I'm a Penn State grad who is diving into the world of eventing! I grew up riding hunters, but I was growing tired of it. I retired my QH gelding in early 2011 and bought myself a young OTTB gelding in March 2013. I figured I would let him pick his job. He decided he'd really like to be an eventer, so we moved to an eventing barn and have been working hard on learning a new discipline (well, THREE new disciplines.)
My horse is much more interesting than I am. He's a 16.1hh 5yo chestnut gelding by Royal Strand and out of Henora W. He was born in Louisiana but somehow made his way up to Pennsylvania. He didn't race until his 4yo year, and he did horrendously. He never placed better than 5th, so after his 8th race in September 2012, he was retired from the track and donated to New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program. He was adopted out shortly after to someone who wanted a nice quiet hunter. Apollo is the complete opposite. He's not the prettiest mover, and he's a far cry from "nice and quiet." He spent six months with his previous adopter, most of which was spent hanging out in the pasture doing nothing. He was returned to the program mid-March. I went down to the PA New Vocations facility to look at another horse who ended up not being a good match for me. They brought him out for me to look at, and I was sold. I met him on Saturday and picked him up on Sunday. This is where our adventures began.
He was several hundred pounds underweight and had the crappiest winter coat I've ever seen. I could count all of his ribs and his butt was sunken and sad looking. He had a scrawny pencil neck and a drawn up belly. He had also been trace clipped so close that he was bald. Grooming him was like brushing skin. People probably thought I was nuts for buying him, but whatevs. I gave him a week to settle in, and when I started riding him I discovered that he did not go to the left. He'd go to the right no problem, but turn around to the left it was a battle every step of the way. He wanted to go fast, sideways, crooked, anything but correctly. It took several months of riding and chiropractic work to get him straightened out and muscled. Below is a link to his weight gain progress.
Weight Gain Progress
I got him at the end of March 2013, and we moved to an eventing barn in September 2013. He's continued to pack on the pounds and learn oodles under saddle. He was doing great until a tendon sheath puncture landed him in a stall for a solid month. Due to weather and this injury, he has been out of work for two months. This blog is just to chronicle our adventures back into fitness and to our first events in summer 2014!
I would also like to note that New Vocations is NOT TO BLAME for his weight--he was donated to the program in good weight and was returned six months later in poor condition.
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