A blog about training principles.
01/05/2023 – Our Fourth Ride. – In the beginning of the ride I begin gentle neck suppling. Racehorses are almost always very tight in their neck and their poll as Stevie is. Throughout the ride, I do not care where he puts his head. I don’t want to restrict his movement or his body. I … Read more
01/02/2023 – The video below is Stevis Man/Stevie’s and my first ride. It’s the entire ride except for mounting him. I always have someone stand in front of them and feed them a peppermint at the mounting block because I know they are used to having a leg up. It helps keep them calm. The … Read more
Each horse is different, and we act accordingly, but there are some basics we tend to follow with each one of them. The first thing we do when a horse arrives from racing is to allow him to settle into the new routine. The more the horse can count on a schedule or routine, the … Read more
Stevis Man retired sound and healthy from an impressive flat racing career in October 2022. He made $437,208, making 74 starts and winning 26 races, finishing second in 8 and third in 8 races. You can find his racing record here. He retired sound, happy and healthy. Stevie, as he is now being called, began … Read more
My horse Z has been jumping for years. He’s got a wonderful flatwork foundation that makes him very rideable and confident. But Z is a true skeptic about everything. He’s open to reason, but he begins with being skeptical of the latest human plans for him. Probably a good way for a horse to survive … Read more
There is always a reason for a horse’s behavior, but finding it, that’s another matter. We’ve all seen the horse that won’t load on the trailer. People surrounding him, trying to make him go on. Sometimes more come to help get him on. They may give him some time to mull it over and go … Read more
Wally hasn’t lunged for about one month. I’ve been hacking him out around the farm with and without company. I feel at this point that is what he should be doing. However, it’s difficult to video that and I needed something for his page to show his movement and how he’s doing. In addition, I … Read more
You can’t see it in this video, but a car drives up and parks nearby just as our training session begins. People get out. The timing is unfortunate because we’ve just begun. Crush immediately reacts by trotting off with a tight back. He loses all focus on me. A major goal in his training is … Read more
Epigrammatist came to us Saturday, April 30. He had travelled from Maine to Fair Hill, Maryland and then to Leighton Farm in Upper Marlboro, Maryland within the past couple days. “Crush’s” last race was at PARX on September 15, 2021. He had retired from racing shortly after that and was let down and turned out … Read more
I stood in front of his stall and was overcome with dread. I didn’t want to go through this. I couldn’t stand to feel anymore, so I became uncomfortably numb. A half hour before, I had finally made my way down to the barn to begin work. I was looking forward to getting on my horses. … Read more