new ottb

i feel like ive said this a thousand times in the last few hours but ive just bought myself the most beautiful ottb ever. maybe not but to me she is

even though she has been off the track for 3 years she might as well have been off the track for 3 minutes. the only area where she unlike an ottb is that she can pick up a lovely canter on either lead. she has no idea about any form of yielding or laterals. she doesnt understand that you can trot in a straight line. everything is done with her head to the outside and she kinda ends up going sideways around the ring.

so i dont have to explain it in huge detail, she is a typical ottb with typical ottb problems other than the fact that she doesnt seem to be one sided like many tbs. yet! i guess i havent got her flexing yet so maybe she wont flex so well on one side. who knows. i guess that remains to be seen.

its been quite some time since ve had an ottb so i want to make sure im doing the best thing by her and me with regards to training.

so this is my plan. first and foremost i need to get her off of her hot feed which should help get the sillies out of her. to a point

for the first couple of weeks i want to do mainly groundwork. i dont want to rush anything with her. what is the best way from the ground to teach her yielding? yielding that i can use in the saddle not just from the ground.

i will put her under saddle a few times over that period and i guess the main thing i will want to be working on is getting her to trot a straight line lol but how do i do that when she doesnt understand yielding?? i cant get a straight line out of her without some kind of yielding.

i guess the biggest thing right now is getting her past that point where she is actually properly broken in. past that point where she is strutting her stuff in the warm up ring before going into the barriers :) i know the change in feed will help but she so obviously needs training as well. even though she has been off the track for a few years now i would really like to treat her as if she was fresh off the track.

thanks in advance everyone :)

First off, I am VERY displeased with you Jazzy...how DARE you post something on your new horse and not include a picture?!



yield as in moving away from pressure so to do things like side-passing, turn on HQ/FQ?
I'd work on the ground with that before in saddle. Try to get him to be able to yield away from you both FQ and HQ by just a simple light touch on either the neck/face or the HQ. And to side-pass by a simple touch or motion to the middle of his stomach. That helped a HUGE ammount with Sonny on getting him to side-pass and turn on his HQ/FQ

Jazzy that's so exciting!!
Here's what I posted recently regarding OTTBs:

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustDressageIt There is a book out there called "Beyond the Track" that is written by the lovely people at New Vocations Racehorse Adoption... it goes over EVERYthing... it's a great read, very thorough... I HIGHLY recommend it... there are chapters and chapters about retraining an OTTB.

thanks JDI. i ordered that book through a book store today. turns out its way cheaper than ordering one from the states especially considering the exchange rate at the moment lol

sonny - i have put a pic up of her in the pics section now. its just the pic from her ad on the net but its all i have lol shes coming tomorrow and i have borrowed a camera so i will post tonnes of pics tomorrow night ;)

and yeah i mean yielding as in giving to pressure :)

gahhhhhhhh she is BEAUTIFUL!!! *steals*

*tracks sonny & the hew horse with the high tech tracking device implanted in the horses neck* lol

thanks sunny. that pic doesnt really do her a lot of justice. she is standing funny which makes her look weird and awkward lol

well if that picture doesn't do her justice than she HAS to be extremely beautiful in person! Get more pictures soooon!

G'day! And Congrats on the new edition to the family!

Im not going to reckonmend anything in the training part, but instead the feeding... Theres this newish feed out... Its X-tra Cool by Mitavite, it works wonders, it really does. Its pellet form, and i rotate on it wih my horses every 3 months. Just like 'Cool Command' by Barastoc Feeds, it contains all the minerals, PLUS, it calms them down... And the best part is, its CHEAP! haha... At work we sell it for $21.50 for 25kg, but im sure it might be alil cheaper in Brissy.

Talk to you soon

i did try that once and i wasnt really that keen on it. ive started using beet pulp over the last month. yes, we finally have it in australia. its amaaaaazing stuff and its cheap. well its $35 a bag and you use 300g per horse so it lasts ages. you soak it in water and its fluffs up into a tonne of food :) this is jarred after a month on the beet. i was struggling to keep weight on him a little bit with what he was on but now hes come up a treat

Attached Images

P1000790.jpg (84.3 KB, 29 views)

i added a bunch of pics of her in the horse talk section
shes here shes here :) - image heavy