Retired racetrack horses showcase second careers at Kangaroo Valley Show

South Coast Register

Kangaroo Valley Show with Deb and Faith, and their horse Mudgee Road. Video supplied by Kangaroo Valley Show.

Transcript

00:00So this is me and my off-the-track thoroughbred Mudgie Road.

00:06We compete in the show jumping all across the South Coast and up in Sydney all the way

00:11down to Victoria.

00:13We compete in 90 centimeters to a meter 10 and I've had Mudgie for four years now after

00:19he was retired off the track and our favorite thing is jumping, trail riding and the Kangaroo

00:25Valley Show.

00:26So I've been competing in the Kangaroo Valley Show for 10 years and this is Mudgie's second

00:31ever Kangaroo Valley Show so we're excited to be competing again this year.

00:35So this year we're introducing some new classes which is the Thoroughbred Sports Horse Association

00:41and we have been training Mudgie and she's been going to lessons for quite a long time

00:47to get him used to his different career.

00:50So Mudgie has been on the racetrack and he did quite well and then when he's retired

00:54from racing often the horses didn't have a very positive future so the Thoroughbred

01:00Sports Horse Association was put together to encourage a new direction for horses and

01:06for their retraining so Mudgie is now a very accomplished show jumper, he's doing really

01:12well.

01:13We have three new classes at the Kangaroo Valley Show which is sponsored by Mystery

01:20Downs.

01:21The breeders and the trainers encourage these new classes and they sponsor it, they give

01:26them the ribbons and the prize money to encourage that the horses that they have used in racing

01:31are now available to do dressage, hacking, sporting, show jumping, all of the different

01:37disciplines and eventing.

01:39The process of training for Mudgie Road was initially building trust between our partnership

01:45so a lot of hours on the ground, grooming, getting to know each other.

01:49We then started doing lessons with my coach, Karina Priestley and Kel Priestley who own

01:55Jump Equestrian.

01:58A lot of flat work and dressage so that's staying on the ground, no jumping, getting

02:03each other calm, calming each other down, getting to know each other.

02:07Then we slowly introduced jumps at a lower height and have worked our way up through

02:12training at home and at competitions to get to the height that we are today.

02:17So among show jumping and on the ground work, we also do a little bit of trail riding and

02:23hill work to build up his muscles so he can jump better and be stronger off the ground

02:30and as well as calm him down in all different types of environments.

02:34Before we had Mudgie Road, we didn't have, we weren't, Faith wasn't jumping with thoroughbred

02:39horses and then we thought we would give it a go and try and put a little bit of training

02:44in with the support of, as Faith said, her coaches, Kel and Karina.

02:49Before owning Mudgie Road, I wasn't used to the different temperament and athleticism

02:53of a thoroughbred.

02:54I was used to smaller ponies that I trusted and had been trained previous to me riding

03:00them and competing on them.

03:02So Mudgie was my first experience of building each other's confidence up and being calm

03:08around each other and trusting each other, which was just different to the more calm

03:14pony that children usually start to ride and compete on.

03:19It's definitely taught me lots of different things about riding different horses and how

03:23each horse can be so different and I think it's definitely helped with my riding and

03:29I'm able to take that knowledge into all the different horses I ride now.

03:32We would love you to come down to join us at the show.

03:35We will be there all day Friday and Saturday, the 14th and 15th of February and we can help

03:41you out.

03:42There's lots of people that are very knowledgeable about horses and we're very happy to help

03:47you out and please come and let us know how we can help.

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