Off-the-Track-Thoroughbred Talk
Together they are a
Team: Todd and Tra
When Todd R. of Pennsylvania made
the decision to get back into horse
ownership last spring, he discovered his
next horse while viewing the OTTBs available
for sale on Susann Jones’ website,
www.silverlininghorsefarm.com . He was
particularly interested in a big bay
thoroughbred named Soul Train but readily
admits he knew very little about OTTBs at
the time. Talking with Susann gave him
insights into her crop of OTTBs and into the
minds of OTTBs in general. Over the course
of a few phone calls to Susann, his
knowledge of OTTBs grew as did his
confidence in his ability to retrain one of
those exceptional animals for a life after
the track. Susann always had time to talk to
him in detail about OTTBs, the process to
re-home them, and the overall OTTB
mentality. Susann radiated, in Todd’s
experience, a very positive, upbeat, and
informative outlook while sharing her
extensive experience of OTTBs with him, as a
potential owner. He was convinced that he
had the ability to retrain an OTTB by
Susann’s feedback and, without hesitation,
in the summer of 2011 he bought Soul Train,
a 17.2 h.h. 8 year-old OTTB gelding with
charm, looks and personality. He laughingly
admits that the day before Soul Train
arrived, he was a bit concerned about his
decision to buy Soul Train but after
spending the first day with him, he knew he
had made the right decision. Buying Soul
Train was the beginning of a learning
journey for both of them.
Todd shortened
the name Soul Train to Tra (rhymes with
‘tray’) and has been enraptured with his
big, handsome and friendly horse since the
day he stepped off the trailer at his new
home, a boarding stable in northern
Pennsylvania. Todd views his acquisition of
Tra as a wonderful opportunity to give a
good horse a second life, a different
outlook on life and a life after the track.
Tra is Todd’s first OTTB; before purchasing
Tra, he had owned and ridden Warmbloods and
Thoroughbreds that had never made it to the
race track. He sees a distinct difference in
his new OTTB’s outlook when he compares him
to his former Warmbloods: to Todd, Tra has a
more positive attitude. He is more willing
to do things, to try new experiences and to
learn. Tra has a very engaging personality
and has become very bonded to his new owner.
At his new home, Soul Train has
a new nickname, “Tra”
Todd loves the big
guy. He is delighted with Tra’s willingness
and his easy-going personality. Todd sees
him as a very trusting horse that is
interested in capturing people’s attention
in the barn and in the ring. According to
Todd, Tra’s outlook seems to say, “Okay that
was fun! What’s next?” Tra has the ability
to make Todd laugh: sometimes it’s his
quirkiness and his expression—a joyous
outlook and attitude. “He’s very carefree
and has fun at all events we do”, Todd
explains. Tra is all about getting
acknowledged when he does a job well: “He
knows which pocket I keep the treats in and
when he works well, he nudges my pocket. If
I don’t reward him right away, he will walk
off in a huff, offended. He’s so much fun to
be around.”
“Got treats?” Tra would
like to know.
Tra likes to keep his human
for himself and has been known to show his
displeasure when Todd works other horses in
the barn—he will bang the stall’s walls with
his hooves for attention. When Todd finally
looks over at him, while he is working the
other horses, Tra will then turn his butt to
Todd and ignore him. “He makes me laugh out
loud when he does that kind of stuff,”
smiles Todd.
Todd has been carefully
educating Tra in post-track experiences.
Tra’s progress has been amazing and Todd
credits that to working from what Tra knows
and then exposing him to new learning. If
Tra indicates he is uncomfortable, Todd
takes a step back and rewards him by
reviewing what he does know. Todd knows this
is a slow progression that takes place in
stages. He had to teach Tra that lounging in
a clockwise direction was not a scary thing
for him to do. For some reason, Tra seemed
confused to go clockwise. Todd didn’t think
he understood the whole concept of the
‘right-hand side’ so he worked with Tra on
the right, he integrated right-sided
activities into the training schedule. His
plan was to assist Tra in developing a sense
of moving clockwise and to accept aids from
his right-hand side. “Tonight was a
breakthrough in training,” Todd stated.
“Tonight he got the concept of going
clockwise on a lounge line. We celebrated by
taking him off the lounge line and giving
him some freedom as a reward.” Tra had a
celebratory canter and roll in the indoor
ring.
Two guys in the indoor ring: Todd on Tra
Todd is currently working on getting Tra to
canter in a measured manner, not to run out.
A slow canter is hard for him to learn but
he has completely mastered the trot in all
its cadences but the canter brings out his
inner thoroughbred desire to go quickly.
Todd’s intent is to get Tra fully trained
for Hunter/Jumper and intends to get back to
showing at an amateur level. Todd first
started riding at the young age of six, when
his grandfather would put him on the horses
at his training facility. Since then, Todd
remains bitten by the wonder of the feel of
riding a horse. As a teenager and until
quite recently, Todd showed in local amateur
Hunter/Jumper divisions in Pennsylvania but
took time off as he felt he had campaigned
too much and needed a break from it. Now
coming back to the show world, Todd intends
to do occasional shows to allow Tra to learn
about showing. Todd wants to “show” Tra to
other committed horse people by displaying
Tra’s emerging skills in a ring; it won’t be
all about the ribbons this time. “It’s about
learning for both of us in new situations.”
Tra doesn’t panic when confronted with new
experiences, if he has his human friend,
Todd with him. He has recently learned how
to long-line and the first time Todd
long-lined him, he turned his lead to look
back at his human with a look of “What are
you doing back there?” on his face. As a
trainer,Todd focuses on stepping into the
barn with a positive attitude, no matter
what has happened earlier in the day. He
advises everyone to not work with a horse if
you are in a bad mood because horses pick up
on human emotions. His training philosophy
is to build on Tra’s knowledge base and to
build on Tra’s trust in him; they will go on
their journey to do this and to learn this,
together. They are all about teamwork Todd
explains, “He knows that I won’t harm him.
He seeks reassurance from me when he puts
his head on my shoulder. We will do this
together.”
Carol B.
|
