Doing It His Way
A Different Style of Training Suits This Former Harness Trainer.
Written by Leo Salter, Florida
My filly, Calar, continues to progress and is now doing 12-second furlong sprints and just seems to LOVE to run, run, run! I have memorized your book and have applied the progressive principles gradually, and now have an athlete who can work seven or eight miles and leave the track with a smile on her face. In the early stages I worked her in the afternoon without other horses on the track. Now, she goes with the others in the morning and what a change in attitude! She's hyper-alert, swells up to three times her size and wants to go, go, go!
I should point out that after I did my early stage backyard training, I transferred my filly to a training center nearby known as Spring Garden Ranch which is for Standardbred horses. I have trained Standardbreds for ten or twelve years and became enamored with the notion of training a Thoroughbred. I had known that Standardbreds are often time- trialed and that Thoroughbreds are used as prompters, running alongside, hooked to two-wheeled carts. I opined that this could be done with a Thoroughbred as a training tactic. The advantages would be avoiding weight on the back as a yearling and the development of powerful driving hindquarters by pulling weight. Of course, teaching a Thoroughbred to pull a two-wheeled vehicle is not done overnight. With patience, persistence, and some adapted techniques, my filly became a natural.
I spent about five months doing slow work at my farm track which is really a wide train through the woods. Occasionally I would encourage sprints and those became wild rides which almost catapulted me from the cart which necessitated the use of a rigged seat belt. Calar eventually became too much for the farm track and was transferred a short ride down the road to the training center. Here was a full mile track inside of which was a half-mile track.
I began work on the mile track with a two-mile jog, then switched to the deeper half -mile track for galloping and speed spurts. A workout ended with a warmdown mile on the mile track. After becoming accustomed to the routine, we began furlong sprints. I recall that her first sprint was in twenty seconds, the equivalent of forty seconds for a quarter mile and terrible slow for a Thoroughbred, but somewhat respectable for a Standardbred. My excitement mounted as she voluntarily reduced that time each time out.
When she dropped to fifteen second sprints, a real change occurred: she began to posture for the sprint, picked up her speed voluntarily and took hold. I know a 12-second furlong may not seem like much to a jockey but to a driver in a cart hooked to a Thoroughbred, it is like an explosion. Caler takes such a strong hold to the lines (reins) that I have difficulty controlling my stopwatch. Her speed increased so dramatically that I had to abandon the half mile track as she could not make the turns at full speed.
The time eventually came when she needed a rider and I asked an accomplished horsewoman to break her to riding. Calar had, of course, had the harness around her girth for six or seven months and I had slipped a pad and English saddle on her back from time to time. But I knew that a rider up on her back would be a different story.
We cinched her up for about ten minutes in a western saddle and walked her around for about ten minutes. Next the rider elongated the stirrup strap and put a foot in and slowly stood up. Caler rotated her eye to observe this action. The rider eased back down and we concluded that session. The second time out we went through the same procedure except this time the rider proclaimed that she thought Caler was ready for a full pull up and for the rider to be seated in the saddle. I nervously inquired if the rider were certain of this and as I did, recalled that the first time I put a harness around this filly, she exploded into a bucking and kicking episode that would have won a bronco rider high points. Without hesitation, our rider pulled up, threw her leg over, and settled in the saddle in one flowing motion. I held on for the expected explosion. It never came. Caler stood there rotating her eyes backward and up, obviously taking a long look at the rider. After a few minutes, I led her off and we walked around the quadrangle for about fifteen minutes. Half way through this period she stopped, took a deep breath and showed interest in munching grass. She has now been ridden several times without incident.
I was glad to see that the early training getting accustomed to the cart paid off for accepting the rider so easily. Now my filly is ready for the serious business of fast work with a rider.
It is my hope that the past few months of work pulling approximately 250 pounds at speed has developed powerful hindquarter muscles and developed front legs that will never know bucked shins. I recently had her examined by a racehorse veterinarian who has declared her sound and without problems. You have seen her on video and declared her a "brick". Well, the brick is getting ready to fly. I will keep you updated on the next phase of conditioning. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your warm spirit. Caler thanks you too!
What a neat story! Leo did what he knew best but adapted his skills to his goals. When he first called me and told me his horse was doing so many miles and at what speed, I asked him who was riding. Imagine my surprise and delight when he sheepishly admitted that actually the horse was doing this behind a cart! He said that he didn't ride but that he had trained harness horses. Leo brought me videos of the training and it is amusing to see this filly flying around the track at a full gallop with a cart. On the off days Leo said he used "Mr. Bluejeans" to accustom the filly to the weight carrying.
It pleased me to see that Leo wanted to train a Thoroughbred and he figured out a way to achieve his goals. He has a three year old near to racing and very fit and sound . He will be applying for his trainers license soon and will keep us informed as to Caler's progress. This should make some of you think of how to do variations on traditional training. How can you get your horse to the track? - Editor