A few days ago I met Allie in up at the farm in Cameron and felt like Velvet Brown when she inherited a bunch of horses…! Got on Mazzie, Remda and Sonny – – so different from each other and all so ridiculously adorable and good! I’m so lucky to be able to ride them!
Mazzie: compact potential bouncing ball – if this filly doesn’t jump a big jump someday I’ll be very surprised! Between callling to her friend Lady Wheaton she was fairly quiet and sensible, though very athletic and sensitive. Naturally balanced, cute mover. America’s Next Top Bridle Model! So cute – she’s next in line to start “real” training – and I can’t wait.
Remda: has amateur written all over him – don’t know when he was ridden last but you’d think he was in full work. I hacked him to a little grassy area where the footing was better (all these guys are barefoot) and trotted and cantered around like a total gentleman. He’s going to be SO fun and easy to retrain.
Sonny: Athletic little gray dirtbike. Full enough of himself to be one of those fancy Italian kinds. Lovely natural gaits and all business and professional when you’re on him. We’ll work on his ground manners. Future event horse? I think so!
And the best news we’ve had lately – aside from Tater moving on to his new home! – is that we’ve started working with Rocket (aka. Rocky, Rock Star, I love RocknRoll, King of Rock..etc) came to CANTER from an apparently unhappy place. Alhough he doesn’t match the typical CANTER profile, he had been in the CANTER listings a few years ago and came from a trainer who is a very good friend to CANTER. He is a gorgeous 9yo dark bay gelding.
We don’t know all of the details, but when he stood shaking in the back of his stall – terrified of making a wrong move or doing anything wrong -we had a pretty good idea of his past.
What we DO know:
We know he has a lot of show experience, or at least experience in the ring. He jumps like a dream and is (like his name says..) very HANDSOME. He’s the prettiest thing – when he first came to CANTER Jess quickly found out that he had serious fear of leaving the ring or hacking, nor had he ever been turned out with other horses, and at first he stood alone in the corner of the paddock trembling. Poor guy!
It was decided that a few months at Spa ala Cameron might be the ticket. Soon, his horsey ways came back to him and he made his way to the top of the herd. He was able to breathe a visible sigh of relief, put his head down and BE A HORSE among other HEESE! YAY! Fast forward to a few weeks ago and a new Rocket emerged! Once again I marvel at what the amazing Dr. Green can do!
I hopped on him about a week ago in the ring in Cameron just to feel him out. He was very good – and our walk trot canter session only lasted about 10 minutes – the footing was a bit hard. The next day I got on and took him for a little walk and then off the farm into some adjacent crop fields. He definitely looked at things – he hadn’t been ridden in a few months so for me that’s totally normal. We had a little trot and canter in a field and called it a Good Day! The next time we went on a bit longer hack – around a pond, more cantering about all without issue! So we brought him down to Aberdeen to be in “full work”. He went on a nice hack with Allie on Phinny. Then this weekend we went to the Moss Foundation to not only hack but get on a trailer and hack somewhere different. Again, not a foot wrong, such a good boy. He’s a bit weak behind though – but we’ll fix that in time. He jumped down the line of logs by great! Since then he’s hacked out by himself, with dogs running around his feet – such a happy boy! The plan for him is to keep his ring work to a minimum.. and focus on nice long hacks to make sure he knows that his life has changed. oh we might toss the occasional hunter pace in, too. 🙂
I can’t wait till he’s ready to start showing Rocket to people who want come to see him – they better be ready for some serious vetting on OUR part though, if they want to take this sweetheart home.
CANTER in the Carolinas 