Sunday Stories Shared - @jkp.equestrian talks retraining an ex-racer

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The world of retraining ex-racers is expanding more and more, especially with the introduction of the ROR (retraining of racehorses) competitions.
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Let me take you back to September 2014 when I started shopping for my first horse age 15 with the grand budget of £1500. I viewed a variety of different horses; from horses that wouldn’t move, to horses that had a mental breakdown at the sight of a coloured pole. It felt like we were never going to find my perfect horse, especially with my not so perfect budget!
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However, all of this changed after my mum spotted a tiny advert in our local news paper and whisked me off to a national hunt yard. When we arrived, out of the stable came a 16.3, glossy bay ex-racer name Billy, with 2 white socks that would in-fact go forward and were more than happy to go over a coloured pole.
1.20 courses here we come! (I thought)...not quite!
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Once we got him home, we were quick to learn that the ‘race horse mode’ was still firmly switched on and what followed was a year of (quite literally) blood, sweat and tears.
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Anyone that has ridden an off the track thoroughbred will know that everything they do comes with the aim of doing it as quickly as possible.
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As a result of this, Billy liked to go across and through a jump as opposed to up and over it. It was this time that really taught me the importance of grid work, which I would highly recommend for anyone looking to improve their horses jump technique.
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As the months passed, Billy and I learned to channel his energy into productive work and the progress started to appear.
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Although he was never born to be the 1.20 horse I dreamed of, completing our first 85cm showjumping course and going clear felt better than winning a 1.20 ever would.
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Retraining a horse really makes you appreciate the small improvements, such as managing to ride 3 full laps of the arena without them running off with their heads in the air, and the end result makes it feel so worth while.
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Shown above are 2 photos, the first is Billy and I when he first arrived struggling to look elegant over 2ft. The 2nd photo is just before he left, souring over a 4ft triple bar with room to spare!
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Follow my equestrian journey over on my Instagram channels:
@jkp.equestrian
@jkp.equestrian.extras

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