Saturday Again!!
Schooling race day again!
My little filly is going to get in the gate in a full field and hopefully get her OK. After that, she is considered ready to run and her next trip to the gate will probably be in a real race.
Personally, I like to take them back to the gate just to stand, but they aren;t mine. If I were to do that got left behind in their first race it could be blamed on me. But if the horse were mine and I could take my time, that horse would stand a couple of times, then break again, either with or without other horses. Just to teach them that they cannot be positive what is going to happen, but that they need not be nervous; just prepared.
Every horse is different, though. Some are quite nervous and will take so long to settle down that it makes financial sense to run them before they act as though they are ready, simply because their ability is sufficient to cover for their defects at the start. So even the ordinarily meticulous trainer might gloss over the difficult part.
I have another filly that is unfortunately going the wrong way on me. This has happened on at least three occasions for the same reason and in the same fashion, which I am going to quickly describe (it's almost 7 a.m. and I have to go to work):
The horse arrives at the track as a two year old or three year old. We begin training- galloping, breezing a couple of times, and going up to the gate. After a couple of months the horse is catching on. Mentally they are prepared to move forward. At this point comes a setback; the horse has an abcess in the foot, or a crack, or epiphysit is in the shins (having to do with the growth plates on the bone surface- an inflammation that feels like shin splints or metatarsal stress fractures in humans). So the horse gets some time off.
After a week, the horse is feeling too good to keep in the barn, because it has attained a level of fitness that demands some attention. Anyone who runs can tell that it's difficult to just stop for an ankle sprain when your lungs feel like you they want to run a hole in the wind. But for you, you know why you are not; you see the big picture. The horse has no understanding of the relationship between healing and someday winning a horse race. They just know they need exercise that they are not getting.
What happens from here is that the injury continues to interrup the horse's training regimen, i.e. every time the horse goes back to work it's OK until it breezes, then suddenly needs another week off. Then the horse begins to resent the program. All it knows is pointless gallping around until it has pain, then stopping and never seeing the outside of the barn. This is especially detrimental to a young horse's temper.
At this point with my filly, she has become very angry. The trainer has been lucky in that she has a farm to send the filly to, which has helped. But thte horse happens to be talented and aggressive, which has made the setbacks no less difficult. Now she is beginning to resent being held back and even a strong hold on the reins can cause her to rear up and drop me, which is what she did the other day when just going the wrong way for a mile in prep for a breeze. She is also evading the bit by bearing out, which can become a very bad habit. The trainer has decided to just let her gallop, which is some help, but for me I actually feel that I need ot be out of the equation for a bit, because she associates me with the stuff she dislikes. I think she'd go to the track happier right now if she didn;t have me on her back.
We also had a discussion about her equipment, which the trainer felt was properly adjusted but which I felt nonetheless was pinching her mouth. We've settled on a figure 8 noseband as a solution to the problem. She is supposed to work today with the jockey, and I hope everything works out. She'd a talented horse that needs her chance to move on right now.
Well, I'm overtime. Gotta go!! I'm not editing, either.
My little filly is going to get in the gate in a full field and hopefully get her OK. After that, she is considered ready to run and her next trip to the gate will probably be in a real race.
Personally, I like to take them back to the gate just to stand, but they aren;t mine. If I were to do that got left behind in their first race it could be blamed on me. But if the horse were mine and I could take my time, that horse would stand a couple of times, then break again, either with or without other horses. Just to teach them that they cannot be positive what is going to happen, but that they need not be nervous; just prepared.
Every horse is different, though. Some are quite nervous and will take so long to settle down that it makes financial sense to run them before they act as though they are ready, simply because their ability is sufficient to cover for their defects at the start. So even the ordinarily meticulous trainer might gloss over the difficult part.
I have another filly that is unfortunately going the wrong way on me. This has happened on at least three occasions for the same reason and in the same fashion, which I am going to quickly describe (it's almost 7 a.m. and I have to go to work):
The horse arrives at the track as a two year old or three year old. We begin training- galloping, breezing a couple of times, and going up to the gate. After a couple of months the horse is catching on. Mentally they are prepared to move forward. At this point comes a setback; the horse has an abcess in the foot, or a crack, or epiphysit is in the shins (having to do with the growth plates on the bone surface- an inflammation that feels like shin splints or metatarsal stress fractures in humans). So the horse gets some time off.
After a week, the horse is feeling too good to keep in the barn, because it has attained a level of fitness that demands some attention. Anyone who runs can tell that it's difficult to just stop for an ankle sprain when your lungs feel like you they want to run a hole in the wind. But for you, you know why you are not; you see the big picture. The horse has no understanding of the relationship between healing and someday winning a horse race. They just know they need exercise that they are not getting.
What happens from here is that the injury continues to interrup the horse's training regimen, i.e. every time the horse goes back to work it's OK until it breezes, then suddenly needs another week off. Then the horse begins to resent the program. All it knows is pointless gallping around until it has pain, then stopping and never seeing the outside of the barn. This is especially detrimental to a young horse's temper.
At this point with my filly, she has become very angry. The trainer has been lucky in that she has a farm to send the filly to, which has helped. But thte horse happens to be talented and aggressive, which has made the setbacks no less difficult. Now she is beginning to resent being held back and even a strong hold on the reins can cause her to rear up and drop me, which is what she did the other day when just going the wrong way for a mile in prep for a breeze. She is also evading the bit by bearing out, which can become a very bad habit. The trainer has decided to just let her gallop, which is some help, but for me I actually feel that I need ot be out of the equation for a bit, because she associates me with the stuff she dislikes. I think she'd go to the track happier right now if she didn;t have me on her back.
We also had a discussion about her equipment, which the trainer felt was properly adjusted but which I felt nonetheless was pinching her mouth. We've settled on a figure 8 noseband as a solution to the problem. She is supposed to work today with the jockey, and I hope everything works out. She'd a talented horse that needs her chance to move on right now.
Well, I'm overtime. Gotta go!! I'm not editing, either.
posted by hoofstep at
3:46 AM
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