'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

Dawn in MN — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:48:47 GMT

I love the Bloodhorse articles that allow comments.

Asperecel, Reading about your Thoroughbred in training, kicking qh butt brought a big smile to my face. It makes sense that a thoroughbred would do well with trail obstacles. The horses who have spent time at a track have seen so much that a lot of them are probably close to "bomb-proof" before they ever see a western saddle.

Team penning is a blast. There is a cow farm down the road from the barn where I ride. On Friday evenings people ride down to the cow farm and practice team penning. One of the boarders who has a Thoroughbred gelding doesn't take him because he is afraid of cows.

Have fun with team penning. For many people it is a serious sport competition. Doing it just for fun is a blast. It is very amusing to chase cows on a fast horse. The Thoroughbred would be especially good at it.

Smart and athletic...Thoroughbreds are more versatile than a lot of people know.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

Aspercel — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:40:36 GMT

Dawn in MN,

mine is about to be in a western saddle a bit. i'm going slow with introducing him to jumping because he had a small fracture in his last race before i got him. i'm going to borrow a saddle and he's going to go team sorting soon (should be interesting for both of us), and has been kicking some qh butt with trail obstacles for fun at our barn.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

Aspercel — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:37:12 GMT

Great story! Keep the OTTB stories coming! I love mine and wouldn't trade him for the world, and it is great to see some publicity coming the tb way.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

Dawn in MN — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 22:34:16 GMT

thanks Adam-One of these days I will break down and pay for English riding lessons, so that I can learn to post too. Thoroughbreds are so smart, and they love to have a job, I bet there are some out there doing well in Western saddles.

Susan from VA thanks! I have wanted to read her book for some time now. I can't wait to see it.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

aspradling — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:27:32 GMT

It is humbling to be corrected by Corinne, lol.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

Susan from VA — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:04:23 GMT

Dawn in MN - There is a photograph of Seabiscuit's owner riding him around his ranch in a Western saddle after he retired. I think you can find it in Laura Hillenbrand's book.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

cashton — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:29:37 GMT

thank you Mr Spradling! It was a pleasure having you to stay and helping you savor the equestrian delights of Aiken's eventing and dressage world.

You were very astute in all your observations! I do have to correct you though I think you only took 5mins to learn how to post the trot!! One further correction is that my 2 OTTB are actually only 7 yrs old and were successfully running Prelim level eventing at 6yrs, guess it helps when you start life early, TB's all run as 2 or 3yr olds I guess!!

And I still always on the look out for that very very special OTTB looking to become an event horse

Thanks again

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

aspradling — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:15:35 GMT

@kelso fan: Tell me more about the steeple chases! I have always wanted to watch one in person.

@Dawn in MN: Thank you for sharing your story, that is awesome! I admire the learning however you can, because sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, right? That is an experience, honestly, not many may have and it sounds pretty cool, even though you were envious, to look back and say you learned to ride in it's "purest form" shall we say =)

I will see if I can find some Western style connections and look into OTTB's there.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

Dawn in MN — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 10:15:41 GMT

Adam,

I enjoyed this look at Thoroughbreds in English saddle discipline. I kept thinking about this write-up after I read it the first time. I am with centeredrider75, I wish I could buy them all. Thank you for taking an interest in careers other than racing for Thoroughbreds.

I respect dressage, and the other uses for the English saddle. As a kid I watched dressage classes from the observation room at the barn where I worked to pay my horse's board. I developed a healthy respect for the self-discipline and skill that are required for dressage.

I groomed saddled, and cleaned tack for the kids who had dressage lessons there. All the kids who took lessons had to do was show up and learn to ride. I'm sure there were other stables where the kids learned to handle horses on the ground. It's just that I was always envious of the kids who took lessons at the barn where I worked.

I never had a lesson, but I learned to ride on my own. I spent my youth riding a grade quarter horse mare, the way only a horse-crazy kid can, bareback. My friends and I rode like wild things. The only time I used a saddle was in practice and competition at Western games and shows. My saddle cost $19.00 at a tack auction, it was missing the horn, but they let me in the shows and games anyway.

My friends and I dodged golfers and galloped through their courses like our pants were on fire. We flew through beaches in deep sand as lifeguards blew whistles and yelled, we dodged headstones in graveyards, rode the horses through woods and across frozen lakes in the winter and made them swim across lakes in the summer. Bareback.

The experience was the exact opposite of dressage, but we learned things that lessons can't always teach.

I would be really interested in learning about Thoroughbreds that have worked well under Western tack, and successfully competed in Western games and disciplines. I bet they'd do well there too. They are smart, and athletic, and would probably like the games.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

kelso fan — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 21:31:01 GMT

Thanks for the great article.

Aiken is one of my favorite cities - I grew up just across the river from there. It is an amazing place for horses and my screen name reflects one of the greats who trained there. Adam, I hope you make it back for the spring trials and the steeplechases.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

aspradling — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 19:27:26 GMT

Great feedback, thank you everyone!

I will have a few more OTTB topics coming your way throughout this year. As well as racing and other pieces.

mirlacca: First, thank you for taking time to post your thoughts!

You are correct in that I thought of dressage as "prissy" and as you continued to read in the blog, hopefully you saw that by the end of my trip, I grew to feel otherwise impressed and realized how challenging it could be.

BUT if I may, I think most red blooded American males, uneducated on dressage will not find it the most masculine sport. Seeing and learning in first person...living it for a few days if you will, altered my perception. =)

Susan: Thanks! I corrected the spelling of naive.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

Rachel NH — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 10:11:26 GMT

Every thing you see in the horse world is built on the principle's in dressage. When I was younger TB's ruled.

PS They still do, just look at the last couple of Olympics, especially the American team.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

mirlacca — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:18:27 GMT

"Dressage riders are given specific instructions on the tasks and movements that must be performed, perfectly, sometimes as late as the day before the dressage event."

WHAT? Dressage tests are available from the USDF, and changes for the year are announced well in advance of recognized dressage competition. If you're talking about dressage ONLY as it pertains to three-day eventing, maybe so (although I doubt it). But if you are competing in DRESSAGE, you sign up for specific tests, or for freestyle which must include specified movements.

I'm sorry you think dressage is "prissy", but if that's how you view subtle and exacting communication and harmony between horse and rider, well, horses for courses, I suppose!

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

deb — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:16:18 GMT

having owned an off the track thoroughbred in the '70s, I can tell you that there is nothing this breed cannot do. I wish more people could see that. Buck was the best horse I ever owned and so trusting....they are a great bunch of horses. I hope more find that out.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

Susan from VA — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:28:14 GMT

Nice article - but it's naive, not nieve.

re: 'Aiken' for Thoroughbreds

centeredrider75 — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:29:37 GMT

It's people like this that keep me interested in the sport; either racing or events like the ones they participate in. Some people I have been around are only particular to warmbloods for the types of events as three day eventing and so on.

I applaud and Thank people like this for giving OTTBs and TBs respectively a second chance at life.

Every TB foal is planned and it pains me when I read about a TB going through an auction and off to slaughter. I wish I could buy everyone of them.

Thank you for this article!!

re: ‘Aiken’ for Thoroughbreds

tbpartner43 — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 02:00:51 GMT

I was fortunate to see Corinne and Dobbin at Rolex. It was wonderful to find this article. And now I know that Dobbin is still in training. The pictures are wonderful. I hope you do more OTTB stories.

re: ‘Aiken’ for Thoroughbreds

anita b — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 23:44:34 GMT

Hi Adam,

Thank you for such a neat article about thoroughbreds and dressage/eventing. If I were a lot younger I would have liked to have lessons--not that I would have been a good rider. Who is Dobbin's sire? And I will look for your posts again. Anita