Ten months and 26 days ago, I said yes to a plain-looking bay Thoroughbred gelding named Candy Ruby. The 7-year-old son of Candy Ride had recently retired from racing, and I was itching for a horse to call my own after a two-year hiatus. There was no trial ride, no prepurchase exam (I did do one post-purchase), no other horses considered. In hindsight, I got pretty lucky.

I applied for and was accepted as a trainer for the 2019 Thoroughbred Makeover, something I—a lifelong lover-of-all-things-Warmblood—had quietly been wanting to do since I first watched the event in 2015. Transforming “Ruben” from racehorse to respectable hunter has been one of the most fun journeys I’ve taken with a horse. I’ve also learned so many things about the Thoroughbred breed and the retraining process. As we head into the week of the Thoroughbred Makeover, I’ve reflected on how we got here.

The Early Months

Ruben’s first few months off the track were rough. Most Thoroughbreds benefit from some time “letting down” from racing and learning to just be a horse. So right before the holidays I equipped body-clipped Ruben with a nice new blanket, pulled his shoes, and turned him out 24/7 in a field with three other geldings. Despite my daily check-ins, one thing after another seemed to go wrong. Within a few weeks, Ruben’s blanket was ripped to shreds and his rump was covered in teeth marks. After a prolonged hard freeze, his thin-soled feet started to get sore. Any unblanketed inch of his body developed rainrot, and one weekend his hind legs swelled to the size of small tree trunks with cellulitis from standing in the unrelenting mud.

I doctored Ruben’s feet, skin, and blankets for two months before admitting defeat and putting him back into a full-care program. During that early period of daily grooming, hoof-packing, and carrot deliveries, however, Ruben and I started to build a connection. His personality began to emerge.

A Crash Course in Thoroughbred Feet

I’ve always heard about the delicate state of off-track Thoroughbreds’ feet. Many have thin soles, long toes, low heels, bad angles. Ruben retired with relatively good-looking hooves, which is why I thought I could get away with pulling his shoes for the winter. When my veterinarian took radiographs to direct our hoof care strategy going forward, she confirmed that Ruben had very thin soles.

Mid-March, shortly after his bruised feet had healed, poor Ruben developed The Abscess From Hell. My farrier called it one of the worst he’d seen. The hole in his sole kept trying to seal over, retrapping the painful infection within. After weeks of soaking and treating, I was eager to get Ruben back in shoes and officially begin the retraining process.

I was fortunate to catch my farrier and vet on a day they were both at the barn at the same time. We discussed shoeing options, and they agreed that several cycles of therapeutic glue-ons would give my horse the best shot at staying sound over the summer. One lost nail-on shoe could take with it valuable hoof wall and set us back significantly. Knowing that I had the Makeover in October as my end goal, it was in my horse’s and my best interest to cough up the money for the best shoeing I could buy. I made room in my budget for a set of $300 front glue-ons every eight weeks, and it’s paid off. Ruben has been as sound as can be, and last week he graduated back into regular shoes.

What’s Up With His Coat?

I got this question a lot and never really had a good answer to it. Ruben came to me body-clipped in the middle of winter and never really grew a heavy coat … except on his neck. And his belly. Come spring and early summer, he hung onto the fuzzy coat that had sprouted only on his unblanketed parts. Where he’d lost chunks of hair to rainrot earlier in the year, the coat grew in a significantly lighter shade of bay. He was a mottled and shaggy mess, so much so that my concerned veterinarian ran a blood test to make sure an underlying condition wasn’t causing coat issues. We did a fecal to rule out parasites and treated Ruben for gastric ulcers.

I opted not to clip the long portions of his coat but wait for them to shed naturally. So at our first few shows, I painstakingly hand-plucked the strip of inch-long guard hairs that ran the length of his belly. I curried his hairy neck forever. By the end of July, Ruben finally shed the last of his awkward winter coat, transforming into a velvety and shiny boy. So bizarre.

Training Strategies

I’m no stranger to developing green horses. I’ve self-started two homebreds and have always gravitated toward the “project horse” over the made one. I enjoy the challenge and love feeling a horse progress. I’ve never, however, been on a timeline to reach a training goal. Psychologically, it’s completely different than goals like qualifying for a championship or moving up a level or selling a horse.

In the retraining game, you have to move at your Thoroughbred’s pace, regardless of how fast or slow that might be. I felt soooo behind when Ruben and I finally started regular work and jumped our first cross-rail in April. One of the beautiful yet sometimes disheartening things about the Makeover is the social media community of trainers that has developed around it. While my horse was still learning to trot three ground poles in a row without falling on his face, other trainers were already posting videos of their Makeover hopefuls schooling 3-foot cross-country courses. I had to continually remind myself to focus on my horse’s progress, and his only.

Over the last six months, we’ve completed one groundwork clinic, one trail challenge, and six horse shows. We’ve jumped through about 100 grids and tried four different bits. We do flatwork four days a week and jump once. We can string together eight nice fences in a row, and I’ve finally joined the ranks of Makeover trainers proudly sharing videos of their horses’ progress online.

This week at the Makeover, Ruben and I will be one of 178 entries in the show hunter division. I’ve entered us in competitive trail, as well, simply because I’m curious to try something new and expose Ruben to more things.

I continue to remind myself how far this horse has come in such a short period. When I start to fret over things like lead changes and correct headset, I have to take a step back. Ruben and I have achieved so much in six months without breaking mentally or physically. That, in and of itself, is an accomplishment.