Halo is a registered thoroughbred mare I picked up about a week ago. The chestnut 16hh mare had raced on the track for the first 5 years of her life, competeing in the rigorous, demanding races with other thoroughbreds in hopes of making it big. But like many racehorses, Halo's career did not amount to much. She was retired as a broodmare and birthed three healthy colts. She was sold about a year ago to a gentleman and his 15 year old daughter. When the girl lost interest and became more preoccupied with boys, Halo found herself in my hands.

The first day I worked with her, just ground work, was no good. She must have never of been taught any ground manners. This huge thoroughbred was dragging me around the arena, giving me a decent whiplast.  I'm pretty certain she threw my back out as I still feel it throbbing to this day. The follow day, after enduring the same brutal groundwork routine, I started jumping up an down beside her and laying all over her to see how much she really knew. She didn't flinch at all so on the third day, after again having little progress on the ground, I saddled her up and took her for a spin. The mare was hot-blooded and tense. She didn't know how to stop or back up and any time you tried to turn a circle to the inside she'd take off and use up half of the arena to complete the turn. Leg pressure or any kissing was taken a a signal to run full speed and it was a constant struggle between horse and rider for control. It was a mess and at that point I was about ready to ship this girl back to where she had came from and count my losses.

After a day of rest, I set out to make a final attempt at accomplishing something productive with the mare. I skipped the ground work, a little short on time, and saddled her up. I made an ajustment with the bitting (switching her from a full cheek snaffle to a s-hackamore) and hopped on. She was still prancy and tense but she was understanding the "whoa" command and stopping hard when asked. Her backing was also highly improved and she was taking multiple steps in succession. Satisfied with the response I called it quits for that day. The next day also warranted encouraging results. I repeated the previous days actions but this time tested out her turning. She maneuvered wonderfully, turned as sharply or as wide as I asked. Now today, I went back and worked her from the ground once again, not certain what to expect. She worked well though. The pulling and jerking had relented - much to my spine's relief. Finally, she is starting to lighten and understand. I can only see Halo excelling from here.