21Apr 2012 by myexracer

Walk Trot Trot Walk Repeat

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Training
[caption id="attachment_186" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Pretty filly"][/caption] Ground work, ground work , ground work, that's my new theme. Since I have no saddle at the moment I'm focusing on lunging my filly. I've taken to lunging her for 20 minutes a day trying to get her into a routine. I bring her in from the field, groom her, put on her splint boots and caveson and we do 10 minutes in each direction walk to trot, trot to walk, and back again. Our circles are looking less and less like D's and more and more like circles, which I'm pretty pleased about. She is picking up the voice commands but doesn't have them entirely yet. Her trot is often calm and collected which makes me happy, when shes in a groove…
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17Apr 2012 by myexracer

Beyond The Track- Book Review

Book Review, OTTB, Training
[caption id="attachment_180" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Step one... read"][/caption] After my really disappointing day a few weeks ago with my filly I decided to read some books. Its something I do a lot. When I get stuck anywhere in life I find a book on the subject, often I find many books on the subject and read and absorb and read and absorb. It's a habit I picked up as a very little girl which also is why I think I can learn and do anything but that's a tale for another day. I bought Beyond The Track by Anna Ford. I couldn't wait for it to get here cursing myself for not paying expedited shipping. When it did arrive I read it immediately, ignoring everything else. I was taking a horse…
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16Apr 2012 by myexracer

Another Day Another Disappointment

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Saddles and tack
[caption id="attachment_163" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="HDR All Purpose Saddle "][/caption] This saddle hunt is making me insane and that's putting it mildly. My girl is hard to fit which is making this process harder. I'm not made of money which is making it doubley as frustrating. Of course everything over a few grand fits her and fits her well, everything under.. nope. The boyfriend took a day off of work so we could drive to VA ( cuz VA is for saddles not lovers) to pick up a saddle from good ole Dover. After sitting on the barrel in a few different makes and models the best i came up with was a Henry De Rivel all purpose. This HDR was also on super sale, which is to say it was…
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14Apr 2012 by myexracer

Back To The Begining

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Training
[caption id="attachment_159" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Work you say? "][/caption] Since I do not have a saddle that fits my girl yet, we are going back to square one. The lunge line. I'm going to be very aggressive with the ground work with my filly. She needs it and I think I do to. So after about a week off from horse land, a landslide of work and out of town holiday guests made that pretty easy, it was time to put my new ground work plan into action. I hiked to the back field and got my girl ready for some ground work in the indoor ring. It was the first time I put her splint boots on her and being a race horse she didn't bat an eye to them…
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06Apr 2012 by myexracer

Saddles, Saddles, Everywhere

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Saddles and tack
[caption id="attachment_154" align="alignleft" width="239" caption="Im sure this one wont fit either"][/caption] I like all job titles with the word "master" in them. Master Of Whiskey being my favorite, though this time my brush with a "master" title, was a master saddler.  When my saddler asked me "what is the plan" I told him we were starting from scratch. So we started off with him examining my filly and yes shes got a couple of sore spots. Shes more developed on the left (hello racehorse), a longer back, high withers and it seems as if she will need a medium tree. I should have long flaps and a 18 inch seat because lets face it I'm a tall, leggy girl. He then took a look at my Lovatts and Rickkets saddle…
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02Apr 2012 by myexracer

Tough Day

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Training
Its started out good and went well for a while, when it took the bad turn it was a landslide. Defeated is the word id use to describe how I feel today and I've only felt this way with my pretty pony when I was  dealing with the hoof abscess after the time she kicked me. With out getting into too much detail, I'm sure it was all my fault but I need to regroup, my happy go lucky training attitude needs to be adjusted and I need to be tougher, more consistent and find a new way inside to Jezebel that works for us both. I cant be someone im not and I cant expect her to be the horse she isnt, in fact the horse she is is…
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