Not sure if anyone would be interested in this but I thought it might be kind of fun to try and document the adventure that is restarting my OTTB. I can't for the life of me figure out how to upload pictures to forums but hopefully I'll figure it out.

~Background~

I'm 18, I've been riding for really my whole life but properly for about 14/15 years. In March 2020 (about two weeks before the panoramic lockdown started) I got an OTTB mare, unraced but trained and had been off the track for awhile. She's 15hh and in spring this year I had her showing 1m (she was doing 2'/0.70m when we got her). Unfortunately she started to rear (we've had multiple vets check her: it was behavioral) and basically found out that she was sold to us with a known rearing problem. Unable to find a trainer willing to work with it I just rode through it until I eventually decided to retire her. So she just hangs out here now because I don't think I could ever sell her. (Stella)

So due to her behavior we ended up purchasing anotehr OTTB who was farther along, had raced more and maxed out at 3'/0.95m. So I've worked with him bringing him from 2'6 to 3' and finding out he's much more suited to eventing or jumpers than hunters. (Noodle)

I've also worked with a lot of green ponies previous to this.

~The New One~

So after Noodle hit his comfortable limit which is much lower than I'd like to be competing we started considering selling him ahead of schedule and getting another horse. We ended up accidentally finding a fresh off the track 4yr old mare (and she's chestnut too...) on a facebook post from a reseller we're friends with. To make a long story short we ended up going to try her and she was really sweet, ridiculously green (like extra green even for a young OTTB), and relatively talented in the jumping department based on the one tiny crossrail and a kick-and-pray log (which she jumped rather boldly actually) and also her lovely canter.

She was huge (16.2) compared to my little 15 and 15.1hh horses (so basically a giraffe) but she seemed to have a good demeanor and natural talent. Though she is horribly undermuscled. And of course she was also the classic OTTB weight. But we ended up buying her and bringing her home. (Cinnamon)

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I'll try to get pictures to work to make it more interesting!

Ok installment #2 is here, pretty quick since I'm trying to get all the parts that happened before present day over. Also, as a note: I do have a trainer I can contact for advice but at this moment in time it is very hard in our area to find a trainer when you trailer in to lessons and such. Also my mom has broke and trained from the ground up multiple horses so I've got her too.

~~The First Couple Weeks~~

So because we were keeping her eligible for the Retired Racehorse project (RRP) (https://www.retiredracehorseproject.org/) I couldn't ride her that often before December 1st (no more than 15 times). She ended up with around 8 rides (no more than 10) before December 1st. She came home the last weekend in Spetember and I rode her that weekend but before I got on her I realized during our lunge that she didn't actually... you know... lunge. So though not on that day I did have to teach her to lunge too. I rode her when I tried her but in our first real ride I found out the following:

1. She didn't steer

2. What is cantering?

3. Four legs are too many

4. Contact is horrible

Now I didn't expect her to go on the bit, or be supple or anything else but she was still just greener than everyone had thought initially. So fast forward to our first problem: lunging.

~~Our first problem~~

It's mid/late October and Cinnamon knows how to lunge by now. We've worked on it and she can do it well. However, she has decided that at a certain point she will no longer continue in her circle. This goes on for a few sessions until I am suffieciently frustrated and upset. I've taught multiple horses to lunge before and they all do it well now so why can't I do it here?

Enter: my mother.

I ask her for help so she goes and lunges her for me the next time and I watch. It goes better. We repeat this arrangement again the next time. Even more improved.

~~Fast forward to the first ride after a month~~

Cinnamon got ridden for her PPE in mid-October and we had an issue with shoulder control and steering and just overall looked a mess. After that I canceled the riding portion of our training and went back to lunging and groundwork. I felt like she was ready to be ridden again in mid-November. So I get on her and she's wired and feels like she wants to buck. I'm basically alone so I decide it would be prudent to hop off and lunge her and then get back on. But she's trotting as I hop off and because she's a giraffe I miss the landing and end up dragged face first through the dirt for a few steps. I scramble up and calm her down and then lunge her. (Note: I couldn't let go because the arena was not shut fully). She lunges (beautifully might I add). I hope back on, we have a lovey ride, even jumping a few 12-18" fences! Our faith in each other is restored and we move on from the I-can't-dismount-my-horse-because-I'm-an-idiot incident.

Ok hopefully this is the last one before I get us to current day and no one is bored!

~~The lunge line rides~~

So I'll admit that I have a little bit of a confidence issue when it comes to riding now that came from the mare who had... behavior issues. So sometimes Cinnamon will exhibit a certain behavior and it'll give me a flashback and I get nervous. So despite the fact that I felt like an idiot I had my mom attach her to the lunge line and rode Cinnamon off that. It actually turned out to help a lot because it allowed me to just focus on Cinnamon and not worrying. We had two sessions like that and would end with walking around the ring and practicing steering more accurately.

~~December~~

I went on a trip for Thanksgiving and I was at college so Cinnamon had another solid 3 weeks off. I got back and our first ride was a lunge followed by starting out on the lunge with my mom holding it. We ended it there after I got some nice work from her because it was her first day back and I wanted her to do something easy. The next day I lunged her and she didn't run around like a maniac so it ended a lot quicker and then we started on the lunge (ridden). This time though we only warmed up on it and then we walked and trotted around the ring and over some trot poles (her first trot poles!).

~~College winter break~~

The next week I'm home from college for break so her work schedule gets more consistent. She gets a lunge and a ride on Sunday which goes well but wild. On Monday shee just gets a lunge and jumped her first 2' fence during it and I couldn't be prouder! She did it like it was nothing. Monday was also her first time wearing her new bit. I changed her from a D-ring french link to a full cheek with a roller. Her mouth was so much quieter and she seems to like this bit the best. (I always start in a D-ring french link and then go from there personalizing the bit for them if need be). On Tuesday she was absolutely fantastic. Walked and trotted really nice and relaxed. And her steering was 10x improved. She was really listening and not bulging her shoulders and doing really great. On Wednesday I rode again and she was fantastic again! She even trotted her first 2' jump under saddle (it was the exact same as the lunge jump) and didn't bat an eyelash. However, after jumping it twice she got bored and tried to trot it like a trot pole then realized that wouldn't work when the pole got pulled down. She jumped it well the next time and we ended the jumping on a little 18" fence that she's done about a hundred times for confidence purposes. The 2' fence was a huge step for her because even though she's nowhere as muscled as I'd like she could, physically, easily trot a 2'6 jump. But mentally she's very nervous. So the fact that she jumped the fence without any hesitation made me super proud.

Also she doesn't jump as much as it might sound she does. She's 16.2 so she literally just steps over all the 18" fences and doesn't jump them anymore (she jumped the first couple times). I just use them as cavaletti.

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Anyways, thank you if you read it all! You're up to date now if you've managed to read to here.