six months of Charlie

This week marks six months since Charlie officially became mine. Six months since I've unapologetically let loose my inner 12yo, whose dreams have finally come true lol.

and officially 7 months since charlie retired from racing. portrait by Alyssa Kelley

My horse shopping criteria was fairly broad - I looked predominantly at OTTBs who had been or were in the process of being restarted. Charlie was actually an outlier in that regard - he was just 4wks off the track and had arrived to the adoption facility a few days before I took the below photo. So they hadn't begun any work with him yet.

#alwaysbemajestic

But as a 2009 model with a distinctly quiet and laid back temperament, it felt like a relatively safe bet despite his extreme greenness. And so our little journey began!

his first bath at the adoption facility. look at that sweet face tho!

Obviously if you've been following along you've already got a pretty clear sense of where the horse is in his training. The gist? He's basically right around where you might expect a horse to be after 6 months of under saddle work with an amateur rider. Or, at least, he's more or less followed the trajectory I had hoped for (barring any major impediments or interruptions).

"pretty sure i might be certifiable, but i'm going for it!" - euphoric emma, about to bring the big guy home

Buying a horse in early fall was actually really great timing: We had all fall and winter to get to know each other with the goal of having a fairly established foundation come spring time. My absolute "shoot for the stars" goal was to be ready for a full three-phase event by spring. And honestly? We're pretty darn close (tho I'm now shooting for a two-phase debut instead).

Since the first six months to a year with an OTTB tend to be the most transformative, I thought today's post could take a broad inventory of where Charlie is in his education today and how I see each of these areas continuing to develop.

Things Charlie can do:

General Citizenship and Well-being:
Stands tied / cross tied quietly
Bathes / clips / vacuums no problem

first ride post-track!

Stands well for the farrier and vet
Gets along with other horses in turnout
Appears to have graduated from a 4wk shoeing cycle!!
Has grown more and more sound over time

first steel shoes. happy to say his foot has changed dramatically since this picture

Next steps:
Continue refining diet to meet nutritional needs and build weight
Stay on top of hoof care


Ground work:
Has learned some basics re: yielding specific quarters to pressure
Can sorta lunge, more or less

Is the best at carrot stretches
Reliably trailers individually or with another horse, and basically self loads

Travels well and can go to work in new and unfamiliar settings

graduated out of the stud chain within about a week or so of coming home #safetyfirst

Next steps:
More. Always more.
Attend bomb proofing and/or trail/obstacle challenge type clinics??

first ground work session

Flat work:
Can w-t-c with steady rhythm on a 20m circle in both directions
Learning the basics of contact and connection

almost looking like he fits in at the dressage barn!

Has simple changes of lead through trot
Undefeated International Champion Of The World at USDF Intro B

#winning!

Next steps:
Keep on keepin' on
Transitions within trot: compress + ride forward, rinse + repeat forever
Continue working on control of shoulders (esp for steering and straightness)

i can't take credit for teaching him to pose tho. #bornthatway 

"Cross Country":
Can w-t-c through open fields on uneven terrain

Has been introduced to small banks and water elements
Jumped xc-style fences in an arena

Can navigate natural trail obstacles (logs and such)
Is generally an all-round trail riding dream boat
Can lead or follow other horses, and can leave group and return without drama

tho sometimes perhaps he wishes he could leave *this* horse behind haha

Next steps:
Actually school xc
Introduce ditches
MOAR TRAIL RIDING!!!! :D
....Eventually gallop. Eventually. *gulp*

all trail riding, all the time plz

General Jumping:
Is basically the best at clobbering and stumbling through all the ground poles

not the first, but a very early cross rail effort

Hasn't been particularly impressed by anything yet
Reliably jumps stadium fences of all styles up to ~2'3 from trot or canter

first jump lesson + first oxer!

Reasonably proficient at lines of jumps and small grids
Can jump from and land on both canter leads, and can change leads over a fence

Next steps:
Work on straightness (line of travel is sacred!)
Build towards coursework (increase focus on rebalancing before corners)

same oxer as before, just three months later

So. Long photo-heavy story later, six months into this journey and the horse feels like he's coming along pretty well for my purposes.

Some things are going a little slower than they could, or than they would with a different rider. But that's cool bc let's be real: I'm trying to keep up and get my own sea legs back in this process too. And as Tracy reminded me a while back: Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. I'll take it!

And for my purposes, it feels like the relevant landmarks and milestones are cropping up about how I expected (while acknowledging my own limited experience haha). I can't wait to see what the next six months bring!!

Do you have any sort of 'milestones' that you use to gauge your horse's training level? Or like... prerequisites or skill proficiencies that you look for to ensure your horse is on track? If you've worked on restarting horses before, do you keep a general order or agenda for how you introduce new things, or do you kinda wing it based on how the horse responds?