Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: When Simply Being Good Wins
“You never know exactly what you will get with a when taking a young Thoroughbred off property for the first time, but Scooter set the bar pretty damn high.”
Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers insight and training experience when it comes to working with Thoroughbreds (although much will apply to all breeds). This week ride along as Aubrey shares her logic on appreciating a horse who is a good citizen and is willing to try.
A couple months ago, while scrolling through Facebook, I bought what may seem to be an unlikely horse. Folks who know me know there’s actually nothing unlikely about this dude. Star of the Beast — AKA Scooter — fits right in. But for those who follow online, sometimes it seems they think I manage to successfully cherry pick the big, handsome, capable geldings. Nope. I like my Island of Misfit Toys kids, too, and with enough calories, correct conditioning, appropriate limitations and ample turnout, most simply come to photograph like literal model citizens (though to be fair, getting a good photo of Scooter has been next to impossible).
The conformation photo I bought Scooter from. Photo by Paige Zauner
To cut to the chase, Star of the Beast (Scooter) headed off to his first show this weekend. And he marched around not like a seasoned pro, but like the 100% good boy that he is.
At this charity show (Beyond the Backstretch), each horse I brought was new to the idea of what we were doing. Yes, I’m a weirdo and love taking greenies to competitions (sometimes all at once). But despite Enzo (Midnight Trouble’s) lovely and ridable hunter rounds for his first ever courses, and Date’s (Datesfreedom) ever-improving jump form, or Magic’s (Mr. Magico) first full courses looking like a seasoned ride, Scooter’s kind, innocent, “If you’re sure, I’ll absolutely try” demeanor won the day. I’m proud of all of them, but I’m ridiculously proud of him.
The boys being good and hanging ringside. Enzo (Midnight Trouble) and Scooter featured here with Izzy Gritsavage and Mack Dishpan. Photo by Lily Drew.
Backing up for a minute… Scooter had his good race record, had fractured his knee in a way that addressed most compass points, and had surgery to remove the chips. After rehabbing from the operation, he was rangey, cheap, untested in his soundness, and for sale off of unimpressive conformation pics in Florida. Between loving the Yes Its True side of his bloodlines, and feeling like horses in that situation (low dollar rehabs who have not been restarted) often land in inappropriate homes, I picked him up and shipped him north. There’s a whole lot on that in these two articles: Keeping them Safe & Seeing Through the Photos
Since then, nothing about his letdown and restart has been straightforward. We have had one of the wettest springs on record for central NY. The rain was daily, the mud was … impressive. And I found myself putting shoes back on before every ride. Yep, daily tack ons were a thing there for a few months.
Scooter figuring out how to be a good boy outside in the late-arriving NY spring. I think we kept a shoe on for half of this ride… Photo by Lily Drew.
In this let down, post-surgery period, Scooter did what horses often do and transitioned through a rough patch. His initially pretty iffy feet struggled to hold shoes, he needed ulcer treatment, and we have been through a few rounds of serious deworming. And in this period, he made friends, settled in, and his wired demeanor softened. He is thankfully now coming out the other side of that happier and healthier and quieter — but like many, it took a minute.
Recently, with better ground heading into the summer and frankly just damn less mud, Scooter has been back to work. He has a lovely trot and his canter is getting more and more balanced with each ride. Two weeks ago, I popped him over some logs, and let him figure his legs out over the blue barrels. But he really hadn’t been doing any real jumping beyond just playing around.
Scooter trying to figure out his long legs over some baby logs. Photo by Lily Drew.
Fast forward to last week: When the more experienced horse I was going to take to the show needed to be stalled for a minor laceration, I went down the list of who else could fill the trailer spot. While Taxi (Price of Peace) would have been the more sure bet, he had a looming PPE, so he ended up off the list. That left Scooter. And somehow that seemed like a comically brilliant idea.
So we taught him to jump the couple days before the show. And most of that teaching to jump was teaching him to not invert and scoot on the backside of each fence. But with every woah and halt and pat, he got better. Braver. More able and ever more willing.
Starting to get the hang of it… Photo by Lily Drew.
I knew a show would be a lot for him anyway, and there was no hope of getting him sanely ready for the lowest division of jumpers — 2’3″. This show comes with fast turns and tough bending lines, so nope. That would be too big an ask for the toddler. So I ran down the prize list and found the two-foot hunters and went, “Why not?”
After some digging around in my tack room, I found some very old show hunter gear — a standing martingale for looks and a rubber D for steering (and also looks). I don’t mind hunter shows so long as they feel like playing dress up. Full respect for the discipline, I just moved to the dark side of eventing after having spent my youth waiting for my go at the equitation ring in-gate. Frankly, ride times and the joy of getting to gallop cross country are irreversible game changers.
So, semi-equipped for both jumper and hunter rings, I hauled the first load of horses up to Chemung County Fairgrounds at zero-dark-thirty on Saturday,
Scooter being his classic good boy self. Photo by Izzy Gritsavage.
You never know exactly what you will get with a when taking a young Thoroughbred off property for the first time, but Scooter set the bar pretty damn high. He loaded in relatively short order in the dark, stepped quietly into his stall at the show, and spent the day being simply good and chill and OK with the atmosphere. Whether in his stall or grazing ring-side, he never spooked or fussed, never pulled on the line or did anything that would make it look like this was new to him.
To be fair, the race track and busy backside conditions horses to a ton of sights, sounds, and big environments. It was just lovely to see it transition over so well.
Just being good and hanging with Izzy Gritsavage. Photo by author.
And when it was his chance to ride, we went in to see the fences and the warmup. He was unsure of gates and flowers, but soon figured that out. The only thing that bothered him was when the two other warmup riders cantered away to the other side of the arena, leaving him alone. And so he started his classes, a warmup where we trotted everything. Then an A round, where we trotted most of the things, followed by a B round where we cantered a fair amount. Yes, he still needs ample trot-jump experience, but he was being good, so quiet canter was allowed.
He started with this form (… wait for it). Photo by Izzy Gritsavage.
What I love of this was not that it was perfect — it was not. But rather that it showed how kind and willing to try he was. It also showed how smart and able to process he was. His uncertainty gave way to an understanding of the game. And each fence got better and more confident.
He finished out his couple rounds jumping like this. Photo by Izzy Gritsavage.
And the one time he scooted hard after a fence, he came right back, recovered well and, without changing anything, stayed in rhythm for the rest of the course. Check out his course below and the scoot (and more importantly, the recovery) after fence three.
By the end of the day, Scooter was pretty well exhausted. He loaded himself happily into the rig and settled politely back into his stall at home. And the best part of all of this is in being the super good kid who came out and tried and then tried some more, he gave me a sense of how he will do in a fun-loving home. Does this horse need competitions every weekend? No. But he would love to find a human who will give him all the experiences and all the opportunities to learn and grow and show as they desire. Suffice to say, I’m super excited about his future. And also excited to get him over some small grids in the coming weeks to see how he progresses as he figures out where his long legs are actually supposed to go when jumping.
Such a ridiculously good kid. Ignore my face — focus on how cute Scooter is here. Photo by Izzy Gritsavage.
So go ride folks and pat your ponies. And know that a huge win is included in their simply being good.
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