Alison O'Dwyer and Kubo Cat offer great lessons about the extreme nature of Thoroughbreds and the challenges and benefits that go along with riding this roller coaster of equine experiences.

O'Dwyer won the 2021 Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover in dressage. She also won the dressage discipline in 2019 and 2017, the previous two years that she entered.

Kubo Cat, Alison's dressage champion in 2021, is a 2016 chestnut Thoroughbred gelding bred in Louisiana who raced 16 times in his home state from Aug. 2018 to Dec. 2019. He never won, but he was second five times and third four times.

The five-minute freestyle test that Kubo and Alison did during the Thoroughbred Makeover Finale included a mix of higher-level movements like counter canters that showed off the horse's upper-level potential and foundational movements like simple lead changes fitting for a horse with less than a year of full-time dressage training. Present during the entire test was a calm, steady demeanor in the nerve-wracking competition setting inside the high-stimulation TCA Covered Arena.

Because Kubo Cat was for sale, Alison's phone started, well, I want to say “ringing off the hook,” but I realize we all use cell phones now. You get the idea. The market for OTTBs has grown exponentially because horses like Kubo Cat are tremendous ambassadors for the talent and versatility inherent in the Thoroughbred breed. My last two “Horowitz on OTTBs” columns have explored the nature side of Thoroughbred genetics and nurture side of the breed's development through a first career in racing.

Alison's experiences with Kubo Cat showcase a side of the breed that often gets lost when witnessing the breathtaking mix of beauty and athleticism of a Thoroughbred like him or the other horses that excel at the Thoroughbred Makeover.

For those that love Thoroughbreds, the extremes are worth it. Anybody that gets a Thoroughbred should be prepared for that.

Kubo Cat and O'Dwyer take a victory lap after their Makeover win

“It's a tough conversation to have with people,” O'Dwyer said. “My horse looked so quiet in that indoor. The flood of phone calls was all amateurs, and yes, he's an incredibly different creature than he used to be, but he had a legitimate behavioral problem when he came to our farm that it actually intimidated me.”

Of course, no one, O'Dwyer included, gets a Thoroughbred hoping to be challenged or intimidated that way. It usually starts as love at first sight.

“When I saw one picture of this horse, my gut just said that's a really nice horse,” O'Dwyer said.

We're in the midst of an online-dating-world of buying horses. People have more opportunities to find OTTBs today than ever before through social media and listing organizations like CANTER. Much like online dating, it's possible to fall in love with a horse from a picture and fantasize about what the future holds.

The people that reached out to Alison did that with Kubo Cat, but Alison knew better.

“He came to me very sour—like very, very sour,” Alison said. “I would get on his back, and I could maybe get him to trot one circle a certain direction, and as soon as I would go to change directions, he would just slam on the brakes and come to a complete halt with ears pinned. Then, he would start backing up and gave me that feeling that if I gave him a heavy correction, he was going to go up.”

Remember, this is coming from someone who retrains horses off the racetrack for new careers as sporthorses about as well as anyone.

“My first horse I ever had was a Thoroughbred mare that tortured me when I was a kid,” Alison said.

She laughed saying the word “tortured,” in appreciation of the totality of experiences, positive and negative, that a Thoroughbred can offer.

“I'm not sure I knew any better,” Alison said. “I think she bit me the first day I got her. She was way too hot for what a kid should probably have. It's not something I'd recommend for everybody, but in the end, I had such a wonderful partnership with her because I had to take it really slow and go back to basics.”

Alison described a “safety net” of rules and working with more-experienced riders that made the partnership work. She and Something Special IV competed up to eventing's Training level of 3-foot-3 in 2003 when the mare was 21 and Alison was 15.

Then, her next horse, Rhythmic Drum, was also a Thoroughbred, a Montana-bred bay gelding who raced 21 times at tracks like Great Falls, Metrapark, and Playfair, won four times, and was in the top-three 11 times. Alison and Rhythmic Drum competed up to the FEI 1-star level.

With Kubo Cat, Alison asked her husband, the racehorse trainer Jerry O'Dwyer, to step in, calling him her “crash dummy, if I don't really know anything about the horse.”

Alison: “When Jerry came and got on him, he just sat on him at first and didn't do anything. I'm expecting fireworks, but he just sat there and took it slow and rewarded him any time he would go forward.”

Jerry: “I used to ride very loose on him, let him adapt that he's not going to be grabbed up and be asked to go fast anymore. It was just a case of letting him go forward and enjoying his life. They're very smart, the Thoroughbreds. They're like us, and sometimes they get a little sour to the same things. If you can freshen up their minds a little bit, they're going to work for you again.”

Alison: “I would go really slow and keep everything his [the horse's] idea.”

Jerry will also sometimes apply Alison's dressage techniques to race training to help his racehorses become more supple and evenly muscled. Or, he'll send horses to Alison's farm for cross-training in dressage.

Jerry: “I think the dressage is great for the horses because it does make them turn left, turn right. They get to relax a little bit and put their head down. It is a great benefit.”

Alison: “He'll send a horse in the chute back behind the starting gate and have it just do flat work and figure eights and serpentines with the riders, and I know he sees a lot of value in that.”

The teamwork has paid off for the O'Dwyers.

Kubo Cat and O'Dwyer at the Kentucky Horse Park

“Alison is a very good rider, and she puts a helluva lot of work and time and effort into it,” Jerry said. “What people saw at the Makeover with that horse was hours upon hours of her working with him. She used to take him off the farm to have a look at other things, and the two of them just got on well after that. The proof is in the pudding.”

Making the pudding is hard work, and people that get Thoroughbreds should be prepared to meticulously follow a recipe. Alison uses this mentality with selling her Thoroughbreds that she's trained off the track as well.

“I say I'm going to talk you out of this horse first, and if you're still interested, then you can come ride him,” Alison said. “That was really hard to do, especially with Kubo Cat last year because he looked so quiet, which was great for me because he won, but the flood of phone calls was from inappropriate people. This is not a horse that I can just sell to Sally Sue's mom. He was just a professional's horse, and it was very hard to convince people of that.”

Alison sold Kubo Cat to Leah Lang-Gluscic, an upper-level eventer who has taken the OTTB AP Prime up to the highest level of eventing at the 5-star level at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event in 2021.

“She's got a real love for the breed,” Alison said. “That's where I wanted him to be. I really think he has the talent to be an upper-level horse, and he has the attitude of an upper-level horse. I don't think he's going to be happy just sitting around with someone that just wants to hug him and brush him because he'll bite you. That just worked out perfectly.”

Kubo Cat's first USEA recognized event with Lang-Gluscic was a first-place finish at the Beginner Novice level of 2-foot-7 at the Horse Trials at Majestic Oaks in Florida earlier this month. They finished on their dressage score of 30.6 and had double clear cross country and stadium jumping rounds.

As with any relationship, it's about finding the right match and then putting in the hard work to make the relationship flourish. It's easy to fall in love at first sight with a horse. It's wonderful for the horse racing industry that more people are now doing that with Thoroughbreds. With many great aftercare organizations and resellers, there are many attractive dating profiles out there. But, making a life together takes a lot of hard work. As a standard, wanting a Thoroughbred that's not sensitive would be like wanting ice cream that's not cold.

With their expertise in racing and dressage, the O'Dwyers are the ultimate marriage counselors for Thoroughbred-lovers.

Jerry: “It's about trust for the horse and you and for you and the horse. To gain that trust, you have to go along slowly at the start, especially if you have a quirky one. With a couple weeks in their new discipline, you can see the calmness in their eye and how they settle down and start really enjoying their new life.”

Alison: “If you just take your time and keep the faith, I think all these creatures can come around and be great athletes and be great minds to work with.”

The post Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: ‘Quirky’ Kubo Cat Dished Out Challenges On Path To Success appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Our scores on our two tests weren't the highest we've ever gotten, but they were solid and the tests themselves were the best we've ever put in. We came 40^th out of a group of 89, many of whom were dressage professionals. I am thrilled with that outcome.

I started this series with a list of early lessons I took away from my first months with an off-track Thoroughbred (OTTB). (You can find that post here.) That seems like a good way to sum up the many things we learned from this wonderful, crazy, exhausting experience.

• Last-minute hoof issues aren't necessarily the end of the world. Any time Blueberry experiences any kind of discomfort, he is pretty dramatic about it. We say he's a sensitive flower, which has its advantages in the dressage ring. I actually consider it a good thing that he's unafraid to express to me when he's in pain, because I know right away when something is wrong. This also meant that when he got his first hot nail (the first one my farrier has been responsible for in a decade working at my barn, just my luck), he acted like he was dying. Naturally, this happened about nine days before we were due to ship in to the Kentucky Horse Park. Initially we weren't sure whether he had a hot nail or a brewing abscess and I quickly learned that the former will resolve very quickly while the latter, though similarly minor in terms of seriousness, would probably take more than a week to get him back to full strength.We spent three days with his shoe off, diligently packing the foot round the clock and soaking it just before the farrier's recheck just in case he had both a hot nail and an abscess. In three days, the nail hole had closed clean and we were dealing with minor bruising from the time the shoe had been off. We practiced our Training 2 test two days before shipping, charging into the biggest horse show week with exactly two training sessions in the previous 10 days. By the time he arrived at the Park, he was sound, rested, and ready to go, if a little lighter on practice and fitness training than I had intended.

  So the next time I hear about a Derby prospect with a last-minute foot issue, I'm not going to throw them out until I know more about what's going on. A turnaround can be possible, even in what feels like the eleventh hour.

  

  A moment from our Training 2 test

• Horses don't always fit into the timelines we've laid out. Ok, I knew this one already but I'd always thought of it upside down – that if anything, you have to move slowly doing anything with any horse just on principle. But that's not right for everyone. With a month or two to go until the Makeover, I was aware we'd need to step up from the Intro Level tests we'd been performing in competition to the Training Level 2 test we'd be required to do at Makeover. I also knew in advance that we'd only have one show prior to Makeover where we'd have a chance to ride that test. Each level contains three tests, which get progressively more difficult, so Training 2 is actually the fifth and most difficult test we've tried. With a few weeks to go, I still believed it was possible that after Makeover we'd need to step back down to Intro C, the test I figured we'd have been riding if we hadn't had the Makeover as a goal. The one time we competed Training 2, I forgot part of the test and missed a few key technical marks. We were still struggling to get our correct canter leads on the first try. It was — not quite a mess, but not an auspicious beginning.We got a lot of practice in during Makeover week, drilling Training 2 over and over. Leaving the Rolex, I knew I was sitting on a Training Level horse. In just a few short weeks, we belonged at that level. I didn't think we could both improve that quickly but we did.
• A bored baby Thoroughbred in horse show stabling will eventually, with great determination and practice, find a way to poop into his water bucket. And his feed tub. My mare did not prepare me for this level of depravity. Gross, dude. He will also not learn from the experience and may do it again tomorrow if he has finessed his aim.
• The notion that a seam ripper is a critical tool in your horse show kit is not a suggestion. I had Blueberry professionally braided because my braids are absolutely awful and I wanted him to look amazing. He did, and the braider sewed the braids in (which explained how they stayed in so well, no matter how he rubbed his neck along the door frame). She did a beautiful job. I reluctantly took them out at the end of the evening, in the dark, carefully hunting for black thread with bandage scissors so as not to cut holes in his mane. When eventers (at least the eventers I know) braid, it's usually with bands that are easy to pull, but the hunters mean business, even when they do button braids. Seam ripper = vital equipment next time.
• Do not underestimate the bombproof nature of a well-behaved 4-year-old Thoroughbred. Our stabling for the Makeover faced out onto one of the busiest parts of the park for vehicle and foot traffic. We hacked through the show grounds and around the edges of the cross country course to get to our schooling area every day. Although Blueberry had been to small horse shows many times before this, he had to see and hear a lot during this particular week, and he feared nothing. Other horses spooking, bolting, galloping cross country, dogs, golf carts, backfiring tractors – he thought about none of it. Even the echoey Rolex grandstand and brightly-decorated judges' booths were of very little concern to him.The only thing he looked at was the giant rack of colorful jump poles that was being unloaded by volunteers on our first day at the Park and must have looked to him a little like windmills looked to Don Quixote. Fair enough. He stared, planted his feet, and shook in his bell boots. I was nervous, not knowing if he would try to bolt. I considered dismounting, but I sat still in the saddle. I patted him. I let him think for a few minutes, trying consciously to lower my own heart rate. He took a breath, chomped on his bit, and decided to believe me when I promised him they were safe. Is there a greater feeling than your horse saying, 'I trust you'?
  

  All smiles after our second and final dressage test at the Makeover.

• The greatest lessons sometimes evolve from a tough warm-up. Blueberry handled the atmosphere of the Rolex Stadium brilliantly, but we did have a bobble in our first schooling session on Monday, several days before our competition on Thursday. We were running through our test and were just passing the judge's booth when someone dropped something inside the grandstand. It sounded like something heavy, maybe a folding table, making a big, echoey boom. I watched Blueberry's ear move towards it, process, and ignore the sound … but unfortunately, about two steps later, it was time for me to ask for a left lead canter. I wanted the transition to be sharp, and I rotated my knee about a half inch too far, touching him gently with more spur than heel instead of the other way around. I don't know if it was the sonic boom or the unexpected spur poke, but he took off bucking. It was a short episode and I sat it well, but I did have long enough to think about how much I did not want to fall and have my horse run loose through one of the more famous outdoor arenas in this country.I can't lie – this moment rattled me. I spent two days overanalyzing it, and then I realized that 1) He had almost certainly been reacting out of indignation and not fear 2) He had almost certainly forgotten about it as soon as I sat up, gathered my reins, and taken us through a 20-meter circle still in the canter and 3) I came out of this moment just fine. I didn't even lose a stirrup.

  All along this journey I have doubted myself more than Blueberry – am I a good enough rider to teach him this new sport? Do I know him well enough to read his moods and his emotional needs? Am I capable of putting the pieces back together when things go wrong? And thanks to our amazing support team – my husband, my trainer, my barn friends – I came away from that schooling session eventually recognizing that my horse has faith in me, and I should, too. (It helped that after a couple of days of long workouts and daily walks around the park, he was also probably too tired for a repeat.) This is something that I know will come up again and again. Unshakable confidence doesn't grow overnight, but it does come through repeated good experiences, and I know Blueberry can give me those.

The post The Blueberry Bulletin Presented By Equine Equipment: Lessons From The Thoroughbred Makeover appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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For one ownership group however, the goal of going to the 2021 edition of the Thoroughbred Makeover was born four years and eight months ago, before the horse in question had even stood and nursed.

Ryan Watson, Adolfo Martinez, and Heath Gunnison collectively form RAH Bloodstock and knew that the little bay colt out of Thunder Gulch mare Talking Audrey would be special to them. The trio had purchased the mare out of the 2017 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages sale for $1,200. She was in foal to a stallion none of them had ever heard of — Doctor Chit, a Grade 2 placed son of War Front who stands in Oklahoma.

They were drawn to the mare because Watson and Martinez (who is now the manager of Heaven Trees Farm) had worked with her female family at Darby Dan. Watson is stallion manager at Darby Dan, and Gunnison is the head hunt seat coach at Midway University. The three wanted to go in on a mare together, but they knew they wouldn't want to sell the very first horse that had RAH Bloodstock listed as his breeder.

“We thought, if we don't know anything about [Doctor Chit], we won't be selling the foal,” said Martinez. “We've gone to a couple of stallions with her since and had some nice foals, but the first one is pretty special. Your first child is always the one.”

The group struggled to get a registered name for their first horse; most combinations of the two parents' names ended up being rejected by The Jockey Club as too vulgar. (Talking Chit was a favorite but didn't make the cut.) Finally, they settled on naming him This Is Me after a song made famous in The Greatest Showman, which had come out around the time they were submitting name requests. Around the barn, the bay with a thin white blaze remained “Chit” or “Lil Chit.”

Chit became what's known around the track as a “morning glory” who showed lots of talent in his workouts but failed to deliver in the afternoons. Martinez said he was “a very polite runner — he let everybody go first.”

The colt's very first start, in a maiden special weight at Indiana Grand in October 2019, made them briefly hopeful that he had serious potential.

“He showed a little bit of talent by closing on the frontrunners,” recalled Watson. “After the race we're walking back, waiting for the runners to be unsaddled and I see the outriders go tearing around the backside of the track, going in opposite directions. You look, and there's a horse they can't pull up coming around the far turn. It was him.”

It was really on the strength of that gallop out that RAH Bloodstock and trainer Ronald Kahles continued on for another four starts, trying to unleash that drive without success. Watson remembers fighting a snowstorm to get to Turfway Park in February 2020 for what would be Chit's last start, a distant ninth in maiden claiming company. He asked jockey John McKee if he thought the horse under him had any talent at all, and McKee admitted he didn't think so. Watson, grateful for the honesty, happily took Chit home to begin the wait until they could begin re-training in December.

Chit with dam Talking Audrey

All three men grew up riding – Gunnison and Watson doing ranch work and team penning, and Martinez mostly casual trail and pleasure riding – so they had a good idea of what they were looking at as they considered a new career for Chit. Gunnison has made a name for himself in the hunter world, and they all agreed Chit's natural, smooth gait would set him up for success there. Gunnison did much of the riding, with Watson and Martinez standing by to watch, set fences, and lend support.

It wasn't until this summer that they wondered whether Chit might have some aptitude for ranch work. Watson was always happy to support the Thoroughbred Incentive Program Western pleasure classes at Scheffleridge Farm's hunter/jumper shows, so they threw Western tack on Chit and saw him maintain his long and low frame as though nothing much had changed.

It's an improbable combination for any horse – excelling in both show hunters and ranch work. Hunters are often thought of as somewhat narrow in their worldview, working mostly in arena settings, while ranch horses must be a little more rough and tumble and very brave with cattle. A level head and a smooth movement will be rewarded in both disciplines, however.

“He's really taken everything we've thrown at him,” said Martinez. “He's very level-headed and calm.”

Martinez said they brought Chit into an arena full of cattle along with several other ranch horses to make him feel safe in a group, gradually removing the other horses until he was working the cows alone.

“It's very much sink or swim,” said Watson. “He has to learn about them just like any other discipline – learn to track them, learn to follow them. He actually got good enough this summer where he was able to anticipate how they were going to move.”

A busy show schedule throughout late summer had the team out nearly every weekend at one kind of competition or the other. The hard work paid off, with Chit heading to the finals as the leader in both disciplines. Horses will be horses however, and a sudden stop at the very first fence in the hunter finale took him down to fifth in the overall standings. Gunnison brought him back to finish second in the ranch work division, and Watson said the trio could not be more thrilled with their experience.

“We were just happy to get to the finals in one category, and two categories was just a bonus,” said Watson. “This horse has done so much for us. He is currently leading the Beginner Horse [division] in the Kentucky Hunter Jumper Association by 90 points or something like that. He's just been a phenomenal horse this year. We'll live to fight another day.”

The group expects Chit to move on to the three-foot hunters (an increase from the two and a half foot heights he saw at the Makeover) and the Take2 hunter series next season.

Not all owner/breeders can necessarily invest four years in a horse with the hopes of competing in the Makeover, rather than hoping to pick up a check. Still, Watson is hopeful that others in the racing industry can take away something from the RAH journey with Chit.

“A horse is a breeder's responsibility throughout their entire life,” said Watson. “It did not ask to come into this world. You are the one who brought it here. So it's definitely a breeders' responsibility to ensure that it's going to not end up where it doesn't deserve to be.

“It's so rewarding. Obviously they're bred for racing, but to see him compete in the preliminary rounds earlier last week, it was just such a proud moment to have everybody coming up to us and talking about what a nice horse he was. It's a very rewarding experience to know that something you have been responsible for creating is kind of the talk of the town and goes on and does something so significant in a second career. It's a really good feeling.”

The post ‘A Breeder’s Responsibility’: Racing Owner/Breeders Take Horse From Foaling Stall To Thoroughbred Makeover appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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View preliminary round standings and see the Finale fields here. Learn more about the discipline leaders from today's competition:

2020 Competitive Trail Leader: Thunderous Affair, trained by Lindsey Partridge

Thunderous Affair (Liaison – Thunder Fan, by Thunder Gulch) is a 2017 16.2-hand gray/roan mare bred in Kentucky by Jim Williams. She never made a start, but did train to race, and last worked in September of 2019. CANTER Michigan aided in her transition.

Lindsey Partridge is a professional based in Pontypool, Ontario.

2021 Competitive Trail Leader: Super Terrific, trained by Abbey Blair

Super Terrific (Super Saver – Tiz Terrific, by Tiznow) is a 2014 16.2-hand bay gelding bred in Kentucky by T. F. Van Meter & Fanfare. He sold as a weanling at Keeneland November for $110,000, then again as a yearling at Keeneland September for $85,000. He went on to make 19 starts with two wins, earning $60,907 over his career. His last race was in June of 2020 at Belmont Park.

Abbey Blair is a professional from London, Ky.

2020 Dressage Leader: Dispatcher, trained by Stephanie Calendrillo

Dispatcher (Distorted Humor – Charity Belle, by Empire Maker) is a 2015 16.3-hand chestnut gelding, bred in Kentucky by Godolphin. He made four starts with one win, retiring with $13,145 in earnings. His last start was in June of 2019 at Belmont Park.

Stephanie Calendrillo is a professional from Georgetown, Ky.

2021 Dressage Leader: Kubo Cat, trained by Alison O'Dwyer

Kubo Cat (D'Wildcat – Golden Diva, by Gold Fever) is a 2016 16.0-hand chestnut gelding, bred in Louisiana by Carrol Castille. He made 16 starts, but never broke his maiden, retiring with $24,895 after his last start in December of 2019 at Delta Downs.

Alison O'Dwyer is a professional based in Severn, Md.

2020 Eventing Leader: Legend's Hope, trained by Jazz Napravnik

Legend's Hope (Not For Love – Lunar's Legend, by Polish Numbers) is a 2013 17.1-hand chestnut gelding who is a three-time contender in the Maryland Million Classic. He made 45 starts with four wins, earning $156,388 in his career. His last race was in November of 2019, retiring from Laurel Park.

Jazz Napravnik is a professional from Monkton, Md.

2021 Eventing Leader: Fleet Stepper, trained by Hillary Irwin

Fleet Stepper (Midshipman – Raven's Rockette, by Raven's Pass) is a 2017 16.2-hand bay mare  who made three career starts but never broke her maiden, retiring after her last start in August of 2020. She's a Kentucky-bred by 81 Gotham LLC.

Hillary Irwin is a professional based in Ocala, Fla.

2020 Field Hunter Leader: Zapper, trained by Cameron Sadler

Zapper (Ghostzapper – Doryphar, by Gone West) sold as a 2-year-old through Ocala Breeders' Sale in April of 2017 for $25,000, and went on to make 15 career starts with one win. He retired with $8,141 in earnings after his last race in August of 2019 at Indiana Grand Race Course. The 2015 15.3-hand bay gelding was bred in Kentucky by Kendall E. Hansen, M.D. Racing, LLC.

Cameron Sadler is an amateur from Southern Pines, N.C.

2021 Field Hunter Leader: Forthegreatergood, trained by Laura Sloan

Forthegreatergood (Scipion – No Peeking, by Langfuhr) earned $46,734 in his 22-race career, most recently running at Laurel Park in June of 2020. He raced his entire career for his Maryland-based breeder/owner/trainer Donna B. Lockard. Forthegreatergood is a 2015 16.1 hand gray/roan gelding, bred by Donna Verrilli.

Laura Sloan is a professional from Southern Pines, N.C.

2020 Freestyle Leader: Thunderous Affair, trained by Lindsey Partridge

Thunderous Affair (Liaison – Thunder Fan, by Thunder Gulch) is a 2017 16.2-hand gray/roan mare bred in Kentucky by Jim Williams. She never made a start, but did train to race, and last worked in September of 2019. CANTER Michigan aided in her transition.

Lindsey Partridge is a professional based in Pontypool, Ontario.

2021 Freestyle Leader: Papa Al, trained by Jody Busch

Papa Al (Papa Clem – Morell's Love, by Cutlass Reality) is a 2012 16.1-hand bay gelding bred in California by Salah Said Al-Mudarris. He made 36 starts with three wins for total career earnings of $26,831. His last start was in September of 2019 at Assiniboia.

Jody Busch is a professional from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

2020 Polo Leader: That's My Bertie, trained by the Willowbrook Polo team

That's My Bertie (Baptistry – Fat Cat Bertie, by Tactical Cat) is a 2017 15.0-hand dark bay/brown mare bred in Ohio by Carol Rettele. She made two lifetime starts and never git the board, retiring with $599 in earnings. Her last race was November of 2019 at Mahoning Valley Race Course.

Willowbrook Polo team is captained by Michael Groubert and based in Canfield, Ohio.

2021 Polo Leader: Ramses, trained by Benjamin Lynch

Ramses (Pioneerof the Nile – Dancing House, by Tapit) was bred in Kentucky by Godolphin. The 2018 15.0-hand bay gelding made just two career starts for owner/breeder, failing to hit the board and retiring with $248 in career earnings. His last race was in December of 2020 at Tampa Bay.

Benjamin Lynch is an amateur from Fallston, Md.

2020 Show Hunter Leader: Still Dreaming, trained by Charles Hairfield

Still Dreaming (Flatter – Seeking Gabrielle, by Forestry) is a 2016 16.2-hand chestnut gelding bred in Kentucky by Hinkle Farms. He was a $460,000 yearling purchase at Keeneland September in 2017, and went on to make seven starts with two wins. He made two graded stakes starts but failed to place in either. He retired with $63,140 in earnings after his last race, the 2019 Easy Goer Stakes at Belmont Park.

Charles Hairfield is professional from Johns Island, S.C.

2021 Show Hunter Leader: Ironic, trained by Lara Van Der Heiden

Ironic (Five Iron – Only, by Salt Lake) is a 2017 16.2-hand gray/roan gelding bred in Arkansas by Starfish Stable, LLC. He made six starts but never hit the board, retiring with $859 in earnings after his last start in September of 2020 at Louisiana Downs.

Lara Van Der Heiden is an amateur from Carlisle, Ky.

2020 Show Jumper Leader: Canton Comet, trained by Samantha Fawcett

Canton Comet (Shanghai Bobby – Katie's Ten, by Rock Hard Ten) is a 2016 16.3-hand black mare bred in Kentucky by Kirby Chua. She sold for $80,000 as a yearling at Keeneland September in 2017, and went on to make nine starts with one win. Her final start was in August of 2019 at Arlington, where she retired with $20,698 in earnings.

Samantha Fawcett is a professional from Alton, Ontario.

2021 Show Jumper Leader: Highest Rank, trained by Kamerra Brown Allen

Highest Rank (Courageous Cat – Hipshootinmomma, by Successful Appeal) is a 2016 16.1 hand bay gelding bred in New York by John T. Behrendt. He made 23 career starts, but never broke his maiden; he retired with $16,893 in career starts after his final race in October of 2020 at Finger Lakes.

Kamerra Brown Allen is a professional from Fulton, Mo.

The post Preliminary Competition Complete At Thoroughbred Makeover; Finalists Set For The Weekend appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Jaclyn Schellhase and My Dad Louie. Photo courtesy CanterClix

Samantha Fawcett and Canton Comet. Photo courtesy CanterClix

Emily Clayton and Absolute Drama. Photo courtesy CanterClix

The post Day 1 Of Thoroughbred Makeover Sees Early Leaders In Dressage, Show Jumping appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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For those who aren't familiar, the Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover is a training competition open to recently-retired off-track Thoroughbreds. Much like the Kentucky Derby, you're only eligible to do it for one year, because the purpose is to show off how much Thoroughbreds can learn in the first ten months or so of training for a new sport or 'discipline.' There are ten different horse disciplines running at the Makeover, and you may pick one or two to compete in. Blueberry and I will be competing in dressage, so the format for us is that we will perform two tests – a prescribed test which we must memorize and replicate as accurately as possible, and a freestyle where we have five minutes to ride in whatever sequence or pattern we choose to show off what he has learned. We'll get to do this in the Rolex Stadium, which is a giant arena with plenty of distractions so he'll also need to be calm and focused in order to do well. Our placing is determined by our combined score from the two rides.

The top five scores from each horse sport will return for a finals round to determine the winner from each discipline. Then, an overall winner is chosen from the various horse sports, with the judges favoring the horse who has proven the best example at their chosen second career.

While we have a few things we'll be practicing in our last two weeks, I think we're as ready as we can be. Reporters always grumble a little in the last days before the Derby as the field's trainers all give us very much the same quotes morning after morning. Their work is mostly done by those last few days. They're hoping to keep their horses happy and sound; you can acclimate them to the new track, you can school them in the paddock, but you're either almost ready to run 1 ¼ miles or you aren't. If you aren't, you're already out of time. There's not much else for a trainer to say in that situation, but it makes for boring copy. As a rider though, I get it.

Likewise, we will school in the big stadium, and we will practice making our trot-to-halter sharper, our right lead canter departs smoother and more correct…but the big pieces are in place. Since we began training in late April, Blueberry has gone to two shows as a non-competing entry just to check out the environment and four shows as a competitor. He has performed four different tests a total of six times, including one we'll do at the Makeover. He has seen chaotic show environments and spent a night away from home, handling all of that with the ease I'd expect from a horse who witnessed busy racing barns and spent lots of time on the road during his race career.

My conditions for whether we'd attend the Makeover were always two-fold: He must be sound and healthy (so far so good, but cross your fingers his front shoes stay on), and I must feel I've mentally prepared him for what the competition requires of him. I feel like I've accomplished the latter, which is an enormous task in itself.

There are hundreds of horses and riders coming from all around the country to compete at the Makeover, and nearly 100 pairs in my dressage class alone. I'm a competitive person, but I'm also a realist – our goals for this event aren't about where we finish, because we're not likely to appear in the finals. We'll be facing professional riders with horses who started their training months before us; while I believe that Blueberry is athletic and has a lot of potential in dressage, there will also be horses with more raw talent here than us.

And all of that is fine. Because we've already won.

An evolution of Blueberry's body condition and muscling through this year

In the five months we've had together, he has completely changed jobs and made it look easy. He has completely changed the way he uses his muscles, and built muscle in new places, keeping his little ears pricked even when I know I'm asking him to do something challenging. When we ride down the center line of a dressage ring at a show, a switch flips in his mental energy. With no previous experience, he somehow knows when he is competing, despite the fact his competitors no longer run alongside him. He stands patiently in the wash rack at home or the trailer at the show grounds like a horse who has done this all for years. He lets me kick my feet out of the stirrups in an open grass field and carries me carefully, allowing me to wobble as I work on my core strength and balance. He walks through puddles and over tarps, trots through ground pole exercises, and calmly ignores it when his friends in a nearby pasture start galloping and bucking while we're trying to finish up a schooling session. In many important ways, Blueberry is so advanced for a 4-year-old in this stage of training.

My mare, though I love her, was a tough ride. He has made dressage fun for me for the first time. He has taught me that patience can be rewarded. He has helped me retrain my own muscles to ride more correctly and quietly. He has given me so much confidence. And it's all just the beginning.

The Makeover was a bucket list event for us, but it'll only cap off our very first season together. We plan to have many more, with new goals. The way we'll ride a Training Level test in two weeks will be very different from the way we ride it in another year. But when we come down the center line to salute the judge, I will be so incredibly proud to present him. However he compares to everyone else, he is an absolute champion to me.

The post The Blueberry Bulletin Presented By Equine Equipment: With Makeover Two Weeks Away, This OTTB Is Already A Winner appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Don't get me wrong: as the announcer of the Thoroughbred Makeover since the annual marquee event for OTTBs was first held at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2015, I've been blown away by the talent that Thoroughbred sporthorses can show in new sports with less than a year of retraining after a racing career.

Like when Rosie Napravnik went into a gallop after a flawless jumping round in the eventing finale aboard Sanimo at the 2019 Thoroughbred Makeover to win the discipline. It was reminiscent of the jockey-turned-eventer galloping out after a flawless ride aboard Untapable in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Distaff, after which Napravnik announced her retirement from racing, only to embark on a new equine career, much like the OTTBs that she now rides.

Sanimo and Napravnik moved up to the Prelim level of eventing in 2021 with two top-three finishes that qualified them for the American Eventing Championships and a return to the Kentucky Horse Park.

Or when Carleigh Fedorka had a breathtaking dressage test to win the discipline at the 2015 Thoroughbred Makeover aboard Called to Serve, a horse ESPN's Gary West once described as “a bull in perpetual search of a china shop” because of his naughtiness during race training.

There have been countless other performances that bring out the immense talent of OTTBs, and I'm looking forward to more when I announce the 2021 Mega Makeover from Oct. 12 to 17.

However, at least as valuable to the goal the RRP has that the Thoroughbred Makeover is “intended to inspire good trainers to become involved in transitioning these horses to second careers” is seeing the rounds in each discipline where trainers create a positive experience for their horses based on where their training is, rather than pushing things to the max.

I smile when I see the barrel racer that trots the barrel pattern rather than sprinting all out. The rider pats the horse on the neck afterward. They both leave the TCA Covered Arena proud of their accomplishment.

I smile when I see the freestyle competitor recognize that their horse is overwhelmed by the atmosphere, adjust their routine, and the horse picks up confidence as a result.

I smile every time riders show gratitude for themselves and their horses that just making it to the Kentucky Horse Park is an accomplishment, regardless of where the horses are at in their retraining, because the Thoroughbred Makeover is only part of a long journey that the horse will hopefully embark on in a new life after racing.

Jonathan and Ashley Horowitz announce the finale of the 2018 Thoroughbred Makeover.

There is no doubt that the Thoroughbred Makeover is an elite competition, with $100,000 in prize money and top-level riders competing across ten disciplines on horses that will go on to be leaders in their new sport. In addition, what makes the Thoroughbred Makeover so special and important is that it is also addresses a cause that all professional sports now have to reckon with — the welfare of their elite athletes after they retire. Thanks to the RRP and the Thoroughbred Makeover, horse racing is moving in the right direction with this.

“Since 2015, the Thoroughbred Makeover has steadily grown into not only the largest Thoroughbred retraining competition in the world, but also the largest gathering of people with a professional interest in Thoroughbred aftercare,” RRP executive director Jen Roytz said. “Since then, we've seen more than 3,000 horses go through the process of transitioning from racing to their sport horse careers by preparing for this unique competition, and now we're seeing our Makeover graduates from years past starting to perform at the upper levels in their new equestrian disciplines.”

After coming together for a memorable week at the Kentucky Horse Park, the Makeover trainers, who have represented 46 states and four Canadian provinces, as well as England, can return to their hometowns and inspire others with what OTTBs can achieve.

“That's what works so well with the Makeover,” RRP program manager Kristen Kovatch Bentley said. “It manages to cater to not only the trainers who use the structure of that first year to prepare horses for careers in the upper levels, or take advantage of the visibility to market a horse for sale at the event, but for the one-time 'bucket list' trainers who are entering this competition with their forever horse. It's rare for one event to be able to bring together so many different facets of the industry in one week, but because everyone has had that same incredible experience of partnering with these amazing horses to undertake this transformative 10-month journey together, the competition becomes a celebration.”

The Thoroughbred Makeover inspired me to learn to ride, and my work with OTTBs has changed my life. My wife, Ashley Horowitz, and I currently run the Super G Sporthorses farm in Parker, Colo., where ten of the 16 horses on the farm are Thoroughbreds. Those ten were bred in seven different states.

“For those who don't have a background in or natural connection to equestrian sports outside of horse racing,” Roytz said, “this allows them to gain a deeper appreciation of not only what these horses can go onto accomplish after racing, but how much time, skill, effort, money and more goes into their care and training as they make this life-altering transition from racehorse to sport horse.”

I'm one of those people and appreciate that I now have gone from “talking the talk” as a broadcaster to “walking the walk” as an eventer on OTTBs thanks to what has inspired me at the Thoroughbred Makeover.

The post Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: ‘Victory’ At The Thoroughbred Makeover Looks A Little Different For Everyone appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Blueberry is by Uncle Mo, out of a graded stakes-winning mare. He had the mind of a racehorse, and we're told he showed such impressive speed in the mornings, his training team suggested he be nominated to stakes races at Woodbine before he'd even made a start. We joke sometimes about our “underachiever” who cost $400,000 as a yearling and won a little over $4,000 in return.

But the reality is, there's a little air of disappointment when racing people are asked about OTTBs. Many are eager to support aftercare in word and in deed, but there's often a wistful air if you ask them about a specific horse that has left their operation for a second career. 'Oh yes,' they may say. 'It's a shame they didn't work out.'

I get it; no one spends six figures in stud fees, or pays an Eclipse Award-winning trainer's day rates hoping to find out their horse is slow, or injury-prone, or briefly brilliant but eventually flat. Everyone wants to win the Kentucky Derby. Everyone wants to catch lightning in a bottle. Perhaps it's good that so many people in this sport wake every day with these stars in their eyes, continuing to breed, sell, buy, train, and care for the thousands of horses who support so many livelihoods. Everyone who has a role in a racehorse's life is subject to back-breaking work, long hours, lost money, and chasing sleep. There wouldn't be an industry to employ us all if we didn't have crazy dreams to make all of that worthwhile.

But the reality, which I know people understand just as keenly, is that there will be many more horses like Blueberry than American Pharoah. When I wrote about the challenges of aftercare in late 2019, 28 percent of Thoroughbreds born between 2005 and 2014 never even made it to the races. One Australian study found that about 40 percent of that country's racing population retired each year, with only 10 percent of those heading off to breeding careers. The 2020 American foal crop is estimated to be 19,010, but there were only 99 Grade 1 races held in North America last year – it's just a matter of logic that some horses will have a career on a breeding farm waiting them, but most of them will not.

The last few months of under saddle work with Blueberry have been a joy. I tell people that he makes me look a lot smarter than I am, because the level of dressage we're working on now is physically easy for him. Our trainer, Stephanie Calendrillo, told me at one point that she loves a horse who loves to work, who asks her when she encourages them to lift their backs and soften their jaws, 'How high do you want me to lift?' She said Blueberry does it for you and then asks 'Oh sorry, was that enough? Do you need me to do more?'

He loves going to work, but he's smart about it. I pulled him out of his stall for a morning ride this week – his first in a couple of weeks – and where others might have expended calories on exuberant bucks and hops, he was immediately quiet, focused, responding to the slightest twitch of my rein or heel. He does not waste energy (if anything, he can trend towards 'sleepy' rather than quick), and believes with all his heart he is a professional who has Done All Of This Before even when he hasn't.

Having known his mother, I'd hoped when I adopted him that he would have this mindset. I did not know, until about May when he began ground driving walk/trot/canter, how he moved, beyond having a very impressive walk at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale in 2018. In his first months with me, he was on 24-hour turnout while he recovered from some minor ligament desmitis and we awaited a stall and better weather at my trainer's main property. When I saw him stretch out at a trot and felt his floaty canter for the first few times, I used a few four-letter words. I hadn't just adopted a nice horse, I'd adopted a really nice horse.

I'm excited to bring him to the Thoroughbred Makeover next month, but I also recognize that it's just our first show season goal. There will be other seasons after this one, and I think he's just going to get better with time.

'I'm not surprised,' Stephanie told me. 'He's well-bred, and class is class, no matter what you're doing with them.'

Blueberry warming up at his second dressage show in July, where he would win his Intro C class and finish second in his Intro A class

I think it's time we change the conversation about these, the vast majority of the Thoroughbred foals born in this country each year. There were 27,700 races held in North America, which means there were fewer than 27,700 winners, but that doesn't mean that every horse who didn't win a race, or who found a non-breeding second career has failed – they were just a predictable part of the statistical picture of competitive racing.

By extension, we can also reframe the successes of the racing connections for those horses. Part of the goal of breeding Thoroughbreds is to create an athlete, and breeders Jay and Christine Hayden did that. One of the goals of a commercial consignor is to be a source for Thoroughbreds with a lot of potential, and Cara Bloodstock achieved that in selling him. One of the goals for responsible owners is to be caring stewards of their horses' welfare, and Godolphin did that, backing off on his training at the first sign of trouble and providing me a sound horse with no limitations on performance. One of a trainer's worries is ensuring that they keep their horses physically and also mentally sound, and Johnny Burke and Brad Cox ensured their staff preserved Blueberry's kind impression of humans, allowing me a relaxed 4-year-old gelding who sometimes gets groomed by my trainer's 4-year-old little girl.

Horses with second careers are simply those who found renewed purpose in a different job. When humans do this, it's called resilience. Let's give our OTTBs the same credit for finding their calling.

The post The Blueberry Bulletin Presented By Equine Equipment: My OTTB Did Not Fail appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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I spent a lot of time this winter staring at my new OTTB grazing in the field with a furrowed brow, trying to decide how I felt about his appearance. (Fortunately, Blueberry is the type of horse who easily tunes out distractions and grew used to me squinting at him with my head tilted to one side.) I can never decide if he's just a hair lighter than I want him to be or if the only real problem is that I'm too used to looking at my draft cross mare.

He has been easier to keep weight on than I would have guessed when I got him in late November, and he kept his slick coat and topline until just about January. In February, we got several rounds of ice, snow, and frigid temperatures and whatever muscle he had at the track evaporated as he was outside 24/7 and not yet under saddle. He was never thin exactly; just, as I kept telling my husband, “ratty.” He grew a scraggly, thin winter coat which also added to his somewhat bedraggled aura. We'd pulled his shoes in an effort to toughen his soles, and every time he'd take a short step over the driveway after a trim, I'd flinch even though he'd walk, trot and gallop around his paddock soundly.

Still, he was happy enough, bright-eyed, ate and drank plenty, and plodded along for our walks up and down the hilly paddock lanes. I knew, logically, he was healthy and doing well for a horse who had gone from the track to turnout at the start of a Kentucky winter. What I discovered during this period though, was that I was uncomfortable with the “ugly duckling” phase.

Blueberry encounters a crossrail on his first day at the new farm, early April

I am fortunate to have an OTTB expert in our trainer, Stephanie Calendrillo. She trains and resells off-track horses and will be headed to her third Thoroughbred Makeover this year with eventing star Dispatcher. Most of her clients' horses are also OTTBs, so she's used to managing the transition from track to arena. Don't worry about this, she told me. It's normal for a horse's body to change when he goes from track to pasture, but it'll change again when he begins under-saddle work, and it'll happen so quickly it will surprise you.

A lot of my writing on the Paulick Report is in our Horse Care section, where we try to educate readers about veterinary and management topics. Often, time is a key component to healing an injury, managing a chronic condition, or improving a horse's fitness. The unspoken aspect of this of course is that a horse isn't going to look perfect every day of their lives. As long as you're making progress toward your goal and are using good, expert guidance, an ugly duckling phase is unavoidable. Until I had Blueberry, I hadn't thought about that before. My draft mare was quite a challenge in her early days, but her issues were more behavioral than they ever were aesthetic because she has feet like hickory, is impervious to foolish outside influences like pathogens, and gets fat on air. I spend more time trying to get weight off her than on, and while she's always been round, no one has ever worried about whether she was being looked after. All I could think, looking at Blueberry's somewhat hollowed-out neck in March was, 'If I saw that horse, I'd wonder a little bit about what was going on there.'

After we moved him to Stephanie's main facility in April and began more intensive ground and under-saddle work, we were surprised at how quickly he became stronger, how fast he built up fitness at the trot and later, the canter. We added protein and rice bran oil to his diet to help him keep up with his new workload and improve his coat and skin. When he didn't shed his winter coat (even in late April) I finally had him clipped about two weeks into his new workout plan and lo, there was a slight topline there. We added front shoes, and when he'd still have the odd tender day, we added pads and his feet are growing quick and strong.

Blueberry in late May, under saddle during a schooling session at the Kentucky Horse Park

Then the spring rains came, and with them, some rain rot. I tried a little of this and that, over-the-counter lotions and soaps mainly. Then there were the hives, tiny little ones that didn't seem to itch or hurt, but which blanketed his neck and shoulders, then his back, then his rump and legs. We tried corticosteroids and antihistamines and the hives gave way to little crusty bumps like rain rot from hell. I tried new over-the-counter lotions, and it didn't seem to yield. He looked a mess, but at least a reasonably athletic mess. At last, we found the solution – baby oil to soften the scabs, which are now nearly gone, and a diluted alcohol solution on healed areas where water from baths and thunderstorms will drip, encouraging bacteria to fester (down the legs, down the rump and sides). A slick summer coat is growing in, a shiny, brilliant reddish brown – a tribute to his mother.

Even though he's improving now, I know this is a step on the journey. Stephanie tells me that OTTBs often spend a full year sometimes adjusting to new diets, routines, pasture compositions, weather, working different muscles from what they did on the track. It's not that they aren't healthy or functional during that time, just that they're going to change. He's starting to fill out into the horse I hoped I'd have one day, but I know these journeys aren't always linear. He may encounter some new need or struggle at some stage, and I now feel I can treat it as a learning process – and remember to be patient with us both.

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To the outside observer, or at least those unfamiliar in the nuances of dressage, the lessons I did on my OTTBs Grand Moony (barn name Moo, show name Sorority Girl) and The Gray Man (barn name Uno, show name Rocketman) would have looked like they were “about nothing.” All we did was walk and trot on the flat at a time in our evolution that I've been jumping bigger on each horse.

I can almost hear you saying, like the TV executive character Russell Dalrymple did on Seinfeld, “Nothing? What does that mean?”

George responds, “Nothing happens on the show. It's just like life. You eat. You go shopping. You read. You eat.”

George eventually walks out. “This is the show, and we're not going to change it,” he insists, although the TV executives don't actually care.

However, the joke is actually on the TV executives. In real life, the whole brilliant series of Seinfeld, one of the most influential in television history, is critically regarded as an entire sitcom about “nothing.”

It was April 14, and I started that Wednesday in a somewhat foul mood with a lot of work and distractions. At midday, I needed a break and decided to ride my horses.

Since the start of the year, I've embraced the importance of emphasizing a strong riding foundation by focusing on dressage and not just trying to up the jumps or the excitement. I've also learned to appreciate the moments whose significance I don't understand at the time and that “Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are OTTBs.”

With that in mind, my wife and trainer Ashley guided me through walking and trotting on Moo and Uno. Optically, those gaits seem like the “nothing” part of riding. You don't even see them in two of the three phases in eventing, as riders canter, gallop, and jump on cross country and in stadium jumping, rarely ever breaking to the trot or walk.

Because the walk and trot also happen to be the hardest to master, Ashley was really using this opportunity to introduce a whole new theory to implement into my riding during these lessons.

Up until this point in my five-and-a-half-year journey going from broadcasting horses to riding them, I had evolved from “hold on” to “backseat driver.” By the former, I mean that I would sit on a lesson horse and get a feel for what it's like to ride a horse at the different gaits and then over my first jumps. By the latter, I mean that I would try to influence what the horse did.

However, in neither of these situations was I actually the one in control. It takes years just to develop balance on and adaptation to the variety of movements that a 1,000-pound animal with a mind of its own is capable of, especially a Thoroughbred.

Moo and the author in the midst of an exhilarating cross country round at Spring Gulch

Now that I've started to get the feel for riding horses and the ability to follow their movements, Ashley felt I was in position to begin to raise my game to being the “leader.”

“You want to be like a friendly dictator,” she said. “You influence and support every movement. Is the horse doing what you want in that moment? If they are, you don't just give it away but continue to tell them to maintain it.”

The first steps toward leading that Ashley insisted I maintain were establishing contact with the outside rein, then bringing the horse up to the contact through my legs and hips, then maintaining a frame and not letting them fall onto the contact.

It was a lot to manage, and that's why we worked the entire time at the walk and trot. It's kind of like how much genius went into the one of the greatest TV shows of all time that ultimately critics agree was about “nothing.”

The upshot of all this focus on the two gaits that I don't even use on cross country and in show jumping was that those phases got better.

Four days after these lessons, I went cross country schooling at the Spring Gulch Equestrian Area. At the end of last year, Moo and I moved up to the novice height of 2-feet-11, and she and I have appreciated the bigger jumps and faster pace. That Sunday at Spring Gulch, I started staring at some of the training level jumps that have a maximum height of 3-feet-3.

“You're going to do them,” Ashley said, sensing how intently I was studying them.

And we did. There's still room to improve my rhythm and form for me to be proficient at the higher level, but what I'm most proud of is that my focus on the basics is what actually made this opportunity to grow possible.

Then, one week later on April 24, Moo and I had an exhilarating cross country round during our first show of the year at the Spring Gulch Combined Test.

These are the parts of my XC at the Spring Gulch CT that my great Super G teammates filmed. I'm writing my next @RRP_TBMakeover article for @paulickreport about how my winter focusing on dressage helped with XC. The rub is my dressage needs more work, but dressage always does. pic.twitter.com/ocv82BtHh6

— Jonathan Horowitz (@jjhorowitz) April 25, 2021

We were competing at novice, and we blazed around the course with no issues. We even had to slow down fairly significantly at the end of the course to avoid incurring speed faults. There are still aspects of my form that I can improve, and those will come by going back to basics.

I also reaped the benefits from the focus on foundation when schooling Uno on cross country at Spring Gulch on April 26. He won't even be four years old until May 3, but he took a number of beginner novice jumps, the first United States Eventing Association recognized level at 2-feet-7, with eagerness. He felt proud of himself afterward. Before this, the times I jumped Uno were often marred by micromanagement on my part. This time, I was there to support and nurture his talent, and it showed through in spades. I did “nothing,” and that made all the difference.

This horse isn't going to be 4-years-old until May 3, but Uno is coming along so well. He loves to jump and was so proud of himself after our cross country schooling at Spring Gulch today. pic.twitter.com/OxGBLCHxt0

— Jonathan Horowitz (@jjhorowitz) April 27, 2021

Those moments are amazing and are why the hard work and heartaches that come with riding horses is worth it. But afterward, it's important to get back to real life. “You eat. You read. You go shopping.” No TV show did it better, and no approach to riding is better than the one that emphasizes how significant what seems like “nothing” can be.

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