Kai

Kai did well for Stephanie in the Michael Sparling Clinic. He was, as Michael put it, the trickiest horse that came to the clinic. To ride Kai successfully, your timing has to be dead on and you have to be right there to support and help him find balance. It is important to “get in and get out” and not to back off or be off in your timing. Michael worked with Kai each day of the clinic with Stephanie. He also donated a private groundwork session on the last day where he really helped Kai see what was being asked of him and made some good progress. He agreed that Joel Conner would be a very good trainer for Kai’s tune up and would help get him through some of the riding issues. Kai needs to engage his core, lift his back and learn to use his body properly and Joel can help him do that through his training. Kai has a harder time doing this to the left. The goal is that Joel will be able to loosen Kai up in any braced spots and find engagement in his hind. 

Poor Kai had a few hoof abscesses this month. We have been treating them and all are healing up well. We are working him in boots, and that seems to be helping with his front foot tenderness. He is holding a good weight through the winter. We are looking into getting him some bodywork to help with his physical strains. The area that needs the most attention is his left sacrum, which can get tight and cause him muscle discomfort. We had a donation of acupuncture in the beginning of December that really seemed to help loosen up the area. We are looking forward to seeing if a repeat visit has the same effect. 

Kai is doing wonderful for both his riding work and behavior. He is getting to spend a few nights a week in the arena for turnout which has been great for his energy level and training rides. We are working right now to clear up some thrush in his front feet. Wet weather and thoroughbred feet are always a tough combination but we are staying on top of it and getting it cleared up. He is being a great boy for the treatment.

Here is Kai doing some liberty work with Erika:

I’ve had some wonderful rides on Kai this month where he was feeling stronger and showed some good self carriage. I started working on sitting trot and found he is not ready for this on his weak back muscles. I will continue to slowly introduce more of this over the month and work on balancing forward aids with transitions and getting him to rock back on his hind quarters more. He has a little confusion when asked to stay engaged and sit but he will be able to do this on a more constant basis as he strengthens.

Can’t help but love this big hunk…somewhat distant exterior, but a heart of gold underneath for the right person, and, if you work for it, tons of easily offended dignity. He is the type that really doesn’t like to be laughed at or have his many ideas dismissed or ignored. If he gets emotionally hurt or rattled, he reacts with grumpiness but he doesn’t really care that much about your love or praise. He likes the “Socratic method,”  he will look at a request or task from every angle and test every one out before he gives you what you ask for. You have to earn stuff with him, he won’t just give it to you because you want it and it makes you happy.  Horses like this can be difficult to motivate but once they partner up they take a lot of pride in their team work.

He absolutely can learn to do things properly, but for instance where Dottie is open, interested, and eager to work for approval, Kai’s initial reaction to any request is usually “no” or “why should I?” He doesn’t particularly care if some random person thinks he’s being “good” or not. With time and once you establish respect, with a good, loving relationship, that will change. He’s not mean, dangerous, or ill-tempered – he’s just not a pushover or particularly social. Maybe a little bit suspicious by nature, and sensitive to being slighted.

My guess is he will be slow to come around, and need to “date” his person for a while to establish that relationship.  Not so much that he’s slow to trust, but more that he’s slow to warm and let you completely connect. The rider will needs to be calm, very patient, consistent, and understand his “way” without rushing him. He will loses confidence and become very braced and resistant if you don’t let him work thought things in his mind. You need to respect that he has to work through his own natural resistance to requests. If you are consistent and fair, keep saying try this and then praise his success, he will come around and do it well. It may just be a bit of a road to get there. He’s got to explore all his options, and see if you have the staying power to last through it. The process is to be consistent, fair, and kind, and always respect his dignity.

Kai is back at SAFE Harbor and is once again available for adoption. 

Kai was adopted earlier this year to a rider looking for a horse to do low-level eventing and trail riding with. After an extended trial period, things were going quite well for Kai — he was enjoying long rides in the park at Bridle Trails and he was excelling in his lessons over fences. But several weeks ago, during the onset of fall weather, Kai and his adopter were walking on the trails in the park when Kai suddenly spooked, spun, and bolted, unseating his rider. She came off and almost landed on her feet, but the impact resulted in two fractures in her lower leg. She ended up having surgery followed by 12 weeks of recovery with no riding.

I spoke with Kai’s adopter about the incident at great length, and she agreed that it was definitely an example of a “young Thoroughbred moment” and that Kai has just momentarily lost his brain due to whatever he saw that caused him to spook. She was very clear that he had done nothing wrong, and had not behaved dangerously or done anything intentionally that caused her to be hurt. But after giving it a great deal of thought, she asked SAFE to take Kai back. Her accident and injury caused her to rethink her decision to adopt this young, athletic horse, because, as she wryly commented, at a certain age, “we don’t bounce the way we did when we were younger.” Her concern was that she would be worried about falling again and communicating that fear to a sensitive horse like Kai might not end well. Despite the logic behind her decision, she still struggled with it a great deal because she recognized that he’s a quality horse, the likes of which don’t come along that often. And she was very fond of him and his sweet, snuggly personality. But in the end, she made the decision that he wasn’t the right horse for her, and we agreed to take him back.

Since he’s been back at SAFE Harbor, Kai’s been reunited with trainer Brittney Stewart, who has always really loved riding this horse, and the two of them are back at work. Brittney says that Kai has lost a little bit of conditioning since he left SAFE earlier in the year, so they are working on building up his muscles and his top line and getting him fit again. Once he’s back in shape, she plans to take him on a field trip to work on jumping (the arenas at SAFE Harbor are a little too small to safely jump in). We are offering him for adoption right away and hope to find an experienced, confident rider who can deal with an occasional spook from an athletic young horse. Kai’s adopter told us that his spooking behavior was pretty much limited to the trails, and that he was good as gold when working in the arena. She also said that he did great in his lessons over fences, and was extremely brave and willing, and really seemed to enjoy jumping. 

If you are interested in Kai, you can find the SAFE adoption application online by clicking here.

SAFE trainer Brittney Stewart has this to say about Kai after riding him today: “If I was in the market for an event horse, I’d adopt him. He really tries. I didn’t even lunge him today and he was a SUPER good boy. I sat on him like a couch while I gave one of the volunteers a lesson on Kat. I was showing her how to do a turn on the forehand and leg-yield, using Kai as a willing model. I wasn’t expecting much out of him, but he has heart and put his mind to it with no fuss.”

SAFE Trainer Brittney Stewart has had the opportunity to work with Kai a few times now, and she’s pretty pleased with what she’s seen from him. He’s very green, of course, but unlike many of the off-the-track thoroughbreds she’s ridden, she finds that Kai listens to her seat and outside aids, so he obviously got a good education from his first trainer, Cam Reeves. Cam was also successful in teaching him not to bolt, and while Brittney isn’t giving him opportunities to try that with her, she did note that during a recent ride, when a tarp was snapping outside the arena, Kai really “tried to hold it together” and was a good boy about the whole thing. On their first session together, he gave her some grief about bridling, but he’s since given up that behavior as well.

Here’s a video from today’s ride on Kai. Brittney said that this was her last ride of the day, and after riding 7 other horses, Kai knew she was tired and made her work a bit harder than she wanted to, but overall he was a good boy and didn’t do anything silly.