Fred's First Clinic

That is it I am going to have to start selling my body. Having fallen head over heels with Chelwood Equestrain Centres facilities, I want to pinch the ideas so I can use them when I get my next house with ... menage . ( Hubby doesn't know that bit yet....Mind you he might guess when I start selling my body. Hmm I sense a flaw or two in that plan).

 Anyway as you know by now Fred is new to me. As expected little old Fred, is taking the “Michael” and, my normal group of trainers, friends approaches are not really yielding the results we hoped or expected and we are scratching heads a bit. Taking into account, the season, the fact he is feeling very “well”, he’s now in a routine, has mates in the field and is having a whale of a horsey time and doesn’t see why I should interrupt it, I sense there is some more to this than meets the eye.  SO  I am now seeking the advice of the more specialist trainers who has specific exracer and Thoroughbred experience, hence my attendance on John Thelwalls clinic at Chelwood. John is a recommended trainer and has racehorse experience as well as many other qualities.

Preparation is the key to success ? Well a chilled horse and rider at least :)

Fred tied up after our first trip out to Ardingly so this time I wanted to be really careful that this didn't happen again. I checked the journey times, route and, as we were there all day, booked a visitors stable from Mel. The communication with Chelwood was easy to book on line and Mel quickly got in touch by email to make sure I knew what was planned, my times  and to check my requirements. Got my paste calmer. I actually got half the paste calmer over my head and the rest on my jacket, but underterred I scraped it off and stuffed it in his mouth along with some treats. Hah  Fred, One all my son.

The journey to Chelwood was so easy it was a dream, straight down the A26 across the forest and turn in to Nutley and Bobs your Uncle you are there. 

We were greeted at the gate by a friendly face and guided down to a well laid out lorry park, in viewing distance of the school and the visitors stables

Having booked a stable for the day this made an immense difference to Fred chilling out after his session and actually prior to the session, it helped to chill me out knowing Fred could relax. The stables are all rubber matted with automatic water dispensers, rug rails outside and a window to the back so Fred could see the trailer. All we had to do was keep the stable clean and bring his hay. He was happy as Larry as you can see.

The school was a rather clever L shape cleverly laid out with a jump course and poles, leaving the bottom section of the L to work in a circle unhindered by scary objects.

We shared the session with a lovely lady who had a youngster and John moved between the both of us setting us tasks and monitoring us both at the same time. John chatted to me initially to establish where we are and what we wanted to achieve.

 After watching Fred and I warm up he could see that Fred tends to throw me off balance, that I arch my back too much, partially  because the saddle throws me and partially due to body configuration. I’m going to have to do some exercises to help that I think. Any advice any one has send it through.

When I’m off balance John thought I grip more and gave me advice on how to deal with that. In Fred’s case I have to keep a loose leg for now with less contact and ride more purposefully in trot to the back of the saddle. No leg for bend ! Oer.

It may not be this way for ever but that is the place where John sees us a now.

Understanding Your Horse

To explain the reason for less leg and the need to " show no fear" , John  explained how in a racers life, the ones who are sold on are usually the failing ones. These are the horses who may have been less popular in the yard. The stable lads  who look after the horses are paid as a percentage of the winnings, occasionally  if a horse is constantly unsuccessful,  some lads may  regard them with irritation and think of them as useless as they are all work for no return. Unpalatable though the thought is, it does makes sense,  if they bring no reward for the hard work then they may get less attention or possibly in the worse cases rougher handling. Becki knows the racing world and knows that is definitely  not how it is in all yards the lads care well for all their horses but, its  probably fair to say this situation may occur in some. If the lads are a bit rougher the horse can be quite subservient on the yard, but when sold on out of racing a gentler approach can initially result in the horse getting quite cheeky. Fred’s history is that he raced twice and was pulled up in both races, so he is one of those potential horses. He was excellent on both the ground and to ride initially, but now is starting to wonder if he can get away with being cheeky. Here's hoping firm but fair will win the day.


Leg Off 
Johns also made the point, if a horse  wasn't racing fast enough and was a low achiever then a lot of  strong leg is used to drive them on. Could this explain  Fred's apparent dislike or ignorance of leg ? I have been needing to use a great deal of leg to achieve bend..... 
John told  me to take the leg off to see what happened, and although no one is saying no leg is  a permanent state of riding, we did see Fred calm down and I had glimpses of  accepting a steadier gait with less rush and rounder back.

Evasion is Freds second name. 
He has many tricks. One is to  throw me and his saddle off to the right so by the end of the session the saddle has slipped slightly. I hadn’t actually noticed this on that day it was so subtle. John explained that this was likely due to tightness down one side, throwing me over  makes it easier for Fred to carry me on the tight side. John stressed the importance of riding in the centre and even if the saddle slips to keep myself on that centre line and help stretch and loosen the tighter muscle. My saddler Juliette Lilly (who is brilliant with Thoroughbreds) and I had noticed the saddle slipping  but were unsure at that point if it was the saddle or the horse. Now we know I can ask her to lend a hand. 


Freds saddle has been refitted regularly. Since arriving with me he has changed shape and condition quite alot. I know it’s vital we  take good care of his back and Fred is a great advert for saddlers, if it doesn’t fit right he tells you. 
Whether it be a new irritated look when I am tightening the girth,  or a new propensity to speed up in trot. He changes his behaviour and tells you this saddle is not right. I have been trying to get a GP saddle for him for poles, so he can have a go at jumping. I have limited resources to spend as I spent out on my allowance on Bates Cair dressage saddle. I have tried a Thorowgood and Wintec 2000 both synthetic, he hated them both,  yet as soon as you put his Bates on again, carrots wouldn’t melt in his mouth he was happy again. Looks like I need to try another GP but with Cair this time.

Tightness and I don't mean after the rather nice glass of wine at lunchtime (Joke, I didn't partake but my hubby did enjoy one Thanks Mel ; )
Another thing on this tightness, after Fred's arrival I wanted to make sure his back had every chance of being supple and his tense muscles loosened, apparently tense muscles are common in racehorses and, as I want to use him for dressage I needed to give him the best chance I could before we started schooling. I am very lucky that Martine Weber, a Bowen Therapist owns the Clockhouse livery yard where we reside. Fred had a session when he arrived and was found to be tight on the right. After his tie up, he was in a bad way and he had another two sessions. I will probably give him another maintenance session shortly. Martines prices are reasonable at £25 for a session so it makes it affordable to get him treated. I’m also using a farrier who promotes natural balance , Clive Meers  . Clive is great he takes time to explain things,  I am not sure if they can help but it won’t hurt to mention it to him. Apparently issues of balance and the back and all sorts of things are influenced by the way a horse is trimmed and shod. In fact they are having a talk Soundness through Prevention 17th October at the Chequer Mead Theatre, East Grinstead. Its £10 a ticket I will put some details on our website. If you are interested I will be going. I also think it would be good if he can do a talk for us on Thoroughbred feet. He will be at our RRR Introductory evening at Chelwood Equestrian on Friday 4th May 6 - 9pm if you want to pick his brains. 


Fred is not unusual, tightness is a common issue with racehorses who as they race in one direction round a track like most horses often prefer one side. This as mentioned above means Fred does tend to throw me off balance as part of his evasion tactics.

Once off balance, he decides he's anxious and starts to rush. John felt I was perching and told me to put my legs foward, (a bit like a water skier I guess) to hold myself and decisively sit into the trot at the back of the saddle so Fred could feel me. Now as this went totally against my instincts as I thought a light seat was good and, it took me awhile to adjust,  but again it seemed to settle him. When he rushed, if I did as I was told and had that decisive seat in trot, Fred decided to give in to our quiet battle. I have tried it again after the session and it seems to work. Watch this space.

OMG In the afternoon we had poles. My GP saddle previously tested at home with no issue was a resounding failure, with Fred making it clear he was not happy. At all.  In fact we had our first buck and reversing session so I pretty quickly reverted back to the my safe comfortable dressage saddle and we at least managed to continue. Albeit with a tetchy horse who looked like a shiny coated emu having a bad hair day. :)

We tried a bit of cantering in a circle on both legs with me trying to sit back into the saddle and although there's a lot of work we need to do there by the time we were finished I was cream crackered and ready to hit the hay. Then came the poles. We have not done poles before. To be honest by this point tired and coping with a wound up black beast, my humour had pretty much faded and I was thinking " those poles could naff off". But good old direct John said "go on, get over them" and with a fair bit of singing to him ( and yes I mean to Fred not John, I favour the tune " Don't worry about a thing") and, quiet persistence, we did get over. In fact we went over quite a lot of them both ways. I think eventually there were probably 12 in a row and they were between wings! I know this is not that clever, but  we all have to start somewhere and stop somewhere...eventually anyway; and that was my cue.

So what had we achieved:-

• I didn't fall off in front of my husband. (Good one and slightly tongue in cheek).
• Fred hadn't been in that school before and he didnt throw a dicky fit in the wind Note the dark clouds in the photo.
• Fred has his morning routine and likes going out with his friend in the morning, if you break that routine and ride he "struggles". However he loaded and behaved in the school in that first session.
• Fred is learning to share the school with other horses but has only shared  when they are jumping and cantering round, once in a warm up arena. ( Well done Fred you kept your head).
• It was our second time out and he traveled well and was behaved in the main.
• This was the first time he had been in an arena with lots of jumps.
• His first time with me over poles.
• His first time over poles between wings.
• I learnt some tools to achieve a steadier trot.
• Now have a  greater understanding of Fred's background.
• Our first experience of stabling him in a visitors stable and he coped being on his own really well. 

I think that is a fair amount and as we finished the wind got up and the rain started. Always a good signal to leave. We loaded no problem but Fred fancied a stamping fit and started complaining like a girlie. So as true horsey crew we ignored him and steadily got on our way with as much quiet efficiency as we could muster. 


On another positive side note, Fred  had a good wee. Hurrah !!!  I  was so relieved! Mostly due to last time when he tied up he didnt pass water for ages, in fact you could tell from his stable. That's why I like mucking my own horse out, you get to know all his little habits and you get to smell nice for the supermarket, faster service at the tills.... (Saddo or what !).

Once home, Fred went out in the paddock for a 15 minute chill while we cleaned the trailer and packed away the tack. While out there he had a good drink another key thing for me to tick off in my concerns. That night he settled no problems or issues, this will be our routine after outings, it was Martines idea. She always pops her horses out for at least 10 minutes just to unwind after a journey. 

Next trip is to TinTins. Lets see what he thinks of us motley pair. : ) It's next week and is the day after the dentist, hope thats not going to cause an issue,  O well hey ho.


Thanks all  hope you enjoyed the read.


Rebecca ( Becky)

PS I really hope we can get some of us together to do some clinics. It would be great to share ideas. I have just written the website for Juddwood Farm to be launched soon. Also with some really good facilities, adult horse camps, cross country course, big indoor school. Nice and close for the Dartford /Bromey people... can I tempt you to come and play ? : )

So much to say, it seems difficult to know where to start. From Becki Leggatt's initial idea in March,  we are now going great guns in creating interest in our new community. The community is aimed at getting a group of like minded people together.  In larger numbers we should be able to gain access to trainers and support that it would otherwise be difficult to sustain on a one to one basis.

Becki works for Mel Fordham and Rebecca Turner (East Sussex) who are racehorse owners, they have horses in training with Alan King (England) .  Mel is also a Horse Racing Photographer and won photographer of the year at the Derby awards last year. Their horses return home when having a holiday, recovering from injury or retiring from racing.  Alongside Rebecca, Becki's main priority is to re-school the horses to achieve in a second career . This can be an incredibly difficult job, particularly after a long period of time off recovering from injury sustained on the racetrack or in training.  Becki has also retrained her own ex-racehorses including 'Smiling Tiger' who is pictured below at his first ever event.

Smiling Tiger

I worked at the National Foaling Bank in Shropshire as a teenager, and have had contact working with horses on off over the years. Having shared a number of horses and been retrained myself over the last 3 years, Fred " Time to Push"  is my first horse, he just happens to be an ex racehorse and I purchased him in November 2011. 

Fred Time to Push

Fred was purchased  for his lovely flowing paces and most importantly temperament, to retrain for dressage, previously he raced in South Ireland ( yes I know he can't compete in ROR). To be honest I didn't know ROR existed until I purchased him I am sure I am not alone in that.

Both of us have both found that in the South East it is difficult to attract trainers with specific skills and interest in Thoroughbreds and Ex racehorses,  it's probably fair to say that otherwise excellent trainers often find their skills do not automatically transfer over as successfully when working with these types of horse in the early stages of re-training. Once trained however there tends not to be an issue. There are some great support groups out there e.g.  ROR and the helpline they run, as well as Moorcroft that re home retrained racehorses. However, for owners in the South East it can be just too far to travel to take part in their clinics and, it is too expensive for the organisations to run clinics local to us. Being quite forthright types we two Rebecca's ( it must be in the name ;) ) have decided to be proactive and decided to make it happen another way hence the community.

True to form the training consultants for the ROR ( Rowena and Fred Cooke at Equine Management Training) are being very supportive, thank you. Interestingly they have a book out in May available from Amazon which I will be reading. "Re-Educating Racehorses - A Life After Racing"


We have named the community RRR (Retrained Retired Racehorses) Southeast and created our facebook page a few weeks ago. Retired Racehorses in South East  . This has created much interest and we are busy trying to bring together all of the offers of help and ideas so they are not lost and can be shared. As I am the techy one, I am busy creating an interface people can use to refer to when looking for support and ideas, this is the facebook page created by Becki as our livestream so we can all communicate real-time,  any hot topics and features and ideas that come from here will be expanded on our blog,  before storing them on the new website which I am nearly there on. 


What do we want to focus on ?


Yes there are great opportunities for competing out there in the form of the ROR and TARA etc but how do we get to that stage ? 

It is the red bit in the middle we want help with and will focus on for our South East area. Once the horse is trained to a reasonable level then you are laughing, but if you do not get it right in the early stages then it is a hard journey, not as pleasant and possibly not always successful. BUT it doesn't have to be that way, these are beautiful intelligent horses and together supporting each other we are going to have fun learning, chatting, meeting and competing locally. Hurrah ! How ? by having access to the right trainers and a recommended support structure, guided by experts like the ROR and others with knowledge in the industry.

Just some of the progress so far :-

• Becki has been making huge progress in talking to key people in the racing community and we hope to provide a video interview of a jockey shortly. If we know and understand the horses background we stand a chance of moving forward to the next goal. 
• Chelwood Equestrian Training Centre in Nutley East Sussex has offered to run clinics for us. Becki went to see them recently and had a tour around. What an amazing place and perfect atmosphere for Retraining the Retired Racehorse!! Hopefully will be holding many clinics and demo's there in the near future. As a taster Fred and I are going along to the John Thelwall one day starter clinic - a confidence building clinic for first time competitors on the 21st of April. We have only been to one event together so far and are ideal candidates for John. Becki will be keeping a watchful eye and hopefully taking some photos to share.
• Judd Farm Nr Tunbridge Wells, Kent  has offered to run combined training, camps and shows for us. We aim to meet with them in the next week or two.
• North Weald Riding Club have also offered to hold ex racehorse classes next year and already has some ex racers as members. 
• There are other riding clubs that have these type of classes we will ask on facebook for everyone to let us know what they have and I will post them on an events calendar as a starter.
• Jim Boyle's Ex Racers have clinics with a fantastic trainer suggested by the ROR called TinTin.  Take a look at their facebook page. Fred will be having a one to one lesson with TinTin on May the 2nd and hope to chat with him and Pippa Boyle to see if they are interested in holding a clinic in our area. We will be able to see how Fred and I get on when we return back, share what we learnt and hopefully with some good news.
• We are bringing the start of a recommended products and suppliers page together that we will be hosting on the website. Here we will have Youtube interviews, information and links to these recommendations websites and contact details. Should prove useful. Any one you can recommend please email us.

Well that's all I have time for at the moment. 

If you have any news, ideas, requests  at all please put them on our facebook page and we will do our best to act on them and incorporate them .

Catch up soon 

Becky L

RRR-SouthEast@live.co.uk