Anything But Standard

We've had a few emails now, updating us with various past ponies so we thoughts we'd make a mini update on it!! ... Updates are always great - we love hearing what everyone is getting up to out there ...

Jimmy continues to go ahead in leaps and bounds with his new Mum - He bounced back from his illness in style, and is now under saddle again and going fab!!. His Mum reports she's just thrilled with him, and loving his forward strides and willing attitude ....

Tonto is going great in Narrabri, though he owner is less than pleased with that fact she needs a constant supply of licorice to feed his addiction, haha .... With the heat dying down soon, we expect many more updates on his saddle progress ...

Paulie is still just down the road! Had a setback in saddle work when he developed tender tootsies (spring grass, lots of wet ground) but he's still an intergral member of the family, and is as smoochy as ever ... We hope to see more Medieval Festival piccies to come!

Trina and Cam are both still in Braidwood, both very much loved! ... From what we hear, these 2 have a home for life and their Mum wouldn't have it any other way!

Andy is another boy who's scored himself a forever home, and is currently babysitting a yearling colt imported from NZ. Though he DID take a break from his uncle duties to attend a local show, where he picked himself up a 3rd Ribbon .... His dad was very, very pleased!! (And we can't wait to tell his old owner the news! He'll be just as thrilled - Andy was a real favourite) ...

Joni is still in Sydney, also on babysitting duties; a very pretty 2yo 2nd cross Andalusian filly keeps him on his toes, and he's got 4 human slaves who adore him; he is very much in horsey heaven ... (Can we move in too?! haha) ...


... and as for us - well, we have a Show coming up that we're getting a few ready for .... Red will be having a go at Led Gelding and Ridden classes, and Trixie will be making an appearance in the Led Mares class .... We may be taking Ranger (our spunky black/white tobiano pinto) for the Led Colt/Stallion class - but he's a maybe at this point ... The little darling keeps jumping on his nearside heel and opening it up - despite wrapping and putting a bellboot on, he continues to aggrevate it (all that 2yo energy spent covorting around the paddocks at a million miles an hour, you see!!) ... So we'll see what happens with that little devil!

So .... What's new with you and your Standy?

Warning: This could turn into a rant session - but all comments welcomed on this entry

The horse market is pretty bad right now, we all know that .... Some very nice horses are being sold for prices that we'd never have imagined years ago, and some people can't even GIVE a horse away in this current market ...

... For Standardbred retrainers across the country, it's pretty much a given that we understand that ... However - some of us pay each trainer a portion of each sale. Then there's the initial assessment cost (feet, teeth, vaccinations, chiro if needed, the list goes on)... Feed .. Weeks of time/training ... Vet costs if needed (we once spent $3500 to save a horse with severe choke, to later sell him for 1k) .... Those kinds of vet costs are never factored in - that is a decison each organisation makes, and either is, or is not prepared to do .... The point is, any organisation retraining STB's is lucky to break even ... We don't do it for the money, because there IS none; we do it for the horses...

Case in point for ABS: we currently have a 17hh grey gelding for sale. One of our own - Huey ... 9yo... Under saddle 3 years ... Huge movement, potential to burn... Zero dirt ... Safe .... Sound ... Priced at the princely sum of $1500 .... We had someone enquire about him just today, and the response back to his price.. "Oh.. That's quite a bit more than I was willing to pay for a STB, but I'll let you know" .... Our reply "No worries at all. Best of luck with your search".... Of course, we've no intention of selling one of our favourite geldings to someone who's already denegrated and devalued the overall breed ... But the story isn't uncommon for any STB ... Is it?!

So a question: what IS a safe, sound horse worth these days?! ... If we took his brand away, is he a different horse? ... If he was a 9yo 17hh grey TB - what then?! ..

The thing about the horse market is; people assume that if you have a horse for sale, you have to sell it .... We can't speak for anyone else, but we don't have to sell any of our horses ... Sure it's nice to spend less on the feed bills, even if it's only feeding one less, but the right home is worth more than X amount of weeks feeding the horse in question ....

The overall main point: if you are horse shopping, and your main criteria is "must be cheap, so I'll pick a STB" - we're not interested in talking to you.... The people we're interested in talking to, are the people who appreciate the breed and want a safe, reliable horse who is sound of body and mind, and will be a willing partner for many years to come ...

A price is always negotiable. A good home however, is not....

-end rant-

Having recently attended a 5 day clinic with Marji Armstrong of Classical Horsemanship International, we've come away with a wealth of knowledge and an arsenol of  things to try and train with ...

It's was quite an inspirising clinic, and would you believe that the STAR of the clinic, was a Standardbred gelding named Rocky!! .... Rocky was broken to harness but never raced - he's now working on GP level movements, and watching him and his Mum work together was nothing short of both amazing and inspiring .... They are currently working on Spanish Trot (already having a delightful Spanish Walk both inhand and under saddle going), and they have a very nice Piaffe coming along too ... There were moments of 'true collection' (by classical definition) that were nothing short of breathtaking - and Rocky loved every minute of it!! (Especially his cheer squad from the sidelines)

Now.... onto our thoughts coming away from the clinic.....

Groundwork has always been something we've done with the sacked pacers, but coming away from this clinic, it's become blindingly clear that in 'classical' terms, the groundwork used today by the vast majority of people (including us!) barely scratches the surface ...

Something that really stuck, was the notion that if you cannot ask for something/ get something/ do something on the ground, then why expect it under saddle? .... It was a very interesting notion indeed, which basically leads us to this blog entry! ...

It makes alot of sense; teach the horse from the ground, get the cues right, get the muscles building (if not fully built), well before you stick a rider on board ....

For the sacked pacer, it makes even MORE sense to do this kind of training .... With the way muscles develop whilst in race preperation, the classical inhand exercises are about as beneficial as they come! ... We've talked about the "bottom line" a pacer develops in a couple of the information articles in The Information Stand - but the way to acheiveing the redevlopment of the expacers muscles has become none more clearer, than after attending Marji's clinic ... So, from now on, whatever expacer we retrain (and we will be announcing a scale-back soon!) , we are going to start them all inhand first, before we even consider getting on ... The benefits that will come from a free and unlocked body, will flow directly into work inhand, and work under saddle ... Sure, it'll take longer to train them up this way, but the theory is they'll be well on their way to using their body correctly, have all the essential basic buttons install (walk, back, halt) and be working towards laterals with a light and willing attitude...

It's all in the training - and we've just found a new love for it ...

Stage 1 - in Cavesson: Walking inhand, backing, shoulders in, counter shoulders in, pirouette and turn about the forehand (we say about, as how can they be expected to turn ON the forehand without the correct training) will become the first pillar .... Building the correct muscles from the get go, will be a huge benefit to the OTT STB ....

And first cab off the classical ranks, will be Curly!! ... Keep an eye on his page!

Some might say that this has limited practical application to an OTT STB, or to a trail/pleasure horse .... But we'd be inclined to argue otherwise ;o) ...

 .... Annnnd - If you're interested in what inhand work can do for you, both for groundwork and ridden work, then we'd urge you to get along to a suitable clinic near you, held by a proper clinician (there's way too many "faux pros" out there these days, charging money and offering little in return!) .... Be careful who you choose, but the right one will take you a long way!

... I'm so proud of my big grey man - he's come back into work after 6 months off like a total champion ....We are gearing up for a local show, and we're very excited!!

Today's piccy, is of Red (Red Ghost)  .... There's not enough money in the world to replace this fellow, or make us part with him ....He's not perfect, but to us, he's priceless ...

Just a couple more piccies taken today (23rd JAN) of Red's Show-bound journey, hehe ...

Here he is, looking very impressed with his flymesh combo and flyboots ..... And his tail, washed, plaited and bandaged up, complete with bailing twine flyswatter!!! (ahhhhh bailing twine, is there anything it CAN'T do??!!)

It's a little quiet on the ABS western front .... The boys have gone into the back 50 acres for a nice spell over Xmas, and the humans are even getting in a holiday too ....

Retraining will resume a little later in the year, and we'll have 3 geldings to put thru their paces;

• Curly - who has the most gorgeous nature
• Potsy - full brother to recent graduate, Jonimicpaul, another beautiful boy! And;
• Jimmy!!! Yes, the Jimster is back in action, sound as a pound and ready to go.... 

Ranger is currently at home enjoying a 4 week spell after his 2nd race-prep, and will head back in to the track in another couple of weeks .... His first education trial went swimmingly, and we're pretty proud of the pacin' pinto boy!!

There wont be any updates from  now, until mid-December..... It will be all systems go after that, and we'll see you then

Saturday (25th) was quite an eventful one for us!

Hamish had visitors in the morning for a meet and greet, and after agreeing I would drop him off at his new home in the afternoon, I set about the task of picking up a load of hay (hitch up the float and away we go!) ....

After spending a fortune at the feed store (in Tarago, they have great prices there so it's worth the drive!), I was coming back home only to narrowly miss a small bird of prey sitting in the middle of the road. I looked in the rear mirror and he was flapping about erracticly so I decided to u-turn to go get him (much fun with a float!) ... I got to him, and he scurried off and hid under some stinging nettle (also great fun!) so I took my jacket off and carefully took hold of him - putting him in a box and continuing on ....

Get home, onload 20 bales of lucurne and some feed bags, load up Hamish, and away we go again! .... By this time, my feathered passenger is unhappy with the box and is  now perched on my jacket on the back seat (a little disconcerting, having a bird of prey perched back there, staring at me) ....

Pulling  back into our driveway, I spot an Echidna going about his merry way so I stop and grab some pictures of him! I was maybe a metre away from him and I just about squealed when he looked at me so I could grab the below piccy!! So cute! ... Left him to go about his business and carried on home to put the birdy away in a big box with some water ... Tried to call WIRES but couldn't get through .... I googled him, turns out he's an Australian Kestral ....

I am pleased to say that Sunday morning (26th) he was making a big racket in the box so I took him outside - and immediately winged his way across the paddock, screeching in victory all the way .... So that was a great end to his story!

2 piccies below to enjoy - my new friend the Echidna, and the 2 mini mares (now dubbed honorary Standies!) who took great delight in thrashing about one of the dams and turning themselves into mini mudballs!

... The sun is finally shining, the paddocks look less like swamps, and the ponies are coming back into work!!!

Trixie broke the record for fastest selling horse: 1 whole day!! We're very pleased with her new home though, and she'll be heading up to Northern NSW in the coming weeks. We're looking forward to seeing her out and about the Standardbred show scene!

Huey's got his shiny new shoes on and has come back into work - let's just say he was less then impressed!! The big man best get used to life in the saddle, as I have plans to get him out and about as much as possible over the next 12 months ....

Hamish has found himself a new home as a companinon pony - he's gone 30kms down to the road to a lovely family on 50acres and joins Millie the donkey, Trixie the Welsh Pony and the Alpacas!! He settled in to his new home almpost immediately, checking out the scenery at a lazy walk, while mowing the grass along the way....

Ranger is back at the track and for the most part, going great .... He's a lovely little pacer, but our trainer tells us he can buck like a demon (in the cart, mind you!) .... Today's piccy features the man himself - Karobeer Ranger - having a workout in the gig ....

After taking a short break, courtesy of my wonderful knee injury, we're back in full swing over here at the ABS camp ...

Curly and Hamish are 2 new arrivals for retraining - both of them are gorgeous boys who you can read all about on their pages ...

Ranger is back at the track for his 2nd prep, and Tonto will be heading back for his 2nd prep (FINALLY) when Ranger comes home .... It's all happening for the pinto boys! ....

We have 2 new lawnmowers, in the form of Zeta and Quenelle; two gorgeous miniature mares who's sole purpose is to chew down the houseyard and the laneways - hard life eh?! .. Maybe we'll crown them the ABS mascots, and reclassify them as Miniature Standies!

The rest of the ABS crew are lazing about, but are soon to receive a rude shock; Huey gets shoes next weekend, and will be getting ready to start competing seriously (I've been threatening to do this for a while, but, it's all gonna happen when those shoes go on!) ... Poor Hue-man!

It was a gorgeous day here today, and armed with my camera, I snapped the following piccies.

Enjoy!!!

... but enough of the double entendre, hehe ...

Today's picture is of Hope, modelling what could possibly be the BEST rug I've ever bought (this does not help my eBay addiction, at all ) .... (And no, she's not a Standy mare hehe ..) But she's a very welcome addition - quite possibly the most gorgeous natured TB I've come across in a long time, she's certainly stolen my heart...

Enjoy!

Recent events and comments made to us/about us have led to this post, and we feel it serves as a nice reminder in general anyhow :-)

When the website was first created 9 months ago, we started with a "News and Events" page ... It became obvious fairly early on that the pictures and data were accumulating quickly, and a better archiving system was needed so that older news updates were always accessible... As far as we are concerned, the information we share should always have an audit trail that is readily available to anyone who wants to read back far enough....But; it wasn't possible with the News page as it currently stood.

So... The news and events page was then replaced by this blog ..... (the following was taken from the original Blog launch post) The Blog aims to give you a bit of an insight into life at ABS, and welcome you our family (or Zoo, depending on which of us you talk to! haha) ... The Blog will feature stories of interest, daily happenings, pictures, show results, and anything else that takes our whims at the time!!

With that in mind, the Blog can feature stories from any aspect of our life here at ABS; show/race/trial results, our racing or breeding stock (and believe me, foal updates will be a-comin when our 1st racing babies hit the ground this season), our off the track retrains, or any other amusing/whimsical story from the ABS Zoo... (Or we simply got bored and tweaked a picture in Photoshop in lieu of an entry)...

However - some key points to note are:

• We do not exist solely for the purposes of rehoming off the track Standardbreds; though it IS our grassroots and it IS how we started our love affair with the breed .... It is important to the note that we also have racing stock, and have moved into breeding our own pacers. We exercise the full lifecycle here; Race, Retrain, Ride. We work the races with our trainer in Canberra, and we work the retrains here at home ...

• We are currently developing a "Welcome Home" policy, where we will encourage the return of any horse we have bred or sold in the past. We acknowledge we are responsible for any new racing or ridden stock we create, and will happily assist in bringing them home again. Sound, unsound, young or old, they are all Welcome Home.

• We are not a rescue organisation. Nor do we associate ourselves with such a term, nor have we ever done so. The word 'rescue' has become a 'romantic' way to view alot of horses (and we consider it to be a widely used throwaway term) these days. We. however, like to take a more realistic approach; Race. Retrain. Ride. We rehome our own horses, and we work with a number of reputatable trainers to help them rehome their stock. Why? Because we thoroughly enjoy doing so; and having the opportunity to work with great horses and great trainers.
  

• We will not comment on any other organisation or trainer actively involved in the rehoming of OTT Standardbreds. Our view is that we are all working towards the same goal; the creation of 2nd chances and 2nd careers for a worthy breed. We will comment on our training and our horses only. Period.

If you have any questions about what we do, how we train, or who we have for sale, we are more than approachable and even more happy to talk at length with you. (If you want your ear chewed off in standie talk, just come stand over here for a while!!!) ... 

We hope you will all continue to enjoy the Blog