First Barrel Race Jitters??? I may have had my concerns about Grace going to a barrel race to see the sights for the first time, but there were no jitters on her part! She looked like she has done this every weekend! I think she really enjoys seeing all the new things!
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Grace got to "go to town" as we call it tonight! We host weekly mini clinics in Mason, TN (about an hour from our barn). We help people from the beginner level to those who may need to tune up their horse or their own riding. We had a friend of ours, Clint Childress, ride Grace tonight since there were so many there and my mom & I both needed to work with students. This was the first time she had been hauled to an indoor arena and the first time she was in a crowd like this. I didn't know what to expect because normally when we haul young horses to an indoor pen they see a lot of scary things, and even get scared with all of the commotion. Grace however acted like she had been doing this all of her life! We took Grace to a nearby facility that has some jumps set up for her first Groundwork Session. I was blown away with how easy she was to "teach". She picked up sidepassing within 5 minutes or less. Can they get any smarter??? I didn't get to video but Grace had her second ride today. We didn't ride long, just a few minutes, but just as before she did awesome!
The day has come! Grace will get to go out with her new found best friend Hope. After posting this picture on Facebook, Toni (Runbridled's "Saving Grace") made this comment, and it is so true...
"How sweet...this picture is worth a thousand words! Pure bliss for the ladies that have spent a large portion of their life without other equine interaction unless in competition" Grace seems to be settling in to her new life very easily. So many things are different for these horses after they leave the track. They get to be turned out where the ground they are walking on isn't perfect, they are exposed to mud, water, bugs and a ton of new things. And for most they finally get to be with other horses.
After all the excitement from the Breeder's Cup the day has finally arrived for Runbridled to "come home". The plan for this morning is to go to the barn and meet Toni so we can saddle Grace up and "test ride" her. This was her first ride under western tack. She "nailed" it so to say. Although she had been stalled due to having a little eye boo-boo she was such a good girl! After letting her run around in the round pen for a few minutes Brittany jumped up on her first. And just like the other horses we had gotten from Second Stride, she was just fine! After Brittany rode her for a few minutes I climbed on for my first ride on her. I was happy as could be! Next came loading her on the trailer. The other horses weren't as easy to load because they are all use to having ramps, but Runbridled loaded right up like she knew just what she was doing. She hauled great on the way home and didn't hesitate when we had to unload and load her back on to my trailer for the last leg home.
And we decided on her barn name! At first we were going to call her Flirt, but after meeting her we decided to call her "Grace".It fits her perfectly! The Retired Racehorse Project is an effort to increase demand for retired Thoroughbred race horses as pleasure and sport horses through public events, clinics, training publications, videos and internet tools. Our mission is to facilitate the placement of retired Thoroughbred racehorses in second careers by educating the public about the history, distinctive characteristics, versatility of use, and appropriate care and training of the iconic American Thoroughbred. Learn more about the RRP here - http://retiredracehorseproject.com/
For the last couple of weeks I have thought so much about that pretty bay mare I saw standing in the round pen. I couldn't get her off my mind. After getting Hope home and getting to know her more and then seeing how well she rode, I was pretty impressed. During the time after I brought Hope home I had started talking to Brittany about the Retired Racehorse Project. She had "adopted" Striker to use him to compete in the 2016 RRP. I had an itching to compete in it myself, but with Hope never actually racing she was not eligible to compete. So that actually opened up the door for me to pursue Runbridled. I was determined to get her to West TN and home with me. I emailed Kim & the Second Stride staff on Oct 25 about wanting to have Runbridled as mine and being able to represent Second Stride at the RRP. Oct 27 she emailed me back to let me know that I could get Runbridled. To say I am excited was an understatement. Then the icing on the cake!!! We not only will be going up to get her, but we are going attend the 2015 Breeders Cup to watch American Pharoh hopefully make history!!! |
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