Before and After (almost 6 months)

Irish is starting to put on some weight thankfully so I wanted to show some before and after pictures. I wish I had one that he wasn't so fluffy in because I don't think you can accurately tell how skinny the boy was!! The after picture is after a ride and bath :o) I love my OTTB!

Oh the places we'll go...

Here's to a well deserved update. Irish has been going GREAT. Yes, we have fits of "do you remember who's boss here?" and "please get over your little tantrum" but I can tell he is becoming my little one as he is doing so much better in "scary" situations. On Saturday I took him down to Southern Pines for some trail riding. I'm not going to lie, I was totally freaking out about taking him someplace "new" and expecting to get on and ride right after. When we first brought him home I think I gave him a week to settle in, when we moved him to Apex I gave him about 3 days to settle in, so the thought of getting him off the trailer and tacking him up made me nervous quite honestly! Thankfully, I went with the owner of the barn where we keep Irish and she has a dead quiet Quarter Horse named Panama who she just recently got from the Biltmore's riding program. Pan is so laid back and this helped Irish stay quiet throughout the trailering, saddling, etc. I was actually able to tie him to the trailer to saddle which completely blew me away!

Moss Foundation occupies over 4000 acres in Southern Pines, lined with little private barns that are BEAUTIFUL. We went through streams, played in creeks, and definitely made our way around all 4000 acres it felt like! We planned to ride for a couple of hours (just walking) however 2 hours quickly became 4 hours as they ran out of maps at the welcome station. We were talking and not really paying attention to where we were so quickly we lost track of where we were! It was all good though and the boys were such troopers. It got pretty warm but there are so many streams that we crossed they were able to hydrate frequently. Two days after this and I'm STILL sore, so I know Irish must still be a bit sore... I'll give him today off again and see where we stand tomorrow. Tania and Panama have tons of trail experience and now I understand why people don't ride in dressage saddles for that long of a period! Here are some pictures of the boy - I will take some of us working at home soon!!

Update!!

Hi All! (Not that anybody reads this...)

I have been the worst blogger but I can safely say that I will do much better after July 4th. Adam and I are getting married... next weekend(!) and will be traveling to Belize for our honeymoon for the following week. We are really excited to move on with our lives and finally get settled into our house (even though we've been living there since November 2009). We both work full time and go to school for our masters so "decorating the house" hasn't been on the top of our to-do list, needless to say.

Irish is doing fantastic. We moved him from North Raleigh down to Apex where he has one buddy (possibly another coming next week). This has been such a positive change for him. He actually falls asleep in the cross ties these days. I'm not sure what it was about our previous farm, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the mares he was out with. He would just go PSYCHO if he didn't get his way (which was to be out with them of course). We have had 2 weeks of solid work and he is slowly developing some confidence. Hopefully after the wedding I'm going to go to Lowes and get some trot poles or something so we can begin learning how to pick ourselves up over things.

Irish may think that he's going to get some time off over the wedding, but NO. The wonderful Cassidy Sitton of C-horse eventing will be taking over while I'm gone. Irish knows she means business whenever she comes around ;)

I hope to take him to a couple schooling shows this fall, but I'm in no way wanting to rush him into anything. He likes to take his time with things and we're still working out a good system for adding some weight on. We taped him about about 940 lbs which SHOCKED me. I personally still think he's way to skinny but we're going in the right directions with all the grass out these days.

Thanks for all your support!!

Dana & <3Irish

Whew!

The past few weeks have been.. in one word... insane. I took my last final on Saturday morning for my Statistics class (working on getting my MBA...) and I have felt like a new woman since then! Now we're down to 1) working full time 2)being a full time bride (now that the BIG day is less than 2 months away and 3)working on Irish.

It's been an interesting couple of weeks with Irish. He has gone from a boring little scrubby pony to a horse with a 'personality' sometimes and a growing body. The day that I can run my hand over his sides and not see feel bones we are slashing his grain (not really, I'm smarter than that... but figuratively!). I am attributing his attitude with the 9 lbs of grain he's getting a day plus 2 lbs of hay stretcher (ie: fiber). I think I would go a bit crazy too if I was eating that much.

The horses were moved into the pasture with lots of grass, however he has developed a girlfriend and this is not good for our sanity. One of the bad habits I'm trying to correct is this stomping thing. I don't know where it came from but he's like a little toddler. When he doesn't get his way he stomps. I'm kidding you not. He actually stomped one day so hard he tore off his bell boot. I figured next time I ride I'm going to carry a bat and hit him on the shoulder with it when he does it. It mostly comes on when I make him stand still and then put my leg on a bit to get him to give a little or move his hind, etc. He gets so frustrated because he thinks this means "go fast backwards". Uhhh... no. It's a slow process but we're trying hard! The other day a couple of people were watching us ride and it was like you were caught in the grocery store disciplining your child. Not a pretty conversation but it needed to be done.

Despite all this Irish shows tremendous potential seeing how far he has progressed in the past 3 months. I can't wait to get to our new barn where there will be less distractions (only 3 horses vs. 20-something) for both of us! No shame in the trot sets that will be happening on the American Tobacco Trail either!!

Til next time!

Dana & <3Irish

Preoccupied

Unfortunately the past few weeks (or months really... I have no idea where they went) I have been so preoccupied with Adam and my upcoming wedding, finishing up my MBA classes for the spring (2 more weeks hallelujah), working on our house (we have grass sprouting!!), and more wedding things I am very lucky to have made time for my blossoming pony (at the expense of school work I have to admit) who is really coming into his own. We still have our "moments" where he would rather put his motion into reverse and where I say "no" however once we get that little mind going things fall into place nicely.

My lovely fiance took some video on Sunday of me riding Irish and I've posted it on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4NWlChL7IM) however it's only 11 seconds of us walking so don't get too excited. We were taping for a specific reason, that of which I will explain tomorrow or Thursday... but it's exciting/funny!! So upon watching said video I realized that 1) I have never seen my hands so busy 2) The lovely @CassidySitton is right in that my lower leg is like behind me (how does that happen?!?! and 3) I need to get my act together if I have such high expectations for Irish. I couldn't even watch some parts because my hands were so busy. I wanted to just jump through the screen and apologize to Irish right then and there. In a twisted way it makes me feel wonderful about Irish because if he can deal with me riding like that then we're going to be alright!

I can't wait to share more video with you because he really has come miles from where he was. We're still stiff and all, but we can bend both ways. Next comes teaching how to canter. Right now he just trots REALLY fast since he has absolutely no idea what I'm asking him to do :) Silly boy!

Have a good one!
dana and <3Irish

Is it bad?

Is it bad that I already want to show Irish and he doesn't even know how to canter yet? Honestly I'm more worried about him freaking out at the dressage letters than doing well in the actual movements, but that's to be expected right?

It is hilarious because one of the farm owners saw my pictures of Artie (my old Appendix) and I jumping Novice and was like "I didn't know you jumped that huge?! I don't think Irish will ever be able to do that!". Ok... #1: Those aren't huge jumps #2: Yes, Irish WILL jump those jumps... he will wake up once he figures out how dang exciting it is! and #3: If by chance he doesn't like it, then he will be one of the sweetest and most spoiled pasture pets ever, maybe I'll even give him to my mom to ride! Pictures soon, I promise!!

So excited!

So I never knew what a difference a good shoeing would make on a horse, although who knows if it's that, the 10 lbs of grain he's getting a day, or the better muscle that's starting to develop.

Yesterday Irish and I hacked out in the field for about 25 minutes trotting up hills, walking down, trotting up hills, walking down. He has figured out that the goal is stretching into contact and that bending is good. At first he was kind of like... ouuuccchhhh with his nose "bending" but his poll as straight as he could make it although now he's kind of figured out that it's a whole body thing. I was itching to try to canter but decided against it since he was tired from all the hill-work and I could feel him letting down. We did have a minor freak out which culminated in a couple explicatives however it was just perfect timing by the spooking gods to bring together a car whizzing by, a strong pat by mom, and completely dropping my reins that led to a moment of excitement. "Just want to make sure you're paying attention mom!"

A girl at the barn took some pictures of us, although I was very upset that she dropped the camera when Irish freaked because I would at least have liked to see that!! I will post them as soon as she sends them to me. Take care all!

dana & <3Irish

Scary Port-o-potty!!!

Since Irish's arrival back in February his attitude has been consistently "go with the flow" about everything. He is as sweet as can be (don't get me wrong), but nothing is exciting to him... until Saturday. I'm not sure if it's the warm weather or the increase in his feed but WHEW. Saturday I had to have my game face on.

The farm leases their land from a church who will eventually build there (like 20 years from now) but sometimes they come out to use the land for random things... example: Easter Egg hunt on Saturday morning. The horses were kept in the other pasture but could see all the happenings and they all seriously just stared at all the people. Picture in your mind 15 horses standing at a fence with their ears perked.

So after all the commotion left another girl and I decided just to go hack around that pasture since there weren't any horses in it. I could feel Irish tense up a bit when we left the pasture he is used to being in and went into the other one. He was a bit antsy but that was nothing compared to the freak out we experienced when the Port-o-potty came into view. It took me about 5 minutes to get him anywhere near it. I forgot how unsettling sitting on a horse that refuses to go forward and wants to constantly back up is! After getting close he was pawing at the ground at the base of the 'building' so we decided it was a good time to move on. This may sound weird but it was actually calming to me knowing that he is a normal horse and hasn't had the exposure to lots of situations since he has been couped up at the track for the past 4 years of his life. I walked away from the situation thinkings, "whew... at least I know I have a real horse on my hands and not a bombproof clunker that I'll have to push around the XCountry course!"

The wonderful Loren Griggs is coming out tonight to fix Irish's feet once again so hopefully we will have even heels this time around!

Hope you all had a blessed Easter!!

Dana & <3Irish

A quick one!

Just a quick update for you guys that I am so excited about. Irish was evaluated by the vet today and flexed all sound! He was a tiny bit sore on his right hind but considering all the chiropractic issues that Dr. Means subsequently fixed, that's not a surprise. I was sooo wonderfully surprised by this news. I thought for sure his ankles would be sore from racing. She pretty much scolded me for allowing the previous farrier to leave his heels as long as they are so we will be getting that fixed soon.

I think one of the main issues I've been struggling with is not having my normal "horse connections" that I had back in Michigan. If I could only have my beloved Brian Pelham who shod my horses for 10+ years. I miss him so... Along with Dr. Bonnie who did Artie's chiropractic adjustments every 6 weeks for $45 a visit. Um please?!?!?! Seems like pocket change these days.

Dr. Means and I were laughing that we hope Irish remains this calm once he beefs up. That includes doubling his current grain intake slowly.... Whew!

Until next time!
Dana & <3 Irish

Giant Steps!

As I logged into my facebook this morning (at work... hmph) I was happily reminded by Christine at ReRun to update my blog! Just kidding ;) I want to do this for myself just as much as show everyone what wonderful creatures OTTB's are. I've been so busy enjoying my "mommy-hood" that I haven't had time to document Irish's progress. I've spent many afternoons out at the barn hacking Irish up and down hills, up and down, up and down. Thankfully the barn where we board has huge pastures (30 acres) so there is plenty of room to ride and condition. I believe this has really helped Irish learn to move forward and we can even make straight lines now... definitely a step up from our first ride.

The other night I spent over an hour getting to the barn due to a traffic accident on I-40 in Raleigh and everybody taking I-540 to detour it. Ugh. I got to the barn just in time for the sun to set so I quickly tacked him up and gave him a quick go around in the arena. There were some trot poles set up and I found myself itching to get over them. Irish went through those things like a little hunter pony... I was so proud. I think this is a major testament to our progress since two weeks ago I probably couldn't even get him to go in a straight line. Looking back on starting to ride my OTTB I believe the most defining characteristic of our 'success' thus far is how WONDERFUL Irish is to be around.

I have continued to bring out hay for when I'm grooming and tacking up (as an extra little treat) and I find myself just sitting on my grooming stool watching my baby eat. At the beginning of this whole process I was worried that this was going to be a full time job... worrying about him in cross-ties, with the other horses, and making sure the barn owners liked him. I can assure you he has broken all of those stereotypes. The barn owners LOVE him... absolutely love him. Irish follows Tim around when he waters all the horses just to get a few extra pats. I leave Irish unattended (I admit sometimes not even tied up) when I get my tack and watch other horses in the arena, and he has found 2-3 other geldings that are his friends. I could not be more satisfied in this moment.

Stiff Stifles

So last night I lunged Irish and I realized how much conditioning we need to do to get him back in the swing of things... literally. His left hind stifle is CRAZY stiff so I'm hoping a few visits from Dr. Blades McKnight of Triangle Equine will help us get where we need to be. I was so exhausted after lunging from all the "ttt-ROT" I had to say and tapping him on the butt with the whip to move forward. I was reading some articles this morning about the 'abuse' that race horses take in the starting gates. Heads can be hit into the front of the gate, the back of the gate can hit their rear, etc. etc. I could go on and on.

One thing that I know is that they MUST have drugged this horse to get him to race. He has zero drive to go fast doing anything unless food is in the equation (I guess he follows in the steps of his momma since I only run so I can eat a huge dinner too!).

Happy NCAA tourney time! (this should be a holiday)

Dana & <3 Irish

Luck of the Irish!

I didn't realize it until I was getting ready for work this morning that it was St. Patty's day and I had been setting today aside to ride Irish for the first time. Coincidence?

Irish just got his feet done on Monday and his soles are really thin so I wasn't expecting much since they don't have a sand arena with soft footing at the farm. I wore jeans and my paddock boots because I didn't want to have high expectations but I was so proud of him! He walked right up to the mounting block and stood there for about 30 seconds before I walked up it to get on. I swung my leg over and he literally turned his head around to look at me with a face that said, "ok, what now mom?" I really think the long hours of grooming and stretching I've been doing with him have paid off because he truly trusted me today. We did lots of circles (I have a new appreciation of actual circular cirlces) and tried to make as straight of lines as possible. I pretty much laughed the entire time I was riding because I was seriously pulling out all my tricks to do the most simple of tasks like staying on the fence. By the end of my ride though we had a nice forward walk and the cute boy was even in a little frame! He was super good in that he figured out how to give to me a little bit at the end with just some constant contact and lots and lots and lots of leg. Everyone at the barn was like.. he was a RACEhorse?

Now that I have that under my belt, I am going to focus a lot more on lunging and getting Irish to move forward as I think that will be our biggest hurdle in the beginning.

Happy St. Patty's day!!

Dana & <3 Irish

Lazy Sunday...

No exciting news to report quite yet... Farrier is coming out on Thursday and I just haven't felt right working Irish until his feet look better. Today was a gorgeous day outside so I went out to the barn just to hang out for awhile. Irish is on Smartpak's "SmartGain4" which, among other things, stimulates appetite. Since Irish is out with about 10 other horses it's a bit difficult to increase just Irish's hay so I went and bought a couple way overpriced bales of timothy and Irish was in HEAVEN today for an hour or so. He chomped down and a few times I thought he was about to fall asleep with his head in the hay. I don't think we'll have a problem with his weight at all once the grass comes up but the horses are eating it just about as fast as it's sprouting up right now so it's a little on the thin side!

Take care!!

Dana & <3 Irish

Quick one...

Just a quick update that Irish was put out with the bigger herd (about 10 others) this past weekend while I was gone in Michigan for my friends baby shower. The owners of the farm are great and made sure he made some friends... I'm happy to report he is doing MUCH better now that he feels part of 'the gang'. He has also put on some weight already (which once I post some pictures, you will agree was a good thing!) and will be getting some shoes put on this week. It's snowing again tonight and I have to admit that I'm always thinking of him when it's gross outside. We always full boarded our horses back in Michigan because it was necessary and I still struggle with hoping they are warm enough when outside down here in NC. I know he's got his fleece and Rhino sheet on so I need to get over it!!

I'll post more later this weekend once his feet get done and I can lunge him!

Dana & <3Irish

I thought I lived in North Carolina?!

So last night I had dreams of getting up like I did during the summer's when I was younger, putting on my jeans, getting to the barn, and spending the morning with the horse. Well... let me just tell you that Mother Nature has had other plans for us equestrians down here in NC. I need to preface this by saying that I am from Michigan where we have indoor arenas, fully enclosed barns with locks so the wind can't come in, and riding in 20 degree weather just "isn't that bad". After going to school in the south and moving to North Carolina in 2008 I can honestly say my ability to "suck it up and ride" has decreased tremendously. I woke up this morning, it was 32 degrees with 30 mph gusts of wind and I honestly contemplated staying in my warm bed for another 2 hours before my flight leaves for Michigan.

I did however get the guts to put on my boots, coat, and hat at trudge out to the barn to see Irish before I leave for the weekend. I was armed with carrots and a lunge line, trying to figure out how I'm ever going to get anything done if this weather doesn't give eventually. Irish was a good sport, I didn't bother to even take off his blankets because the wind was FREEZING. I hooked the lunge line to his halter (not exactly professional, I know... but don't judge ;) ) and tried to figure out if he's ever been on a lunge line before. I was at least smart enough to go to the left first and we made a few octagons, hexagons, and finally a few semi-circles. To the right was a bit more interesting but once he figured out that he needed to keep walking we were well on our way to making weirdly shaped circles in the arena. He was much more interested in getting his grain that he had not received yet since the owner showed up this morning and her mare had her foal but considering the 30 mph winds, the vet scurrying around, and not having his breakfast, Irish was a total stud. I think once we get his feet done and maybe some front shoes on he will be much more willing to move forward. Hopefully it will be warmer and less wintry then!!

Dana & <3 Irish

One of those days!

So yesterday was just "one of those days". I desperately needed some horse time after work to unwind. I had to feed the horses at the Ripley's after work for the last time then I headed up to North Raleigh to check on Irish. The owner of the farm sent me a nice email last night that said she loves him, and that he's kind of "confused" at times. I think that's an understatement at this time.

When I got to the barn it was pitch black and so Cooper and I set out in the pasture to try to find Irish. Unfortunately I don't have night vision and I ended up going up to every pile of rocks and trees trying to see if it was him. I found the other horses and figured I should try to look where ever they weren't because he's been acting like a loner the past few days. When he realized that it was him I was after he stopped staring at me walking around and came and found me! It was so cute. I'm not sure I mentioned the fact that he doesn't like apples (WTF?!) or even know how to eat them. He does however know what carrots are and LOVES them so I spoiled him for a few minutes with cuddles and treats. I think one thing he's been trying to get over is that he's no longer the "top dog" in the pasture. The first day he tried to exert some power over the Alpha male, but it looks like things have changed and he has submitted himself to "Joe", one of the owner's horses.

I know that he will settle in soon, but I can assure you that until that happens I'll be up there every day to check on him. I think that having him know that I'm a constant will help him understand that it's alright when things change.

dana & <3 irish

Bringing home baby...

Hello! I've created this blog as mostly a journal for myself to watch the progression of the relationship and training of my newly purchased 6 year old Off the Track Thoroughbred (OTTB). I purchased Quiet Irishman (aka: Irish) from ReRun Inc. a non-profit group based out of NJ who rescues and re-homes thoroughbreds from the tracks in New Jersey.

Yesterday was an interesting but exciting day. Adam (my fiance) and myself took our friends trailer up to Yanceyville (almost Virginia) to pick up Irish from the foster home where the ReRun horses are stabled. Irish had BEAUTIFUL pictures of him on the ReRun site however I can assure you, he does not look like that right now. He has had plenty of time to adjust to being off the track and has spent the last 4 months at the ReRun farm just being a horse and getting to live in a pasture with a few other horses. I have to admit I have recently been spoiled with trailering horses as my previous horse, Artie, and the horse I am currently riding, Flex, have been wonderful on the trailer and don't mind just hanging out. Well.. I seemed to have forgotten how stressful trailering can be and Irish reminded me pretty quickly. It was kind of a "He's on now jump in the car and go before he can freak out" kind of a moment. We made it though and I have to give Adam props for helping me unload him once we got to the farm. Adam isn't really a "horse" kind of guy, but definitely stepped up to help when I needed him yesterday.

When we arrived in Raleigh, we put Irish out in a small make-shift pasture they had created for him. We quickly found out that he REALLY likes to be with other horses when he nicely walked right through a non-electric tape fence and galloped off to be with the herd. Hmm. Oops! We changed it up a bit and put him out with a couple of geldings and he is adjusting nicely.

One thing that I have noticed, especially after today when I was able to spend some good time with him is that he really just craves attention. I think he got a little bored out there in the pasture for 4 months because he LOVES when I dote on him. I washed his legs, picked his hooves, and just fed him as many treats as possible and he soaked it up today. I truly hope that this time will prove helpful in the end as I think it's imperative that we develop a trusting relationship before we move forward. The next few weeks will be filled with lots of grooming, walking, and money spent on supplements to get some weight on him.

Wish us luck! I will be sure to update this blog as much as possible so I can have a written journal of our journey together!

Dana (and <3 'Irish')