Hey hey heyyy!

Hey everyone!

I'm Sammi. Currently in school full time at my local community college and then planning to transfer to university in a year to pursue a degree in Agri-Business Management. My horse life if much more exciting than that, so I'll hop right on over to the important stuff

I mainly do eventing, but have tried and messed around with plenty of other disciplines in my history of riding. I currently own 8 horses that I claim as my "own" 4 of which are currently in work. 2 of those are minis. Shonee being my first ever horse and she is currently living the retired life occasionally giving lessons to little kids or pony rides. The other mini I claim is her first foal. Then there are my two babies Rabbit and Sneak. Rabbit is a TB/Hanoverian cross that will be turning 3 this coming September. He was a really late baby. Sneak is a welsh/paint cross. He was actually an accident baby that wasn't meant to happen, but when he popped out he was the cutest little buckskin and white pinto ever! He will be turning two this year and I hope to make him into a lesson pony one day.

Then there is Drake...my most loved and spoiled Drakey monster! He is coming 12 this year. Big chestnut Hanoverian with lots of chrome! I LOVE MY BIG BOY! Currently he isn't doing much. We were eventing Prelim until a really bad accident that we had (luckily he wasn't hurt, but I didn't end up so lucky) and after that he got a very rare and sever eye disease that we battled for months and months and months. He was only the 13th horse to ever be diagnosed with this disease. During the course of that he had about every possible complication. Three surgeries later and I don't even want to say how much money he is healed! He does have scarring on both eyes, but he is much better off than what his team of vets were expecting. With his impaired eyesight he is not the same horse any more undersaddle, so I've been taking it back to the basics and doing lots of lunging and basic work to see if he can gain his confidence back and be trusting.

I also recently acquired 3 baby racehorses. No, they aren't babies, but I call all my fresh OTTBs baby racehorses. Dunwoody is 4 years old and came from a steeplechase trainer. He is actually for sale as he doesn't have the upper level potential I was hoping for. So he's getting training and show experience and hopefully he'll find a great person who will love him for a long time. He's a really good horse, just not what I need. Whiskey and Ollie, the other two, both came from Charlestown Racetrack, but different owners. Whiskey is an adorable little grey with a good bit of talent and one heck of a jump! He's a quirky and silly guy, but has a WONDERFUL personality. I can't wait to see what the little guy has in store for him. His first dressage show was only 3 weeks post racetrack training and he got a 69% and 67% on his tests. Finally, there is Ollie. He hasn't started training yet, but needs to very soon. His last race was just on Dec. 24th so he is still in let down, but he is in serious need of brain stimulation so he will begin lunging soon. He will be quite a project I believe. Talent is oozing from him and he is absolutely gorgeous, but he is VERY full of himself. But I think that once his brain gets in the right place he will be unstoppable.

I also have one consignment horse currently. He is a TB/New Forest Pony cross. Cute little guy and fun to ride. And I may be teaming up with a OTTB rescue and retraining group to take in some of their horses and get the basics on them so they can have a better time of adopting them out. I did my first interview and am working on a time to go up and meet the horses etc. That is VERY exciting....more baby racehorses!

Anyways that is about all. Needless to say my plate is very full, but I'm excited to see a new forum and hopefully it takes off!

ETA: I'll post pictures of the gang soon enough, but I'm about to head off to class and don't have time for all that right now....but you'll be flooded soon enough

Awesome! Sounds like you've had your hands full then

And yay! Pictureeeeeees! Always my favourite part of the forum... Haha

Welcome back

I too look forward to pictures sounds like you do have a full plate with all your horses!

I'm glad you've gotten Drake all the help he needs, I'm sure it will be difficult, but well worth getting him back to his old self and more confident despite the impaired eye sight. How do you plan to help get him more confident even though he can't see?

Good luck with rehabbing Drake (or at least that's how I'd see it). I can say I've honestly not worked with a horse with impaired eye sight but I could see where they would be a very different animal. But I'm sure with time he'll become more comfortable in work.

As for the racehorses, good luck. I love OTTB's the ones I've worked with might be a bit sensitive, nervous, and fresh but they're very smart, try hard and learn very quickly. I've always liked their sensitivity and ability to work things through.

And good luck with some of your others guys, it sounds like you'll have your hands full!!

Morgan, due to where his scarring is he can see forward 100%, it is just his side and rear vision that is impaired. Anything that happens in those areas he is extra sensitive and scared of, so I don't really think there is much that can be done but time for him to learn that monsters aren't going to come eat him. He has days where he is better, but days he is still extra worried....mostly when it's windy etc. The good news with where the scaring is is that it doesn't impair his depth perception ect for jumping or really any kind of riding. I've jumped him a little bit, but we've sent him through a very complex jumping line and changed it up several times and he had absolutely no problem judging the jumps and various distances so that was encouraging.

I probably won't do upper level eventing stuff with him again just because the light changes and sometimes you cant see the second and third elements of a question until you are already in it and I don't want to risk either of us getting injured again since those jumps don't fall down, but I'm going to see what we can do dressage and jumpers wise

Thanks Nino and Cass. I'm so excited about my babies and the OTTBs ARE so fun. I love every one of them!

Thats good he has at least some vision going on. Hopefully its gets easier for him as time passes and he gets used to the 'new' vision he has.

Yay! Sammi!

I'm really interested to hear how Drake is going along with his new life over the next couple of months. I hope it gets easier for him as time goes on.

Aw yay I missed hearing your updates! So glad Drake has recovered, such a shame about his vision though.. But at least he's well! Excited for pictures of your lot Are you going to be doing eventing with your OTTBs when they're ready, or are you going to be sticking to more dressage and jumpers stuff?

Yep, I'll be eventing the OTTBs. Their debut event will be 3/16! Well Dunwoody for sure and we'll see about Whiskey. He isn't quite as brave from the get go so depending on how well he schools this coming weekend will decide if he gets to go to this one or wait for the next I'm super excited! Eventing is in my blood, so I can't see myself getting away from that completely. The dressage and jumpers is just something that I can do with Drake. Every good eventer needs experience in those rings as well so it will be good and Drake is too nice to just sit around and hack about (provided he adjusts)

Good luck with your baby racehorses!!! I've been following their progress as you post about them, Dunwoody is a handsome boy

Too bad about Drake, I know he was/is your heart...but at least he can still see to function. Hopefully with time and patience he'll gain back the confidence he had - best of luck in his rehab!

Keep the updates coming - you've got lots to post about!

Glad you're back Sammi!

I knew Drake was having eye problems and had surgery, but I had no idea it was that rare/that bad. It's great that he's doing better and you can work on getting his confidence back.

The babies sound like fun, they also seem quite promising. It's nice that you can retrain them and give them a productive, fun life.