I really do love the retraining of racehorses. They are so smart and quick to learn new things. As Barqi is only four years old, he will pick up a new way of life very quickly. I have given him a whole month of just being a horse, chilling with his new field friends, Django and Daisy, and being able to get used to his new surroundings.
Over the first week, I spent lots of time in his stable, just chilling and being around him, with no pressure or questions, as he was very suspicious of my presence and always expecting work. He quickly started to see my presence as normal and would pay no attention to me coming in and out, which was exactly the response I wanted. We then moved onto tying up outside the stable and being groomed, as well as randomly popping on his saddle and bridle. I was pleasantly surprised that he wasn’t tack sour, and being tacked up didn’t make him fizzy or excited, but he didn’t overly like being groomed or rugged and would often kick out if you were near his back end. Thankfully, with consistency, this has also improved massively.
During week three, we started to tackle loading practice. Now we had a better understanding of each other, I was keen to tackle this soon, so we could start getting out and about, but not too soon that the loading on top of his new home and routine was too overwhelming! Because he was from the British Racing School and used for students, this means he never travelled while he was there, which is unusual for an ex-racehorse and something I have never had to work on before.
We took it step by step, from just eating at the end of the ramp, to going up the ramp, to coming down the ramp slowly, to being asked to spend longer standing on the lorry with food, and then without food. The progress has been significant and without any force or stress, so I am really pleased, and feel he is ready to start being closed in and go for small trips.
I also started the final week by standing next to him on a mounting block while wearing his saddle, gently leaning over, but asking him to stand when he felt weight. I was so pleased that in only one session he understood what I meant. At the end of week four, and thankfully timed with some sun, I couldn’t resist sitting on him and going for a walk. He was perfect to mount and so chilled about the whole process. I couldn’t be more pleased with his progress being perfectly to plan these last four weeks.
Once again I threw Arlo in at the deep end, affiliating him purely for the Arena UK second round show, and once again he pulled it out the bag. How lucky am I to have such a wonderful little horse? We haven’t really competed this year. I don’t really compete over the winter, and also my horsebox was away for repairs up until the beginning of June, so I had no transport even if I’d wanted to.
With the dry ground we don’t seem to be having much luck with shoes, as little madam managed to pull both her front shoes off within 12 hours the other day! We entered the arena with two shoes on for a schooling session and left it with one missing (took about an hour to find it). Then that afternoon, as I went to put some hoof ointment on, I looked down and had to double take, thinking I was looking at the wrong hoof. But, no, the other shoe was missing too.
After having a long wait and some lunch at the onsite café, it was time to get ready for the Joan Wolfe Overall Supreme Shetland Pony Championship. I got changed out of my usual showing outfit into black trousers and a maroon top with white spots, as you are expected to be a bit more “bling” in the evening.
We were all set to go for our next outing, and were super excited. That was until I heard the dreaded clunk of a loose shoe! I checked it over, praying it wasn’t too loose, but, nope, it was going to need a refit.