, and with a questionable history, the combination of which make for a horrible sale possibility. I told Wanda, the barn owner at the time (who is now my boss and dear friend) to make up a contract. The sale agreement said the price was $1: to this day Wanda jokes that she never did get her dollar.

As for the riding, it was always interesting, and still is. I started as a green rider on a highly strung and unhappy animal. Ernie came with an extremely cold back, all sorts of cervical/vertebral issues in his neck, hips that went out with the slightest jump sideways and no real muscle tone to speak of. He rode with his head up, back out, ears pinned and short strides. I began work with a dressage instructor, and slowly but surely we convinced him that it was okay to relax, and began the slow, long journey towards a proper rehab. We've had our ups and downs since then: in the ten years or so I've known/owned Ernie, he's torn his RH suspensory twice, faced full retirement once, gone missing for nearly a full day in early winter, put the barn through his head (quite literally: he drove a shard of wood into the fat pad above his eye, and somehow suffered no damage to anything), and pulled countless shoes. However, he's still in work 3-4 days a week playing lightly with 1st and 2nd level dressage.

At almost 30, Ernie is as feisty as he was when I first met him, but he's learned to trust me and my judgment. We've grown like an old married couple; we know what buttons to push (and which ones not to), we put up with each others bad habits, and I am humbly reminded every day that I am only human. Ernie has in every way earned his status as my life-er horse; I made a promise to him when we found him after he'd busted through a barbed wire fence last November and gone missing that he would be with me until the day he decided to leave this world. I pray every day that he stays with me many more years.

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! This series is new and can't get underway without YOU! Gogo wants you to!)

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Sunday Success Stories

((Left: Sofie at first.))
My horse was all wrong when I finally found her. She was the glaring opposite of everything I should have been looking for. But she was meant to be mine, and intangible yet indisputable forces conspired to bring me to that obese, hard-edged trail horse with the bulging underneck muscles and the obvious chip on her hefty shoulders, so that I could see her ridden on a field of hard packed snow. See the incredibly ground-covering walk, the forward trot, the uphill canter. The potential. I felt it as I rode her, the raw, unharnessed potential. The people who were selling her saw it, too. They saw her with new eyes as I dismounted and led her back onto the glare ice that covered the yard. She walked across it on her ugly hooves, cracked and overgrown from six months of neglect. She never faltered.

I found her just in time. Another seventy-two hours, and she would have been taken to a home that was not really hers, physical problems undiagnosed. Psychological scars unaddressed. Potential unreached.

I didn’t unearth the cause of the symptoms right away. The anxiety that permeated our every interaction. How she could be so good at the walk but whenever I rode her at a trot, she rushed in a frantic tempo, sometimes breaking into a canter or throwing in a random tight turn. I blamed myself. I wasn’t a good enough rider, I was too afraid. I was making her worse. I was to learn that what seems to be a training or mental problem is often physical.

It took Annie, a slender, wiry barefoot trimmer about two seconds to give me an answer. “This horse has no sole.” I held Sofie’s lead rope and learned what it must be like to be riding along without a care in the world, and suddenly feel your horse go dead lame in all four legs. The cause of the rushing became horrifyingly clear. “She’s trying to stay off her feet,” Annie said. The guilt I felt was heartbreaking. I was the kind of rider who is ever focused on the welfare of the horse, to an almost debilitating degree. I became fixated on every mistake I made, however slight, and it was incredibly difficult to forgive myself and move on. I often ended rides in tears, and I couldn’t let a bad ride go until I’d had a chance to do better. To know that I had ridden my horse for more than three months, pounding her pathetic excuses for feet, crushed me. I had always known her feet didn’t look good, I had always known they were completely flat and they didn’t really look right, but two conventional farriers had worked on her, and they had never said a single word about thin soles. But now I had someone who could help me help Sofie.

For a month, I handwalked Sofie for an hour on soft ground, walking as many straight lines and as few turns as possible. That was to be her only exercise as her soles grew. We had Annie cast her hooves to help cushion her feet and allow her to grow more sole, and during the casting process, Sofie changed from a horse that resisted and charged down the aisle in response to the new sensations to a quiet, willing horse who stood with her lead rope on the ground, completely free, letting Annie help her. When the hoof casts came off, we saw that Sofie had grown sole and achieved concavity, and Annie declared her rideable. That night, though, I just played with her in the arena, and cried from the joy of her movement and expression.

The first rides were all I could have dreamed of. But I was thrilled with my new horse, and Sofie was thrilled with her new feet, and we overdid it. She became sour and resistant, and we realized she had no topline and we needed to build her up before adding my weight. Back to groundwork. When I started riding again, I proceeded slowly. She had a lot of muscle tension and pain from dragging herself around with her front end and trying to stay off her feet, and she wasn’t shy about letting me know how she felt about it. It was a long process, but eventually her “baditude” diminished. By fall, things were really coming together. October and November were beautiful, and I enjoyed many good rides.

When winter hit, it roughed Sofie up a little. The cold stiffened her up and made her residual aches and pains a little more insistent. But with Devil’s Claw and massages, we got through it, and our training progressed. She started learning to stretch down at the trot, proving how far she’d come. When the weather was good, we left the arena and rode out in the snow. We both loved our snow rides, and as spring arrived, she was undoubtedly in the best shape of her life. But then we started to have problems. The rushing started again, but only when I rode her out in the deep snow. I diagnosed it as barn sourness, a training fail on my part.

One day, as I trotted her in a circle in part of the yard that had melted out, Sofie’s hind feet both landed on a small patch of slick snow. She slipped. I fell clear, and a millisecond later she went down, flat on her side. She got up, seeming to favor her right leg at first, but she seemed to work out of it. I rode her lightly a couple of times after that, and she resisted going into the trot at first, but worked through it. Then I went ahead with a lesson I had scheduled. It was to be the first lesson I took on her, and it was a huge mistake.

Sofie was not at her best, and neither was I, after getting up at 5:30 AM to clean a barn. The lesson was at 5:30 PM. I told the trainer many things about Sofie. That she had fallen three days before. That I didn’t want to push her too hard. How she gets bored easily and needs variety. The trainer didn’t listen to me at all. She kept asking me, “How do you know?” Because Sofie is a great communicator! I felt like screaming. She’s communicating right now, can’t you see? This trainer decided my horse was just being a bitchy mare, that she just had a bad attitude. That she just didn’t want to do it. I tried to tell her my horse isn’t like that all the time, only when she hurts. But she wouldn’t listen. She pushed me. She made me push my horse. I was weak; I didn’t stop it. I regret that.

After that lesson, I couldn’t ride Sofie at a trot. She was angry, and I could feel her working up to an explosion. I had her examined by a vet. She failed both hind flexion tests. Hocks. We had her injected on the advice of a vet I never liked or trusted. The bill was staggering, the initial aftermath for Sofie wasn’t pretty, and the injections didn’t work. She got even stiffer behind, and her demeanor darkened. There were days when she couldn’t even walk around the yard comfortably. I thought I was going to lose her. If her quality of life didn’t improve, I knew I would have to.

We had x-rays done by our local vet. When we went in to see them, he just shook his head and said “Read ‘em and weep.” The x-rays showed she had advanced arthritis in her right hock (we didn’t have the left one x-rayed). His answer to the question “What can we do with her?” was simply, “Not much.” He said walking, maybe, under saddle. He said try any supplement you want, and hope for fusion.

We put Sofie on a broad-spectrum, senior joint supplement, and she began to improve. After five weeks, I started riding her again, and we’ve had two great months. At first, she would act up at the trot, even if trotting was her own decision. But I learned to ride through her antics. I gave up the lingering fear that once forced me to take a year off from riding after I was bucked off a school horse. I learned how to coax her into doing what she didn’t want to do, rather than giving up or getting mad. I learned how to think in the saddle and ride alone, without an instructor or parent holding my hand and talking me through everything. For years, people kept telling me I was a good rider, that I just needed more confidence. I am more confident now than ever before, thanks to Sofie.

It hasn’t been easy. There have been times when I was sure I made a big mistake. But getting Sofie was the right decision, the only decision. We needed each other. She needed someone to see her special qualities, her potential. Someone to uncover the real cause of the unflattering symptoms. Someone to love her.

((Right: Sophie now!))
And I needed her, too. Not just because I needed a horse to love and train that was truly mine. Sofie helped me let go of the overwhelming need for perfection that had robbed me of so much joy over the years. She helped me let go of it during all those hours I spent leading her around the yard as she grew sole. She helped me let go of it when I started riding her again after learning about her hocks, when a few steps of trot without head-twisting, ear-pinning resistance were cause for celebration. She helped me let go of it when she became my friend, and I realized that is the most important thing of all. As long as I can consider her my friend, nothing else matters.

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! This series is new and can't get underway without YOU! Gogo wants you to!)

Update on Gogo's feet... tomorrow!!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Sunday Success Stories

I was not horse shopping. I was leasing an awesome ex-eventer named Yukon and loved him dearly. I went to the Enumclaw Auction for the tack. I joked that I left my check book at home on purpose. Good thing they take Discover!

We got there late and I decided to wander around and look at the horses. I knew it would depress me, but I figured I could love on them and hopefully make them feel better. I counted the horses and wished each of them luck. At number 32 I saw her. Head down, and nose in the corner of her "stall (cell?)" She looked so sad. She perked up when she saw me and gave me this look. This look that said, "Lady I don't know you, and you don't know me, but I need out of here now." I talked to her owner and she told me that she was a 3 year old Appendix. I didn't care what she was, I felt a connection to her and new that she couldn't go out of the auction to a feed lot.

Next thing I knew I was standing in line to pay for my black/bay mare with my Discover Card. We loaded her up and took her home. Somewhere between Enumclaw and Redmond the ACE wore off and I unloaded a wild animal. She was scared, she was crazy, and she was beautiful. She galloped around the arena and it seemed to take hours for her to finally calm down. She wouldn't let anyone near her and she'd kick if they tried. We seemed to have an understanding, and I was able to get a halter on her and we worked on leading. In the next few days all I needed to know about my new horse, Denali, would come into light. She threw a shoe, I found her tattoo, and realized just how much over my head I was. My 3 year old Appendix was really a 4 year old Thoroughbred. I called the Jockey Club and found out her registered name was "Storm City Slew."

I contacted her trainer at Emerald Downs and he cried when I told him where I bought her from. I found out that wife of the most winningest jockey at Emerald Downs promised her a forever home. That lasted for about 4 hours and then she went to the auction.

We worked on natural horsemanship and she grew to trust me. Two months later, September 2008, I moved to Denmark. I left her with a friend and thought about her every single day. All day. I came home in January 2009 to a totally different horse. She was 200 pounds under weight and spooked at everything. EVERYTHING. She would try to kick me any chance she had. She was depressed, and very upset. She hadn't been turned out in more than a paddock, and had no muscle tone.

I quickly moved her to a new barn when my issues started. I was terrified of her. I bawled when the trailer came to pick her up. I couldn't even load her. My dream horse, the horse I had worked so hard with to trust me, was angry and unsafe.

Through lots of time off, and re-starting her undersaddle she's come back around. She is amazing undersaddle and works hard. I'm still getting over my fear issues of her, but love her more than anything. In September she hurt her leg, in October she was diagnosed with EPM and was successfully treated and now she tore her suspensory. I can't tell you how much money I've spent on her, I refuse to add it up again. I can tell you that neither of us are perfect, but that we've both been through hell. We're still going through it. I hope to ride out on the other side with her.

There is much more to be read over at Green N' Green = Black N' Blue. Denali and Gogo have some pretty similar tendencies, I can tell you that!! Send all your healing thoughts over to Denali and her momma, they need them now for sure!

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! This series is new and can't get underway without YOU! Gogo wants you to!)

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Sunday Success Stories

“Khopy,” nicknamed after his sire, a Khemosabi son, Kharbon Khopy, was run through the New Holland Auction in September of 2008 with a copy of his Registration papers so I was able to track down his breeder and get some answers. I spoke to Khopy's breeder and had a nice one hour conversation with her about this beautiful boy. She is extremely grateful he was spared!!! And of course, she was horrified that he ended up at the New Holland auction. How did this champion get there? Another one slip through the cracks, and nearly into the hands of a meat buyer! Thank you AC4H for seeing something special in this boy! I wanted to share his story with you.

Deb said that by age 2, Khopy was already winning halter classes and doing very well as a show horse. She never planned on selling him but apparently had a bad riding accident in which her Dr. told her no more riding. She originally sold Khopy to a good friend of hers in the show circuit. That friend sent Khopy to a trainer in West Virginia to be broke and started under saddle. Two months later his new owner went to check on him. Khopy was severely underweight and had several serious lacerations. She took him home right then and there, and took him back to Deb's for rehabilitation. Deb said he was a different horse after that; broken spirit, head hung low, non-responsive, etc.. Deb then decided with the friend’s permission, to keep Khopy as he was too "ruined" to be broke at that point. Deb then got him healthy and as back to normal as she could.

Deb said they use to have nice get together with the boarders and friends every Sunday at her farm. Her husband invited a man he worked with, and his wife. The woman fell madly in love with Khopy and wanted to buy him, but he wasn't for sale. She begged Deb but Deb told her the horse had been damaged and would be hard to break and didn't think she had the experience to take him. She assured Deb she had enough horse experience, and would send him back to Deb should he not work out. After some time she realized Khopy was too much horse for her, and was scared to try and break him. She then sold Khopy to a girl in her early 20's in PA. She only had him about four months when she decided she didn't want him and dumped him at New Holland- The biggest slaughter auction North of the Mississippi.

Khopy was rescued from the kill pen by Another Chance for Horse Rescues in Pennsylvania, who recognized something special in him. He was then sent to a woman who specializes in Arabians rescued from New Holland. She gave Khopy the necessary time to decompress, and then sent him to Idaho to be re-started the right way.

This is where fate stepped in and worked out a deal that I could not resist. I brought Khopy home in January of 2010. He is everything I hoped for and I cannot imagine the suffering he has gone through in his short life. He is now spoiled, adored and safe. We continue to work through “issues,” but are making progress daily. Our bond is developing deeper every day.

Here is Khopy and his momma today....

And let's not forget those feet!!

From January (left) until now (right). Amazing!!

(Send your submissions and stories to EventingAGogo@gmail.com! This series is new and can't get underway without YOU! Gogo wants you to!)