( how do y'all feel his conformation is? I think his weight looks great)
(before)
(hunk of hair)
(after)
I have NEVER felt more comfortable and at home than I do on Tiki man. He is my very own slice of Heaven here on Earth:) LOVE HIM.It kind of amuses me when people think they can pick up an ottb for cheap, ride it for 30 days, then flip it for a profit that's thousands more than what you paid for it. I'm sure there's SOMEONE that's done that. But I've never known anyone. I had a former student that was sure she was going to do that this summer; knowing how much I've put into Tiki, I inquired as to how the horse was doing. Apparently, his "brain was fried", and they had to start him over from scratch after trying to show him this summer. Just validates my thought that ottbs are HARD work. Satisfying, but hard. They're not a "quick flip", in general.
Spent some serious time with the boy's hair today. Removed as much as I could without body clipping him, including cleaning up the tail. I didn't realize it had grown so long! I keep the sides clipped, but I hadn't banged it since the last time I showed him, which was ... July I think? And back then all I did was trim it up a little bit. Today, I hacked a big hunk of hair off! Benign neglect has been good for his locks, I think:) I spray it down with Vetrolin Shine at least once a week, but haven't touched it with a brush in a month. He was DIRTY; he's seriously been enjoying his blanket-less time in the pasture, and has been caked in mud for about a week.
Since I've been hacking up a lung all day and trying to keep my nose from flowing like a faucet, I hopped on and we ambled around his pasture a few times. He had a nice pace and rhythm, and I just worked on keeping him straight. Didn't care WHERE his head was, just wanted his neck straight. Finally slapped a bridle on his head; used the plain cavesson with the rolley-ball full cheek. He was a perfect gentleman.
There's a hunter pace coming up next month I'm going to shoot for. It's the same one Nicole and I won last year, at the Steeplechase land that's only 15 minutes from the barn! The one with the big honking wooden coops ... where I seriously hurt my hand. I will NOT forget my neck strap!
I totally agree about the OTTB flipping. There are very few horses that I've seen be able to do that, especially one being worked with by a younger adult or an ammie. I personally have an OTTB (though he never raced, he just trained) and he's still hard to manage because he's so sensitive. There was no WAY you'd be able to have him for 30 days and resell this one!
ReplyDeleteBut OTTBs are my favorite :) Good luck on your hunter pace!
Look at that neck! He almost doesn't look like a TB. Such a gorgeous boy.
ReplyDeleteAmen sister! Flipping OTTB's in a short time is so crazy to me. I understand taking one and re-homing it to avoid the horse from going somewhere bad.. but a quick flip I don't get. I've had Henry for 6 months and we have SO much more work to do before I would feel like he was trained AND I love this horse and can't imagine letting him go- esp after all my hard work haha!
ReplyDeleteI do have a friend who has done with several, and I mean 5 or 6 last year and 1 already this year. That being said, she knows how to pick em, and sells them cheap - $2500-$5000. She schools them and takes them to a few schooling shows to get miles, they usually do pretty well.
ReplyDeleteI think if you know how to pick the quiet ones, and can do the training yourself you can make it work, but that is rare.