Training the Off the Track Horse (to go back on the track)

I am super excited to announce to all the loyal ALL ABOUT STANDARDBREDS followers--all two of you--that we have a new project. And therefore, a whole new set of events and issues to blog about. Hurrah!


The new project is trotter Without Fail, known around the barn as "Sweetie." Sweetie is an extremely pretty four-year-old mare that apprarently can trot around the harness racing track like crazy.

Unfortunately, the operative word in that sentence is not "trot," but rather "crazy." There is a bit of thoroughbred running through the veins of all Standardbreds. In Sweetie's case, that thoroughbred component might be rearing up over the gentler, more common sensical aspects that make Standardbreds such amazing horses.

Four-year-old Standbred Trotter Without Fail (barn name Sweetie)



In an effort to help Sweetie's, ahem, sweeter nature to come out, owner Stephen Chambers came up with an intriguing idea: why not give Sweetie a different job to do for a while, so that she can mature, but continue in her training?

Why not teach her to be a riding horse? And then, after a few month of that, bring her back to track to see how she does?

Which is how Sweetie came to us.

Over the next several months, I'll be chronicling Sweetie's training and progress as a dressage, Western, and trail horse. I'm really excited to see how life under saddle might translate to more success at the track.

So stay tuned for more on Without Fail, our little sweetheart of a trotter.