Tag: the gray man

Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: Finding The Right Personality Match For Horse And Rider

Certain things just go together. Mike Smith and Zenyatta. Bill Murray and a Wes Anderson movie. Peanut butter and jelly. As great as those ingredients are individually, there's something magical that happens when they come together.

How a horse matches up with its rider in an equestrian sport is very much like a director trying to cast the right actor or a chef trying to put the right ingredients between two pieces of bread.

I'm grateful for the talent both my OTTB eventers have, and they also could not be more different in terms of how I match with them.

Since she became my first horse in 2018, Sorority Girl (Jockey Club registered as Grand Moony; Barn Name: Moo) has always been the hotshot talent who knows she's good and questions whether I'm good enough to be her teammate. I could not think of a more perfect horse to make me a better rider when I was just starting to learn the sport of eventing.

My newest project, Rocketman (Jockey Club registered as The Gray Man; Barn Name: Uno), wants to get to know me, hang out with me, and be the best teammate he can be both under and out of saddle. I could not think of a more perfect horse to teach me about how special it can be to bond with a former racehorse.

I competed in events with Rocketman and Sorority Girl each of the first three weekends of August 2021, and the personalities that they brought to the show—really, the personalities they bring to all our rides—affected what I got out of and learned from showing them.

I took Rocketman to his first horse show at the Spring Gulch Horse Trials in Colorado on August 8. We went on a whim. After having a month off with a minor injury and illness in June, Uno returned like a champ in July, happy to work under saddle and eager to try the jumper courses I put him through. So, less than a week before the show, I made arrangements for Uno and me to replace another rider and horse who could no longer compete.

I flew back to Colorado the night before the show after announcing the collegiate box lacrosse national championships in California that weekend. I had no idea how my lovable 4-year-old grey gelding with one eye would handle his first show environment. He was a joy to be around. He warmed up calmly and went in the dressage ring for his first test — which also happened to be the first full dressage test we ever did — willing to do whatever was asked of him.

My goal was to make the show a positive experience for Rocketman, so that he wouldn't be “burning out his fuse up here alone.” After the 16.3 hh gelding still trying to figure out where his feet are tripped during one movement, I rebalanced Rocketman and gave him a pet on the neck. I pet him during other moments of the test as well, telling him he was being a good boy. After we halted, I pet him again…and then remembered that I was actually supposed to salute the judge first. The judge and scribe smiled.

We didn't score that well, with a lot of the reasons for my struggles with dressage falling on my riding shortcomings. However, we received the most flattering feedback from the judge, Cindy DePorter from South Carolina, “Going in the right direction! Tactfully ridden! Good start. Work on continuing the kind hands. Good luck. Have fun.” It also brought a smile to my face that the scribe had noted Uno's “one eye” and put a heart next to it under “Distinguishing Marks.”

Uno loves to jump, and we moved up the standings after stadium jumping and cross country to finish ninth in a field of 16 in the Intro-A division. We also earned The Jockey Club's Thoroughbred Incentive Program High Point Award for the Intro level.

The next week, Uno and I moved up from the 2'3 Intro level to the 2'7 Beginner Novice level at the relaxed mini trial schooling show at Sunrise Equine. Uno jumped clear to finish on his dressage score, placing third in a field of six in the BN-A division.

 

More than just competing well, Uno relished the show environment. When we were done, but more students from our Super G Sporthorses barn still had to compete, I walked Uno around like a puppy dog, and he happily grazed, rolled in the dirt, and was doted on by others at the show.

This was all unlike what my first shows with Sorority Girl were like, when both she and I were new to the sport of eventing back in 2018. Yes, she had raw talent and I was fairly precocious to be competing in recognized events after less than three years of riding horses, but we struggled. I chronicled our early epic eliminations at shows from too many refusals to falls to dressage meltdowns earlier in this column in “Horowitz Learns That In Eventing, Winning Isn't Everything.”

Unlike Uno, Moo tests her rider. She has her own agenda and has strong opinions about her rider's agenda. As many special moments as we've had together, including her stealing the show during the wedding ceremony for Ashley and me, she lives life on her terms. So, unlike Uno, who wants to please his rider, Moo wants her rider to meet her expectations—stay balanced, set her up properly to jumps, ask her to work with purpose on the flat. Then, we make a great team.

The author with Moo on the cross country course

The personality Moo brought to our partnership when I was first learning to ride fit with what I needed. I wanted to be a legitimate rider and not just the novelty of the horse race announcer that decided to hop on a horse. Moo made me that rider.

So, at The Event at Archer in Wyoming from August 20 to 22, the hard work I've put in on Moo showed through. Yes, we still struggled with dressage, but that's because I struggled and not her. She did everything how I asked. I'm just having panicky brain freezes in the arena in front of a judge.

After that, we turned in double-clear cross country and stadium jumping rounds, making us one of only four in our ON-B division of 18 and one of only six across the whole Novice level of 34 to finish on our dressage score — albeit a dressage score I continue to work hard to improve.

 

Now, Uno has come along as the right horse for my goals because of his personality. I found a horse that wants to bond with and please his rider. It's actually taken some getting used to that I don't have to be on guard for mare-ish tantrums when I hop in the saddle.

Most Thoroughbreds, if they retire from racing relatively sound, can physically do whatever tasks an amateur rider like myself will ask of them in their second careers and beyond. When their personalities come out — a topic I'll explore more in a future column — that's what determines what the experience will be like. Like a director looking for the right actor to cast, a general manager looking for the right player to draft, or a hopeful romantic looking for the right partner in life, I wish that all the people that want to do good finding new homes for retired racehorses will find that magical match.

The post Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: Finding The Right Personality Match For Horse And Rider appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Thoroughbred Makeover Diaries Presented By Excel Equine: What To Do About ‘Trainer Fatigue’

Writers usually write about topics on which they are an expert. That's not the case here. I'm attempting to write about something I'm experiencing but don't quite know how to diagnose or solve…yet. Hopefully, this space, which has come with all the support you have given me over the past year of sharing my riding adventures through “Thoroughbred Makeover Diaries,” will help me take the first steps.

I started “Thoroughbred Makeover Diaries” because the plan was to compete at the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover, an event I had announced for the previous five years, in 2020 with my 2016 bay OTTB mare Cubbie Girl North. The idealistic side of me thought this would be a space to showcase a fairytale George-Plimpton-esque journey of an announcer-turned-rider that would help an important cause to me in Thoroughbred aftercare.

The journey hasn't been a fairytale; it's been very real, filled with the most extreme highs and lows I've ever experienced, like when I got seven stitches and completed my first recognized event with Cubbie in the span of a week.

We didn't reach our destination because the 2020 Thoroughbred Makeover was postponed, as many sporting events of the past year were, because of COVID-19. Also, the extremes moments can be a blessing and a curse when working with retired racehorses straight off the track, especially if you're an amateur rider. Those extremes became more than I cared to experience as someone who's been riding for less than six years.

When the 2020 Thoroughbred Makeover was postponed, I decided to give Cubbie a break. I began working again with my first horse, the 2013 chestnut OTTB mare Grand Moony, whom I started showing under the name Sorority Girl in 2018. She had successfully competed in the Thoroughbred Makeover in 2017 with Ashley before becoming my first horse. The challenges of retraining a retired racehorse straight off the track that I experienced with Cubbie helped my journey with “Moo,” and we had our best results at events, even successfully moving up to the Novice level of 2-feet-11 at the end of 2020.

I decided that I wanted to continue progressing with Moo in 2021 and put my Makeover goals on hold. This year will be a “Mega Makeover” that includes the classes of 2020 and 2021, and announcing is my first priority. So, Cubbie is now on a free lease for the year with a caring, kind, up-and-coming trainer, Nicole Dayberry, and I hope I get to announce them at shows in Colorado and the surrounding area this year.

As I was arranging for Cubbie to go to Nicole, I told Ashley that I wanted to take a break from working with green OTTBs. So, naturally, as my wife and trainer who truly knows what's best for me, she found a retired racehorse that I should buy.

Kim Wendel, an upper-level eventer based in Colorado and a fellow board member with the organization that runs the Spring Gulch Horse Trials, was selling her 2017 grey OTTB gelding The Gray Man. “He'd be perfect for you,” was the sentiment of both Ashley and Kim.

“Well, s***, he's too nice to pass up,” I thought.

Long story short, a friend that rides at our barn, Rageena Price, and I decided to buy The Gray Man together. With his cool backstory and personality, a barn name of “Uno” because he only has one eye, and an eagerness to learn, this OTTB is full of potential for good times ahead. At the same time, he's a young horse full of playfulness and can be a lot to handle as a 16.3 hh big baby.

It's safe to say that Uno has a lot of personality, whether it be with his rider or with the Super G barn cat Archie. Photo by Ashley Horowitz

It's that balance that's exciting and terrifying. I imagine a scale where I weigh the pros and cons of OTTBs. On one side is the talent, the journey, and the reward for helping a racehorse successfully transition to a new life after retiring from racing. The Thoroughbred provides opportunities unlike any other horse breed. Weighing that down from the other side of the scale are the difficult learning moments for horse and rider, the miscommunication as they figure each other out, and, especially for a young OTTB, an exuberance that can be difficult to handle.

Unfortunately, I've fallen into the trap of looking at this scale before, during, and after every ride and then deciding whether it's all “worth it.” That's exhausting, and it leads to what I'm experiencing as “trainer fatigue.” It became worse as the big goal of competing in the Thoroughbred Makeover loomed.

So, what's the solution? After reflecting on everything I've written about, which is the most personally beneficial part of “Thoroughbred Makeover Diaries,” I've arrived at “change.” Change is difficult to implement, difficult to observe, and difficult to appreciate—at least for me.

Uno has shown an aptitude for jumping, but, as a young, energetic horse, he can also be a lot of handle. It's figuring out that balance that's a key to working with OTTBs. Photo by Ashley Horowitz

Not all OTTBs are alike. Now I'm working with a gelding instead of a mare. Cubbie would hold massive grudges. Uno does not. But, I have to appreciate that change and not fall into the trap that the journey with Uno will be the same as it was with Cubbie. I've changed my goals. It's not “Makeover or bust.” It's “What will make for a positive step forward, big or small, today?” And, hopefully, I will embrace that a backward step does not mean the end of progress or the journey.

Uno is excited about life and has a lot of energy. I would initially see that as a bad thing because his overeagerness is difficult to handle. However, that eagerness, once it's channeled, will be beneficial to taking big jumps on a cross country course. That's going to take time, so in the meantime, I lunge him before each ride. If he's hasn't been ridden in awhile, I'll close the doors to our indoor arena and let him run around. It used to freak me out, thinking, “I'm supposed to ride that,” but now it's cute.

 

I once told a corny joke while warming up on Uno and started laughing. At the sound of my laugh, he leapt in the air with all four feet off the ground, and I flew up with my four limbs above the saddle. I managed to stay on and one-rein stop. It was terrifying, but I changed my perspective that the best way to deal with it is to go with the flow. Uno wasn't being mean-spirited in the moment, and neither should I.

I still struggle when Uno wants to go forward, thinking he'll run off with me. I'm trying to find the balance between accepting where he's at with his progress and asking for a little more, the difference, for example, between just getting the trot and getting him to work at the trot. And, I need guidance on knowing when to end the lesson and not push the issue.

So, I'm not saying that I've figured out the answers to my challenges, but hopefully I embrace the idea that “Rome wasn't built in a day,” and neither are OTTBs. That's why Ashley won't just give me the blueprints but instead empowers me to go through the struggles, with her playing the role as trainer, foreperson, therapist, and inspiration, to create my own journey, wherever it may lead.

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Thoroughbred Makeover Diaries Presented By Excel Equine: Riding An OTTB Isn’t So Different From Playing Poker

Buying a recently-retired racehorse to retrain to be a sport horse or pleasure horse is like anteing up to play Texas hold 'em poker. The initial cost to see your hand — the antes and blinds for poker or the cost of horses at the end of their racing careers — is relatively low. The possibilities and dreams when you're first holding those two cards or starting to retrain an OTTB are always high.

“As long as I have a chip and a chair, I'm still alive in this event,” said Jack “Treetop” Straus, who discovered one chip hidden under a napkin to remain in the main event at the 1982 World Series of Poker, eventually won poker's most prestigious tournament, and inspired a motto for all players' dreams.

Like that one chip, an OTTB offers the dreams that one of the most affordable investments in the equine world can lead to future ribbons, special moments, and a potential lifelong bond between horse and human. On the path to achieving those goals, the big financial and emotional investment comes later, like in poker, after seeing your hand's value once more cards are revealed on the flop, turn, and river.

What's the best way to play an OTTB poker hand? Cue the late, great Kenny Rogers in “The Gambler”

You got to know when to hold 'em,

Know when to fold 'em,

Know when to walk away,

Know when to run.

You never count your money

When you're sittin' at the table.

There'll be time enough for countin'

When the dealin's done.

I'm relatively new to riding OTTBs, but they're the only horses I've ridden since I began my journey from broadcasting to riding in 2015. The three horses I've owned have each taught me different lessons about how Rogers' wisdom applies to training retired racehorses—and to life in general. 

You got to know when to hold 'em

“Are you sure this is the right horse for me?” I asked over and over and over again.

In 2018, I bought my first horse, a 5-year-old chestnut Thoroughbred mare who I announced when she raced at Arapahoe Park in Colorado in 2015 and 2016 and when she competed in Show Jumping and Freestyle at the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover in Kentucky in 2017.

The fact that I gave Grand Moony the show name of Sorority Girl should tell you everything you need to know about what she was like to handle and ride. Or, if you're an equestrian, the fact that she's a chestnut mare already told you that.

My trainer, Ashley Horowitz, picked Grand Moony for me. She was the first to train “Moo” when she came into CANTER's retraining program right after retiring from racing. She competed with the talented and precocious filly at the Makeover. Ashley knows how to scout talent. If you need any proof of that, she married me two years later.

Ashley didn't recommend Moo as my first horse because she'd be easy. Although, I admittedly had what I later realized were unrealistic dreams of winning horse shows right away. That would be like expecting to make the final table at my first poker tournaments.

Ashley recommended Moo as my first horse because she'd make me better. Moo was tough. We had runouts at jumps when I didn't ride confidently. We had bucks when I became unbalanced.

That's why I kept asking Ashley, “Are you sure this is the right horse for me?”

Ashley always patiently said yes and that I just didn't see it yet.

Sorority Girl steals the show at Horowitz's wedding

 

Like inexperienced poker players, I didn't know how to assess the chances of winning with my cards. Ashley knew my first hand would get better as the metaphorical equine community cards were dealt.

Sorority Girl and I have competed together for three years. We're developing a partnership as we move up the levels in eventing, but more importantly, we're developing a special relationship. Sorority Girl even made herself the center of attention at our wedding in July. Winning our first ribbon at a recognized event was even more rewarding when it came at the same event where we suffered our first elimination one year earlier.

Know when to fold 'em

The most promising hold 'em hand can be beaten by a lesser starting hand depending on how the community cards fall and how each player chooses to play their hand.

I was really encouraged by the next equine poker hand I was dealt in OTTB Cubbie Girl North. The 2016 bay filly that I found in a CANTER listing after she retired from an unremarkable four-race career in her home state of Illinois has been the protagonist of this “Thoroughbred Makeover Diaries” series.

But Cubbie has also been an antagonist. The extreme highs and lows have come on top of each other, like when Cubbie busted my chin open and gave me seven stitches three days before we would go on to surpass Ashley's and my expectations by completing our first recognized event.

Cubbie has zero patience for gray areas when she's being ridden, but I'm still learning. I'm not a professional like Ashley and don't have the same tact and skill set for dealing with a horse that wants to become dangerous when things don't go her way. After a disagreement in dressage warm-up for our last event in October, my goal went from success to simply survival. We did survive dressage — with the second-worst score across all levels and all divisions at a show with 195 riders — and even managed to go double clear with no jumping or time faults in cross country and in stadium jumping. But our communication has broken down.

Despite my emotional connection to Cubbie, I'm open to the reality that we may not be a good match.

Ashley and a good friend, Rageena Price, are now riding Cubbie. She's becoming more agreeable, and maybe they can exorcise the darkness that has sent Cubbie into dangerous rages. Or maybe not.

Ultimately, it's important and valuable to realize that reaching our goals with our dream horse may not be in the cards. And, we have to be OK with the part of “The Gambler” that isn't so fun.

I haven't given up on Cubbie, but I'm lucky enough to be married to a trainer who I can literally hand the reins to. The mare still holds a special place in my life, and I hope our stories reconnect and our hand improves when the dealer turns over the next cards.

There'll be time enough for countin'/When the dealin's done.

I'm now at the end of my first year of retraining Cubbie, the first horse I've worked with where I've been the first person to ride her off the track. The roller coaster of our journey has provided valuable learning experiences, and I'm proud of the rider I've become.

That said, I wanted to take a break from working on project horses. Essentially, I wanted to count my money…but the dealin' wasn't done.

“You have to look at this horse,” Ashley said as she showed me a sales video for The Gray Man, a 2017 16.3 hh gray Thoroughbred.

I looked at the video. Impressive movement by a horse with an impressive story I was already familiar with. The Gray Man has the barn name of Uno because he has one eye. He lost the eye after he became tangled with some fencing when he was eight days old.

 

“Sometimes the best opportunities come when you don't expect them,” Ashley said.

Uno came to our farm on Dec. 13 for a test ride. I've never seen a cooler OTTB. Kim Wendel, an upper-level eventer, was selling Uno because she had just imported another horse from Ireland. She said Uno had been ridden six times since retiring in July following a two-race career in his home state of Indiana.

He hadn't been ridden or turned out in a week and a half before he came to our farm. The inactivity, combined with trailering to a new location, combined with being in an indoor arena for the first time in his life, made Uno justifiably nervous. Did I mention he has one eye?

Seeing how he processed his new surroundings looking in both direction with his right eye and seeking human connection for guidance made this a hand not only worth playing but one that I would kick myself if I didn't try to play.

Ashley rode Uno. I rode Uno. Rageena rode Uno. The three of us loved him. It was one ride, but we each experienced gorgeous movement and a brain that is full of curiosity, is eager to learn, and desires to please.

This is my last “Thoroughbred Makeover Diaries” in 2020, and I've truly enjoyed writing this series. Writing each article is like a therapy session where I get to process the lessons I've learned from the Thoroughbreds in my life. From my first article in January to this article in December, I couldn't have predicted what the journey would be. Of course, nothing between January and December 2020 was predictable.

Writing these articles has been personal, and I appreciate the support I've received from the many readers and subjects of these articles that have witnessed my journey. I know there are other paths in the equine world, but as I listened to Kenny Rogers sing about “the ace that [he] could keep,” I realize I've found mine.

I have a chip (well, a horse) and a chair (well, a saddle), and I'm excited for whatever cards are dealt in 2021. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.

Horowitz will continue his Thoroughbred Makeover Diaries series through the 2021 Makeover event, thanks to ongoing support from our sponsor, Excel Equine Feeds.

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