First Post!

I've been feeling the need to blog about my journeys retraining my "Off Track Thoroughbreds (OTTB's)". I have three of these guys, and one sweet little polo pony mare who keeps them all in line.

Chick is my first horse, he's the one who started this whole thing.  He was three years old when we got him, and straight off the track *crazy*! I was young...my mom was hopeful and I think we were all a little insane.  What were we thinking? More on the boy later :)

We then had JoJo who was a retired fox hunter.  He was so beautiful and so kind.  He had a heart the size of the Titanic. A gorgeous flea bitten grey, he stood around 17.2 hands and had the most amazing mane and tail.  Mom and I would go on trail rides together, she would ride Joey and I'd ride Chick, those are some awesome memories.

Next we acquired Dixie, our little polo pony mare.  We hoped she'd be able to take Joey's place as a suitable horse for my mom to ride, but she just never was happy under saddle.  She wasn't treated the best as a polo pony and combined with her injuries, she just didn't quite make it to pleasure horse world. She is pretty fun though, and really cute.  Even if she doesn't like me all that much she is a great nanny for the babies. :) 

New Year's Day the year after we lost Joey, we got "My Friend Lumpy" whom I gave the stable name "Connor" to.  While I was working at Marion DuPont Scott Equine Medical Center near Washington D.C. I had a coworker mention that she has just rescued a horse from the racetrack that a friend of hers said was going to the slaughterhouse soon.  She showed me a photo and I agreed to come out and take a look.  One look is all I needed.  Connor was standing in the aisleway on a REALLY cold December night just as calm as could be.  He had THE cutest look on his face and was just so sweet.  I was hooked immediately!  You can find the rest of the story on the page labeled "Connor". 

I went to Grad school at Georgia Southern University near Savannah, GA.  I was riding on the IHSA equestrian team there and was really excited about getting back to retraining Connor.  Unfortunately that was not as fate would have it (again, look at Connor's page for more info).  I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina and began working as a veterinary technician in the Large Animal Hospital at NC State's vet school.  While there, I was working on a racehorse named Reel Legend who was there for soft tissue surgery.  The clinician assigned to his case mentioned that his owners were looking for a home for him since he could probably not race any longer.  I talked to them,  got to know the horse a little bit, and decided that I'd be interested.  After Lego's surgery they put him back in training to see if he would be able to take it but everyone involved decided it wouldn't be in in his best interest.  His owner was particularly devastated because he was one of her favorites and they had had him since he was a yearling.  I went down to pick him up in April and boarded him in Raleigh with me until I moved back to VA the following fall.  Now he's in our training program!