Wow, this randomly showed up in my feed. So many thoughts racing through my head. Where is this? I worked on the backstretch back in the 80s. The hustle and bustle, horses coming and going, the assembly line mentality and atmosphere . . . It's nice to have your own facility where you can do as you please without looking out for a zillion other people and horses. When you race, do you use the rope halter in the paddock? Are you allowed? When I worked with racehorses it was leather halters and of course the chain over the nose. Later some people used the soft tubing over the chain. Rank horses got the chain on the gum. Now it's super repressive, and as I understand it, all the horses have to have the chain over the gum, never mind if the horse is fine in the paddock. Not sure but I was given to understand it's a blanket rule at all the tracks now.
Love how you do everything without rush or fuss, letting the horse make his decisions and settle into the work. Even when he plays a bit. Lovely to go along for the ride. Tyfs.
Thank you. The whole idea is to get the horse to want to do things with me, not make him. If they have a choice and choose us, they should be able to perform at a much higher level with less stress on their mental, emotional and physical systems.
