Questions about OTTB
Hi guys! What a great community. I'm hoping you can give me some advice about my new horse!
First, a little info about me; I'm 19, going into my sophomore year of college as a transfer student. I'm transferring to the University in my hometown from out of state, and am really thrilled that I'll have the opportunity to ride with my old instructor. I've been riding since I was 6, almost entirely dressage, owned my first horse when I was 10. I've never had access to a horse who was capable of doing anything much higher than first level work, and have only shown training level. My old horse is now 26, and while he looks like he's 15, is very arthritic and is ridden by young kids almost exclusively.
One of the other women at my stable purchased an OTTB about two years ago, and has been training him for dressage since. With the current crappy economy, she can't really afford two horses (she also owns an older appy mare), and since I need a horse to ride now that I'll be home, I'm doing a half-lease with her. She's a very experienced rider (when she was younger, she competed successfully in the Jr/Young Rider program), and has been doing most of his training herself in the last year.
So! Sarge has been at her mom's place all summer, and is coming back to my stable on the 1st. For the most part, he's a total sweetie, very willing, calm, friendly, etc. However, since I'm FINALLY going to have access to a young, healthy horse, I want to try to show a lot more than I've been able to do in the past! Sarge has been to one show previously, and it's the only time I've seen him have a fit. My trainer had to school him in-hand for an hour just to get him down to the schooling arena. Needless to say, he was not ridden in a class. I'm planning on spending all winter working with Sarge, going to other local barns for clinics, working with him in-hand, etc. There's a schooling show in mid-october that I also plan to attend, mostly just to get him to the showgrounds.
I've never worked with an OTTB before, and I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice on showing and training. Are there any special tricks you guys found worked very well? I'll be working closely with my instructor who has a lot of experience with green horses, but I want to be as prepared as possible.
Also, for this schooling show! I'm considering entering one class and then scratching if he's not fit to ride, but I'm a. not sure if that's worth the money, and b. not sure what to enter. If I do a test, I'll go for an intro test, but is it worth losing Sarge's eligibility as a Young Horse? Would it be worth considering an equitation or materiale class? I'm not really familiar with the difference between the two either. Advice?
And a picture! As you can see, he's a big boy. :)
First, a little info about me; I'm 19, going into my sophomore year of college as a transfer student. I'm transferring to the University in my hometown from out of state, and am really thrilled that I'll have the opportunity to ride with my old instructor. I've been riding since I was 6, almost entirely dressage, owned my first horse when I was 10. I've never had access to a horse who was capable of doing anything much higher than first level work, and have only shown training level. My old horse is now 26, and while he looks like he's 15, is very arthritic and is ridden by young kids almost exclusively.
One of the other women at my stable purchased an OTTB about two years ago, and has been training him for dressage since. With the current crappy economy, she can't really afford two horses (she also owns an older appy mare), and since I need a horse to ride now that I'll be home, I'm doing a half-lease with her. She's a very experienced rider (when she was younger, she competed successfully in the Jr/Young Rider program), and has been doing most of his training herself in the last year.
So! Sarge has been at her mom's place all summer, and is coming back to my stable on the 1st. For the most part, he's a total sweetie, very willing, calm, friendly, etc. However, since I'm FINALLY going to have access to a young, healthy horse, I want to try to show a lot more than I've been able to do in the past! Sarge has been to one show previously, and it's the only time I've seen him have a fit. My trainer had to school him in-hand for an hour just to get him down to the schooling arena. Needless to say, he was not ridden in a class. I'm planning on spending all winter working with Sarge, going to other local barns for clinics, working with him in-hand, etc. There's a schooling show in mid-october that I also plan to attend, mostly just to get him to the showgrounds.
I've never worked with an OTTB before, and I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice on showing and training. Are there any special tricks you guys found worked very well? I'll be working closely with my instructor who has a lot of experience with green horses, but I want to be as prepared as possible.
Also, for this schooling show! I'm considering entering one class and then scratching if he's not fit to ride, but I'm a. not sure if that's worth the money, and b. not sure what to enter. If I do a test, I'll go for an intro test, but is it worth losing Sarge's eligibility as a Young Horse? Would it be worth considering an equitation or materiale class? I'm not really familiar with the difference between the two either. Advice?
And a picture! As you can see, he's a big boy. :)
