Horse shows. Ah yes. Days that are often filled with anxiety, frustration, more anxiety, and the always enjoyable game of hurry-up-and-wait that seems to accompany every horse show under the sun, regardless of whether you’re…
Posts Published by Diary of an OTTB
Heat & Horses: When Is It Too Hot to Ride?
It’s a common question that comes up every summer: when is it too hot to ride my horse? The short answer: It depends. It depends because every horse is different, with varying fitness levels and…
This Week With Indy: Progress is Success
Rain, rain, go away! And don’t come back another day! Please! If you live in the northeast or anywhere in the United States, you can probably commiserate. It’s been 3 weeks and it seems as…
How Racetrack Routines Affect OTTBs: Training & Daily Life at the Track
Unless you’ve worked in the racing industry, the life of a horse at the track might be a bit of a mystery to the average person. What’s more difficult to gauge is how this routine…
First Trail Ride With My OTTB
Going out on the trails has always been one of my favorite things to do with my horse. There’s just something awesome about going for a stroll in the woods tucked away in nature with…
Liberty Training for Horses: How Free Lunging Builds A Bond
Liberty training for horses can be some absolutely magical stuff to watch. If you’ve ever been to a horse expo or seen a training demonstration, there’s a good chance that you know what I’m talking…
Fly & Tick Control Methods for Horses
With the warmer weather comes one unavoidable and often irritating nuisance: it’s fly season, fellow horse people! The tiny winged equestrian enemies are hatching from their cocoons left and right of us, which got me…
This Week With Indy: A Mounted Police Clinic & Fresh Start
Well kids, it’s been a crazy busy past few weeks at the farm hosting our semi-annual de-spooking clinic with National Mounted Police Services, an organization dedicated to training mounted police units, civilians, and their equine…
How to Kentucky Derby
Spring is in the air, May is just around the corner and you know what else that means: it’s almost time for the Kentucky Derby, the longest running sporting event in the United States. That’s…
Hitting the Ground Running… Literally
Well ladies and gentlemen, we experienced our first involuntary dismount last night. Yep, my trusty off track thoroughbred, Indy, was all of a sudden not so trusty. And do you want to know what I…
Getting An OTTB To Move In A Frame
Getting an OTTB to move in a frame can be a difficult subject to wrap your head around… and if it’s difficult for a human just imagine how difficult it is for a green broke…
[VIDEO] This Week With Indy: What Getting It Together Looks Like
Tomorrow will mark 8 MONTHS since my boy, Sure Prize, last ran a race. Can you believe it?! Almost 8 months have passed and it still feels like he just walked off the trailer yesterday….
History of the Thoroughbred: American Triple Crowns & A Lasting Legacy (Part 3)
Consider this: the Thoroughbred as a breed is only a few decades older than America as a country. Now compare that to the first known horse, estimated to have lived around 55 million years ago….
History of the Thoroughbred: The Three Foundation Stallions (Part 2)
If you know anything about the history of how the Thoroughbred came into existence, you might have heard about the three foundation stallions – the Byerley Turk, the Darley Arabian, and the Godolphin Arabian. In…
History of the Thoroughbred: Racing Before The Breed for Speed (Part 1)
We watch Thoroughbreds run in races across the world on turf and dirt, in claiming races and million dollar graded stakes. And when they don’t turn out to be everything their breeders’ or connections’ hoped…