Benchmark Sport Horses
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Benchmark Sport Horses

Focused on offering top quality thoroughbreds for sport, from directly off the track to let down and carefully 
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Euthansia

7/5/2020

2 Comments

 
Generally, I have thick skin as this horse business is just plain brutal and you have to let things just roll off your back if you want to survive it. However, I have to say that I have had some sleepless nights this week all because a comment a fellow peer made regarding a horse that I had to euthanize. Essentially it was along the lines that I euthanize horses because I have high performance clients and I don’t take the time to network these horses that maybe can’t have high performance job because I lack the clientele for them. They felt the horse I euthanized was not a horse that should have been euthanized because he had more life to live and that a horse with similar radiographs to mine is currently a lesson horse and is fine. They even posted something about their horse saying it took eight months for his ankle to fuse together..ouch..but unlike some people they didnt put him down. I think I was just still really raw and in a sensitive place about having to euthanize a horse that was just plain awesome. A horse that I had a home lined up for but instead decided to euthanize because I felt it was the right thing to do. Financially it cost me a lot more money to euthanize than just saying oh I got him a home and he's doing awesome because maybe he would have done okay for a few years...but maybe not?? I listen to my vets. I get second opinions. I take the ultimate responsibility for any horse that comes here and I don't pass that on to anyone else to do for me if I can help it.

I want to back up a little bit here because I think a lot of people might not know my history. I grew up in a family that was heavily involved in the racing industry. My stepfather was one of the leading trainers for many years at one of the big tracks here on the East Coast. We had an extremely large stable of racehorses at the track. We had a high volume of horses on the farm. Broodmares, young horses, horses on layup, etc. My mom did the layups, ran a lesson program, did retraining and everything in between.

In the 1980’s, horses went to New Holland (our closest auction) from the track weekly. Horses that my family genuinely loved and made money on went straight to auction. I did not really understand it at the time. Not all of them had soundness issues. I think it was just perhaps harder to network them into homes. There were not many non-profit groups, no internet and just lack of awareness. It did not seem to me like people cared that horses might end up being slaughtered. It was just what everyone did.

I was not ok with this and as I got older and started to formulate my own views, I decided that I didn’t want to be involved with racing and instead I wanted to do the retraining/rehoming. I started making up my own sales horses in the late 90’s to help pay for college. After I graduated, I started to work for Canter Mid Atlantic retraining/rehoming horses for their 501c program. I also started the CANTER branch at Delaware Park making track visits weekly listing horses for trainers, coordinating intake of horses into the CANTER program and retraining and rehoming the horses in the program. I saw a lot of horses. Horses in every barn at that track. You see things that most people never get to see both good and bad. It absolutely influences your beliefs on what is humane and what is not humane.

I think it is important to know that I really respect racing and love most people involved in the industry. I think the care of the horses is incredible. They are treated like top athletes. The are fed the best of the best. They are bedded in deep stalls to keep them comfortable. They horses are extremely pampered in terms of their care. Fans on in hot weather. Blankets in cold weather. Their feet are done, teeth, acupuncture, chiro and so much more. People love their horses. You only need to spend time on the backside of the track to see the love they have for their animals and the care they give to them. The majority of the owners/trainers stop running horses that aren’t fast or have soundness issues. They do their best to ensure they horses can move into new careers. Yes, acute injuries do happen, but they happen to our riding horses as well.

What I do have issues with are the people that knowingly medicate unsound horses to keep them running through injuries. People that don’t do the vet work needed to diagnose injuries. Those who keep running horses instead of retiring them when they know a horse isn’t sound or simply isn’t fast. The one more race syndrome can make or break whether that horse has a future as a riding horse or not. I have seen the result of what happens when you just keep going. Let me tell you what it sounds like to hear a horse that has no cartilage left in knees/ankles…bone grinding on bone.

Did you know that for all the big thoroughbred non-profit groups to receive funding they must adhere to the American Associate of Equine Practitioners guidelines on euthanasia? Those guidelines are found here- https://aaep.org/guidelines/euthanasia-guidelines. These rescues want to be accredit by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) and they must follow the code of standards- https://www.thoroughbredaftercare.org/code-of-standards/.

Why is euthanasia a dirty word? Why do people not want to stand up and talk about it? I talk about it and I talk about it frequently because I think it is a very important topic in our industry/business/etc. Horses need humans to be their advocates. If everyone wants to be hush hush about euthanasia than we have a long way to go as advocates to these horses. I have a lot of views on this topic and I have to say I am passionate about those views. I always say that perhaps I am such an advocate for euthanasia because I believe there are so many worse fates for these animals we profess to love so much.

I can’t tell you how many times I walked the backside of the track and horses were pulled out of stalls for me to list for sale and they were crippled. I would ask do they have xrays? What is the issue? The answer would be…oh they have a “knee,” an “ankle,” it’s on it’s 2nd bow in the same tendon, it has a fracture that needs to be repaired and so on and so forth. This would be followed by well it would be a nice trail horse…kids horse…4-H horse, etc. In the age of the internet I feared putting the horse out there at a cheap price because there are people that see free/cheap and take them right to auction for a couple hundred bucks. I would give my sometimes the kindest thing we can do is euthanize speech so many times saying the chance of the horse finding a quality home was very unlikely.

I euthanize horses. I am comfortable with that being part of a responsible sales programs code of ethics. I do not euthanize very many horses now that I run my own sales program because I can be a lot more selective. However, when I was involved with a very responsible 501c group we had to euthanize a lot more. Let me make it clear right now….nobody wants to euthanize horses. That is not our mission and something we all hope to avoid. The whole part about being an advocate for your horses is what demands euthanasia should be part of every responsible program whether for profit or non-profit.

Decision are not made in a bubble. For every single horse that I have ever been involved in euthanizing there was much conversation between vets, surgeons and all the key players. I do not think any respectable vet will recommend euthanasia if they 100% do not feel it is the right call to make. Nor do I think any respectable vet will allow someone to just euthanize a horse that could have a future.

My general policy here is that I euthanize horses that I deem dangerous for whatever reason. It could be on the ground or it could be under saddle but as a responsible reseller I need to feel comfortable that a horse will not purposely hurt someone. I will do everything in my power to rehab a horse to the point of being safe or I will rehome horses that I think can become safe with an exceptionally large disclosure. I have had horses that I felt should not be part of society. That is a judgement call, but I trust my instincts.

When I have horses with physical issues, I do a veterinary workup. That might involve my local vets, trips to larger vet hospitals and lots of diagnostic work. We often get 2nd and 3rd opinions. My general rule of thumb is that a horse must be able to be at least trail horse sound. If it has value as a broodmare, I will do my best to find it a quality home. Emphasis on quality home. It cannot be a horse that will become extremely painful in the near future. It needs to be able to live comfortably without heavy medication and live like a normal horse.

I absolutely run a profitable business, but I do not put horses down just because they will cost me money to rehab and fix. If I can fix it then I will fix it. If I think I can find someone that can give it a lower level home than I absolutely will do that. At the same time, I think it is important to respect the veterinary professionals when they tell you that no matter how much money you spend the horse likely won’t be fixable. I had to euthanize a horse with extremely bad pleural pneumonia. I had to euthanize one that was completely blind in one eye and almost blind in another. Those are clearer cases where the vets do not think a horse will have quality of life or be a horse I can responsibly rehome. We have euthanized the majority of horses because they had injuries that were causing or would soon be causing them to be extremely painful. Chips in joints that couldn’t be removed and had extensive arthritis, cartilage that is just completely gone, fractures that couldn’t be repaired or didn’t make sense to repair, ligament/tendon injuries that were so extensive a horse likely would never have a future as a trail horse and some were just horses that we tried to fix and they wouldn’t heal for whatever reason.

What does responsible rehoming mean to you? We see so many horses that aren’t sound, don’t have a veterinary workup and have an unknown future. Is selling them/adopting them/giving them away the right thing to do? Sometimes I feel like we champion “finding them homes” instead of humane euthanasia. Define a quality home because that is a very gray area in my opinion. You see I am a believer that thoroughbreds are the absolute best breed and you won’t change my mind 😊 I do think that they flourish when kept/fed/conditioned in a certain way. If you try to change what they are used to then problems arise. Many hate living outside in field board situations. Many are absolutely crippled when shoes are removed and people force them to be barefoot. They lose weight, limp around and are absolutely miserable. Many require extensive calories that can’t be provided in certain homes nor can they be afforded. Thoroughbreds are not inexpensive to own. They aren’t like some horse that get fat on air, can tolerate living outside with bugs/etc, go barefoot, etc. They end up with people that aren’t educated in riding them/retraining them/don’t fit tack properly, etc. I guess you could say that I feel strongly about where my horses end up and for me just getting them a home is quite complicated. I believe that giving a horse a humane ending is often the better choice than the unknown. Now I know a lot of that that I just said is subjective and not all thoroughbreds have issues with these things but it is something to consider.

You may say well why can’t they find homes? I suppose my experiences make me jaded but a lot of the people that want a cheap horse really don’t understand limitations. Say you have a horse that should only be a walk/trot horse because it has xyz injury. You thought you got it a great home but these people are jumping it every single day. The horse becomes extremely crippled. Now its suffering but hey you got it a home. I am not trying to stereotype but the performance homes that often are best equipped to have success with thoroughbreds very rarely will take horses with extensive injuries. So then you are faced with trying to get a horse with limitations into a home with people that will respect those limitations. Maybe the person you rehome it to will respect them but what if they get married/divorced/move/have kids/etc and sell the horse. The next person comes along and boom the horse is suddenly lame and they don’t want it. Then it’s passed along. Maybe it’s rescued. Maybe it’s in the slaughter pipeline. Lots of things can happen. Those of you who think that pasture homes exist, I want you to prove it. I have been involved in rehoming/reselling horses for a very long time. I have more contacts that most people. It’s just plain hard to find people that truly will take a horse that is only pasture sound and give it the quality of care that I think is appropriate. Again, quality of care because giving a horse away where it will not get proper quality of care is worse than death in my opinion.

So what is so bad/wrong with euthanasia? Have you been involved in euthanasia? Have you seen a horse put down? I ask that honestly because sometimes I wonder if the people shouting about how horses have more life to give couldn’t just stop to see euthanasia as the greatest gift we can give to an animal. We end their suffering. We guarantee they will never starve, feel pain, be passed along, etc. For me it is a sense of relief. Maybe that is not the way others view it but sense of relief to not ever have to worry about where a horse ends up. I make the tough decision to say I will not allow the responsibility to be anybody but my own. I can’t trust other people to euthanize a horse that might need it so it is up to me. I would be horrified if a horse of mine ended up somewhere bad and the thing is that our society views horses with issues as throwaway objects. Everyone wants perfect. Horses that aren’t perfect are often disposable and I would be horrified if a horse of mine ever ended up standing at an auction/kill pen/etc because I do believe it is often because someone would rather just “get them a home” than give them a humane ending.

When we have to euthanize a horse we stuff the horses full of their favorite meals. We spend time with them. The vet tranquilizes them, so they are nice and relaxed. They don’t feel the euthanasia solution. They fall gently typically guided by the vet. We talk to them while we wait for their heart to stop. There is nothing sad about this. One minute they were eating grass happily and then they are gone. They don’t anticipate it. They don’t think oh geez they are killing me today. They don’t care that they possibly have a few more years to give to someone. Who gets to define if a horse has a few more years to give? Maybe it does but maybe it doesn’t? When a vet/surgeon tells me that this horse will not recover, and it will be painful than it is my role as a responsible owner to be the advocate for my horse. I don’t think we always can see when a horse is painful, so I also do not try to hold off for the inevitable. I do not believe in suffering or making my responsibly someone else’s responsibility. A horse doesn’t think oh but I could live another year. They absolutely do not know you are going to euthanize them.
I am not numb to this nor will I ever become numb. It is always an emotional process. I never take it lightly. You can’t shame me. I absolutely refuse to be shamed for doing right by my horses.

I have lost some clients/customers/etc because of my beliefs but I have also gained some. I often believe that if I showed you what truly happens to horses you think got good homes maybe you might be a bit more open minded on the topic.
2 Comments

What do resellers do when there are findings on a vetting?

9/14/2016

1 Comment

 
The reality of buying and selling horses is that you can't have xray vision and there are going to be times when you get some surprises on a vetting. Any person who does a high volume of sales and says all their horses pass vettings is not being honest.

I don't vet the horses that I buy because it simply doesn't make financial sense in my business model. There are times that I will xray a horse after I buy it just to have a set of films if I think buyers may question something (mainly ankles). I try to cut down on the risk by only buying from people that I know and trust and researching every horse using every piece of information possible (google, race record, forums, trainers info, jockey info, etc). I look closely at the pictures and video of the horses. I try very hard NOT to buy horses with lumpy ankles unless they have xrays available as I do find ankles tend to be where I find the most issues. Knees can be a bit harder because you can't always see calcification or changes in the pictures but I do ask for side and front view of the legs. I won't discount a horse that appears to be body sore but there is a difference between that and lame and I think it takes an educated eye to tell the difference. If I have a choice between one that jogs down great and another that looks like it will need a few months of turnout then it is an obvious choice which direction I will go.  In my experience, good trainers know the horses well and will tell you if something is bugging them or if they have had an issue. I know the trainers that I deal with don't inject/tap and medicate to get them to the races. I have done enough networking/homework that I only deal with people who I trust. Trust me when I say I have done my time and been burned enough times to get a well earned education in who to steer away from and quite a few of those that I will never ever buy from are frequent sellers on the many facebook groups.
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No matter how hard you try there are going to be horses that come up with issues upon vetting. This lovely horse in this set of pictures is one that I bought from a super trainer. She said he was sound, has steeplechased, hunted, trail ridden, been xc and much more. He was an absolute rock star. Super brain, sound as can be, good feet and just a horse that anybody could ride. He had steeplechased without issues which we know is hard work. Both ankles had some calcification on the outside and upon vetting one was just an osselet and the other one had some chips in there that had been there a long time. The vet who did the vetting said the horse was very sound to be lunged, flexed and ridden and likely would hold up with no issues but there was arthritis and the chips couldn't be removed. The buyer passed and I totally understood. I kept him for a while as my personal horse but I decided to rehome him. I wrote a really honest ad about him and posted it to facebook and had a long line of interested clients.  My friend mentioned she needed another horse to hunt and he went to her. Just saw him at a horse show this weekend and he was rocking it!  

I had another lovely 3yr come in this year that had only ran a few times and was just as slow as could be. He looked absolutely perfect from the outside. Flexed sound. Lunged sound. Never had an issue his whole life. Owned by his breeder. Upon vetting both ankles had small ocd chips in the front. They were smooth, round and the joint was quiet. Likely had been there his whole life. I had paid $2500 for the horse but now I was presented with a horse with an ocd in both ankles. What do you do? I offered him for free to the people who vetted him and they chose to have them removed as it was an easy surgery. They looked at it like all horses have something but his joints were clean and he had no damage so they would easily spend $5k on another horse as nice as this horse plus the risk of vetting a lot more horses just to run into the same issues upon vetting. They took the horse and had the surgery done and he is doing super. Now would most people do that? Likely not but I could see their reasoning.

Recently, I had a horse vetted that also had a ocd chip in the front of the ankle. It was also smooth, round and the joint was quiet. The buyer passed so I reached out to a few of my contacts that I know don't mind a quiet chip and he was purchased for a price lower than I paid for him but someone felt lucky to get a nice horse. They could do the surgery if they wanted to but they may also just leave it.

When findings show up on horses I do disclose them to future buyers. Sometimes they are just so minor that I don't find them to be any cause for concern. What some buyers find to be a big deal others won't even be bothered by! I had a buyer pass because a horse had a scar on his chest and old pinfire marks on his hocks. She was doing resale and thought future buyers might find it to be an issue and I understood but we couldn't fault the horse for that. If I have xrays available then I will provide them with horses. Many people will allow you to have the xrays from their PPE and others will not but you can at least say the horse was vetted and this is what was found.

Vettings are always very subjective. They are just a glimpse at a horse at a moment in time. I have had horses fail vettings because they flex off and later the horse is fine and passes another vetting with totally clean xrays. It isn't the vet's fault because maybe the horse just wasn't quite right that particular day. In those cases I am not going to disclose anything because I know the horse is sound and just was off for whatever particular reason. I have had horses do dumb stuff like tweak something in the field and be sore for two weeks and then be perfectly fine or ill timed abscesses that don't necessarily present themselves enough to conclude that is the issue. I think you do your best to know your horses and be honest but at the same time realize that horses are not machines and things do come up that are not a big deal. Some vets will find something on a xray that they think is a big deal and another vet doesn't feel bothered by it at all. In those cases all you can do is present the information to future buyers and let their vets sort it out.

I do spend some time thinking about horses that I personally know have been vetted by friends and customers that have fairly major issues and are unsound (which to me is a big deal...because being sound with a finding is different that being unsound with a finding) yet are still being marketed at the same price and said to be sound. No mention of the issue despite the seller knowing that the issue is there. I mean if the horse has a fracture how can you advertise it as sound? That kind of stuff really bothers me when there are plenty of good sellers out there that I know will do the right thing even when it means losing money, giving a horse away or euthanizing a horse because it is the right thing to do. None of us are perfect. I have sold horses that later were discovered to have issues or have things turn up but I can honestly say I really didn't know about them. If I know then I am disclosing it! All I can say is do your research. Nobody is perfect but look to see if a person has a history of disclosing issues on horses when they are found or if they try to sweep things under the rug.
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This lovely horse was one that was owned by his breeder his whole life and never took a bad step. He was unraced because he had a minor tendon strain. Very sound but upon vetting he went lame on flexions and I was totally perplexed as he never took a bad step to ride. Xrays showed he likely had a suspensory strain (not a tendon strain) 4rs ago in race training that popped a small chip off the sesamoid bone. It was floating so when you flexed it he came up sore but it was not near the joint, the suspensory wasn't bothered and it likely wouldn't cause an issue. A friend bought him cheap and then her vet took over the ride. In a few short months he started competing and is doing great. Just goes to show you that the right buyer might find the risk very worthwhile.
1 Comment

Where do I find my horses?

5/26/2016

4 Comments

 
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I was recently interviewed for the magazine published by the Retired Racehorse Project https://www.retiredracehorseproject.org/join-ottb-magazine and one of the questions was where do you find your horses?

I typically buy about 35 horses a year and very rarely do I ever get to look at them in person before I buy them. The majority of the horses that I buy come from well established connections at various tracks. These are trainers that I know and trust. Some are new connections that have come recommended from people that I do highly trust.  I do buy from other resellers if the price is right. I will shop on facebook trying to find the obscure horses that nobody else has seen yet but will be a great buy. I have some local breeders that I work with as well who I get several from each year. It has taken years to develop good connections and I am constantly working to find more. In the past two years, I have been getting a lot of calls from various people at the tracks or in the industry saying that they have been referred to me because I am someone who is easy to work with and does a good job placing horses. That really means a lot to me and I have always tried to do right by everyone. Being a sight unseen buyer is very risky. It often means buying horses based off a phone call or a picture. I often have bought the horse before I have ever seen it move. I am sometimes sending money to people that I don't even know! I will tell you that many times I get the call before other people do because I am willing to buy and ship a horse very quickly. In a hot market being able to make a deal quick is often how I get the really good horses. They know that I am not going to make them jump through hoops and for many track connections they simply don't have time to mess with anyone who can't make something happen very quickly. They love their horses but a slow horse is taking up a stall of something that could be earning money. When a horse needs to move it needs to move very quickly. I have many connections that I know so well that if they call I just send them the money and know I am getting something really good. It is a bit of a crazy way of doing business but it sure is fun! It is like Christmas every time a new horse comes into the farm.


I try to stick to my criteria- 3-7yr geldings, 15.3 h and up, sound with no vices and something that will really stand out among the other horses. I trying to buy something special enough that it has potential for the upper levels of the various disciplines. I know you are thinking well how can you tell that? The reality is that nobody truly can tell until a horse is actually competing at that level but I look for good conformation, good feet, pedigree, a solid race record and a horse that moves well enough to be competitive. I have been involved in the TB industry for a long time so I have gotten pretty good at identifying which bloodlines that I really like for sport and most of the time it is very accurate. I want to buy the horses that are in such good shape that they don't need extensive let down. They are physically and mentally happy which makes transition to a new job simple. If you buy from the right people this typically is the case. Most of the horses that I buy arrive in such good condition that they could hit the show ring the next day. I also am very detailed when I look at a horses race record. I never agree to take a horse until I have seen it's breeding and race record. I just want to look for anything that might stand out to tell me a horse has had a soundness issue or some other issue. Many times people can explain a gap in the record and that I am okay with but if it is an unknown I will often pass because it is important that a horse be able to pass a future PPE.

That brings up another topic of PPE's. I do not get PPE's on the horses that I buy. I don't recommend that for the majority of buyers but when you run a business sometimes it comes down to economics. I couldn't afford to PPE everything that I buy. I rely on my very educated connections to be my eyes on the horses. They have incentive to only sell me horses that will pass future PPE's. I do evaluate a horse in pictures and I can tell a lot from a picture. I won't buy horses that have osselets or anything structural that I can see on a picture. That picture may be all that I have to go on so I have to use my gut feeling. If a seller has xrays on a horse and osselets are just osselets then I will consider buying the horse if the price is right but I always find them a bit tougher to resell because buyers are visual. If I don't know the seller I will ask for a video. I can't tell you how many horses appear to be unsound in the videos that I get. I have a very educated eye for soundness and if a horse doesn't jog sound then I don't take the risk on buying it. I realize that some horses are just track sore but I can typically tell the difference between that and unsoundness. Many horses I buy without ever seeing them move. It's super risky but I am lucky enough to have good connections that typically don't steer me wrong. It is never fail proof but I accept the risk and if things go wrong then it is my responsibility (I have learned good lessons on sellers to avoid though and while buying horses sight unseen is the risk I accept I really detest people who blatantly lie about soundness).

I don't think that any person who sells horses have horses that always pass PPE's. I sometimes have a horse that has a finding upon xrays. However, the majority of them are sound and it may mean they aren't going to be an upper level horse but have a good career in the lower levels. The majority of what has been found that has caused a horse to not pass a PPE is small chips either in ankles or knees. Most of those have been found on xrays and not because a horse isn't sound or doesn't flex sound. I am lucky enough to have my own farm which allows me the flexibility to rest horses as long as needed and take my time. I have gotten horses that sellers lied about and have had injuries that I didn't feel would make them something that I would represent. I am comfortable euthanizing horses that I don't feel can have solid performance careers. I will not sell horses that I don't think will hold up and I don't try to find pasture homes for horses. I personally feel it is the responsible thing to do to only sell horses that have a very good shot at never ending up in a bad place because of soundness issues. None of us can ever prevent the actions of other people but I just feel that I don't want to risk horses being passed along because of unsoundness and have my name involved with it.

In many ways facebook has changed the horse business in my opinion. It is very easy for people to research you and find out information which can be good and bad depending on how you conduct your business. As all of us know...the horse world is a very very small world. I believe in always trying to do the right thing. None of us are perfect but being honest will keep customers coming back and sending all their friends. It works the same for those of us who buy a lot of horses. All my connections want their horses going to someone who will do whatever it takes to sell them into the right home not just any home. My favorite part of the business is seeing the sold horses excelling in their new careers and being able to pass that along to their former connections. 



Undalay with Sean Cully of Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Hunt doubles as a hunt horse and also WON his first junior hunt race :)

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4 Comments

What do you see?

11/5/2014

1 Comment

 
I wanted to write some more on the training of Herbie. I talked about some of the things that I had been doing with him to help him get past his muscle soreness and install the forward button. Helping his body with muscle relaxers and chiropractic. Installing forward on the lunge line using the whip and voice. He had really gotten the lunging down quite nicely. I like using the vienna reins and cluck means go forward. If he delayed it was followed up by the whip. I don't necessarily like using the whip on the horse because it can make them nervous so for the really lazy types I will tap the ground with the whip but there are times when they may need a bit of a pop on the rump to really put the emphasis on move NOW.

I hadn't been riding him because really what was the point? If I couldn't do it on the ground than I likely wasn't going to be able to get him forward while up on him. I just kept plugging away until he had it down and I was impressed with how quick he was learning.

A very good rider who retrains a LOT of Tb's and greenies wanted to come see horses over the weekend and was interested in seeing Herbie. I explained what I had been working with and she was very familiar with the process. She really liked Herbie's conformation, his feet and his movement. He tried all of his tricks from wanting to bulk at the gate, kicking out and bucking in protest of going forward from the leg but she just kept sending him forward. He got better as she went and there were moments of brilliance. He doesn't have much bend to the left especially in the trot so that side of the ring was a bit of a challenge because he wants to bulge in.


I am laughing as I watch this again because he really was trying to say no and she just kept saying you can do this..you will do this..cut the crap.
1 Comment

Shut up and Listen!

10/28/2014

2 Comments

 
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I spent many years retraining horses for CANTER Mid Atlantic and got used to having horses come in for training that already had upward of three months of rest where they just hung in a field with their friends and got to be a horse. They mentally and physically had healed and were ready to start their new jobs for the most part. Every once in a while I would restart a horse that started out really good but then got about a month or so into the work program and decided to let me know that they just weren’t quite ready. Almost every single time it was just a case of new muscles being used and the horse saying OUCH this hurts! Most tend to get past this stage fairly quickly if you listen to them and ease them into the work but others make it quite well known that they aren't real happy.

If you think about the life of a racehorse it is easy to see why retraining them in a new way would cause them to complain a bit. For the most part, racehorses don’t get asked to soften their backs and track under from behind. They don’t do a lot of trotting either. They go out and do a little jog and then maybe a gallop or they might do a faster work. Then they get put back in the stall until they do it again the next day. There isn’t a lot of strengthening work done to create topline or build back muscles. They tend to have these overly bunched up muscled out hind ends from pushing so hard but it’s not the proper kind of pushing! I have seen some horses get very upset about being asked to soften their backs when they physically aren’t capable.

I think one of the most obvious cases was the horse I bought for myself, Lettermans Humor. After 50+ races he retired from the track at the age of 8. He was a really odd type of horse who wasn’t sure about humans but he really understood having a job. I started his retraining and at first he was pretty game to learn new things. He wanted to go in the bridle because most good racehorses that have raced a long time often carry themselves that way. However, I think what happened is that he started using muscles he didn’t know he had and he got PISSSED. He had spent years going a certain way and now I was asking him to bend, soften and use his body and he thought it was really hard and he was sore all over.

You start doing the investigative work. He had xrays of his feet, ankles and knees and they were very clean so you knew that wasn’t the culprit. He took a trip up to New Bolton and the vets there went over him really well and said okay well perhaps add some hind shoes and do some work getting him stronger over his back. He looks weak in the stifles and just a bit stiff but we don’t see anything structurally wrong with him. So hind shoes went on and I tried to keep going but he wasn’t having any of it in the ring. He bucked, kicked out, pinned his ears, wouldn’t go forward and was just grumpy. I told the program director that he was going to be a long term type of project because I couldn’t market him. I just started riding him out of the ring because he was pretty close to violent in the ring and would have been very violent if pushed. I rode him on the trails several times a week and when I wasn’t doing that I was lunging him to get him stronger over his back and let him figure out forward without a rider up. I had a lot of chiropractic work done on him as well! You sort of go well how did a horse who made $200k on the track and raced 50+ times including winning some stakes races not know how to go forward??? Well sometimes they just don’t.  They don’t have the muscles, they don’t have the understanding and when they are asked sometimes it hurts and they just shut down.

So why did I buy this cranky horse who hated flatwork and didn’t know how to go forward? Well out on the trails he gave me a feeling that let me know there was a really nice horse in there. He went forward, round, had a canter to die for and was just overall a great ride. I had hunted him, paper chased him and xc schooled him and he loved being out of the ring! I had seen him free jump and free move and he was absolutely lovely. I knew it was all in there. I just didn’t know how long it would take. I figured I liked a project and nobody else was going to take him on so I would. That horse went from hating dressage..I mean really he thought it was absolute torture…to now being in the top 5 in dressage at the local events. He is now in the ribbons each time out and he is good at flatwork. He is fancy! It just took some time.

I now have a horse following a bit of a similar path and this time it is a sales horse of mine. I am not a non-profit so the goal is to buy the really nice horses that I find on the track or elsewhere and put the initial training into them and rehome them within 90 days. I get their feet fixed, do their teeth, get their minds and bodies happy but I do start riding them fairly soon after I get them home. For most of them, this works just fine. I combine some free jumping, trail riding, light flatwork and some baby jumps to keep the work fun and interesting. I don’t crank on them and I don’t drill them. They are used to having jobs so this is just a different kind of job. However, there is always a horse or two that says they just need more than my basic program J  

Hebe’s Pride is this absolutely lovely 16.2 h 6yr with the sweetest personality. He raced around 28 times and was well managed. His legs look beautiful. He has lovely feet. His conformation is really nice! When Herbie came in he was really really slow in the ring. I am talking whip..spurs and you were still barely moving. He was tight everywhere but not lame. You could just feel the overall tightness. Even with that tightness he wanted to go naturally in the bridle and he has a nice stride. When he started out he was pleasant and tried hard for you. I had gotten him out on the trails and he was a totally different horse. Forward, soft in the bridle and really marching forward. Fancy..really fancy! He jumped logs, did ditches, water, motorcycles passing at 50mph and more. What a great brain! People had come to see him and liked him but found him to be too slow. You just couldn’t get a good read on what he was going to become so nobody took that jump into buying him. He was only about a month off the track at that point and here he was doing baby courses, w/t/c and trail riding in groups. Not bad for 30 days post track. I free jumped him and wow..just lovely. Forward, brave, scopey and just beautiful movement. I loved how he just jumped the barrel and this big black pipe we put under the jump like it was no big deal!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nai5EJLH-CE&list=UU_NO5veTErq4YmhPjhD-vGw

After I made the free jump video everybody wanted to come and see him but it started to backfire. He started to get really angry about the leg and going forward. A bit of this came from buyers who came to ride him and just wanted to jam his head down and kick him. In their defense, if you wanted him to soften to the bridle you really had to kick him to get him to go forward enough to soften his back. He took it but then he got sore in his body which led to him saying I don’t want to work. I often didn’t have enough time to get on him in between to reschool him after buyers would come so he got away with some things..mainly just stopping and saying nope make me go..haha..kick me..I don’t  care…. Buyers just said forget it and let him stop. He learned that! He had just gotten worse.


Okay, time to do some investigating. Vet check was clean but had the chiropractor work on him and he was just out of whack everywhere. She said it is no wonder he is kicking out and doesn’t want to go forward. Once again there is nothing structurally wrong with him but she said all the new muscles that he is using are just causing overall body soreness. Sometimes the fancier moving the horse they more they tend to use all those muscles in places that make them go OUCH!

I had comments all over the place from buyers ranging from he is too big of a mover, he is a terrible mover, he hates work, he is too slow, he is a nice horse that needs more time, he is going to win the dressage, there are some really impressive movements and so on. Some even came back for second rides and on the first ride he would have a good day and then on the second he would be tight and not want to go forward. Even if I knew he was a totally different horse out of the ring..and that he truly loved to work because I could see it in him..I understood completely what people saw and felt. If you haven’t had experience with this stage in horses or you aren’t used to dealing with horses transitioning from the track it would be easy to say the horse just doesn’t like to work and pass him on by.  I know what he feels like out of the ring (impressive!!!) and I have seen him free jump and free move and I know what is in there. It is my job to ensure I do whatever it takes to get him happy and comfortable in his body so he can perform. As a reseller, this isn’t necessarily in my best interest because time is money but when you buy horses you are obligated to do right by them. Thankfully, I only ever buy horses that I believe I will truly enjoy riding because sometimes they do need more time and they stay around longer than you expect. I absolutely love riding Herbie and if I only trail ride him for the rest of the winter it will make me very happy (since I sold everything else in the barn!).  So what do I do with him? I just shut up and listen to him! I think that involves not riding him in the ring much at this point.

I have been lunging him to get his muscles built up and teach him to go forward into the bridle and he looks amazing! You watch him on the lunge and you just think to yourself this is one damn nice horse! Right now you don’t get what you have on the lunge or free when you are riding him but I know it is in there. I am staying up with the chiropractic and some massage. I put him on some muscle relaxers just to help him get past this stage. It’s easy to say well just give him more time off but I have been down this road before and honestly this is not much different than a person doing a couch to 5k program. If you just stop you don’t get better. The muscles are going to hurt. You hurt for a while. You need a slow conditioning program to ease into it. You may take some anti-inflammatories to help you past the worst of it. You have to listen to your body. It would be a lot easier if he could talk to me. I am really trying hard to use all my experience to listen and slowly build him up.

 I am not sure what I do in regards to marketing him or letting people see him. I am fairly frustrated with the process at the moment because I explain to people what is going on in detail and yet they really want to come to see him. Then they just end up putting him down and all the negative comments are making me cranky J It’s not the buyers fault because he is what he is right now and I know that. You can’t convince people that this is just a stage nor do you really want to do that. If you are buying a horse you want to see a horse that is showing you they are capable of doing the job you intend for them to do and he isn’t doing that right now. How long before he does? I am not sure. I think he will tell me so for now I will just keep plugging along with the lunging, trail riding and incorporate some of my tricks into teaching them to go forward in the ring. I will do everything I can to help his muscles relax and get stronger.  We had such an awesome lunging session last night. I get so pumped up and excited about working with these horses. I was so proud of him and his good work yesterday. It just makes you look forward to getting inside their heads and figuring out what makes them tick. I guess you have to enjoy this part of it to do this job but thankfully I really do!

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Is pedigree important?

8/25/2014

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I never gave much thought to bloodlines until the past few years. I had so many horses coming in for retraining and sales that I began to see patterns based on the breeding of the horses and I could compare my experiences to others through various internet forums or resources such as the bloodline brag on the Retired Racehorse Project website found here- http://www.retiredracehorseproject.org/index.php?option=com_sobipro&sid=63:bloodline_brag&Itemid=456

I think as riders we all have types. Do you agree? I prefer horses between 15.2 h - 16h that are short coupled and ride very uphill. Like horses, we each have our own body conformation so it is important to find the right feel for the way you like to ride. I can ride a taller horse if the horse is built in a particular way that fits me. I really struggle to ride a horse with a long neck or a horse with a downhill balance. I think it is my short legs and arms that just make that particular type of horse tough for me to ride well.

Does a horses breeding really tell you about it's rideability/temperament? I am sure there are horses that prove the theory wrong but I think that bloodlines absolutely can determine temperament and rideability. There are a lot of people who HATE storm cat offspring but I have personally never had a bad one and I have had horses of several of Storm Cat offspring- Exploit, Tale of the Cat, Stormy Atlantic, Forest Wildcat, Roaring Fever and I am sure there are others. I will say they are athletic types and perhaps not for everyone but they suit me so I guess I don't ever shy away from buying Storm Cat offspring.

I wrote a blog about my experiences with the horses that I have had by Sky Mesa in this blog post that I wrote for the Thoroughbred Makeover Project- http://www.retiredracehorsetraining.org/2013-trainers/jessica-morthole/482-do-bloodlines-matter I haven't kept track of Governor Jack who was the entry from Midatlantic Horse Rescue but last I heard he was doing fantastic. I get updates on the horses that I retrained, Katzimo, and he is doing wonderful with his new owner Kathy. They went down to Aiken over the winter and he got rave reviews. Very ammy friendly horse with a great brain. Elusive Sky is still boarded with me and is doing great. He just went to a clinic with Sally Cousins a few weeks ago and she thought he was a true upper level event horse in the making. They all seemed like the had the same conformation, rode the same way and just overall wanted to do the job.

I currently have two horses that are sired by Fast Ferdie in my barn. I really don't know much about this sire and google doesn't turn up a lot. When I post horses on my facebook page sometimes I get some feedback in regards to sires and someone said they had a lovely horse by Fast Ferdie. Here is Fast Ferdie's breeding- http://www.pedigreequery.com/fast+ferdie

I have Hebe's Pride- http://www.pedigreequery.com/hebes+pride and Ferdie's Got It- http://www.pedigreequery.com/ferdies+got+it and they have similiar breeding on the bottom side as well if you look closely. If you stand these horses side by side they look very much alike. Herbie is a bit bigger around 16.2 and Ferdie at 16.1 but both have a lovely sloping shoulder, great hip, uphill neck and just a great overall balance. They have the "look" of a big time type of horse. Smart, athletic, beautiful eye and just overall really good to look at. They ride uphill and soft in the bridle. They learn fast and are hard workers. They are talented but also very rideable making them suitable for most riders. They are both 6yrs which lends some wordly experience under their belt. Both are remarkably sound after their race careers which makes me think Fast Ferdie must be durable. I also really love their personality. They both love people and are just happy go lucky types who are easy to have in the barn.

I personally love horses with A.P. Indy bloodlines. They seem to fit my type really well. I also love the Cox Ridge, Holy Bull, Distorted Humor, Private Account, Langfuhr, Salutely, El Prado and Yes It's True. These have just been sires that I have had extremely good success with in terms of offspring.
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Peaks and Valleys

8/20/2014

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I have had a lot of people ask how I am doing and what I am up to, so it is time to start blogging again. One of my favorite horses was sired by Peaks and Valleys ( I miss The Boppus) so I thought that would be a good title for this post. It has almost been a year since that day that my life got turned upside down. Those who read the CANTER blog @ http://dixierumble.wordpress.com/ will remember what I am talking about.  It was my busiest time of year. I had several sales horses of my own in the barn as well as two CANTER horses in for retraining and sale. I was participating in the Thoroughbred Makeover project showcasing the awesome CANTER Mid Atlantic horse, Katzimo. I was working my full-time job and trying to keep the wheels turning in the horse business. It was overwhelming but at the same time very exciting. I was having tons of success selling horses to wonderful clients. I had been recognized for my work retraining thoroughbreds and was getting the opportunity to show off what I had been doing for years. I felt very accomplished. I was almost 32 years old and there  I was with a wonderful husband, a farm to call my own, a successful business, a good job and little debt. My hard work had paid off. I had planned on getting the rest of the sales wrapped up so that we could take it easy for winter.

The day of my birthday  (September 30)ended up being anything but what I expected. The birthday cake was on the counter staring at me as I laid on the floor in despair. He said he was divorcing me and he would not be back. To say that I never saw it coming would be an understatement. I really had not a clue that he would be moving in with someone who had been riding at my barn for a year (using my horses, tack, etc for free!) that I thought was a friend. They are now married which I suppose you have to do to justify it all.

I am a strong person but this course of events left me broken for a few months. I will forever be grateful to my many friends who visited, called and just listened. I spent about two months in despair just wanting back what I had. I loved him and I could fix this. I could be a better person and I could be who he wanted me to be. That was an ugly time. I could barely make it to the barn to feed the horses. I sold the rest of the sales horses. I considered selling Junior. I was going to sell Letterman who was my absolute heart horse. I wasn't sure that I could love my farm again. Heck, I wasn't sure I could keep my farm. I was really overwhelmed and wasn't sure which way was up.

I had a good lawyer who convinced me I was going to be okay and that I could find ways to keep my farm. Friends helped me find a wonderful person to lease Letterman. My wonderful friends/boarders made me get back on my horses. Friends showed up at the farm to help with chores and encourage me to keep going. I kept going to therapy and slowly began to believe that I wasn't the person he made me out to be. I started to find happiness again. I realized that I had always been happy. I really did love my life. I love what I do and I loved my farm. I wanted to keep going. I felt like the weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Once I made the decision that I was going to make it work, I just dug in like I know how to do and planned on moving forward. No looking backwards just moving forward.

I began teaching lessons and coming up with a business plan on how I was going to make a go of things on one income. It meant some change for me as I knew that I was going to have to generate the most money possible which meant that I needed to focus on my own sales horses and training horses. I eased back into the resale market buying a horse that I had previously retrained and sold for CANTER. He was a safe bet because I knew he was lovely and I could get him going again. Rockin Fun sold and then the whirlwind began. I saw this horse that caught my eye in Oklahoma. He was this big darky bay with four white high stockings and a blaze. He moved nice and just gave me the fire in my belly so I shipped him all the way home. It was then when I knew I was back. I felt the passion return and I was excited to start retraining this horse. He sold to a current boarder and since then I have had eight more sales horses and I get that fire each time.

Along the peaks and valleys of this life transition, I had begun to date mainly just to get out of the house. I had some fun with it and some good stories to tell. My one girlfriend and I had discussed what kind of man that we think I should end up with and I said that I wanted an educated farmer of sorts. Someone who had their own passion in life but could appreciate my lifestyle. I didn't want to get married again but wanted to have someone to have fun with. I had started to go on a few dates with this guy who I considered to be nice but a bit hard to get to know. He had been divorced and like me he had some scars to show for it. He has a wonderful son that he was raising and it was clear that he knew who he was and what he wanted out of life. We kept seeing each other and it became very clear that it was heading a direction that neither of us expected.  Ian has a large farm only 20 minutes from my house that he actively farms. He also works a full-time job in the aircraft industry and buys and sells farm equipment for fun. Yeah, I found someone who was even busier than I was :) It truly was one of those things that just happens when you least expect it. It was everything that I had hoped for and more. I can't say that I was ready for it but thankfully he understands better than anybody that I am still healing and he is okay with that. He thinks the horse business is really interesting and he is very supportive. I have never met somebody who makes me feel appreciated the way that he does. I remember him saying early on that it was so refreshing to meet someone who has such passion for something in life. No, he hasn't been on a horse yet and I don't care if he ever rides. It truly was never important to me and never will be. I have taught his son how to ride and we have a great time with that. I never imagined me being a mother and never had interest in having kids but I am truly enjoying being part of a family. Having a son is an awesome experience! We got engaged a few months ago and we are all living at my farm for now. It is much more difficult to combine lives at this age but anything is possible if you communicate along the way. It really has all felt very easy and natural which I guess is how it is supposed to be.

I don't know when we will get married. It is pretty funny that both of us went from being so anti-marriage early on likely due to all of our baggage but then one day it became so clear that we were no longer scared of it and both felt that it was the right path for us. I feel that I am a better person for having been through my situation. I learned a ton about myself and a lot about relationships..partially due to reading every damn relationship book on the market in those early days :) Overall, I balance my life much better than I did. I have hired some help in the barn to take care of the chores a few days a week. I have help with some of the riding as well. I have had to rethink what it important to me and that is a good thing! I have an amazing group of friends and most are boarders at my barn. It makes for such a fun community. We all laugh and have a great time. It is nice to know that people are there for you when you are at the top or when you are at the bottom.

This website was something that I should have done a long time ago but I am so excited to have it now. Becca has done most of the building and I am so grateful for the push in the right direction. It will help market the sales horses and give people one place to go to see what I have in the barn at any given time. Check them out here- http://www.benchmarksporthorses.com/horses-for-sale.html It is also a good chronicle of all the lovely sales horses that I have had for people to see the quality of horses that come into my barn. Feel free to make suggestions of all kinds so that I can continue to improve the site. I will be doing some blogging about the horses in training to get back on the path on talking about horses and not talking about myself..thank god!!!
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