Life with a Retired Show Horse: New Obstacles

Lately I’ve been taking advantage of the trail obstacles in the outdoor ring with Bella. The more she is around them, the more comfortable she gets, but it’s still a learning process. After getting used to the poles that were laid out in one spot, we had to relearn that they were not scary after being moved to a different spot with a different set up. Bella started feeling at ease walking, trotting and cantering over them, but we had to repeat the process again with them in a different spot.

That’s when Bella decided, “Hey, it might be fun to jump over that pole!”

My favorite view

So now we are not just trotting and cantering over the obstacles, we are jumping them. For an almost 16-year-old Saddlebred who was never taught to jump and for a rider who has never taken a jumping lesson, I’ll consider it an accomplishment. The goal I had was to get Bella used to some new obstacles, and it worked. If she wants to occasionally jump over a pole on the ground, have at it. It means she finds it fun and not scary. As long as she’s not shying away or backing up, I’m happy. She started showing at age three and retired at 15. Eight of those show seasons were with me on her back. She fully deserves to have fun in retirement. Plus, I would rather her jump a ground pole than jump out of her paddock like she’s already done twice. (Thanks for taking part of the fence with you, Bella).

Once we got comfortable with the poles in a different area, we had to learn that the wooden beams set up were not scary, especially the ones that formed an enclosed box. With some snorts and a little encouragement, Bella also learned that these were not so bad. We could even stand in the box and not be scared of it. We can walk, trot, and canter over the wooden beams, and Bella figured out those are fun to jump too. I think I’m just letting her have fun how she wants, but maybe I’m unknowingly creating a monster. It’s been a while since she jumped out of her paddock though, and hopefully it stays that way.

Conquering the scary box in our cutback saddle

So not only does my retired Saddlebred still like to trot around like a show horse, but she likes to gallop in open fields, hack around the farm, and jump over ground poles (even if that was taught by accident). No, I’m not experienced in Jumpers or Western. I don’t claim to be in the least bit. What I do know is that I’ve seen Bella experience new things and become comfortable with them. It’s not always easy for a horse who grew up with show ring training, and I am thankful she trusts me enough to learn along with her.

Keep doing you, Bella, because you’re the best.