Horse Lover Magazine

This past  summer my father in-law  and I adopted an off-the-track thoroughbred gelding.  Granted, he has been off the track for a few years now, but all the tell-tale signs are there that he lived the racing life (prancing is the main one!).  His racing name is Dancinginthewoods and he was bred in Arkansas.  His barn name is Sonny, he is nine years old, and stands 16.2 hands high. Sonny was given to the Dark Horse Rescue folks in Collierville, TN. I don't know all that he had been through, but he is a  very kind and gentle horse.  He is not fractious nor mean at all. I rode him a few times myself  before I decided to follow some good advice and get a trainer to help me. Sonny's trainer, Dave Evans, believes that with some consistent work at a calm and  easy pace, Sonny will soon be ready to step up to his next discipline, whatever that could be.  He is certainly big enough to do some jumping,  but I am not sure that size is necessarily the main indicator of that ability.  His previous owner  had worked on dressage with him and, for my personality, that may be the best route. So, Dave  continues  to work with Sonny to help him  relax, stretch out, and walk and trot on a loose rein.  He  is coming along beautifully!  I plan to feature Sonny's progress every week or so as we keep working with him. I hope you' ll check back  in and see how he is doing!

Sonny’s Progress Week 2 Well, Sonny continues to make progress in un-learning some of his race horse ways.  In addition to the prancing, Sonny also came to us not believing in standing still to be mounted.  He did not want to race off, but he was used to the rider getting on and moving on, and he wanted to just walk on immediately.  Dave has been very mindful to get on slowly, to stand in the stirrups and keep Sonny calm and at a standstill.   Sonny has been getting better and better on this point.  Also, regarding the prancing, Dave has been able to get Sonny to walk forward on a loose rein without so much prancing.  The prancing is not gone, but has diminished considerably.  Dave at first just walked Sonny in a small area in front of the barn until he maintained a steady walk forward and then Dave took Sonny out  into the large pasture. Sonny has improved with each ride.    His trot has also become more of a true trot instead of a prancing trot. Sonny is responding very well to Dave’s gait requests. The final race horse trait I will mention has to do with cantering on a circle.  Race horses don’t do that.  Cantering on a circle has been an adjustment for Sonny.  Dave has been careful to keep the circles as large as possible.  He has started slow and easy with this, but Sonny does not like it.  Yesterday, he bucked pretty hard while cantering on the circle.  Dave is thinking through the next step or steps to help Sonny adjust to this part of his training.  I will keep you posted on how things go! If you have ideas to help, please feel free to  leave a comment. Thanks to recognized artist and photographer Duncan Smith for the pictures!

 

Sonny's Progress Week 3 Since I can't always be there when Dave rides Sonny, Dave emails me a synopsis of some of the  training sessions to keep me posted.  I really appreciate that  and would just like to add that Sonny's cross-tie manners just keep getting better and better with Dave handling him about 3 times per week.  Sonny never acts up, but I think another race horse trait is moving around a lot (up and back) in the cross-ties. The following is what Dave had to report most recently: I rode Sonny around noon today. He did okay.  I tried to vary his routine a bit and not work him too hard since he did have a pretty good workout on Saturday.  He was a little cranky, but not bad. He didn't want to back up much with me on him, but did so readily when I dismounted and cued him from the ground.  He knows the drill. I think he was just trying me.  I rode him a while at a "walk" and then trotted a bit.  Next, I longed him for a while at a lope. This should do a couple of things: one is to get the fresh off him so he will slow down and be more inclined to actually walk when asked.  The other is for flexing and arcing his body as he moves, particularly at the lope. As you know, his arcing and flexing need some work.  After the longeing, I "walked" him along the fence lines in both pastures, try to settle him and just let him stretch out. He did okay. Of course, the more tired he is, the more likely he will be to relax. However, this was an "easy" day and I wanted to keep things fairly light.  Finally, I did take him into the lower pasture and loped him down the tree line toward the corner. He was fine, never trying to buck or even hop. I did that a couple of times and decided it was time to quit for the day...finishing on a positive note.  Dave ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) I really like the philosophy of quitting on a high note!   Marla <!--nextpage-->
Sonny's Progress Week 4 The following is Dave's report for one of the rides in Week 4!  I had a good workout with Sonny today. It wasn't intense, but I think it was productive.  I started with the usual routine of backing him from the ground, standing for mounting, and riding him in front of the barn and so on.  Mixing up his routine, next we headed straight to the woods, and stayed in there for twenty or so minutes....Walking, standing, backing, turning on his hindquarters, dismounting...all those progressive skills that we a building on.  In the woods, he has to move more carefully..and generally more slowly. When he does, I relieve the pressure and allow him to stretch out. Marla, this is when I have to "bring my A game", and really be attuned to his subtle movements.  As soon as he slows, I am giving him enough slack to allow him to feel the release and stretch out on a somewhat slack rein. When his old habits kick in and he begins to jig, I've got to take out the slack to bring him back to the walk...which is now on the tighter rein..which is undesirable, but necessary.  As he relaxes and slows again, I will give him slack and let him extend. Hopefully, a little more each time. At some point, it will dawn on him that walking is a lot more comfortable that jigging. It's almost like braking and coasting in a car. You don't ride the brakes, but touch them as needed when the vehicle is rolling down the hill.  We then "walked" the fence lines... a little better than usual.  No longeing today and a good bit of contact and praise. I was pleased. Dave    http://marlajefferssmith56.wordpress.com/sonnys-progress/sonnys-progress-pix/

 

 

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Newest Video in our series covers Mounting the Horse: 

 

 

 

Because of the extremely cold weather, the sound equipment did not work well.  We apologize for that, but  I really wanted  you to see how good Sonny looks so we decided to post it.  I am a proud mom!  We will re-shoot when the weather gets warmer! Re-shoot 01/10/10  Revision:

 

Getting on your Horse: