Journaled on 15th January, 2001.

We (Christie & Matthew) decided to get a horse after we discovered trail
riding... the discovery led to more trail riding and more trail
riding, and in the end we were spending as much money on trail riding
in a weekend, than we would have done on owning our own horses. AND
not getting the benefit of having the companionship and trust between
a horse and owner.

After investigating a number of breeds - we decided to check out some
Standardbreds.  I had had a little experience with them as a friend of
mine's family owned and raced them in a syndicate.  I remember a
lovely stallion who was the most bombproof horse - this was before I
realised stallions could be dangerous.

After deciding to investigate stb's as a breed, officially, I met a
number of them.  People who had already taken horses off the track and
re-trained them were nice enough to introduce us to their horses, and
we had alot of fun meeting these folks.  They managed to sell us...
what more could appeal to a do-gooder like me, than to take on a horse
who had a lovely temperament, and who also had a large chance of
ending up as dog-food once they were retired from the track.

We advertised in the national trott news paper and had a number of
responses.  One of them from the trainer of "Flash".  Flash is a 7
year old chestnut gelding, 15.1hh, with 4 long white stockings.
(well, white most of the time!)  He is an ex-pacer, and was about 2
weeks off the track when we saw him.  Apparently he just didn't have
the speed in him anymore.

We took one look at him, and watched him wander around a while - and I
think we fell in love on the spot.  He was alot prettier than I had
expected to find (I was looking for temperament over looks), but as it
turns out I think we have found both.

We decided the next day to make Flash ours, and luckily both of his
owners agreed his race career was over, and we had him delivered.

You should have seen him when he arrived at our agistment venue, and
saw other horses, in paddocks, together!  He squealed with delight and
decided to canter around the yard we had him in, on his own for his
first night.  He had never been in a paddock except for spelling, and
never with other horses.  He thought he was in heaven. 

So much in heaven that for the next 2 days he decided he didn't want
to come out.  We spent a few tiring hours chasing him madly around his
10 acre paddock, until he decided he was too tired, and wanted dinner
after all.  Since then we have had no problem catching him, and now he
is eagerly awaiting our visits of a morning and night, at the gate.

Since his first day with us - Flash has taught us what he needs from
us, and we have learnt how we need to handle him.  He is fairly close
to bombproof, and dosn't batter an eyelid when dogs com out of nowhere
and jump on me while I am leading him.  He loves to please us, and is
a real clown with his water.  He is extremely easy to handle, and I
think to a degree he has spoilt us for any other breed of horse.  

Flash has been working in the round yard and the arena with us, since
the first week we bought him, as we wanted to maintain a certain level
of fitness in him.  We also wanted to have him walking, trotting and
cantering on voice command, and this he now does with surprising
reliability.  The "slowing-down" commands more readily ignored than
the "speeding-up" ones.  He also displays a great deal of stamina -
which you could expect from an athlete.

One hurdle which we haven't had to face was getting Flash to canter
for us.  His trainer informed us before we bought him, that he
encouraged Flash to canter in his Gig before he would pace in his
training, as a way of building up strength.  I am sure it has saved us
alot of time with him on the lunge... as he loves to canter and moves
in a lovely way.

He does still pace regularly, if the circle is too tight for him to
stretch out, or if he is unsure what we want.  It dosn't bother us -
and I certainly expected him to do it alot more than he does, but we
don't ask him to do it, as he gets an extremely keen look in his eye,
and I wonder sometimes what he would be like if we let him go "hell
for leather".  

Along with lunging we have been placing things on his back, and
leaning on him all over.  I have also been trying to stand above him
while I do things with him, so he gets used to someone being over him.
He is hesitant about this idea, but not too worried by it.  It is
interesting to watch him realise it is still me up there and not the
horse-eating monster.

All of these activities are geared up to assist with his under-saddle
training, which we are undertaking in 2 weeks.  

We can't wait to see what he is like to ride, and the way he is so
placid and sweet to us makes us even keener.

		- Christie

Click NEXT to find out how Flash got on getting to Lisa's!