Operation Transformation

The race began.....not just any horse race but the race towards getting Rosie and I ready and fit for the biggest day of our careers. First things first, feeding. Feeding is a minefield and especially when it comes to a racehorse because they are full of hot blood. If you over do the feeding you can "blow" their heads particularly if they are naturally a tense or anxious character. In this regard we were winning as Rosie is a calm and collective type of mare with over heating her not being an issue. The other factor we had to take into consideration was her stomach and not to upset it through overfeeding or a high concentration of a particular supplement/mineral.

Uptown Rosie - 24/04/2010

There are sooooo many feeds on the market as every horse person knows. All the major companies have superb marketing skills and all claim to be the best on the market. I can safely say Mary was a "little" addicted to the feeding regime and Rosie tried and tested a vast array of feeds & supplements which were on the market at the time, to name but a few; good old reliable pulp, Blue Chip, Bluegrass Cool and Conditioner, Baileys Outshine, Cool Stance, Chia Seed, Horse First Keep me Sound, Horse First Omega 3 oil, Curragh Carron Oil, Seaquim and good oul cool & cooked. I am positive I have missed loads there but I could never keep up with Mary and that was Mary's thing. I was close to ordering a fork lift to bring Rosie her bucket (slight exaggeration). When the balance was struck and when it was figured what worked for Rosie the results were outstanding. There is a misconception amongst the equestrian world that showing is a  "Feeders" game, who has the fattest horse/pony. This is true in some cases but most definitely was not the case here. Rosie's poor little body was heading towards operation transformation by being pushed to the ultimate level and this required a lot of concentration and strength in order to morph her little racing body into a show horse body. Leading from all this pressure and work the most important thing we used were Electrolytes to ensure Rosie's body could recharge after all the salts lost during sweating from exercise and travelling to shows. 

Rosie after 1 week of high protein feeding

Once Mary embedded Rosie's feeding routine it was my job to get Rosie riding properly. When we began the journey in April, Rosie was a little weak after a hard winter of snow and floods in Galway which was to be expected as she was a light Thoroughbred. To begin her fitness programme we started lightly lunging her in the John Whitaker Lunging System which is widely used in the showjumper sphere. The whole idea before this was to get Rosie's back, quarters and neck to a strong stage before we began to push her with riding she  (nor I) had ever experienced. This went on for 5 weeks and unfortunately exams took priority for me. Grace came to the rescue and took over my place sending me daily updates while I cried (maybe not) in Dublin and day dreamed in Simmonscourt exams halls at the prospect of being there in 3 months time with Team Rosie. The final exam came and off I skipped to The Horse Show House for a cold bulmers waving goodbye to the RDS shouting see you in August.

Week 5 - Rosie's condition after high protein diet and lunging

So I waved a sorry goodbye to Dublin but could not wait to get home to start my adventure with Team Rosie. I decided to be broke and not work in order to give this task my 110% devotion as the last thing I wanted was a job dictating when and what shows I could go to. I lived on beans and toast and did very little shopping (hard to believe with me) for the entire summer....any cash I had went into my RDS wardrobe. While living in Dublin I had the most amazing opportunity of moving in with a friend who is an international dressage rider. Every evening after work we took out the horses. I was in awe of how she got them to concentrate and move. Whilst living with her I had the pleasure of riding her Grand Prix horse and he was out of this world. When I look back now all her hours of trying to teach me and a little mare (not so different looking to Rosie) were really wasted but not all was lost. They say in the horse world if you can take one thing away from someone or somewhere then you have learned something new. In this case I may not have learned a whole lot with flat work but I most certainly learned how to lunge a horse correctly. In my previous life we were told to lunge to get the "hotness" off the horse....I strongly disagree. Lunging is so much more than that and vital for any horse's progression. I fully appreciate that now with current dealings with Rosie which I will touch on again. I must attempt I am obsessed with lunging and find it so therapeutic when your horse is listening and you can see them engaging their hind quarters and strengthening their backs (then you don't feel so bad when you have a sneaky cake or two :P).The second thing I took away from this amazing experience was devotion. Every evening no matter was time it was or how wet it was we were out working each horse because there was an agenda. I rang my friend when we decided to go ahead with Dublin....her advice was to go to a show guru for assistance rather than her in order to learn ringcraft, presentation, etc.

A few of the gang in the yard joined the local riding club. I decided not to join as I was an existing member of the SJI and it was too expensive to join another organisation. I would follow along and watch them school on Friday evenings. One evening I was watching the girls do a dressage lesson at the riding club. Afterwards we spoke with the instructor who led us to our knight in shining armour. Mary gave Ian Delaney a call and he said he would swing by and take a look. The following day in swanned Ian and told me to tack up and give her a trot. Up to the sand arena we went and Rosie went around in true racing style like a mare hitting the starting line. Very politely (which is not a usual case with Ian...(love you Ian)...) Ian said we had a little bit of work to do but we definitely had something to work with "and Love take that f*cking John Whitaker off her...she isnt a showjuming mare anymore!"..... Little did I know how much work (and tears) were ahead of us and was this worth it all for one show????

Lows and Highs

Rosie is not the only mare in my life....there is also the little black mare called "Coco". She is the other apple of my eye whom I bought as a 3 year old with my 21st birthday money all those 5 years ago. Coco was (& still can be) a tough little cookie. My time was divided equally between Rosie, Coco and any other horses who passed through. March 2009, we were jumping some walls out the field and disaster struck. Coco spooked at something and reared up and fell back on top of me....leading to a halved collar bone and severe hemarthrosis in my leg. That put a swift stop to my riding for a considerable amount of time. Coco went into the bad corner and was taken on by some friends to keep this fresh little maggot working while I tried to recover. In the meantime Rosie had well deserved long break for a few months. During my recovery I decided to treat myself to a brand new John Whitaker saddle. Throughout all this time I was studying in UCD. Sitting in Simmoncourt stables finishing my exams with one arm, little did I think the next time I would stand in those stables I would have Rosie in my right hand.

Recovery was extremely slow with me placed in a back brace and mentions of surgery. Each time I went for a checkup the first thing I would ask the consultant is....when can I get back at the horses....never given an answer. As I began to heal I would sit up on Rosie to get myself back to action. She was such a lady and minded me every step of the way as if she knew I was hurt. The first evening I sat up I had my new saddle on and it felt amazing.....it was like going from a little Micra to a Roll Royce! I gave her a trot around and then a gentle canter. Everything felt great. Then Mary stuck in a cross pole, up we went and no problem we popped over it (which was great considering I was holding on with one arm). I asked Grace to sit up on Rosie to give her a few right jumps and up she jumped....down to the jump....BANG.....on the ground....hated the saddle. Then Mary put Rebecca up.....down to the jump....BANG.....on the ground.....hated the saddle. Rosie was only delighted to have the girls riding her properly and felt so happy with life that she was bucking them off (even to this day the poor Whitaker saddle is hated!!!). So all in all Rosie was my road to recovery and each day we took things a step further and went on again to win the winter league in Galway Equestrian Centre. 

This leads the story to 2010 where I was fully recovered and Rosie was in tip top form. Although we had occasionally thrown the idea of the RDS around the table we never fully committed to the idea until a certain project caught our attention. A retired racehorse was the center of media attention as he had been rescued and was aiming to go to the RDS in August 2010 with the help of sponsorship. Highgrange began to follow his story on Facebook and watch his vlogging (Video Blogging I believe it is called). It was so interesting and really heart warming to see this fellow get a second chance at life through the help of these people who were going to invest so much energy and time into. We all became addicted to his story. Each week another update would be published and he would be the topic of discussion over a cup of tea after the riding was done in the yard. He lit a fire our bellies and then there is was....on the 25th April 2010 it was decided....Rosie was on the road to Dublin.

Gallops no more......

So the two mares were off loaded from the horse box....respectfully named "Rosie" and "McCloud". Grace and I being eager beavers as we always were in our pony days were dying to get the girls to work but to be fair we gave them the day and night to settle in. In our little yard we have a new block of stables and a more mature set of stable called "The Barn Stables". When the ladies arrived the new block was full and they were sent to the Barn stables with Rosie being in the last stable (that didn't last long).
Then the fun began, the following morning we ran to stables to pull out and test the new purchases. Off we went to the sand arena where Grace was galloping non stop around the ring and I was at the other end on a bucking bronco......what had we done! The girls were wondering when the hell were they heading to the gallops. Being stubborn and determined and after picking ourselves up off the the ground (only a small number of times ;)) we decided the girls were ready for the showing jumping arena (or were they??)
Galway Equestrian Centre were holding their normal winter league and being next door neighbours we trotted off up the road with our new rides. Into the warm up ring we went where I noticed Rosie was quite the mover as she thought a half pass across the ring in front of jumps and horses was way more fun than passing the PA speaker whilst screeching at McCloud. So the main event, to bring the racehorse who had just come home from a race in the UK into a colourful set of fences....times like this when you reflect on situations you question your sanity. In we went, judge announced our names and gave the bell to begin a course of 14 show jumps.....was quite the round giving Rosie possibly gave 20 bucks to finish the class while I cried. Of course she went clear as there was no way she was going to touch these monsters I was facing her into!!!! After that experience and a good hard think.....what was one to do.....what any sane horse person would do......lets do it again! Rosie and I argued and fought for the entire league while Grace and McCloud galloped around their course in record timings. Then along came the league final where the girls were turned out to the highest standard. Grace returned to her usual glory winning best turned out of the league and my God Rosie decided she actually liked this showjumping craic and won her class....maybe this retraining was going to work.
Although Rosie was a lovely young age of 4, we had to keep reminding ourselves that this was a racehorse and racing since a 2 year old. For example, on a Monday she would be a sweet little pea working so hard to impress and jump the top of the wings over a little cross pole whereas on a Tuesday it could be oh wait I never saw a pole before and I am a racehorse this should be a hurdle so I am going to dump you on the ground when I land. To count how many times Rosie successfully left me on the floor from bucking would be a hard exercise to complete but we persisted until we finally got to know one another and then it was love. McCloud was of exceptional racing pedigree and a super jumper but her heart lay with racing so after a long hard battle Grace decided it was time McCloud moved on to do what she loved. Rosie slowly forgot she was a racehorse and we went on to do cross country, charity rides (she may have thought we were on a gallop at times) and loads of showjumping. Many a success and rosette she won in the jumping world and she had the sweetest nature and temperament you could ask for. As Rosie proved her place in the yard she came second in command to the Queen (Mary's hunter Lydie) and was given her own personal stable in the new block right beside the tack room where she could hear all the chatting and feeding going on.
August 2009 came along and that means one thing in the horse calendar.....Dublin Horse Show. I was never a showing fan simply for the fact I hadn't the first clue about it. When I passed Ring 1 & 2 I always thought what a waste of arenas. However, that soon changed. On a the Saturday afternoon I was passing Ring 1 where I heard famous names over the PA such as Beef or Salmon, Moscow Flyer, Hardy Eustace and Brave Inca. The crowd was enormous so I managed to squeeze my way in and have a look. There were 30 exracehorses in the ring all dolled up and now known as Riding Horses. I watched with amazement and awe, of course thinking of Rosie all the time. The majority of them were hot and anxious with the atmosphere. As I watched the class I thought Rosie would be such a saint in there. Back home to Galway I went, showed Mary the pictures of the class and we both said it.....will we bring Rosie to Dublin?????

To buy or not to buy.....that was the question!!

I have juggled the idea of a blog around in my head for a number of months but thought it was too much effort and time with work, exams and of course horses but here I am finally putting pen to paper!  They say life experiences is what makes a person and I am a firm believer of this from meeting a pretty little blonde called "Uptown Rosie".

Grace and I became the best of friends at the age of 3 whilst playing at a neighbour's sand pit which separated our two houses on the outskirts of Galway City. From there we became thick as thieves and lived (and still do!) in one another's pockets. Grace always had a love of ponies falling from her idol of a mother Mary. I was in awe of her to think someone so tiny could go to these big shows jumping huge obstacles while my sisters and I ran around the shows looking at dogs and buying sweets. Many an occasion I went with shaking knees to the yard to watch but never touch graces ponies. Alas at the age of 12, Mary arranged for Graces 13th birthday to be with the ponies and bang I finally fell in love. My horsey upbringing was a very bright and colouful affair where I have met some true friends I will never ever forget and now consider family. The times we shared would create a whole other blog / movie  but that's not the plan with this blog. As time went on we all went our separate ways and in 2007 Highgrange Stables was born, a new project and most importantly our new home.

Kieran one of our very good friends rang one morning to say he was in a new yard with some mares for sale. Mary being Mary couldn't resist and out came her famous words "we will go for a look!". One very cold & frosty November morning, way back during the"boom" times of 2007, we hit the road to Oranmore to have a "quick look" at some racehorses whom had come to the market for sale. We pulled into this gorgeous little racing yard tucked away in the wilds of Oranmore. We met the owner and he led the way to a field at the end of a racing gallop. There stood a pretty little chestnut mare with the perfect white blaze, three white legs and a highlighted mane and tail, a picture.

He caught her in from the field along with another bay mare and took them to the stables for tacking up. I sat up on the chestnut and knew straight away she was something special. I went into a ring and rode around giving her a few pops over a hurdle fence....she was a dream. I sat up on the other mare and I was as quick to get off as I was to get on....we had zero chemistry. Grace braved the moment and tried the bay and they fell in love. So decision time, here we were standing in a racing yard with only knowledge of showjumping and hunting......to buy or not to buy......that was the question. We left and said lets think about this, half of us said no these are trained and fully raced racehorses we know nothing about and then the other half was saying they are so pretty we might retrain them to showjumpers for the craic.....conclusion: buy them! The following day we set sail with the horse box and shipped Uptown Rosie and Ms McCloud to their new homes at Highgrange Stables....but it was not all plain sailing.