From the time of her birth, Goldie was hardly ever touched by a human. Sure, her owners fed her and her dam, along with her two older half sisters, but no handling was ever done. She was allowed to live like she was a wild Mustang, instead of a Thoroughbred with a possible racing future. In the late spring of her yearling year, Goldie's life changed, when she met me.
I was working on a ranch in Texas, where Goldie's sire stood at stud. Goldie's owners wanted her dam to be bred back to Goldie's sire, so we took the horse trailer to go pick up Goldie's dam. The owners also decided that we should take Goldie and her older half sisters, too. They were in desperate need of farrier care and some handling.
It took over an hour to get the 4 of them loaded onto the trailer. The older sisters had some handling, but not a lot. Just enough that a halter was able to be put on them and they would lead a little bit, but not great. We loaded the older sisters first, then Goldie's dam, and Goldie had to be herded onto the trailer.
Despite what her name may be, she was not gold in color, actually almost a dark bay, with only a hint of red to her coat. I don't think she even had any white markings, maybe a tiny star, but I don't remember, for sure.
Once back at the ranch, it was my job to start teaching Goldie about humans and start her early training. Since I had some experience with Mustangs, I decided to treat her similar to how I had been successful with them.
Goldie was put in the barn, if you can call it that, as it was more of a 3 sided building with 4 foot high panels on the front. You could open them up and give the horses a small run area. Her area was usually kept open and it measured about 16 x 32 feet, at most.
I would stand by her feed bucket as she ate, so she would get used to my scent and me being present while she ate. At first, I did this from the other side of the metal panel, and when she had accepted me being there, I would then stand beside the bucket, but on the same side of the panel as she was on, so I was now in her space. I wanted her to get used to me being there, my smell, my voice, my movements, etc.
Once she became more relaxed about that, I started to hold the bucket and have her come to me to eat. She could only eat if she came to me and stuck her head into the bucket I was holding. This took a few days, but soon she caught on and started to accept this, so then I moved to the next step, which was trying to touch her.
At first, every time my hand moved towards her, no matter how slowly, she would jump away and run to the back of the pen. But, she'd soon come back, hunger for the grain winning over her fear of me.
A few more days passed and I was soon petting her gently on the head. So, i then hung the bucket back up on the panel and stood next to it, again, as she ate, this time I had both hands free to try and touch her. First just her head, then her neck, then her shoulder, each day a little further.
Everyday we made slow progress in where I could touch her and pet her gently. When I'd try to go a bit further, she'd still wheel and run to the back of the pen. I never feared her kicking me, even though I am pretty sure she was kicking out in my direction, as she ran away, but something told me that she was not mean, and would not intentionally hurt me.
We were making great progress and I added a halter to the top of the feed bucket, for her to stick her nose through, in order to eat. This did spook her quite a bit and the next thing I knew the ranch owner was running out of the house and yelling at me that I was doing this all wrong and I was going to get hurt. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands and show me, what she considered, the "right way" to deal with a wild horse was.
I had spent weeks building up a relationship with Goldie and my heart sank as this woman returned with a lunge whip. She entered the pen with Goldie and all I could do was stand by and hope and pray she would not undo all my hard work to gain Goldie's trust.
A common practice, which I was aware of before this woman decided to show me, is to use a whip as an extension of your arm, but since I am legally blind, this actually is more dangerous for me, then the way I was doing it. I do not like using whips, unless I have to.
This woman reached out and started touching Goldie with the end of the whip and GOldie completely flipped out. She was racing around the small pen trying to find a way to escape, but there was no way out. Goldie was scared out of her mind as this woman insisted on continueing to touch Goldie. This went on for what seemed like hours, but was maybe 45 minutes. Goldie never accepting the lunge whip touching her. I was almost in tears knowing how scared Goldie must have been. She had only known my kind hands and now a whip was being flung at her, she was hit with it, several times, it wasn't just used as an extension of a calm hand.
We left Goldie to settle down and I had to listen to this woman tell me that I had to do the same thing the next day. That my way was taking too long and she thought I was going to get hurt.
But in my way, Goldie never raced around the pen frantically looking for a way out. For me, with my vision, that is way more dangerous than me standing calmly at one end of the pen, just trying to calmly touch her as she ate, and if she needed a break from me, she could just go to the back of the pen and I would let her have her moment and then she would always return to me.
The next day I tried to stand by the bucket, like I had done all those days, even weeks, before, but Goldie would not have any part of me. I started to cry, I couldn't help it. I told her how sorry I was, but that the lady was my boss and I had no say.
I quit that job about a week later, never regaining Goldie's confidence. I had other reasons, not just the Goldie experience for leaving this job, but it was part of it. I think the main theme of the difficulty is the lady's insistance that her way was the only right way and that any variation of that was wrong and dangerous. I tried to explain that I had to do things differently, sometimes, due to my eyesight, but like many others, she just didn't understand or want to understand, she was stubborn in her thinking and not willing to believe that there could be more than one right way to do something.
Experiences like what I went through with Goldie leave me wondering why do people insist on their way always being the right way and the quick way being better than a slow way? I will never understand people like this. I need to do things a bit differently, because of my vision, this doesn't make it wrong, it just is what works for me and I still get great results. I have never been seriously hurt by a horse, but if I do get hurt, it happens to sighted people all the time, it won't be due to my vision or my techniques.
I had been very successful with the Mustangs I had worked with, see my post on "The Mustangs of Hawkeye Hill", for more details, and I know that if Goldie and I had been left alone, just a little bit longer, I would have had that halter on her, had her leading, had her loading on a trailer, accepting tack, and eventually a rider.
Someone else was brought in to work with Goldie, after I left, and I don't know all the details, but she was eventually broke to ride, but I don't think she ever made it to the track. A shame, as she was a nice filly, just was never given the chance from the start.
Showing posts with label Mustangs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mustangs. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Mustangs of Hawkeye Hill Racing School
While working at Hawkeye Hill Racing School in Indiana, during the summer of 1992, I met my first real Mustangs. The lady that owned the place had adopted four of them from Nevada, she said they had come from the desert, and from their looks, they had definitely lacked in nutrition, in their younger years, as all were pony sized, so not sure if they came from the desert or not, but they had definitely come from an area of limited resources. All four were geldings, their names were Moon Shadow, Desparado, Nips, and Nevada.
Moon Shadow and Desparado were kept in a small pasture infront of the main training barn, because if they were let out into the huge 20 plus acre field, they sometimes would not come back, still having some of their wild tendencies very strong in them. Previous students or workers on the farm had worked with these two the most, so they were the furthest along in their training, but still very green.
Nevada was kept in a small dry lot, behind one of the barns, as he was still the most wild of the group, having the least handling. I never worked with him, as another girl fell in love with him and promised she'd work with him, but she never got very far, at least that I saw.
Nips was allowed out into the main field, with the rest of the retired racehorses and other riding horses, but he always wore his halter, so that he could be caught more easily. He was very afraid of things and would spook easily. If anyone tried to put a lead on his halter, he would get very upset, but if you let him with just your hand on his halter, he was more likely to go with you. It was only because of this, he was allowed out in the field, that he'd come up with the main herd and he was mostly okay to lead, if you led him his way.
There was something about the little chestnut gelding, Nips, that drew me to him, so I asked for permission to work with him, in my spare time, and it was granted.
First, I spent time in his stall, with him, to get him used to my presence and my smell. I just put my hands on him, touching him where he would let me, at first, and then slowly pushing my way to touching other areas of him, slowly, as not to scare him, I just gently touched him all over his body, each day increasing where I would touch. Then I added the grooming tools, the soft brush, first, then the others, like the curry, stiff brush, and main and tail comb, eventually I was even able to pick up his feet and clean them out with the hoof pick. As his confidence grew in allowing me to do all of this, I would put the lead rope on him, for a few minutes each day, so he'd get used to it just being there, attached to his halter, then I started just leading him, the way he liked, but with the lead still attached, so he got used to it moving as he walked, because I think that is what might have been scaring him. I slowly just led him around his stall and slowly was able to remove my hand from the halter and move it to the lead rope, so eventually I was not having to lead him with my hand on his halter and he was leading like a regular horse.
At that point, it was time to try leading him outside of the stall, so I undid the stall chains and ropes, that were what was used for his stall door, and I slowly encouraged him to come with me, out into the barn aisle, and then outside of the barn. At this point, the owner came over and saw how much progress I had made and was apparently impressed, because she then asked me to start working with Desparado and Moon Shadow, as well, as no one was currently doing anything with them and they needed their training continued.
I agreed that I'd start working with them, along with working with Nips.
Nips's training continued, with me putting the tack in the stall with us, as I groomed him, so he could get used to seeing it, smelling it, etc. I let him check all of it out, as i groomed him, each day. When it was time to try putting it on him, I took the saddle blanket, folded it up very small, into the size of a wash cloth. I then rubbed it all over his back and sides, getting him used to the feel of it.
I then placed the folded up saddle blanket on his back and slowly started to unfold it. Nips turned his head to see what I was doing, but stood still, like a good boy. The next day, I did the same thing and then was able to add the saddle pad. Each day, I added a new piece of tack, the saddle, then the girth, the girth cover, and eventually the bridle.
Then it was time to lead him out of the stall, all tacked up. When he was able to walk around the farm, being led, with all the tack on, and not spooking, it was time to teach him to steer and do some more of his ground work, to get him ready to accept a rider.
Meanwhile, my work started with Desparado and Moon Shadow. As it had been a very long time since anyone had worked with them, we put them in the roundpen and started by lungeing them, getting them used to the tack, ground driving them, so they would remember how to steer, etc.
Even though I am tall, I didn't weigh very much, back then, around 118 pounds, so despite their small sizes, I was not considered too heavy for them, so when it was time for them to be ridden, again, I was the first one to get on them, as they were used to me, the most.
Both made a lot of progress at first, both being able to be ridden outside of the roundpen and eventually one of the other riders would ride Moon Shadow, while I rode Desparado around one of the 3 acre pastures, located on the infield of the training track.
I was soon able to take Desparado onto the small 1/8 mile all weather training track with the other horses, to exercise him and get him used to horses being ridden around him.
It was so funny riding him, as others rode by us, because he was only about 13 hands or so and the other horses were almost all over 15 hands, some being over 16 hands. He was doing so well, that one morning when we were given our riding assignments, the owner decided to let someone else ride Desparado.
I happened to be on another horse, at the same time as the other person was on Desparado and I watched as Desparado took the guy off the small all weather training track, into the center, where we had some jumps set up, for when prospective buyers came to look at the retired racehorses, they could have a jump or two to try them over. Well, Desparado just took this guy into that area and just started spinning in circles. I don't recall him bucking and trying to get the guy off of him in a mean way, he just was showing his major displeasure with this new rider by not cooperating one bit. So, the next day, I was put back on Desparado to continue working with him, as obviously he did a lot better for me and I was getting through to him in his training.
I don't remember if it was that day or a few days later, but I was riding him on the 1/8 mile track along with about 6 other horses and riders. This girl on a big grey horse went galloping by us and suddenly the grey went into a bucking fit and threw the girl off, almost right infront of us. Desparado calmly trotted around her and kept on going, while some of the other horses got upset, he stayed calm and kept his mind on his business. I was so proud of him.
Eventually, others were able to ride him and he would listen to them, so my training and patience had worked with him.
Moon Shadow, meanwhile, had relapsed and had gotten very nervous about being ridden outside of the roundpen, so I had to take him back into that small riding area and start working him in there, slowly, to regain his confidence. Unlike, Desparado and Nips, I also think Moon Shadow had a bit more of a mean side to him, as well.
As I would ride Moon Shadow around in the roundpen, he would try to get me off by slamming my leg into the fencing, and after a few days, when he realized that tactic wasn't working, he started getting hard to mount. I'd go to get on him, and as I was swinging my right leg up and over his back, he'd jump sideways, to the right, leaving me hanging in mid air and having to quickly land on my feet.
Eventually, he got so bad about me mounting him, that we had to put blinkers on him, so he could not see me trying to mount him. We also would have one person holding him and one person trying to help me get on him. It would usually take a few attempts, even after all of that, but I never gave up and never let him win, and I'd always get on him.
I have no clue why he started doing all this, except that it started when the other rider was riding him, so something must have happened, I don't know what, to make him not happy about being ridden, because he had been at the same level of training as Desparado had been. Who knows what makes horses change, it can be different things for each horse, that sets them off down the path of misbehavior and then you have to figure out a way to get back to them that it is okay to be ridden or handled and not to be afraid.
Before I left the farm, I did have him back to being mounted more quietly and riding better in the roundpen, but I had not started taking him back out of the roundpen, before I left. I just know it was persistance, just working with him everyday and never getting mad at him, being patient, and he was slowly coming back around.
Before I left, Nips was starting to be ridden, but as he was the smallest of the bunch, the owner decided that even my light weight was too much for him, so had another girl get on him, because she only weighed 105 pounds, though, to this day, I really don't know if 13 pounds really would make that big of a difference.
The owner was strange, at times, she'd be super happy with you one minute and mad at you the next. She told you she wanted to know if you noticed any problems with a horse, but if you did approach her with an issue, it would suddenly turn into something that you did to cause the problem, riding wise, health wise, or whatever, so you started to learn to just keep your mouth shut and just ask amongst yourselves, but then you'd learn that some of the others would go and tell the owner something about one of the horses in your care, behind your back and you'd get fussed at anyways, you just couldn't win. We were there to learn about racing, but when you are met with such hostility, at times, it doesn't make for a very good learning environment.
A lot of what we learned was from watching others, who had learned it from watching other previous students and workers, and what we learned at the track, when we took horses to breeze in the morning or race in the afternoons.
When a new group of student workers would come in, at the beginning of each month, she would start out teaching us, for about a week, and slowly the lessons got less and less, until non-existant, by the second week, and then not much learning, from her, until the next group came in. It left a lot of students very frustrated, some even leaving, despite the non-refundable fees we paid her to learn from her. They just got fed up with the lack of teaching and the conditions on the farm and how we were living, but some of us who were really serious, stuck around, and as we all learned later, I'm sure, because I did, most racing farms you work for had similar living conditions, if not worse, the pay sucked, treatment by trainers sucked, but you still did it, because you loved the horses, it was all for the horses and you learned to put up with a bunch of crap, until you just had it, and then you'd move on to the next farm. I met a lot of people who just went from farm to farm, dealing with each trainer or owner, for as long as they could handle them, and then they'd move on, in fact, several of them had a circuit that they'd make, of about 3 or 4 farms, and the trainers knew these riders and workers would always come back in a year or so and stay for 6 months or so, before moving to their next farm. So, they never learned to treat the employees any better, because they always knew they'd come back and there were young girls, like myself, to take their place, when they did leave. It was a viscious cycle and I'm sure it still goes on, on a lot of farms, today.
I started at Hawkeye Hill on July 1st and I left in the middle of September of 1992, so I was there for only 2 1/2 months. I had planned to return, after a short visit back home, but found the job working for Longwood Farm in Maryland, which my parents pushed me to take, as it was a lot closer to home than Indiana, plus it was a paying job, instead of one where I was working for free, in Indiana, for being taught, when I really wasn't being taught anything, anymore, from the owner.
From what I understand, Hawkeye Hill, had once been a very good place to go and learn, but by the time I got there, it was in a spiral downward and losing it's reputation as a good place to go and learn about the racing industry. Since that was the time before the internet really took off, there was no way to truly research whether it was a good place or not.
I learned a lot from the horses of Hawkeye Hill, especially the three Mustangs that I worked with. The racehorses and retired racehorses, also taught me a lot about how to exercise ride, deal with a variety of leg issues and other ailments, and just how to do the day to day care of a horse, things you just don't learn taking weekly lessons. So, despite not meeting expectations and not learning nearly as much as I had hoped to learn, I did learn a lot, especially from those wonderful little Mustangs.
Moon Shadow and Desparado were kept in a small pasture infront of the main training barn, because if they were let out into the huge 20 plus acre field, they sometimes would not come back, still having some of their wild tendencies very strong in them. Previous students or workers on the farm had worked with these two the most, so they were the furthest along in their training, but still very green.
Nevada was kept in a small dry lot, behind one of the barns, as he was still the most wild of the group, having the least handling. I never worked with him, as another girl fell in love with him and promised she'd work with him, but she never got very far, at least that I saw.
Nips was allowed out into the main field, with the rest of the retired racehorses and other riding horses, but he always wore his halter, so that he could be caught more easily. He was very afraid of things and would spook easily. If anyone tried to put a lead on his halter, he would get very upset, but if you let him with just your hand on his halter, he was more likely to go with you. It was only because of this, he was allowed out in the field, that he'd come up with the main herd and he was mostly okay to lead, if you led him his way.
There was something about the little chestnut gelding, Nips, that drew me to him, so I asked for permission to work with him, in my spare time, and it was granted.
First, I spent time in his stall, with him, to get him used to my presence and my smell. I just put my hands on him, touching him where he would let me, at first, and then slowly pushing my way to touching other areas of him, slowly, as not to scare him, I just gently touched him all over his body, each day increasing where I would touch. Then I added the grooming tools, the soft brush, first, then the others, like the curry, stiff brush, and main and tail comb, eventually I was even able to pick up his feet and clean them out with the hoof pick. As his confidence grew in allowing me to do all of this, I would put the lead rope on him, for a few minutes each day, so he'd get used to it just being there, attached to his halter, then I started just leading him, the way he liked, but with the lead still attached, so he got used to it moving as he walked, because I think that is what might have been scaring him. I slowly just led him around his stall and slowly was able to remove my hand from the halter and move it to the lead rope, so eventually I was not having to lead him with my hand on his halter and he was leading like a regular horse.
At that point, it was time to try leading him outside of the stall, so I undid the stall chains and ropes, that were what was used for his stall door, and I slowly encouraged him to come with me, out into the barn aisle, and then outside of the barn. At this point, the owner came over and saw how much progress I had made and was apparently impressed, because she then asked me to start working with Desparado and Moon Shadow, as well, as no one was currently doing anything with them and they needed their training continued.
I agreed that I'd start working with them, along with working with Nips.
Nips's training continued, with me putting the tack in the stall with us, as I groomed him, so he could get used to seeing it, smelling it, etc. I let him check all of it out, as i groomed him, each day. When it was time to try putting it on him, I took the saddle blanket, folded it up very small, into the size of a wash cloth. I then rubbed it all over his back and sides, getting him used to the feel of it.
I then placed the folded up saddle blanket on his back and slowly started to unfold it. Nips turned his head to see what I was doing, but stood still, like a good boy. The next day, I did the same thing and then was able to add the saddle pad. Each day, I added a new piece of tack, the saddle, then the girth, the girth cover, and eventually the bridle.
Then it was time to lead him out of the stall, all tacked up. When he was able to walk around the farm, being led, with all the tack on, and not spooking, it was time to teach him to steer and do some more of his ground work, to get him ready to accept a rider.
Meanwhile, my work started with Desparado and Moon Shadow. As it had been a very long time since anyone had worked with them, we put them in the roundpen and started by lungeing them, getting them used to the tack, ground driving them, so they would remember how to steer, etc.
Even though I am tall, I didn't weigh very much, back then, around 118 pounds, so despite their small sizes, I was not considered too heavy for them, so when it was time for them to be ridden, again, I was the first one to get on them, as they were used to me, the most.
Both made a lot of progress at first, both being able to be ridden outside of the roundpen and eventually one of the other riders would ride Moon Shadow, while I rode Desparado around one of the 3 acre pastures, located on the infield of the training track.
I was soon able to take Desparado onto the small 1/8 mile all weather training track with the other horses, to exercise him and get him used to horses being ridden around him.
It was so funny riding him, as others rode by us, because he was only about 13 hands or so and the other horses were almost all over 15 hands, some being over 16 hands. He was doing so well, that one morning when we were given our riding assignments, the owner decided to let someone else ride Desparado.
I happened to be on another horse, at the same time as the other person was on Desparado and I watched as Desparado took the guy off the small all weather training track, into the center, where we had some jumps set up, for when prospective buyers came to look at the retired racehorses, they could have a jump or two to try them over. Well, Desparado just took this guy into that area and just started spinning in circles. I don't recall him bucking and trying to get the guy off of him in a mean way, he just was showing his major displeasure with this new rider by not cooperating one bit. So, the next day, I was put back on Desparado to continue working with him, as obviously he did a lot better for me and I was getting through to him in his training.
I don't remember if it was that day or a few days later, but I was riding him on the 1/8 mile track along with about 6 other horses and riders. This girl on a big grey horse went galloping by us and suddenly the grey went into a bucking fit and threw the girl off, almost right infront of us. Desparado calmly trotted around her and kept on going, while some of the other horses got upset, he stayed calm and kept his mind on his business. I was so proud of him.
Eventually, others were able to ride him and he would listen to them, so my training and patience had worked with him.
Moon Shadow, meanwhile, had relapsed and had gotten very nervous about being ridden outside of the roundpen, so I had to take him back into that small riding area and start working him in there, slowly, to regain his confidence. Unlike, Desparado and Nips, I also think Moon Shadow had a bit more of a mean side to him, as well.
As I would ride Moon Shadow around in the roundpen, he would try to get me off by slamming my leg into the fencing, and after a few days, when he realized that tactic wasn't working, he started getting hard to mount. I'd go to get on him, and as I was swinging my right leg up and over his back, he'd jump sideways, to the right, leaving me hanging in mid air and having to quickly land on my feet.
Eventually, he got so bad about me mounting him, that we had to put blinkers on him, so he could not see me trying to mount him. We also would have one person holding him and one person trying to help me get on him. It would usually take a few attempts, even after all of that, but I never gave up and never let him win, and I'd always get on him.
I have no clue why he started doing all this, except that it started when the other rider was riding him, so something must have happened, I don't know what, to make him not happy about being ridden, because he had been at the same level of training as Desparado had been. Who knows what makes horses change, it can be different things for each horse, that sets them off down the path of misbehavior and then you have to figure out a way to get back to them that it is okay to be ridden or handled and not to be afraid.
Before I left the farm, I did have him back to being mounted more quietly and riding better in the roundpen, but I had not started taking him back out of the roundpen, before I left. I just know it was persistance, just working with him everyday and never getting mad at him, being patient, and he was slowly coming back around.
Before I left, Nips was starting to be ridden, but as he was the smallest of the bunch, the owner decided that even my light weight was too much for him, so had another girl get on him, because she only weighed 105 pounds, though, to this day, I really don't know if 13 pounds really would make that big of a difference.
The owner was strange, at times, she'd be super happy with you one minute and mad at you the next. She told you she wanted to know if you noticed any problems with a horse, but if you did approach her with an issue, it would suddenly turn into something that you did to cause the problem, riding wise, health wise, or whatever, so you started to learn to just keep your mouth shut and just ask amongst yourselves, but then you'd learn that some of the others would go and tell the owner something about one of the horses in your care, behind your back and you'd get fussed at anyways, you just couldn't win. We were there to learn about racing, but when you are met with such hostility, at times, it doesn't make for a very good learning environment.
A lot of what we learned was from watching others, who had learned it from watching other previous students and workers, and what we learned at the track, when we took horses to breeze in the morning or race in the afternoons.
When a new group of student workers would come in, at the beginning of each month, she would start out teaching us, for about a week, and slowly the lessons got less and less, until non-existant, by the second week, and then not much learning, from her, until the next group came in. It left a lot of students very frustrated, some even leaving, despite the non-refundable fees we paid her to learn from her. They just got fed up with the lack of teaching and the conditions on the farm and how we were living, but some of us who were really serious, stuck around, and as we all learned later, I'm sure, because I did, most racing farms you work for had similar living conditions, if not worse, the pay sucked, treatment by trainers sucked, but you still did it, because you loved the horses, it was all for the horses and you learned to put up with a bunch of crap, until you just had it, and then you'd move on to the next farm. I met a lot of people who just went from farm to farm, dealing with each trainer or owner, for as long as they could handle them, and then they'd move on, in fact, several of them had a circuit that they'd make, of about 3 or 4 farms, and the trainers knew these riders and workers would always come back in a year or so and stay for 6 months or so, before moving to their next farm. So, they never learned to treat the employees any better, because they always knew they'd come back and there were young girls, like myself, to take their place, when they did leave. It was a viscious cycle and I'm sure it still goes on, on a lot of farms, today.
I started at Hawkeye Hill on July 1st and I left in the middle of September of 1992, so I was there for only 2 1/2 months. I had planned to return, after a short visit back home, but found the job working for Longwood Farm in Maryland, which my parents pushed me to take, as it was a lot closer to home than Indiana, plus it was a paying job, instead of one where I was working for free, in Indiana, for being taught, when I really wasn't being taught anything, anymore, from the owner.
From what I understand, Hawkeye Hill, had once been a very good place to go and learn, but by the time I got there, it was in a spiral downward and losing it's reputation as a good place to go and learn about the racing industry. Since that was the time before the internet really took off, there was no way to truly research whether it was a good place or not.
I learned a lot from the horses of Hawkeye Hill, especially the three Mustangs that I worked with. The racehorses and retired racehorses, also taught me a lot about how to exercise ride, deal with a variety of leg issues and other ailments, and just how to do the day to day care of a horse, things you just don't learn taking weekly lessons. So, despite not meeting expectations and not learning nearly as much as I had hoped to learn, I did learn a lot, especially from those wonderful little Mustangs.
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