Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Match Making (The Ramen Redux)

When someone decides they want to be a horse trainer, rarely do they also say they want to be a match maker. But the truth of the matter is, that’s often what horse training and selling is all about.

Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers insight and training experience when it comes to working with Thoroughbreds (although much will apply to all breeds). This week ride along as Aubrey shares her logic on finding the right match for a horse (with Ramen as the case study).

If you asked me at anytime between the age I could talk and 30 if I wanted to be a “match maker” when I grow up, I would have laughed. Hard. I wanted to be a vet, a rock star for a terrifically short period of time at age six before I realized I had absolutely zero singing talent, a photojournalist, anthropologist, and, well, of course, horse trainer on the side.

Oddly, for the better part of the last decade, being a match maker has become central to what I do and even more strangely, something I seriously enjoy. In sales, I aim to find my horses the humans who will give them the job they need and love them for who they are — quirks and all. When my students are buying horses, I have the opportunity to help them sift through all the chaff and find the right equine partner. Get it right in both respects and the horses and humans stay happy (and the horses are less likely to bounce homes and land in bad situations); get it not quite right and everyone is in slightly more peril.

Neil (Lute’s Angel) on his first off property experience at Ithaca Equestrian Center last Saturday. Neil is one of those horses who (with a little more training) will be happy to do pretty much any athletic job. Photo by Lily Drew.

And then there is the part of the job that looks a little more like career counseling. My Junior or Senior year Emory students used to come in stressed because of situations like this: their parents had just paid an enormous bill to guarantee their undergraduate education, but they hadn’t lined up a post-graduation job at a law firm and didn’t think they’d survive the LSATs. In fact, they didn’t even want to be a lawyer. So we’d sit down and chat about what they did want, where they wanted to be and who they wanted to transform into… and then we’d plan a way to get them there… without law school.

When I swing a leg over the Thoroughbreds that come into my barn, I’m assessing them a variety of different things — their soundness, the quality of their gaits, their athletic drive, scope over fences, and most importantly, their brain and personality. The goal is always to cut through any of the green-bean static to answer the question: “What type of job will you both excel at and enjoy? What type of rider do you need to be happy and successful? And how do we get you there?” I could go on and on here, but I have already done that in this article: Thoroughbred Logic: Choosing their Job

Match the horse to the job. Match the job and the horse to the person. Easy-peasy matchmaking. Or something like that.

Ria Formosa is a recent mare that I picked up for resale. She’s not only stunning but also one of the few of my horses who I think would succeed at (and enjoy) show hunters. Sure she could do all the other things too, but that’s an aptitude worth pursuing. Photo by Lily Drew.

I wanted to circle back around to this whole “job” topic this week for a couple of reasons. This is one of the hottest times of year for selling Thoroughbreds. The tracks are starting to slow down before the end of their meet, and anyone not wanting to winter their horses and run again in the spring is likely looking for somewhere for them to go and for them to get gone fast. Assessments of their abilities and what career will make them happy at this point are so important to get these youngsters onto a path that will keep them successful, safe, and loved.

And, as I head into the Thoroughbred Makeover with two horses I was not expecting to take — Ramen (Plamen) and Neil (Lute’s Angel) — I keep chuckling about Ramen. Neil is young and green and amazing and showing aptitude and willingness in all directions. Sure, he’s inexperienced and sensitive and still has yet to declare his major as it were, but he’s going to fit well with the right rider in any number of showing disciplines (jumpers, eventing, etc.). The world is his oyster.

Neil showing just how easy it is to jump the standards. Screenshot from video by Izzy Gritsavage.

Ramen on the other hand has been kindly belligerent about the job he wants to pursue from day one. He doesn’t give a damn about oysters, experimenting with disciplines or getting to see what he can do if he takes a breath. Really, he has been mad that he’s no longer able to maintain the job he loved (being a damn good runner at the track), and now he has accepted that the next best thing to racing is fox hunting. And he is determined to show off that, in fact, he is up for all the job entails (the steady, the slow, the wait, and the go) — but also, let’s get on the scent again and go fast, please.

Ramen (Plamen) being so damn happy to be out hunting (and covered from head to tow in mud). Photo by Sarah Batzing.

Here’s the thing with Ramen. He’s been the hardest horse in a long time to describe well enough to sell. He’s simply strong and forward. But “strong” is a term that doesn’t show up in many sale ads, and it is a term that is commonly confused with the other connotations of forward: sensitive or flighty or naughty. He is none of those last descriptors. Nope, he is just bloody strong. He will comply — walk, trot, canter. He will do each of those well, without much fuss, pushing over his back from his hind end and he will wait to a fence. But he will tell you the whole way that he would rather go faster, lean into the bit and gain just a little bit of speed where he can.

Ramen enjoying the hell out of the second part of his day at the Ithaca Equestrian Center (IEC). Photo by Lily Drew.

This is perhaps the bravest horse I have ridden — zero fazes him and he’ll try to get through or over whatever is in front of him. Sure, he’ll jig back to the trailer, but he’s not going to come out of his skin at any point in a ride… even on the blustery-est of fall days. He’s also one of the easiest to manage on the ground. Hell, I handed the reins to my friend and student with a broken leg and crutches and managed to sneak in a bathroom break at a show without worrying he was going to pull her anywhere.

Ramen allowing me to practice his dressage at IEC, but clearly annoyed that we’re not out running and jumping. Photo by Lily Drew.

Yes, he’ll tolerate dressage, and he’ll get himself around stadium. Unsurprisingly, he excels at cross country. But to point him at a career primarily in eventing feels unfair. He’ll likely always frustrate a rider in dressage. But a career with the hounds, where smarts, bravery, power and the ability to go all day are rewarded and maybe event a bit in the off season, yeah… that will make this kind, courageous redhead very, very happy.

This might have been his favorite part of the whole day. Photo by Lily Drew.

And the thing with horses like Ramen is that despite their ability to do literally all the things, and to go quietly with some tactful riding (and appropriate tack), they are not going to be happy unless they have the career they want. And since Ramen can’t go back in time and back to the track, he’s going to hunt. And I am going to get (eventually) to stand on the proverbial sidelines and cheer this compact powerhouse and his new rider on as they run with the fast ones in first flight (and also carefully walk through the trappy footing, and stand quietly at the holds and trot obediently in line…).

Ramen out with the Genesee Valley Hunt this Monday morning. Photo by author.

It may have taken me a little longer to get Ramen to a place to be ready to move him to a home where he will succeed. But now that he’s on the right career path, I’m excited for the type of match making I get to do for him.

So go ride folks, and enjoy that feeling you get when you know that you and your horse are on the same path. And if you’re like Ramen and enjoy that upshift and its associated speed, kick on and take it all in.

Oh and one more Ramen pic, because he’s just so damn happy getting to dig in and go:

That expression… Photo by Lily Drew.

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