For the love of a Racehorse.
Many of you know that I recently adopted a 5-year-old mare, named ‘Celestial Dream’ through New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program and I wanted to take moment to talk about how that all came about. Aside from the fact that I love horses and riding and teaching and training, I was really feeling a pull to take on a project horse now that I have my business up and running (The Content Equestrian). I did what we all do - I stalked various online ads and horse sales sites. I drooled over cross breeds, and even seriously considered taking on one or two that I encountered and inquired about. I watched a slew of beautiful Thoroughbreds appear and quickly find homes through great and reputable sales barns. In the end I picked Celestial Dream and I’ll explain why I chose this particular horse to bring home.
Celestial Dream checking out her new home
I have had my other mare for over 6 years now and we have traveled a long road together that has led us far from our starting point. I loved that journey (and had many, many moments of tearing my hair out too) and I am very proud of the achievements we have made. Callie (Jockey club name: Puttingontheglitz) is a TB Mare who I bought when she was 6 years old. Callie had already been out of the racing game for over 2 years but had not yet managed to find enough confidence in herself. I bought Callie knowing full well that she may be more of a project than I was capable of and her previous owners did an excellent job of telling me everything I needed to know in order to support her training and development. These days, it is fun to recognize how much we have done together from hunter paces and foxhunting to local shows. Throughout this journey Callie has taught me just how much I don’t know. She has taught me about subtlety, patience, leaving my emotions at the door, when to simply walk away from a fight, when to provide more encouragement and pressure or when to apply a lighter touch. I still get it wrong sometimes and she continues to teach me that I have a lot to learn. Armed with this complete understanding, I feel excited to help guide another young thoroughbred from one career to the next and I am committed to providing Celestial Dream with a well-rounded introduction to other disciplines than racing.
Callie doing what she does best - Hunter pacing!
Celestial Dream caught my eye because, well, the same reason she caught hundreds of other people’s eye, she is stunning! She has really decent conformation, she is a good size for me, and a range of other riders and she was local. I was able to talk to Amanda Vance, the New Vocations trainer on the phone and arrange to meet the horse in person. It feels important to me that I see the horse with my own eyes because a cool photo is merely a snapshot of what you find in real life. I am not currently in a position to take in a number of projects because housing is limited and I’m just getting started with my business, so I wanted to feel really happy with the one I decided to move forward with. In addition to putting my hands on Celestial dream, I was able to watch her reaction to distractions that a busy barn provides. She stood politely while my children chatted and groomed an old pony in the next door cross ties. There happened to be a construction project happening, so nail guns and air compressors going off sporadically also showed me a lot about how she might respond to scary stuff.
Below are the pictures New Vocations provided for Celestial Dream’s listing
And when I watched Amanda’s assistant longe Celestial Dream, she was confused by the concept but did her best to be good, all while a jumping lesson was going on at the other end of the arena. The fact that Celestial Dream tended to travel around with her head in the air, played absolutely no part in my decision. It’s worth acknowledging that when a horse is fresh off the track, they are not always going to carry themselves in a typical English riding style frame. They have been taught to run and to run fast. Many horses need help to learn to stretch over their back and it can take a lot of time to show them how to use themselves differently. We often see ex-racehorses boxed into a frame in sales videos to show their potential. I trust that I can show a horse how to get there gradually, so I don’t factor that into a decision about buying a horse with a background in a different job. Despite her inverted carriage, it was clear Celestial Dream has lovely movement. She covers a huge amount of ground with her long legs and appeared to be even and sound. Having just raced a few weeks prior, there was very little evidence of her being overly stiff or tight, which one might expect after being conditioned so highly and the weather being so cold here in upstate New York. Because of the clear description I was given about this horse, along with what I saw for myself, I decided to take a chance on adopting her.
I have never been through the adoption process for a horse before and only recently looked into New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program. What I learned is that New Vocations is not a ‘rescue organization’. Celestial Dream’s racing connections donated her to the program because they wanted her to have a second career and trusted New Vocations to help them facilitate that. I think it’s important that people understand what their horse might have been through, physically and mentally, to be a racehorse in the first place - New Vocations does a great job of educating and preparing adopters for the horse they take on. I also love that the organization guarantees a home for each racehorse for the rest of their lives, should they fall on uncertain times. This was another big reason I felt good about adopting Celestial Dream. She is the fifth Thoroughbred I’ve owned and each of my others have had quirks that could have resulted in them falling into the wrong hands. It gives added peace of mind that If Celestial dream does not remain in my care for the rest of her life, she has a safety net in the form of New Vocations.
And why did I choose a thoroughbred? Why not go with the one of the warmblood crosses or draft types I see being so popular? I think the answer is I really like Thoroughbreds and I have great respect for horses that have gone and done a grown up job at a very young age. I enjoy a range of horses and never had much experience with full Thoroughbreds in my youth because in the UK we had much access to native breeds. I adore my mum’s Welsh Section D. He is dependable, handy, versatile and solid - a bit like an SUV. But owning Thoroughbreds as an adult, I think have also developed a taste for the Ferrari that I liken them to. It turns out that I have a love for the Racehorse.
Celestial Dream has been with me for a month now and is smart, sweet, kind and sensible. Her barn name is Tink. I have puttered around with her a little, just to keep her mind engaged, but mostly she is settling into farm life. I’ll begin adding a little more to her plate in the coming weeks. I plan to share some of the steps of her retraining and techniques I use to support her development along the way. Stay tuned if you’re interested in seeing how she develops and what I do to expand her world to that of an ‘all-rounder’.
