He is an off the track, ex-racehorse.
We bought him right off the track. He was 3 years old and had only been raced a few times. Turns out he does not like to run.
The funny thing is, that his bloodlines are very famous racehorses. He should like to run. But he doesn't.
He prefers the finer things in life. Lucky for Tee, we came along.
It was love at first site for me. I had to have him. He was full of cheek, full of energy and ran around showing off....
So Tee came to live with us - and did not end up where many ex-racehorses end up - the meat market in Mexico.
We grabbed him first.
So this page is about my darling horse, who is loving and kind, gentle and works hard, gives it his all, and is ever forgiving. It will chronicle his life since the day we bought him....I will update regularly.
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| Our first show, not too bad actually for a 5 year old. |
The photo below was taken on the day we purchased Tee. My new baby - 3 years old.
Once Tee was settled into his new home.....his new education had to start. He had only ever been ridden by a jockey and now he had to learn how to use his body in a completely new way.
Kinda like if you have always been a runner and now you are going to start ballet.....yep, that different.
So we had to start with the basics.....so I needed to teach him everything.
First - lets learn how to lunge.....(go around me in a circle on a long rein).....was kinda interesting to begin with....
We just did it with his halter on and a lunge rein to begin with. I had to introduce him to an English Dressage Saddle and bridle later....as they are very different to what he had been broken too....
Baby steps....for the baby....
But he soon got the idea of the lunge line....
You want me to do what????
Ohhhhh, go around like this???
Oh, OK, I am getting the hang of this....
Hey, Mum, that wasn't so bad......
I started riding him.....had to introduce him to the dressage bridle and saddle....he had never been ridden in them before.
He was so skinny and unbalanced.....felt like we were going to tip over at any moment....Had to really concentrate on getting him to balance on all 4 feet......
And that included when we went around a corner....
Or trotted a straight line....
He had no clue....poor baby.....
Then to build strength and to also help him with his balance we spent a lot of time on that lunge line....he grew to enjoy himself on that.....
As you can see below............
A lot more balance now!!
Then to help with the balance, and to try and build some back muscles....I introduced some jumping....terrific for the back muscles, and this is something I still do with him today.....
They love it. It is a nice change from the dressage and it builds strength. Good all round exercise.
It took him a long while to be able to jump this.
We started with poles on the ground that he screeched to a halt in front of....had no idea he had to walk OVER them.....so this took several months to get to this level of willingness to leap over an obstacle...
But we persevered and he now loves it.
Now these photos are all still from about 3 years ago.
I had owned Tee for about 10 months at this stage.....
I was also 5 months pregnant when this photo was taken!!! Hence my bulging belly!!!
But he is starting to get the idea here.
A little more balance, and a little more weight. Kinda getting the idea of walking, trotting and cantering. And not nearly falling over.
But we had a LONG LONG way to go.....
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