Tag: Horowitz on OTTBs

I've been a sports fan for as long as I can remember. I didn't play sports in high school or college, but at the age of 37, I did finally get the chance to take on some of the best riders in the Rocky Mountain region in the equestrian sport of eventing because of the Arabian racehorse AA Two Face (“Dos”) that I used to announce and now ride. I introduced him in this column last month.

Through my broadcasting and writing, I've covered some of the best athletes and coaches across the world in a variety of sports, but deep down, I've also wanted to be in the middle of the action that captivates me when I announce. That's one of the reasons why I started riding horses seven years ago. Although I had goals of becoming good at it, starting at the age of 30 with my previous experience coming in the form of kids pony rides and family trail rides didn't exactly set me up to take the equestrian world by storm.

So, I had a tremendous sense of pride being part of the first ever Young Event Horse (YEH) 4‑Year-Old competition that took place in the United States Eventing Association's (USEA) Area IX at The Event at Archer in Cheyenne, Wyo., on June 2. That was one day before the seven-year anniversary of my very first riding lesson with my trainer-turned-wife, Ashley Horowitz.

I competed against Ashley, as well as Kim Wendel and Dani Sussman, both of whom have ridden at the Advanced level, the highest offered for USEA national competitions. They all rode Warmbloods, generally the breed of choice for eventing, with Ashley and Kim on Irish Sport Horses purpose bred for eventing and imported from Ireland and Dani on a Dutch Warmblood. I rode AA Two Face, who is still in race training while also eventing with me and being ridden by our 8-year-old son, Chase Gubich.

The idea of me and Dos taking on these upper-level riders and upper-level eventing prospects all started as a joke. About two months before, I decided to get snarky during a phone call Ashley and Kim were having about their fancy Irish imports competing in YEH and exclaimed that I would take my Arabian and kick their ass. They initially laughed, but then Kim got serious, “I think you should do it.”

Although I know that my riding skills pale in comparison to Ashley, Kim, and Dani and that AA Two Face's eventing future will not include the highest levels of the sport like it may for his YEH competition, we were doing the foundational flatwork and jumping that is part of the series designed to provide eventing prospects with a positive first showing experience. The first exposure I had to YEH was announcing the 2021 West Coast Championships at Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles, Calif. I loved seeing the talent and precociousness of the young horses. My goal was to finish in the top four — out of four — and somehow fit in, even though one look at us revealed how much horse and rider differed from the rest.

One of the great things about sports is when the regulars that love the sport get to take on the athletes they admire. Soccer teams that play in lower leagues have advanced to face Premier League teams in the FA Cup in England. Emergency goalies in hockey, usually an amateur or sometimes even the Zamboni driver designated for the unlikely scenario that both goalies become injured and cannot continue in a game, sometimes get to play in the NHL.

So, there I was, warming up to go into the dressage ring and then out on cross country taking in that AA Two Face and I were part of a group that is going to make an impact in the sport.

And you know what? We held our own.

Although Dos, as an Arabian, does not have the same natural fancy dressage movements as an Irish Sport Horse or Dutch Warmblood, we were in first place after dressage. Well, that's only half true because we later learned that the results were posted incorrectly. However, for the three or so hours where our names were at the top of the standings, the other riders actually accepted that as a reality. The judging for dressage in YEH is based on quality of gaits and rideability of the horses, and Dos was as relaxed as any of the other horses.

The results were corrected, but I did take a screenshot of the incorrect ones and pulled the incorrect scoresheet out of the trash to save.

Then, during our jumping test, a combination of five stadium jumps and 10 cross country jumps plus a gallop at the end, we actually had the best stadium jumping score based on an aggregate of how the judge assessed the quality of jump at each fence on a scale from one to five. Adding up all the stadium and cross country jumps, our score was tied for second-best.

My weekend at The Event at Archer in Wyoming with AA Two Face was the most fun I've had at a horse show. Here's a clip from Young Event Horse, where we faced some outstanding horses and riders. Then, we placed 6th of 25 at Starter. I'll have more in my next @paulickreport column. pic.twitter.com/wyMZqE9BFd

— Jonathan Horowitz (@jjhorowitz) June 7, 2022

However, in the overall evaluations of rideability, rhythm between fences, cross country gallop, and general impressions as a potential 4-star or 5-star event horse, we took a backseat.

So, at the end of the day, Kim Wendel and MBF Reality finished first, Ashley Horowitz and Monbeg Salt Fever and Dani Sussman and Bacana tied for second, and Jonathan Horowitz and AA Two Face finished fourth. I love that I could be included that last sentence I wrote and in the group photos we took with such fantastic riders and horses.

For those of you that have gotten to this point in the article, thank you for supporting what was such a fantastic experience for Dos and me, but the plot is now going to change. That's because I'm not an upper-level eventer, and Dos is a unique type of horse that is combining eventing and racing because he loves the variety of activities to which we've exposed him.

The night before entries for The Event at Archer were due, Ashley and I discussed this dynamic and came up with a plan that I would enter YEH to fulfill my sporting dreams and give Dos the positive horse show experience that YEH offers, and I would also enter the Starter level of the horse trials that would take place across the next three days. The significance of the latter is that it was a step down in height and difficulty from the Beginner Novice level at which I competed with Dos three weeks prior at a schooling event at Archer.

Because Ashley, Kim, and Dani are professional riders, they will likely move a horse up a level whenever that horse is ready to do it. However, Ashley did not think that would be the best fit for me.

“You should go out there and have fun,” Ashley said. “Just because you both can physically do a higher level doesn't mean that's the best experience for you or Dos.”

Not having to max out took the pressure off. And so did being part of a large group of 25 horses and riders in the Starter Senior division because I could focus on growing as horse and rider and not on how we placed. My competitive nature and fewer entries would lead to wondering too much about what color ribbon we would get, but more entries decreased the likelihood that we would get a ribbon at all.

I've never had more fun or been more pleased with how I did at a horse show. Because Dos was getting more comfortable with the show environment each time I rode him and because I was getting more responsive with the aids I needed to give him, we turned in our best dressage test ever. Although I know areas where we can and will improve, it was a great showing for where I and my baby 4-year-old are at. It was one of the few times I've ever exited a dressage arena pleased with how the test went. I couldn't help but smile that the first comment written by the judge on our scoresheet was “Handsome duo.”

Sitting in a tie for 12th, we turned in a double-clear cross country round the next day to move into a tie for seventh. Amusing moments included passing the rider in front of us because Dos is still a racehorse and how that meant the show photographer missed getting pictures of us because he didn't have the time he thought he would between riders to change out the memory card on his camera.

The next day, we turned in a double clear stadium jumping round to finish on our dressage score in sixth out of 25. Finishing in the top quarter of the standings is the best I've ever done at an event. It's a funny catch-22 that not obsessing about doing better usually means you will.

I took a break from announcing the event each time I rode and then brought my two passions together by announcing the awards ceremony on horseback with a wireless microphone.

The victory gallop, which for us went a little longer and at a brisker pace than the other horses and riders, now leads to the next part of our journey. Thanks to Jeremias and Cristian Castro, the trainers of reigning Arabian horse of the year Hiab Al Zaman, I now have a racing bridle, and thanks to Ashley Carr, an eventing trainer that used to exercise racehorses, I now have a racing saddle to take with me and Dos to Bally's Arapahoe Park to gallop as we prepare to enter a 6-furlong maiden race on the opening day of the 2022 season on July 3.

As an announcer of horse races and horse shows, I've always had a front seat to the action. Thanks to the opportunities that having horses has provided me, I now actually get to be in the action. It gives me more appreciation for those that I announce, and it allows me to live out my dreams on what has become an incredibly rewarding journey.

The post Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: Arabian Racehorse Completes Two Eventing Shows, Now Back To The Track appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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If the expression “you are what you eat” holds true, then understanding what Thoroughbreds eat, particularly the diets that are necessary for their success both on and off the racetrack, will give us better insights into how we can relate to them and what their responses are to what we ask them to do.

Given that most Thoroughbreds attempt a racing career before embarking on another sport, let's start with the racetrack. A quick glance of a horse race compared to a show jump course, dressage test, or barrel race pattern suggests that racing is a relatively simple and straightforward activity. Run fast. And, if it's racing in the United States, run fast in a left-handed direction.

That's not the case.

“The Thoroughbred is such a unique individual,” Kent Thompson, the co-owner and managing partner of the Louisville, Ky.-based feed company Excel Equine said. “It can sprint four or five furlongs, but then you're asking that same exact breed to go out there and run a mile and a half. Two totally different types of exercise for performance.”

Even a horse that's exclusively a sprinter will occasionally train over longer distances, and route horses will do speed work.

With this understanding of the Thoroughbred breed, combined with an education that includes a Ph.D in animal science from the University of Kentucky and an ability to translate his knowledge into layman's terms understandable on a racetrack backside, Thompson and partner David Williams have grown Excel Equine from its founding in 2014 to feeding approximately 60 percent of the horses at their hometown track of Churchill Downs.

A lot of complex training goes into being successful on the track, similar to, for example, excelling at track and field or swimming in the Olympics. Both of those sports could theoretically also be reduced to “run fast in a left-handed direction” or “swim fast down and back.” Since racehorses are elite athletes, they require the nutrition of an elite athlete.

“It's not a hay-and-oats kind of situation anymore,” Thompson said. “There are some things you can do with something as simple as calories coming from fat or vitamins. Just because you've been doing it for years, it's a sport that's driven by so much tradition, and that includes nutrition. There are some things that you may want to consider doing differently.”

Thompson explains how faster-burning sources of energy like oats and corn can combine with slower-burning sources of energy like fiber and fat to meet the complex nutritional needs of racehorses.

“What you really look at is to provide them with various sources of energy to support that wide range of exercise levels we ask them to do,” Thompson said.

When horses finish their racing careers and embark on the next chapters of their lives, they require a different diet to match what they're being asked to do.

“They're still a performance horse, still have to meet some performance levels, but it's not that sort of high-performance exertion levels that a racehorse has,” Thompson said.

Thompson recommends adjusting a horse's diet slowly over 30 to 45 days. Cutting back grain and introducing turnout gradually. Feeding grain from typically three times a day on the track to two times a day off the track. From about 14 pounds on the track to about 10 pounds off the track.

“Let's pull some of those carbohydrate calories out and replace them with fat calories,” Thompson said. “It changes some of the circulating levels in a horse's body, and those hormones can be behavior-related.”

He also recommends treating retired racehorses for ulcers in light of the change in environment and work load they will experience. One way to do that, he says, is through alfalfa, which can act as a buffering agent thorough its fiber and calcium content.

As much as science goes into all of this, there's also an element of human, or equine, nature that goes into feeding horses because whatever you put in front of a horse, the horse gets to choose whether or not to eat it.

“The horse has to eat the feed,” Thompson said. “The fresher the feed, typically the better the horse eats it. And I would say our feed is more than likely the freshest feed on a racetrack, like at Churchill Downs for example. The cleaner the tub, that's what the trainer wants to see.”

I'd like to finish this column on a personal note and say how much of a pleasure it was to speak to Kent Thompson at Excel Equine. Their support has given me the opportunity to share stories about my adventures with OTTBs and to explore topics about the breed that are crucial to the success of the many equine sports industries in which the Thoroughbred features so prominently. It's been a fascinating source of personal growth to simultaneously be a voice for the breed to others while also learning about how enchantingly complicated these horses are.

The post Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: Understanding The Diet Of Thoroughbreds On and Off Track appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Horses can be a lot to handle, and Thoroughbreds, being regarded as hot-blooded compared to other breeds, can be particularly extreme in both their positive and challenging moments. 

For starters, most horses can outweigh their riders by about 1,000 pounds. When riders ask horses to do something, whether it be on the ground or in the saddle, there can be a lapse in communication hindering the achievement of the desired outcome for a multitude of reasons.

For example, let's take galloping a horse on the racetrack or trotting a horse through water. While the mechanics of galloping and trotting are natural to horses—they will display those gaits when left to their own devices in a pasture or in the wild—it may not go as smoothly with a rider on their back in the environment the horse and rider now find themselves together. 

A horse may be unsure or overwhelmed by the environment. A horse may not understand what the rider is actually asking. Or, because horses, and especially Thoroughbreds, are incredibly perceptive, free-thinking, and not just robots that can be programmed to do whatever their user wants, they may simply say “no” to what's being asked. Because Thoroughbreds are extreme, as I wrote about last month in “'Quirky' Kubo Cat Dished Out Challenges On Path To Success,” that “no” may be accompanied by a metaphorical middle finger.

At this point, the rider gets to choose a response. The challenge is that the ends of the spectrum in the severity and expression of that response are both wrong and potentially dangerous for both horse and rider.

On one end of the spectrum is doing nothing. Now the horse is in control. The rider is relegated to passenger. A poll conducted by Morning Consult in September 2021 found that 47 percent of people believe self-driving cars are less safe than human-operated cars. So, now consider a self-driving horse. As appealing as a driverless car with the technology that Tesla is developing might seem to some, imagine that technology programmed by a horse.

On the other end of the spectrum is excessive force, and the horse racing industry and equestrian world at large are currently reckoning with a disturbing video of Mark Todd, a seven-time Olympic eventer and now a racehorse trainer based in England, hitting a horse with a branch multiple times to encourage the horse and rider to go forward into water at a training clinic that took place in 2020. The British Horseracing Authority has suspended Todd, and Todd said in a statement that he “is very disappointed in myself” for violating “a mutual respect between horse and rider and that patience and kindness is the best way to get results.”

The Todd video is a lesson in what not to do. However, we (considering myself as part of the horse racing industry and equestrian world at large) can do more than just express our outrage at Todd's behavior. Don't get me wrong, it's important to express that outrage. However, what's wrong about the video is pretty clear from the video itself. It doesn't require every person feeling like they have to post the video and establish that they are against that type of behavior.

What's more important is that we go a step further and have a meaningful discussion about the tough topic of teaching and disciplining horses. Best practices across all sports are evolving. Football may be the most notable sport that has had to reconcile with player safety. How coaches encourage players to “get back in the game” has evolved from a stern warning about toughening up to specific protocols to follow if a player suffers a concussion. The key is that the focus is shifting from what's best for winning to what's best for the athlete's health and wellbeing.

Horse racing is still trying to figure out that shift. What's accepted at the track is still mainly driven by winning. Many medications are given to horses because it gives them the best chance to win. The perception, unfortunately, is that even the ones caught administering medications improperly—whether that be those that are illegal, those that are present above an allowable threshold, or those that are not prescribed for that specific horse—still only receive a “slap on the wrist.” Pushing horses to compete through injuries, perhaps minor ones, is about winning when taking a little extra time off may be in the best interest of the horse. 

If Todd, for whatever positives he contributed to the equestrian world that earned him a knighthood, should get his license suspended for his actions in the video that has surfaced because people believe he put the wellbeing of the horse in jeopardy at the expense of the horse's development in the sport of eventing, there should be more accountability for similar actions that are not in the best interest of the horse but are still accepted as standard practice.

I don't know whether using a lunge whip or a crop on the horse in the Todd video would have made the situation better. I don't know whether using a lip chain to walk a horse is always the best option and how that compares to a nose chain or just a plain lead line. However, I do know it's time we start asking some questions and having difficult discussions rather than just assuming we have the answers and posting about that on social media. 

Sometimes a little curiosity and being open to new ideas are just what we need to actually get to the answers that will ultimately make a difference. It doesn't matter how long someone has worked with horses; good horse people know there's always something to learn. Bottom line, let's educate ourselves, learn from our mistakes, and grow from them. 

The post Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: Good Horse People Know There’s Always Something To Learn appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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