From racing to riding... the training diary of an off the track Standardbred

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Just testing out to see if I can update my blog from my phone! If this works, you can plan on a few posts a day :)

Let Me Introduce Myself

Hello! Welcome to my blog! My name is Emily and if you decide to follow this blog you will get to know me very well. I am a horse-lover, always have been. I started riding when I was about 6 when I took care of my aunt's friend's pony for a summer and learned to ride it. From then on, I was sick with horse-fever! I began taking lessons a few years later and since then I have been with 3 or 4 instructors that have all contributed to where I am today. I mostly ride Hunter/Jumper, dressage, trail ride, English Pleasure, and bareback (fun stuff!). I love to ride with my friends and I am lucky to have a lot of horse-crazy ones where I live! I go to an Agricultural high school and plan to major in Large Animal Sciences next year. I am a straight A student (and plan to keep it that way). I love to enjoy my free time drawing, reading, riding, running, eatting, or blogging! I currently have two horses.

First, let me introduce is She's Something Else, "Elsa". 15.1hh grey Thoroughbred/Lippit Morgan mare cross. She is 12 years old and currently being trained dressage.

Now, Biscuit. Biscuit is my little pony that I will love and cherish forever. You can never frown when he is around. He is just too cute!

Now... I have to play the waiting game. My first horse (well, second if you count my old pony Mason, but he was a pony so technically not a horse) Jet is returning to me. We got Jet off-the-track when he was three years old, however we were told he was older than that. We broke him to saddle and my mom started to train him but felt that I should have him as my own horse. I learned alot from him. I also built up a ton of leg muscle! I can already feel my legs the pain my legs will have in the future. Lazy horse! Anyways... I trained Jet walk, trot as best as I could but and I cantered him once or twice but I was bored. I didn't know how to train anymore than I had. So, my mom felt that it was now best to give him to a new home. A wonderful woman came down to look at him and took him home! He has since been trained to Training Level dressage when he was not injured. He is a big goof ball, that's the only way to describe him. He is such a love-bug with an amazing personality to match!

The only reason I am getting him back is because my old Standardbred, Blue, did not get along well with Elsa. My mom was worried that if he got in with her again... that they would get into a very violent battle. I love Blue, I always will. He was a pacer, Jet is a trotter. I taught Blue how to trot but he wasn't always consistant. He also had pinfires, splints, and more so I felt that for the benefit of both horse and human, Blue should find a new home as a trail horse. He is now only 20 minutes away and my best friend lives right down the road from him and she checks up on him for me occasionally.

Jet should be coming home this weekend if all goes well! Today we got him a leather halter with a nameplate that says "Delphi's Spectator" next line just says my name. I like it and I am sure he will look handsome in it :) As soon as he comes home I will post pictures of him on here for everyone to see!