Buying A Three-Year Old Ex-Race Horse.  What On Earth Was I Thinking?

Jenny and I had just picked up him up from a residential neighborhood in Shady Side, a small town on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay.  He was three months off the track and had been living in a shed in his owner’s backyard.  They loved him, but there were no other horses to keep him company, and I think in the end, that was what pushed me to buy him.  He needed to be in a healthier environment with other horses – among his own kind. 

Driving him to his new home, we struggled to come up with a good name.  Jenny eventually asked me what his birth date was and I looked at his papers.  March 25 – he was an Aries – and the name stuck.  Everyone around the barn calls him Ears. I like to think it is because of his elegant profile, but Kris assures me that it is because I neglected to trim his ears for the first month that I had him. 

It has been three and half years since I bought him. There have been many training challenges – and a few unexpected expenses – but they pale in comparison to the joy Aries has brought to myself and the people who have come to know him, and the lessons he has taught me as trainer and instructor.

That first year was a combination of harrowing moments with a young Aries bucking and bolting at a variety of things and a growing awareness of the generous nature and talents that he also brought to the table.  I’d ride him  five or six days a week, but only for twenty-five minutes each session. The early rides would consist largely of walk and trot work on straight lines and sweeping turns.  As his confidence grew, the canter was introduced, but again I kept it simple, staying in half-seat and keeping the lines generous and not too demanding. He was also introduced to some basic lateral exercises – turn-on-the forehand and leg yielding.

Since those early days, Aries has matured.  He is no longer the gawky three-year old who at times looked like he didn’t know where to put his feet.  The training sessions now generally last 40- 45 minutes.  The generous nature is still there, and the natural talent is being channeled through a variety of exercises: shoulder-in, transitions, travers, renvers and others.  Each day is learning experience – both for Aries and myself.