FROM RACEHORSE TO RIDING HORSE // Rocky's 1 year progress - The good, the bad, the very ugly...
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- čas přidán 17. 12. 2022
- ›› A very very honest story about Rocky's first year retraining off the track. I should also add that he had a full vetting, dental and stomach ulcer treatment when I got him so everything pain related was ruled out. Please no negative comments, I put in some pretty grim moments in the effort to be fully transparent, I will always do my best by Rocky, he has my heart
Also I'm very sorry for missing an episode of vlogmas! I unfortunately got covid and wasn't able to film, ride or even talk for long enough to do this voice over! But I'm on the mend now so expect a couple more videos before Christmas.
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Think a lot of people wouldn’t have persevered with Rocky, had forgotten how difficult he was. So big kudos to you Holly, and so pleased that the penny finally dropped for him.
Can I just say that white pony at 4mins 11 who didnt bolt when Rocky was being slightly crazy behind them, is an absolute legend.
I got flash backs of being on my old white pony who if that had happened near her, she would have tanked me around the school.
Also- pros to holly doing so well with Rocky ofcourse
ONE ride on 2021 Rocky would've given me a nervous breakdown lol Congrats on sticking with him, because you've guided him into such a lovely horse!
Holly, you have done THE most amazing job on a horse who was clearly not the easiest horse in the world. He looks fantastic and you have really set him up well for a lucky person in a couple of years' time. It's so nice to see how he's found his jump, and he looks like he loves it, too. 😀
Holly, you are a total legend! As an American physician who is currently working with her green broke 2 year old, I’m so impressed how you persevere even with your busy schedule and a sometime crazy horse. Its so encouraging to see the progress you all made just by working hard and not giving up! Love that the one month of hacking really helped with his rideability. Looking forward to your additional seasons in Australia on Rocky and your upcoming seasons in France.
Omg, watching this review really highlights just how far Rocky has come! So good! And I’m super excited to see him come along. 😊
This has really helped me to try again with my young horse. It’s really demotivating when things aren’t going as you want them to go but this gave me hope to try again in the new year. You’ve done an amazing job with Rocky and you should definitely be proud of both of your journeys ❤
Is your young horse an ottb ?
I am always grateful to see racehorses repurposed! So many do not get that chance. I had a quarter horse racehorse one time that just would not stop so I had to put him in a bitless bridle and turn him in cirlcles when he did not stop. He eventually was one of the best horses I ever had. People need to remember racehorses really are not trained and they have lots of spirit. Careful, gentle , patient training is the best way with these horses.
I mean maybe 30 years ago. Mostly they get rehomed now.
@@NoThankUBeQuiet I have been in the business too long and still see so many going to market. So, every rescue is a blessing.
It's actually pretty terrifying and sad how people quickly judge without even asking about the reason...
I am also so happy for your progress! At first glance it didn't seem that Rocky changed much compared to the last years, but wow, the actual difference is shocking! He's now much more calm in a variety of situations thanks to your efforts. Thanx for another great vlogmas!
Looking forward to seeing what 2023 has in store for Rocky, you and your other horses. Happy Christmas Holly.
I super appreciate your honesty about what is going well and what isn’t! That’s amazing of you. Cheering you on for 2023!
Respect to your patience level 🫡
Such a good overview of solid progression, and so pleased you're keeping Rocky. A perfect partnership!! Thank you xxx
I hope you are feeling better Holly - this is a lovely video - so interesting to see his progress - which is massive! you've done so much with him - what an educated fit boy he is now.
I loved watching your retrospective look at Rocky's progress (& regress :) This is exactly why I enjoy your work with horses so much, Holly, as you are patient, and inventive in dealing with the problems that come up with horses who haven't had a complete education. I can only imagine the kind of training Rocky had prior to you -- certainly it hadn't set him up for success the way you have. Rocky's transformation under your caring and consistent hands is remarkable -- so much great change and fitness too. Rocky was a lucky OTTB the day you walked into his life. Does your friend or Andrew ever ride Rocky for you? Thanks so much for sharing your whole journey to-date with Rocky. You are clearly a team heading in the same direction now :)
Thank you for posting this progress video!! You're doing terrific with training Rocky!
Hi Holly I love progress videos; especially ones where the horse is so ´wild´ at the beginning lol. These videos are so encouraging, and are a testament to your patience and knowledge. I´m sure that the people who try and tell you what to do are not capable of doing what you do, and have not ridden a horse that tries to take off, otherwise they would know that, as you say, you would prefer not to have to do that, but sometimes you have no choice, and you have to go through this in order to improve him. Kudos to you for being the person who perseveres and does this in order for Rocky to become a solid citizen, and therefore have a brighter future.
Great video Holly!! Loved seeing how far Rocky has come from when you got him until now. Wishing you and all the other Vets, and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year ahead!!! Love from a Retired Paramedic, a S&R Dog and Handler Team Trainer and Horse Trainer in Ontario, Canada, Jenn. 💖 🇨🇦
What a great vlog again!! You can see how he gets stronger and stronger and starts using the hind end. I love how you are taking your time and going back to basics after the break. He is such a kind horse and is trying so hard to figure out the new job!! Great stuff!!
“Obviously this is not a total transformation video”
Looks like a total transformation to me!! You’ve done an amazing job with him so far, he’s looking like a proper showjumper now. These videos are my favorites you put out, its lovely to be taken through the process of training and see how they learn, and i learn so much from them! Already looking forward to next december’s updates :)
Just finished this video . I loved it so much!!! I love seeing the transformation and how real you keep it holly ❤
Holly, you should be so proud of yourself and Rocky! He's come SO far (but you already know that). Great work and thanks for sharing his progress!
I'm so glad you shared this! I have spent the last few years working through trauma with my horse and now we are finally in a place to begin ridden work and it is very similar to your horse. This is encouraging and I'm looking forward to our journey together!
Great video Holly. Rocky was very lucky to find you. An honest account of the highs & lows of retraining an OTT TB. He looked a pretty hair rising ride in some of those early rides 😮but you ride him so tactfully & confidently. Well done. Looking forward to following your progress. Hope you are starting to feel better & have a fantastic Christmas
He’s come on so much this year/season !!
was very impressed with his gridwork progression 👍🏼
I absolutely love the fact that in the beginning, no matter how much he fought you, you guys never added a martingale until he was ready for it, and when finally added, YOURS IS PROPERLY FIT FOR HIM. It is a great example of good horsemanship and respect for the animal. I know too many people that would have said "no sir" and crank their noses down with martingales far too tight right from the beginning. Also, I wish I could keep my lower leg as still as yours.
I hate it when people give comments online who don't know your horse. No one understands how much goes on behind the "scenes" of creating a vlog. You handle it well. Kudos to you and Rocky!
I have watched Rocky from the start and even for an off the track he was certainly not easy! I think that you have done an amazing job with him, especially since you can only do it for half the year! Ex-racehorses are used to having a break, I used to rough mine off for the worst months, Jan,Feb, then start again mid March, and then I would only hack for at least 6 weeks, then they would generally be more relaxed and ready to listen, think it's a racehorse thing! Saying that I am totally biased and would always home an off the track over anything else. When you get through to them it's so rewarding. I think Rocky was lucky that you got him, he could have gone either way , but your patience and time has made him into a horse with a future, brilliant!
Wow! Amazing to see his progress. You’ve done an incredible job with him!
Watched this vlog for a second time. I love watching his and your progress together. I also loved all your commentary for Rocky’s thoughts, classic😂 Can’t wait to see his journey in 2023
Love from California🏔️🌲☀️💙
Briljant! Rocky is like a completely different horse! Well done to you Holly!! 👏🏼
You should be so proud of yourself Holly! He’s turned out to be a fab little horse! Can’t wait to see the future and what you can both achieve! 😍
Thank you so much for posting this. You are such an inspiration. Thank you.
I loved seeing his attitude over the cross country jumps, he was definitely thinking about it but took a nice hop over them and was so brave!
This is so nice to see Holly, you have made him into such a lovely little horse. All the hard work pays off. Keep it up x
wonderful and inspiring to see the progress with Rocky and a good reminder that sometimes things go backwards before they then proceed forward ; really great video; can you tell us more about the change in bit- always interesting and sounds like it made an improvement
Rocky is so cute ❤
His progress has been amazing to watch
Welcome to the world of baby tbs- they are amazing, but they teach you so much! You have done a great job- they are not easy❤
You have done so well with him and I believe that's why he's responded as well as he has. It's obvious he loves you.
You have done so well with him! Truly night and day -- congratulations!
he has been such a cool guy to watch grow up. so smart and fun, thrilled to see him going so well
This is why ground work is important. You have to keep good contact with the horse and horse has good contact with you. Yields, disengaging hindquarters, forequarters and working with horse to make him respect you.
Finally an Aussie eq channel I can learn from! 🤣So many channels from overseas with different rules and places. I got my OTTB late last year so really helpful ❤
You've done good work with him.
With everything going as it was, and with the worst of the horse world in the comments, you persevered.
I definitely would have given up.
Very brave 😳
Wonderful progress here, great to see & so impressed with your perseverance, braveness & your prioritizing the relaxation! Kudos to you, great job in your entire retraining!! Inspiring to see his evolution & the degree of partnership you've established by the end of the video. Thankuou for sharing - I have enjoyed quite a few of your videos now!! 🐴😍🐎🙏
What a difference a year makes! He looks awesome now, good work!
What a difference!! Amazing job you two!
So fun to watch his progress!! You did great with him!
I think you’re so brave for showing all these ups and downs in the internet! Can’t even imagine riding a difficult horse like that 😵💫
You've done such an amazing job with him! He has a lot of similar tendencies to my TB gelding actually, especially the canter struggles and the getting worse after time off. My guy wound up having some SI discomfort and after some shockwave/chiro etc he's improved so much, just out of curiosity has that ever been an issue for Rocky? In any case you're both incredible, well done!!
Wow, you should be so proud of what you have achieved because I truly believe there aren’t many riders out there who would have stuck with him! That did NOT look easy! You’re also incredibly brave!
Wow the improvements are massive. You guys make a great pair!
You did a fantastic job w/Rocky - great patience , understanding and skill on your part - not an easy horse but sweet horse - well done!!
What a transformation! Good boy, Rocky 😊❤️
I have a thoroughbred named rocky as well! Thanks for the video. Really encouraged me to persevere in my journey with my thoroughbred
Lucky Rocky he had you to hang in there with him and persevere. Love the trail riding helped him with it all 💜
I am very proud of your progress with rocky. As I know how difficult thoroughbreds can be as I have one for myself. And my horse actually has the same problem with her lead but it wasn’t because she is one sided it’s just because of an injury. Rocky looks fabulous and he has come so far ❤
Well done! What a journey and great work. Do not listen to the heaters. 🥰
My language is Finnish, but I still like to look at your content ❤ You do a great and positive job with your horses😍
I couldn’t believe it when you said “Our first show at Shepparton” as I live quite local to that xD I’m a massive fan and it would be a dream to meet you! ♥♥
Thank you for this video.
I’m a new owner with a TB mare. I’ve see a lot of the exact same training reactions that I’ve been dealing with in your video. From the absolute terror of a ground pole to the “omg this crazy horse may run over my child!” reaction. I’ve been there. Sometimes it’s just nice to know you’re not alone.
Im so proudddddd of you BOTH ❣️
😍😍how lovely to see him absolutely adore his jumping. What’s superstar. That last round was lovely. Please could I ask aids u used in the beginning , I know you said you had to keep a short contact at the start because of him running. I’m going to try an off the track Tb next week that’s had few yrs reschooling but hasn’t done much since. I’ve also had a lot of time out so wAnt to make sure I ride him correctly. It’s been a while since I rode an OTTB . Any tips would be great. I’e … riding with my seat extra.. I’ve forgotten how racehorses are ridden . Many thanks holly. CNt wait to see this season for you guys
You’ve done amazing with Rocky Holly well done.👏👏👏👏Merry Christmas 🎄 tfs.hohoho
Great video. I hope he find a home where the person is as patient with him as you have been. He seems to love the cross country jumps. You've done a fantastic job with him.
16:43 I know what you mean, I live in Tasmania and I struggle to find anywhere that is for hire. It is also so difficult to find horses because there aren't many places that sell horses and we don't have any studs or things that sell horses so it is really difficult. I also don't know many of the shows round here and the ones that we do have are like ODE's so they have dressage, show jumping and cross country but I'm not confident enough cross country yet so that's really frustrating. You are so good at dealing with Rocky, Holly, please come and train my ottb because he is so naughty and lazy. Love your channel.😄
He is many of the horses I learned to ride on. Then I wondered why it took me so long to learn how to soften and relax😂 good for you sticking with him and being so patient! The OTTB brains are...weird and can be very frustrating. Can be great horses but not easy.
You guys have gotten so far!!! I do have a question..how did you get the headset though?
Looking forward to the next chapters!
so right about the reins I have Otto too and lots of half halts, they love to run
Some years ago I also had an off-the-track thoroughbred whose go-to behavior when unsure or frightened was to bolt.
Until he got through that stage, I too had to use “too much rein.” I finally figured out that he needed a different bit. Once I figured out how to give him a decent and steady contact on the bit, a lot of the bolting went away.
In order to get to that stage, he had to develop different muscling. At the track, the muscling is all on the underside of the neck and belly. You have to totally flip that into muscle over the topline. It takes many months and lots of patience. Many days, you don’t feel like you’ve made any progress at all.
Hacking out on trails also really helped him to relax, and gradually his tendency to bolt became less and less until he stopped doing it.
He got confidence in me, in other words. I certainly was not nearly as balanced a rider as you are, but after awhile, we got to know each other’s behaviors and got secure in them. Mutual trust made all the difference. But I had to sit through a lot of undesirable behavior until I got there.
I think you’ve done a phenomenal job with Rocky.
I meant to add that the race track is a very limiting environment. Racetrack horses are stabled 23 hours of day, and when they get out, they are asked to run with her heads up, bracing against a bit. That is about all they are asked to do. They’re also fed high-protein diet so that they’re full of energy all the time.
So even though racetrack horses are great about being handled, for example, they will stand for hours with their foot in a bucket if you want them to, they really haven’t seen much of the world. So that’s why they get bug-eyed when they go outside of their own limited experience.
you ride amazing through all the turbulence . feel better
I've been working with a 5 year old, chesnut, OTTB mare from Panama for almost a year and we have had so many ups and downs. She's such a talented jumper but has major balance issues. She's come so far over the past few months, has the sweetest personality, and really tries to take care of her riders no matter how inexperienced they are.The owners are considering selling her to become a brood mare since she hasn't really worked out how they expected her to in terms or rideability😢I'm absolutley in love with her but it's not my call to make
Rocky has come such a long way!💕
I've seen you comment on so many videos. And, you have commented on my vids. I have commented on yours, like, I see you everywhere.
@@onthesaddle1893 Oop lol
Lovely riding brilliant seat !!!
I had a national Hunt Horse and i found that if, i let him have a good gallop in large fields, he would be less frustrated and would be more comfortable with the flat work .They either know walk or gallop .
Once they let their stress out , they are more relaxed and easy to work with.
i also did a lot of gentle half halting to get him to ask for a contact and lots of deep seat working on the circle
I would take him for an up hill gallops and he would fly
He was so chilled and happy he would hug me !! x
I had a Rocky. He also loved to run off. Something about spicy horses named Rocky lol! But he was great, tried hard and became rideable. My favorite horse to this day (he's since gone across rainbow bridge-old age).
great...what an improvement...you are happy ...Rocky is happy.
Thank you for sticking with him...
Incredible progress!!!!
My TB, used to do this, got really over excited and chucked his head in the air etc. had hope scoped and back xrayed. Had stomach ulcers (common in tbs) and mild kissing spine. Hasn't done it since. ❤❤
Yes great job Holly👏🏻. I kept saying to my self a running martingale will help and then you put one on👍🏻. A difficult horse for sure but wonderful to see how you persevered and have given him the chance of a good home at some point as well as being able to enjoy him yourself as you now start to reap the benefits of your struggles.
I litterally love watching how you progress and train your horess. I watch your videos anytime I need help with mine or tips on what to do. I have a question though..how do I teach a horse to have a nice headset?
Wow you have incredible seat, Rocky has come a long way
"I managed not to run over any children, which was quite nice." LMAO
FRRRR
Thank you, Holly, have a good rest. Viruses linger xx
Holly on her Rocky Road! 🐎🐴💗😻
You’ve done very good with him, he just needed a job and you gave him that.
You can use no rein on a thoroughbred, but one at a time and give with the other , all horses can use the one rein stop method , so not true at all and once they realise that if they do start to tank off that they will be made to circle , the use for reims becomes less and less , teach him the one rein slow down , you do not need to hang on his.mouth , my TB mare is now slowing from seat aids xx
If you could do it again, would you take more time to establish his flatwork? A lot of OTTBs tank off when they feel unbalanced so I wouldn't be surprised if that was just how Rocky felt.
Thank you for taking a chance on an OTTB :)
I can understand now why people put their otb out on break immediately after aquasition allowing them to relax and fatten up. They are all go go go. They have never been trained with patience in mind. Although you said he had been out of work for awhile before you got him. I think he is coming along very nicely and will excell given a few more years training... fyi. Being able to see all the clips together like this I notice he has a slight dish with his front right. Keep up the great work you are doing with him.
I agree with the no schooling arenas with jumps for hire it SUCKS ! the closest one to me is 30mins and on a main road so it scares the heck outta my horse 😂
Are you planning on switching his jumping cheek piece/jumping bit to his dressage? I notice you changed it to an elevator bit and i'm wondering if you plan on changing that? (just a question, not hating)
The easiest way when off the track is put a surcingle on him with long driving lines on. Ground drive in an enclosed small space. Even a dirt aisle will do. Teach stopping starting, turning, flexing at poll and into the turn. Very calm and slow. No losing temper. They then learn to steer and not expect a race with tack on. It is safer to do all this on the ground instead of sawing on the mouth under saddle. He has never been given a foundation in the racehorse world.
My old horse was the same! Not as bad as Rocky but absolutely PETRIFIED of poles! I got him jumping 70s before I moved him on but unfortunately we just didn’t get along as a team
Holly… what do you do when a horse refuses or dosent want to follow through an exercise you give them such as lunging or pole work? Your thoughts would be appreciated thank you 🙏🏻
It’s best for anyone on the internet to assume the person in the saddle knows more about the horse in that moment than the person behind the keyboard 🤪!
Like yes, keyboard jockeys, we ALL want to use as little hand as possible. But that is the goal of self carriage, there’s a lot of training to get there. Holly is knowledgeable, kind and fair with her aids. We all make mistakes and can be better, but Holly consistently seeks education and help from others so she doesn’t need help from the keyboard jockeys! Lol.
Thanks for sharing your journey with us! It’s fun to watch!
If your still in the same area I suggest harcourt indoor arena it 12$ for a hour and it’s got jumps you can set up
My horse does that too where on trails I can literally canter not holding reins than when we go in an arena its the compete opposite.
Well done a lesser person would have given up on him long ago you are a real pro🥰💚💚💚