Our first rosette

Today we had our second show. We decided not to set him up for failure and rather do the two walk trot tests again for now, as well as the pole on the ground.


And so.. off we went with a box of calming tablets in-hand...

The two tests went pretty well - we were up first so that we could try and keep him from freaking out with all the other horses around. He could not keep his eyes off his surroundings and everything that was happening around the arena, but he completed both tests without any trouble nevertheless.

Seconds before the shit hits the fan....

As we left the arena, we had to go past the warm up arena... I immediately felt him switch into race horse mode... as I heard a horse coming up from behind (cantering), I knew he was going to freak out and I could feel him tensing up. I steered him into a corner of the warm up arena - where I tried to get off... but realized it would be too late and that he was going to take off before I'd be able to get to the ground safely... so I repositioned myself quickly - minus 2 stirrups!

As I found my seat again he started pronking and all I did was hold on for dear life! I thought it would be best if I could get him out of the arena and away from all the excitement, but as we got to the gate he took off... I remember Meryl shouting: SIT BACK!!! And me shouting: I DON'T HAVE ANY STIRRUPS!...

He started cantering down the driveway and I heard Emma shouting: SIT BACK!!! and then I saw Teddy's stable - it was separate from the other stables so I steered him towards that in the hope that he would stop - I soon realized he wasn't going to, so I steered him around the stable to the little area behind it where I knew he had to stop cause there was nowhere to go... as I did that I heard Justin (the judge) yell: WATCH OUT FOR THE SINK ROOF!!! Which was such a blessing in disguise, because if I did not see that, I would have been decapitated - no jokes!!!

Flag came to a standstill behind the stable and I jumped off as soon as I could! I led him out and I could see the terrified look in his face! I was shaking like a leaf but I was also super impressed with myself that I managed to stay on!

Today there was a couple of guardian angels along the way, reminding me of little things, like sit back and watch out! If it wasn't for them things could have ended pretty badly!

After this we did the pole on the ground a while later - I was nervous as hell, so walked the entire first round, the second round I trotted between jumps but then walked over them... but all that mattered at this stage is that we did it! Shattered nerves & all!

We won 2nd prize in the dressage test so I was super impressed! I wasn't expecting this at all as there were a lot of entries and I wasn't under the impression that we did that good... but nevertheless, Flag got his first proper rosette.

Yay! Happy me :)

June - Oct. 2010 - The challenge gets bigger

June 2010

I got a job offer 5km from the stables, so pretty soon I will be able to ride Flag every day.

His condition has improved immensely since he arrived at Glen Austin Stables. Look at the difference between this picture and the picture of the day we got him!!!

18 April 2010 - the day he arrived.

6 June 2010: 2 Months later... his condition has improved so much

The two most important men in my life.

1 July 2010

I started my new job - and all I could think of was riding my boy that evening, which I did and it was awesome! :)


July-September 2010

Somewhere during July he started with his shit! One night during my lesson, he figured out that he doesn't actually HAVE TO go where I wanted him to go in the canter, and that he can make a 90 degree turn in the opposite direction at full speed. I had no steering whatsoever and couldn't stop him. Thank goodness for the end of the arena!

Pretty soon he started doing this in the trot as well and in more than one direction. It was bloody scary!!! We tried everything - someone standing in the corner he ran to, giving him a fright - at which time he will start bucking and pronking hectically and I had to cling on for dear life... and then pissing off in the opposite direction again. We had people stand by the arena's gate so he couldn't head for that (he still tried though), but the problem got worse and worse and I got more terrified of him by the minute! How I managed not to fall off still amazes me to this day!

Eventually we put Charlene back on him again as she was a more experienced rider and also much stronger with her aids - he did the same thing to her - so we decided to go back to basics... walk & trot. Trot straight lines, walk curves - no circles whatsoever and absolutely no cantering for the next couple months! This worked most of the time, but as soon as you tried to do a 20m circle he napped again.

After a couple of months we tried to do a 20m circle again - but he still napped... after a lot of experimentation we figured out that I needed to ride with the crop in my outside hand - and as soon as he tried to nap he got a big SMACK from Casper the friendly ghost, as Charlene calls it. He then realized that he was NOT winning the battle and that it was bloody sore to get smacked by something every time you turn in the opposite direction from where your mom is trying to steer you.

All dressed up and ready to go.

On the 24th of September we decided to enter our first training show - walk trot of course - and even though it went pretty well, he napped twice. When he tried it the first time he got a smack so he decided to canter i.s.o. trot - but he soon calmed down and completed the test. We got 50% so I was quite satisfied with that, considering it was his first show.

Busy with our first test.

The next day the judge held a dressage clinic at the yard - which we attended. Justin said I needed to teach him to accept the outside rein and that my reins were too loose. I had an hour lesson and I was very impressed that he only tried to nap once and managed to do a 20m circle in the end.

October 2010

About a week after the show, we decided that I should ride Flag with a crop in each hand since I unbalanced both of us by changing the crop over, and sometimes he tried to nap before I could swop the crop over to the outside to give him a smack. This seemed to work pretty well! He soon realized that there was no escape to either side and it was best just to listen to my aids and go where he was told.

Back to basics

For the first two months I owned Flag, Charlene rode him for me during the week while I rode him on weekends. Unfortunately I worked long hours and was very far away from the yard. It rained most of the time, so I invested in a pair of rain boots and did lots of work with him on the ground and in the stable.

He did not know what left and right was, he didn't know what a corner or 20m circle was and he didn't know what it was to be lead by a person. All the boy knew, was how to run in a straight line. He didn't know any of the aids either, so for the first couple of weeks all we did was walk trot transitions, combined with straight lines and corners (he regarded a corner as a stop street). 

Some of the training methods we used:

• Walking on a lead - you have to walk next to his shoulder and use your elbow as a "leg aid", while you say to him: "walk on" (or whichever words you choose to use), until he starts walking or even just give one step forward, then you walk with him and praise him. Lots and lots of praise!!!! It's all about positive re-reinforcement. They also need to learn to respect your space - so if he rams into you just push him away with your elbow/shoulder. This is also the beginning of getting them to understand concepts like moving away from pressure - which will help you later on when you start using leg aids and doing basic dressage moves.
• Teaching him to turn: you "open and close the gate - which means that you need to open your inside rein as if opening a gate. As soon as you pull on the rein he just bends his neck and carry on in the direction you were going in.
• Slowly we had to start introducing the inside leg but we kept on opening and closing the gate for quite some time. You have to over exaggerate things a little bit with the green horses.
• In order to improve his balance we did a lot of transition work. 5 Steps walk, 3 steps trot. Walk the long side, trot the short side etc.
• We started introducing circles by doing serpentines. This also helps to improve their balance. 

The first time I cantered Flag I fell off - which was quite funny since he didn't do anything! All he did was turn (like I asked him to), my feet slipped out and I landed on the ground. I think this was a combination of him being off balance and myself also still getting used to the bounciness of a young horse.

The day my dream came true

Today the unimaginable happened: my ultimate, life long dream came true! I got the one thing I thought would always be out of my reach: my own horse! And so my journey to convert a 3.5 year old gelding, straight of the track, from a crazy, run as fast as you can Thoroughbred, to a reasonably calm dressage horse.

As Flag arrived

Was I nervous? Yes, most definitely! I grew up with horses - horses that were used to running in the field and not spooking at the smallest little thing. Horses that didn't have Thoroughbred blood running through their veins. I knew I was in good hands though: my instructor's passion for classical riding and experience in training Thoroughbreds were unbelievable!

Another arrival pic. Poor starved little creature.

My little beast's name is Flag. His last race was 2 months ago - so as you can imagine, he did not have a clue whatsoever - and I soon realized what a massive challenge lay ahead of us.

He arrived earlier than he was supposed to, which caught me off guard and I think all I did for the first hour was stare at him. I had absolutely no idea where to begin! He was a skinny little thing with lots of insect bites and a very dull coat. He couldn't care less about human attention and it was evident he was treated pretty badly at the racetracks.

Champagne to celebrate his arrival

Charlene giving me a few tips :)

My first ride on Mr. Flag

After I composed myself, we got some tack together and myself and Charlene hopped on. I was a bit cautious and didn't quite have the guts to ask him for a canter, Charlene however did - he didn't have a clue what the canter aid was or meant of course, but eventually she got him into it... seemed pretty calm for a horse that was fresh off the track, so I relaxed a bit.