S2 E25: Stephanie Parkot on Balancing OTTB Dreams with Real Life — On the Road to the 2025 RRP Makeover

S2 E25: Stephanie Parkot on Balancing OTTB Dreams with Real Life — On the Road to the 2025 RRP Makeover (Transcript)
[00:00:00] Hi everyone and welcome back to OTTB on tap. I'm Niamh. And I'm Emily. Hey Niamh.
What's on tap today?
We're kicking off our 2025 RRP trainer Spotlight series with someone whose story is going to resonate with a lot of you. Stephanie Farcot is a busy mom of three boys from Corfu, New York, who's taking on the Thoroughbred makeover this year with a goal of competing in competitive trail and dressage.
Stephanie, welcome to the show. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. All right. Let's start with a little background. How did horses first come into your life? So I actually didn't start riding until I was a teenager, until I was about 14. And I got my first horse soon after that. And. Once I started taking lessons, I, was able to do that with my best friend, which was really cool. She lived right down the road from me, so we both kept our horses at home and we rode all around the woods, the fields, the roads, everywhere.
But in addition to that I [00:01:00] took lessons. I leased a horse. I showed actually started out riding quarter horses and that was what my first horse was. And did a lot of a QHA showing, actually started out riding Western. And I went to college for equine science at Morrisville here in New York.
And then I came here to Buffalo and went to school to be a vet tech. And I worked as a vet tech for many years. I worked at Cornell in the small animal ICU for a little while. My goal was to combine the two things, the equine science and the vet tech degree and do large animal.
Medicine. But that never actually happened. And but once I had my first son in 2012 I decided to stay at home. And since having him, , horses took a backseat for a little while, while I was having kids. And growing my family. By that time my husband and I had our own farm, so I had, horses at home and, rode here and there.
But didn't [00:02:00] really, I. Do much besides that. I am an all or nothing kind of person, so I knew while I was having kids I was not gonna start taking lessons and then stop, so I just said, I'm gonna wait until the time is right again. Yeah. And that came about three years ago.
Yeah. I think Emily and I are very much the same type of people. We don't like to feel like we're spread thin and one with certain things. And obviously you do from time to time. But we're definitely the kind of people that we just wanna do it and. Do it completely. Yes. Yeah. Now that you have your three boys and your family's well established and you've got your farm at home, what does your riding life look like now?
How do you fit training barn time, getting ready for the RRP into the mix with everything else going on? Yeah I think my philosophy is flexible consistency. So if I am making a plan to do something with the horses, I do it. I don't make excuses. And one of the ways that I keep myself consistent is by scheduling a riding lesson [00:03:00] every week.
And then I also have kind of a standing date with two friends and we, ride our thoroughbreds together because they both have OTBs and got them around the same time as I did. And so we get together pretty consistently and ride together and if I'm planning on doing something. Again, I go out and do it.
The flexibility comes in maybe I only end up having an hour where I thought I might have two. What could I work on today in an hour? And so it might just be, I'm gonna work on mounting, I'm going to work on groundwork, whatever that might be. Also with having my horses at home, I try to make every interaction a training interaction so that I'm maximizing my time, because again, busy.
That's a really good I think just takeaway message for anybody that has a horse, not even just a o tt B, is that I always think that you're either training them or untraining them with [00:04:00] something and not saying that you're untraining them, undoing everything and they're never gonna remember something.
But I think that mindfulness of the interaction that you're having with them and being a little self-aware of what you're bringing to the table, whether it's stress from your family or your job or whatever. , maybe you're feeling a little under the weather that day, or it's really windy, and I think putting yourself in the right mindset to imprint on your horse is really important.
Yeah, for sure. And definitely with the thoroughbreds, they're so sensitive, they pick up on everything yeah. I have to be aware of what energy I'm bringing. Sometimes I wanna be around the horses because I wanna, you need them for you, I need them for me. But, sometimes it's, a situation where I might need to back off a little bit with what I originally planned on doing. Yes, too. Actually I would, that leads to a follow up question I had while you were telling us about that, which is that when you're talking about your flexible consistency and these plans that you have factored in, what do [00:05:00] you do when things go wrong or not wrong, but like you show up to the barn and your horse is just running around and snorting and you're like, geez, I was gonna do a little dressage school today.
What's your thought process and deciding what to do differently? Yeah, I guess it really depends. I really think it depends in that case, that's definitely happened and there has been times where I've just said, Nope, I guess we're just not doing something today.
That's hard for me to do as a very. Strict planner, I had this plan and now I'm not doing it. But that's okay. I've definitely learned a lot. They've taught me a lot about myself, for sure. But I also feel like not waiting for the perfect moment is important too. That's a good point, because again, I have to haul my horses out so much that I feel like we go in a lot of situations that are new.
And if, for example, my husband is driving the [00:06:00] skids, steer around with a giant bouncing water tank to go this pigs, and I'm out there doing something, I don't say, Hey stop. Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna see something like this someday. What if we're at a horse show? Yeah. And somebody drives by.
My kids are riding bikes. I just let them, Yeah. And every time we have that interaction, I think to myself, all right, check that box. Yeah. Yeah. You learn something a little bit new, I think, either about your horse or yourself in those moments.
Definitely. It helps build confidence too, when you successfully deal with Yeah. Those situations. Yeah. But I know the temptation sometimes to be like, I'm just getting on them for the first time. Can everyone just stop? Yeah. Quiet. And I have said that sometimes, but Right. Know, I there's time.
Yeah. Yeah. I never wanna put myself in a dangerous situation or one that sets them up for failure. For sure. Yeah. But it's real life. Yeah. They have to deal with stuff. What drew you to off track Thoroughbreds? Was it their heart trainability, athleticism, [00:07:00] affordability, which I think is sometimes key, or was it some mix of all of that?
Definitely trainability and affordability. I actually love how they come with experiences from the track. I actually think that's a huge plus. My 2024 makeover horse. Best idea. I just wanna give a shout out to whoever trained him initially. They did a fantastic job. He stands perfectly at the mounting block.
He knew how to lunge and halt square on the lunge line. Someone taught him that and he came with that installed. That's amazing. Think that person every single time because it made me training so much easier. And, not every horse comes with maybe those things, but experiences could just be, they're used to vehicles.
They're used to a lot of come Yes. All of those things, they've been written. And I just enjoy the training of them. Not only do they come with some training, but I enjoy the retraining part of it and they are so trainable. Also, the afford [00:08:00] affordability. I am not gonna go out and buy a five figure horse or a made horse, and I enjoy making my own horse.
That's really, so much fun. Yeah, I do think it's funny. I know we're gonna get into this. Obviously we chatted with you during your intro about where you found your. New horse for the makeover, even though you live really close to Finger Lakes. And they always have such nice horses up there.
So it must be a little bit tempting not to just peruse the listings come October, November. Oh yeah, it's there. Yes, for sure. There's been many times where I've sent, my husband the ad. Yeah. What do you think about this one? Yeah. Meat's almost done. Now we know someone that lives super close.
I know. It's dangerous. It was like, Hey, could you go take a look at this an hour away. I know. And had you worked with Off the Track thoroughbreds before this, or was this makeover horse your first foray into the breed? So he's actually my third horse. My third, OTTB. I got my [00:09:00] first in September of 2023.
But he is, like I said, my third. You're moving fast. Yes. With them all are nothing. Emily likes to say they're like potato chips, so Yes, they are like potato chips. It's very tempting. So one thing that we know that you've been really open about is how tough it can be to find the right horse, especially as an adult amateur.
Can you share a little bit about that journey with us? So the first O-T-T-B-I adopted ended up not working out for me. I am in New York and new vocations is has a facility in New York near Saratoga. Okay. And so I had gone there to look at a few horses that I was interested in.
So I went there to look at a few horses that I was interested in. One of them was best idea, the horse that I [00:10:00] got second he was not available at the time. He was actually lame the day that I went there. But I looked at several other horses and then. Ended up really liking this horse .
I ended up calling Alex and I ended up bringing Alex home. Once I got him home, he had ended up having a lot of behavioral issues. I was aware of them when I looked at him but I just thought, it was something I could work with. He would probably be better once I got him home and worked with him.
But unfortunately they continued to be a problem eventually, through lots of vet visits and, working through some things. It became apparent that he had a lot more going on than just a behavioral issue. He had a lot of medical issues as well that I was unable to resolve despite, my best efforts taking him to Cornell and multiple vet visits and things like that.
Wow. I contacted new vocations who I had adopted him from, [00:11:00] and they will actually take back any horse for the lifetime of the horse. You can return them to them. Great. So they were extremely great to work with. They wanted to help me, resolve this. But like I said, I was unable to, and so I did decide to return him and so he went back.
But during that time of that seven month period when I had Alex Best idea came up for adoption and I was. Just devastated because at that point he had worked through all of his issues. He sounded absolutely perfect for me. And I was devastated. 'cause I had adopted another horse, wasn't sure I, was ready for a second horse.
But after talking to my husband and he contacted New vocation, see he's such an enabler. He adopted best idea for me as a actually a surprise. I actually did not know he was doing that. Oh. That's so sweet. We got him a few months after Alex, and, it's funny how things work out sometimes because, having to return, [00:12:00] Alex, I still had best idea.
I call him bestie, still had bestie. So it was nice to, have that other horse as well. Yeah. That I could continue with Yeah. To fall back on and to back on. Yeah. And it sounds like you did, an enormous amount of, diagnostics and otherwise trying to get to the bottom of the issues.
And this is just the thing with, and we said this in our last episode, this is just the thing with all horses, right? It's not specific to thoroughbreds, sometimes you just dunno what you're uncovering and there can be many reasons for that. It could be physical or mental or both and I think that all of the best aftercare organizations really support that lifeline for the life of the horse to have us off landing because we're trying to make sure that the horses don't ever fall through the cracks. And by offering that, and it probably happens, a couple times a year for each aftercare organization, but , I think it's a really honorable thing for them to be able to offer to their adoptees.
And I just think it's a great safety net because somebody might find themselves in financial dire straits for some reason out of their control, [00:13:00] or there's just so many reasons that, it's not just about the horse and their history necessarily. Give a lot of credit to new vocations for being that great support system for you and ultimately helping you find.
Best idea, which is really cool. Yeah. Absolutely. What kind of advice or what would you want other riders to know about that kind of situation of, dealing with an aftercare organization and finding themselves in a similar position? Yeah. I would definitely want them to know, to not be afraid to reach out to them.
I actually wish I had done it maybe sooner Yeah. Than let them know what was going on. But again, he was my very first O-T-T-B-I wanted to work so badly. Yeah. And also too, you're not a terrible person if this happens to you. Yeah. There's not gonna be any stigma.
You're not gonna be blacklisted. And I think I fought all of those things, like I was, a terrible person. , how could I not keep this horse? How could I not make him work or make him better? Yeah. And that wasn't the case at all. There was no. No stigma at all. Yeah. It couldn't have been [00:14:00] further from the truth.
Yeah. And I would say that waiting too long can be its own detriment, not that you did, but I think a lot of people that's where they end up in a bit of a rough spot where it's now it's been a little bit too long or, but obviously you did the right thing, yeah. Yeah. And they took him back and I actually saw that he recently got adopted oh, great. That's, great ending for him 'cause Yeah. He really deserved somebody who, knew about all of his issues and, obviously were, happy to adopt him. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like you then had, best idea, just swooped right in.
And helped maybe fix some of your confidence. But when you were searching now for your makeover horse this year did you approach your search any differently due to your experience with Alex and with new vocations? So this is a really funny story. So I'm in New York and when I sent Alex back, he went back to the New York location initially when I was in Kentucky [00:15:00] for the makeover I went to New Vocations to their open house.
And while we were driving there, I get a text from some friends that were. There. And they were also at the open house and they had come down for the makeover and they said, Alex is here. And I said, what? They're like, he's here. He was at the Kentucky facility. He had been transferred there. Oh wow.
And I was just a mess because here I was getting to see this horse again. Yeah. And so I got to see him. He looked phenomenal. He was. So happy. And he was fat. He'd just been turned out in the pasture, all summer. And, he sniffed my youngest son's head for a while, made me think he remembered us, but, and I got to talk to the people at New vocations and, I'm just sobbing and I'm like a hot mess.
And they were so nice. They gave me the closure that I needed on that situation, and I was just so grateful. I couldn't believe [00:16:00] that he was there and that worked out, but the closure and the clarity that I needed on that situation. And then, next thing I know, my husband is in the other barn saying, Hey, you have to come see this horse over here.
It's best's brother. Crazy. Oh my gosh. And so I go over there and I feel like we need to meet your husband. I know. He sounds awesome. Yes. So yeah, so I go over there and Sterling's over there with all the boys and they're just loving on him. And my husband's we need to get this horse. I think that's such an incredible serendipitous moment that, you got to be in Kentucky with the new horse that you had trained for so many months and then to unexpectedly see Alex, what are the chances of that happening?
Yeah. That's really cool. And I feel like that's just life's way of telling you that you did everything right. Yeah. I just can't tell you how, what a weight that lifted off of me. Yeah. I would've been bawling. Yeah. For sure. [00:17:00] Yes. Yes. So what was your first impression of Sterling when you finally got to come see him after everybody was else, was gushing over him?
Yeah he is a huge thoroughbred massive everybody that sees him is just oh my gosh, is he really a full thoroughbred? Because he's just huge. And he was just so sweet and easygoing. That's really his personality. Did he race a lot? He only raced one time. He came in that last and he had a pelvic fracture actually.
Oh, no way. When he was a youngster or? No, he raced in October of 2023 and he was diagnosed with the pelvic fracture in November of 2024 according to this one veterinary report I have. And I asked new vocations and I said, do you know anything about this? And they're like, no, we don't know any more than what this says.
Yeah. So I don't know which came first. Took they do it, the impact like did he have the pelvic fracture and race so terribly [00:18:00] because of that? Did the pelvic fracture come after? But his owners like did a bone scan and that was how they diagnosed it and Wow. They just, I'm assuming they stall rested him or whatever they needed to do to Yeah.
Rehab him from that. He had some dispensary, does Midas. But yeah, the pelvic fracture was the big thing. So yeah, maybe just 'cause he was so big, like I think there's a lot of that hind end loading that goes on when they're learning to get their gait card and all that kind of stuff.
I know it's fairly common, I know in yearlings and two year olds too, to do it in the pasture and it just heals. But yeah. Yeah. There was no limitations and he's been completely fine. My vet Yeah. And chiropractor and everybody's no, he has great range of motion.
Yeah. There's no, no issue. Yeah. Good. Yeah. So we touched about this a little bit in your intro app, but did you choose Sterling with competitive trail and dressage in mind? It sounds like maybe you didn't actually choose him, your husband did or did you get the horse home and [00:19:00] then decide on what disciplines you wanted to pursue?
Yeah, so fun fact, I'll just throw in here. So my husband he pays attention and he was really interested in the statistics of, the makeover and the horses and stuff. Honor code was tied with painter as having the most offspring in the 2024 makeover. So they each had six.
Okay. Oh, wow. Outta those six, five were in the top 10 and three honor codes were in the top five. Wow. So that's cool, right? So I'm like, writes down, looks up, honor code, progeny. Yeah. So my husband knew that and was like, we need another honor code we need Dusty's brother. So that's played into it as well.
Yeah. But as far as picking him out for competitive trail, yes, I knew that I wanted to go back again and do competitive trail again. I just loved the discipline. I enjoy training. It's something I can do at home with all the [00:20:00] random. Farm paraphernalia sitting around, you can just, use what you have.
Yeah. Yeah. I've been pretty creative with some of the stuff that I've thrown to ask. Yeah. In my life is like an obstacle course with three boys, so yeah. It just makes sense. Yeah. So yes, and then I also have my, a personal goal. I was in the top 10, I was 10th with bestie last year.
So I have a personal goal of seeing if I can retrain another horse and do well in competitive trail again. And then their massage parts came after. I only did one discipline last year. It was just too overwhelming to do more than that. But this year, feeling more confident and comfortable I think we definitely wanna give dressage a try.
I think Sterling will really do well.
Sorry, I was just making notes. All good. Yeah, 'cause the honor code thing's interesting, right? That is really interesting. I know. Yeah. And the top 10 the horses were in all different disciplines. The ranch. Yeah. That's really cool. The ranch work winner, his horse was [00:21:00] by honor code. There was a show, hunter, either was me and I'm trying to think what the other one was.
But anyway, I wonder if it's Maddie Barnett's. You can probably look it up. It could be her horse Sealy. I forget what his Jockey club name is. I'll have to look. I'm gonna look that up now and not right this second, but later. So when did he officially come home with you and how did the restarting progress process begin?
So he came home with me after the makeover. We moved some tack, sent it home with some friends made room in the, two horse trailer for him and threw him on. And he came back to New York with me. Put a few rides on him, before the December 1st because new vocations, you can't ride them before.
I don't know any place, any rehoming. Group that lets you ride thoroughbreds beforehand. Are there any, I don't know if you get lost the draft. I think like after the races might, but it's very case by case basis. Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted to hop on a few times and, see how he was.
But we, yeah, we started December 1st. And [00:22:00] then just mostly did a lot of groundwork. He needed some time to get used to the farm. When he first saw a cow, he jumped out of the pasture in a panic. Oh, that's I shouldn't laugh, but I was like, you've cut pigs. You've got, cow was like, oh my goodness.
I got lucky. Bestie did not care about any of the farm animals. That's why, we ended up calling him besties. Literally everyone's bestie. He loves the other animals. Yeah. So Sterling was not that way. He was a little freaked out, but he's fine now. He'll go up and touch a pig. Now.
He thinks that's normal now at least. So we gave him some time to settle in and yeah got him started after December 1st. And you are in New York and this winter, we are in Pennsylvania and brutal. It's been a bit of a brutal winter and Spring has not, spring has been late, let's put it that way.
So how did you manage training during the cold months and did weather change your timeline at [00:23:00] all? I wouldn't say it changed my timeline because I just. I'm really lucky that I have, good friends and my trainer that's five minutes away and another good friend who has a stable and an indoor and I'm able to trailer out.
Yeah. So we did a lot of that. Pretty much every ride besides, just around the farm, but to really, get some training and I had to trailer out when it was really cold. 'cause this winter was terrible. We did a lot of hand walking, just a lot of hand walking around the farm.
But yeah, I did have to trailer out. That was a little hard just because. It was all so new to him and he's getting on a trailer. And then he is showing up in a new place. Yeah. I was like, oh, I really, doing, you know him any favors here. But I just stuck it out and I think it's gonna end up paying off in the long run because he's just okay, this is just what we do.
He trailers like a dream because that's just his life. [00:24:00] That's all you do. That's all you do. You just go get on the trailer. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, so we've just made it work. Yeah. It was like to say that, exposures exposure, it doesn't matter. , my plan with Oscar is to go to a lot of places and just taking places where like my expectations are zero.
And so anything he does beyond that is just icing on the cake. Yeah. So if I bring him to a show where my friends are competing and he just hand grazes all day, that's. An a plus, as far as I'm concerned, if I can tack 'em up and hack 'em around. That's amazing, right?
But going into it just being like, it's just good to get them out and about, let them see things, let them hear loud speakers, let them just experience life because their life was like this before. For the most part. I don't know if you remember the episode where I took Oscar somewhere for the first time and we opened the trailer up and it was a freezing day and he was dripping in sweat and I was like, uhoh.
It's just one of those things where you're like okay. 'cause he loaded just fine, and travel just fine. And so I think it's really good. I think all of these things that we do with them are fact finding missions. Yeah, [00:25:00] absolutely. There were days over the winter where it was snowing and cold and I'm getting them on the trailer and getting all my tack and going over for my lesson and my trainer's okay, what do you wanna work on today?
I am like. I just made it here I'm happy just to be here. , lemme just see if I can get on. Exactly. Then it just felt like an accomplishment just to Yeah, and I think it is good. I know a lot of people don't have this mindset. I very much do, but I am definitely somebody who like stays on the side of asking for less.
Because I think it gives you more in the long run. I think that sometimes, there's obviously times where you have to push your horse or push yourself, but I just feel like what I've learned in my older age is that, sometimes setting your expectations at a bit of a lower level and then letting the horse meet that and celebrate it.
And I think Chelsea talked about this a lot last year of just making everything that they do, this big celebration of we just came here and we did this one thing, and so that's a that's a big moment, right? Yeah. And it is hard. It's hard not to want [00:26:00] more or to look around and see what other people are doing and feel like you should be on a different timeline or something like that.
Yeah, absolutely. Another big milestone we saw that Sterling just did their first show recently. How did that go and what did you learn from the experience? Yeah, so we just went to our very first show in, again, kind of a. Go big or go home. It was like a two day, overnight show in a big indoor.
But I went with my two friends who also have, green OTTB, so it was also their first show. And we've been meeting up every week's and riding together. Our horses know each other. And Sterling has his two girlfriends. And were like, we're in this together, let's do it.
So we went and the reason I wanted to go was last year when I went to the makeover, everyone tells you, oh, it's such a big venue, it's really overwhelming for the horses. And it's like anything, you can hear it, but until you actually experience it, you don't really get it.
And so I went there with bestie and we had [00:27:00] trailered out a lot. We had done a lot of things, but we'd only done one. Like overnight thing where he was stalled. And so that ended up being a really stressful thing for him was being there and being in the stall and just the environment. So I wanted to make sure.
That I didn't do that this year that I made sure I got Sterling out overnight installed in different places. So that was my thought process there as well. But anyway, yeah, we got there on Thursday night and we ended up schooling and I said he was a kind of a combination of a freight train and a pogo stick after schooling on Thursday night.
We did it, yeah, we did it. And he didn't know what the heck he was doing, but he, and I felt like he felt like that the entire time. He didn't know what he was doing, but he was like, okay, we're here, but then the next day, Friday we had one flat class. We just went in bridal path hack and again.
Probably not the best first class for [00:28:00] A-O-T-T-V. That's, at their first show there was a hand Gallup, there was God, a Hal, my god, in a back. And I was questioning my sanity and I was like, why didn't I sign up for this? But again, we did it. And is that with a group of other horses in the ring?
Yes. Yeah. Oh my God. But again, checked that box off. We did it. That's amazing. I love it. But he was actually good and we got a fourth great. That's amazing. It was good. And then Saturday, the final day of the show, we had a little bit of a weird situation that ended up being fine.
So I had two more flat classes to go in and I schooled in the warmup arena. He was great. Stood around for a while, waiting for, arena maintenance, went to walk off and he was lame. Oh, no. Are you kidding me right now he's lame. And I got off, we're looking and we had just put pads on him because he's, been a little foot sore thin soles and all of that. So we were [00:29:00] trying pads and I felt that the arena footing was very soft and deep, and I just felt like there was some pressure there, with the pad. Maybe something got up underneath there. Yeah. I was lucky that my farrier just happened to be there. She was watching somebody else.
Oh, wow. So my husband goes and grabs her. She comes over, we're doing emergency pad removal in the aisle of Oh my gosh, stalls, and she's cutting out the pad and digging out some of the footing that had gotten up under there. And she described it like having dirt in the toe of your boot.
Yeah. And literally as soon as she did that. Perfectly fine. He was fine. He was totally fine. Yeah. So sometimes that sand too, once it gets in there is it's just very abrasive. Yep. And they can't get it out like us. They can't take their shoe off. Like we, yeah.
Yeah. So once we did that, they were like, do you wanna go in your last class? And I was like, sure. And again, probably not the best class [00:30:00] for a young horse, but it was Confirmation Hunter. So we had to go in and do a flat portion, and then you get off and then pig the tack off, then they take his tack off.
But my husband was ready, he had his horse show husband shirt on. He had his brush, he was ready. I'm like he's sound now, let's do it. So we went in, he came in, he took the tack off, he cleaned him up and we did it. That's amazing. So sweet. Yeah. So it was fun. It was fun. It was a good experience.
I felt like Sterling handled it well. Again, he was. He had no clue what was going on. But he's such a good horse and so kind and sweet that he just went along with it, so yeah. I like those memes going around that's have you ever had a near death experience and it's have you ever seen a horse show warmup?
Yes. Yes, I've lived through a warmup. Yes. Yes. And it's a lot easier for us invents than it is for hunter shows. It's just, yeah. And by the time we went in for [00:31:00] that. That last class, it was at the end of the day, so they only had flat classes left. So they had removed all the jumps except for two piles, which they piled up, in the middle.
So it was like standards and poles and like random Easter bunnies and like life-sized peeps and nothing was in the, oh my God. Same place that it was. And he was like, oh my gosh. So I tried to go, on one side he didn't like that. Yeah. The next time I came around, we went on the other side and we had to make a quick exit across the arena and cut off that end.
You sound like you approach everything with a really open mind and a great sense of humor, which I think is really crucial when it comes to young horses. Yes, absolutely. So do you think that this confirmed that you guys are on the right track or do you have now extra things to check off on your list to work with Sterling?
Yeah, I think both. I learned a lot about myself. I really love those multi-day shows because I just feel like you can, you grow so much over those days, with your horse. [00:32:00] And I just felt like I was trusting him more letting him go forward, allowing him to, do his job and, was really good too. He was figuring it all out. He was trying to be, brave and listen. One thing I definitely wanna work on is just mounting. That's been an ongoing thing with him, just getting him to stand a little bit better for mounting. And so that's and again, it's a little harder too when you're in a stressful situation.
Yeah. But Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. But given that he only raced one time, they, and they get the way that they get lagged up and everything, it's that's, that seems like a fairly straightforward thing to, as you have to do that running leap off the mountain.
Yeah. To them, which is never fun. Yeah. . I was just saying to Emily the other day, I was like, I've been teaching Oscar how to get good at Bridling. 'cause he is a nightmare. And I've been teaching him this really specific set of cues. And then the other day I found myself like in a hurry and she's this seems like it's going well.
And I'm just like, no, I swear I've been working on it. I videotaped it and everything. Yeah. But it's sometimes it's like [00:33:00] that thing where it's much like mounting where it's like you really do have to dedicate. A lot of time to something that you're just kinda oh, I'll just get on.
Or oh, I'll just put the bridle on, yes. That's exactly it. So I was working with him for a while and thought that it was better. And then, we went to the show and again, a stressful situation. A pressure converted back to his old behavior. Yes. Except now he's decided that he's going to move into me and knock me off the mounting block, which is a new thing.
Thing. That's so that's fun. We're gonna work on that. That's a new one. Yeah. Yeah. And he's a big guy, so so he can actually just Yeah. Send you off like mounting block literal shov me off. Oh my gosh. You touched on some of these things just now, but have there been any other physical or mental aspects that have been particularly challenging for you to deal with as you've been bringing 'em along outside of just the show pressure test environment?
Yeah. I think for him especially, his mental state is really important. He definitely tends to be a lot more worried about things than [00:34:00] bestie is. And that was new for me. I really took for granted there again, they're might be the same sire, but they're not anything alike in physically or mentally.
So helping him manage his anxiety has really been like a big thing with him. And it's something I'm still trying to figure out. He's also really young. He just turned four. He's the youngest. Okay. You know that thoroughbred that I've had, and I'm still trying to figure out what the best way is to help him, yeah. Regulate himself. Yeah. And what kind of warmup we might need to do, and, things like that. Yeah. Yeah, and that's always tricky 'cause I feel like that's something that's so unique and specific to the horse underneath of you. You can look at them physically and think, oh, they're, they'll be fine doing X, Y, and Z.
And then understand that emotionally they're either shut down or they're too animated. And both of those things are really difficult to deal with, I was actually watching a video today on Facebook of somebody showing the shutdown response of horses. And it can look very much like relaxation, but it's [00:35:00] not, it's just this ambivalent ignoring of their entire surroundings, which in some ways makes them a little scarier.
You'd rather them be telling you too much information than no information. And I was like, wait. I was like, does my horse do that? I don't think he does. You start second guessing all your stuff, but. I had never really embraced the emotional regulation piece of horse training until I got Oscar.
And I think it's been really fascinating and I know Emily can attest to this with her young horse. It's really interesting when you can work on that with the horse and get them to understand that you are there to provide relaxation and you can show them how to relax and it is, it what works for one horse doesn't work for another horse.
So it's very interesting, I think. Yeah. Yeah. It really is. And I think it's just a huge thing, with the thoroughbreds. I. My Percheron Thoroughbred Cross. I got her as a 4-year-old and she's almost 20 now. But she was always, she reminds me of Sterling a little bit, she [00:36:00] always was a little worried, a little more anxious.
But, a draft cross, you can ride 'em for 10 minutes and they're tired and you're good to vote. You're not gonna ride a thoroughbred down to the point that they're gonna no caught. You're not gonna ride their brain down. That's for darn sure. I am enjoying the process of learning.
Yeah. That with him and doing a lot of reading and a lot of research because, I think we're all the same age. We're all in our forties and, have been riding a long time and 20, 25 years ago, no one talked about you just on and do it. You just got on, you were the boss, you kicked him around and you did the, that was it.
So this is a whole new kind of world and it's really cool. I love it. I love the transition that's happening in the world of really and truly listening to your horse. And it's not all touchy feely stuff. It's about actually understanding them and wanting a real partnership with them and not just this machine underneath of you.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. With the makeover just a few months away, I think we're just under six months now. How are you feeling? Are you watching the calendar or trying not to think about it? [00:37:00] What's your emotional temperature? I actually feel really good about it. I'm not watching the calendar.
I feel way more prepared than last year. At this point, last year I only had 20 rides on bestie. I started 'em like really late with everything that was going on with Alex and everything. Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good. Yeah. Awesome. It's making me feel a little bit better about my situation.
What's that? Oh, I didn't even ride bestie until Mar end of March. Yeah. April. No, we, it's been a bit slow going with with Oscar for a myriad of reasons. Yeah. But we have a plan. Not to make this about myself, but I'm just feeling oh my God, I have somebody to relate to.
This is amazing. Oh yeah. Sterling is just much more straightforward as far as riding goes. I don't know. He if it was just 'cause he only raced that one time or what? It's one thing that I really like about him is his, he has really nice gates, all three of his gates are really nice.
His canner is very balanced. He can collect, he can, extend great. He doesn't have any problem picking up either lead. So that's been really more than half the battle. Yeah. Yeah. And [00:38:00] he came to me like that. Oh, this is a just an easy, yeah. That's awesome. So yeah. Yeah.
So what is your mindset heading into October? I know you want to maybe achieve or best your score last year, but are you focused on the competition, the partnership, or are you just really enjoying the journey and wanna get there in the end? Yeah, I think I'm just really enjoying the journey. My whole family's really excited about it.
My boys are. Talk about it all the time. We camped last year. And we got a golf cart and they, a camper and it's just a really fun show. We just made it a family vacation and I think there's a meme going around. This is, we don't go on vacations. We go to horse shows.
Horse. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, just really excited about the whole journey and just being able to get there. Yeah. That's really fun. What would you say to other adult amateurs who might be thinking about doing the makeover, but maybe feel like it's out of reach, [00:39:00] either because they have families or, they live far away or, 'cause you're quite a distance away et cetera. Yeah, I think, if it's a cost issue I know in my case, new vocations gives you back your entry fee. They give you a discount when you adopt a horse. From them. There's also a grant right now, I think through the aftercare alliances that you can get, your stabling fee or something else as well.
Yeah. So I think that can really help a lot if have a horse from one of those aftercare groups that offer, some help on the cost. But I think the biggest thing that motivated me was just support, like listening to your podcast, getting support from, online friends or even local friends that also have thorough reds.
Finding others that have done the makeover to encourage you is really helpful. One of the coolest things about having thoroughbreds is it's such a cool club to be in. . It's the coolest [00:40:00] club. And there's just such a community and people, just like me that are out there enjoying their horses and it's been really cool.
I wanna ask you a couple of questions specific to the competitive trail since that's the, discipline I'm aiming for. I'm thinking I might do a freestyle too, but we will see that's gonna require a lot of game show personality. Freestyle is so fun. I volunteered last year. Yeah. I was at the exit gate, so I got to watch everybody and then my favorite part was everyone's scrambling to clean up their stuff 'cause there's ghet time cream and get out and they'd become flying through their trucks and all their props and it was just super fun.
Yeah. Juliana's been like, you're doing it. I'm like, oh my God. Okay. But where do they hold the competitive trail? 'cause I know it's changed. We were talking to somebody else about this the other day. They changed, they've changed the location of it. And what are the kind of obstacles that you can predict they're gonna have?
So it was [00:41:00] held behind where the show hunter and jumper rings are like back in a field. Okay. From what I understand, it used to be at the head of the lake, where the fencing is. Yeah. I saw the video from when it was over there. Yeah. So now it's back, there's like a cross country field back there behind the staling.
And it was over in the corner back there and there was a little pond. 'cause water is one of the things that you do have to do. So that's where they had it. And I believe having watched the finale competitive trail that in the preliminaries, they don't have something like side passing per se.
Yeah. You might side pass slightly to go like to a gate. But they don't have side passing as over like a rail. Over a rail. That's a more advanced maneuver. Yeah. So that was in the finale. In the finale, they had movable, like stepping on something that was movable. That was not in the preliminary.
You did have to step on, a surface and it [00:42:00] might be painted. I was telling Emily about the year that they had something where you, I think it was the finale and you had to walk up to a rail and drop your lead rope and go into a little porta-potty and then come back out and then get back on your horse.
Okay. Yeah. They can ask for mounting and dismounting and they will do that in the preliminary because that's where you change for the team. So if you're riding as a team, you have to dismount and then the, and then you're not, you're their person, but you still have to do it even if you are continuing by yourself.
Gotcha. Okay. That's definitely, that's interesting actually. And they have to exhibit all three gates. So there will be a walk truck canner. I don't pattern every year. You can choose which direction you go. That was the case last year, you could choose. So I chose to go.
Thankfully, I was so grateful because his left lead canner was iffy whether or not he would pick up the left lead. So that was least an option. Yeah. Awesome. I feel like we're hopefully , on track.. So we wanna talk about some training and [00:43:00] management tips and just see where you're at.
In the, your day to day with Sterling, what kind of training or groundwork exercises have been especially helpful for you? I think really anything that's just helping him learn how to relax. We've been working on that and just making him feel really confident that he knows the answer, because I think some of his anxiety is just insecurity.
Yeah. So making him feel really good that way. I really love, I. Any of the books from Littauer, I don't know if you guys have heard of him. He is no kind of a old school. He was a captain. Captain Vladimir Littauer. He's wrote this called Schooling Your Horse. And there's a modern version by Paul Cronin called what is it called?
Schooling and Riding the Sport Horse. Anyway, it basically lays out a plan for retraining a horse and I just think it's just really good fundamentals and gives you a really well thought out like [00:44:00] guideline. So I've really enjoyed going back to that and pulling things from there to help me with the retraining process.
I love that. I feel like growing up I read so many. Books and practical horseman, Bruce Davidson's training tips or whatever and would apply them to learn, and so it's really cool. I'll have to check that book out. Do you have any favorite tools, routines, or off the track must haves that you always rely on, especially in the retraining process,
I could, honestly, I think my favorite tool is just keeping a journal. I have kept a journal for all of my horses. I write down. Every day what we do. Whether they had the day off, they were, just any little tidbit that we did. Yeah. I color code it, did we ride, did we do groundwork?
Whatever. And I can literally look back to last year, see how many rides we did each month, because, sometimes you think you're doing a lot or you're not doing enough, and [00:45:00] it's so helpful to look back. Yeah. And, say, oh this happened this day and, we've actually done more than I thought is often the case.
Yeah. And, I, yeah, I've definitely felt a little bit of that, of keeping an accountability of what I'm doing heading towards the RRP, having the the podcast because as a photographer, I just take tons of photos. So it's nice to be able to reference the photos that I take when I'm at the farm and be like, oh my God, that was the day that we did this and it was really fun.
Or that's the day where the wind wouldn't stop. What blowing or whatever the case might be. Yeah. And then what about management in terms of like nutrition, turnout, hoof care? I know you mentioned he is in pads or was in pads, yeah. Seems like they might have gotten removed, but do you have any challenge challenges there or tips that might help others when they are transitioning them from the track?
Yeah, something that I do is I just give them all the good quality that hay that they can eat. Including alfalfa. Then just adding in grain as needed. [00:46:00] I try to minimize stall time, just keep them out as much as possible. And. Again, I try to be flexible. I don't have to have my horse barefoot, I don't have to have shoes, it's just whatever they need.
Both of my horses are one's barefoot, one's not, they're just, they're individuals. But, as a basis just letting them be a horse as much as possible. Yeah. Love that. And then looking forward to the next couple of weeks, what do you guys have. Coming up, any shows, outings, anything fun?
Yeah. So actually coming up this weekend, we're doing a working equitation clinic. Oh. Which I'm really excited about. Yeah. I signed up for it back in January, to That's so fun. Give myself something to look forward to. Yeah. Yeah. But there's a working equitation group around here and there's a couple horses at our barn that I think would be like, they're physically just so suited for it, but I'm just fascinated with the whole thing.
'cause it's like competitive trail dressage. Yes. And you get to jump stuff. Yes. I know. It's all the things. So I just think thought that [00:47:00] would be really great. More formal introduction to some obstacles for him. See how he does, again, there's some dressage elements to it. And again, the whole getting him off properties, story stabling overnight.
And again, I get bored. I like to try all sorts of new things and Yeah, same. Again, the thoroughbreds are just, up for anything and they're, yeah. They're so versatile, they can do anything. Yeah. So why not? That's amazing. This has been such a thoughtful conversation.
Where can people follow your journey or check in on your progress towards the makeover? Best place is just Facebook. Feel free to friend me on Facebook. It's just my name, Stephanie Park. Awesome. And I think we know the answer to this. But is there a nonprofit or cause that you'd like to give a shout out to before we wrap up?
Yeah, absolutely. New vocations. They have just been so amazing and I just can't thank them enough for, all their help and yeah, I just really appreciate everything that they do. We'll definitely leave a link to their accounts in our show notes [00:48:00] for sure. Thank you again, Stephanie, so much for being here.
We're so excited to follow along with you and Sterling this season. Thank you. If you like what you heard today, please leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts. You can follow O TT B on tap on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. And contact us with interview candidates and topic suggestions at o ttb on tap.com.
Finally, if you're interested in bonus content videos, our OTTB on tap evaluate series and our insiders group, check out OTT TTB on tap dot super cast.com. We love hearing from you. Cheers. Cheers.