West Point Thoroughbreds will be represented by not one, but two graded stakes winners at the 2024 Thoroughbred Makeover: Cavalry Charge and Decorated Invader! Their Thoroughbred Makeover trainers, Erin Knehr and Mary Termer, will be telling the stories of these two winners in a joint blog entry each month.

Mary Termer update on Decorated Invader:

Six months. That’s how long it’s taken for me to be OK. To be OK with Devin’s retirement and to be OK with starting over. It helps to see Devin fat and happy out with his donkey buddy Macho, enjoying every day.

Finn is filling that void with his goofy, but loving personality. He loves to give kisses, moving closer for more smooches when I pull away. He loves treats, but only two kinds. Anything else, and he thinks we’re trying to poison him! He loves his post ride cool out, walking over to the neighbors’ uncut field and grabbing the biggest mouthful of grass before continuing on our walk. It’s all these little things that make me love him more each day.

Finn (Mary Termer photo)

Our work under saddle continues to be steady, but Finn throws in exciting moments every now and then, just to keep me on my toes. We are finally cantering every ride and the transitions are consistently getting better. So, we entered and hauled in for the day to our next show two weeks ago. Truly a new environment, Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro Tennessee is an indoor coliseum with an indoor warmup, something neither Finn nor I have experienced before.

We tacked up and walked over, Finn started like a champ. But a few minutes into our warmup, someone took off on a scooter. We couldn’t see it, we only heard it. This, in combination with someone riding a line of changes into our backside, caused Finn to spook. He started rearing and bucking and spinning. I was told afterward that no one knows how I stayed on. But I did, thankfully! After this moment in time, we went right back to work, finishing our warmup and heading into our first test, Intro B.

I was probably more nervous than Finn. He just walked around, looking and taking it all in. When the judge rang us in, we trotted down centerline like we’ve been doing this for years. While there was some tension in this new atmosphere, I couldn’t have asked for more, and with a 70% from the judge, I feel she agreed.

With a small break, we walked around the warmup watching all the other horses. Then it was time to pick back up and warm up for our next class, Training 1. This would be the first class cantering if we could do it. With a more crowded warmup, we talked about whether or not to school the canter or just go into the test and try it. I decided that we were going to try it and Finn took perfect canter transitions in both directions. So, in we went.

It took longer for the judge to ring us in this time, so we got to walk and trot around a little more. Finn didn’t even react to the horse in the ring right next to us, so close we could have reached out and touched. Finally, the bell rang. We trotted center line and tracked left. When the canter came, he took it, bolting through the circle. But I managed it and got him back for a nice canter down the long side to our downward trot and walk transitions. Not exactly what I was expecting as the left is typically our better side, but we still managed.

We picked up the trot again, this time tracking right. I was more nervous as the right is our harder side and we had to take the transition right in front of the judge. But Finn did it! He took the canter transition and we rode the circle perfectly. He did break to the trot early, not cantering down the long side. I chose to take the deduction in points instead of asking for the canter and possibly dealing with a bolt again.

While this wasn’t the ideal ride, it was a significant accomplishment. We cantered both directions in an actual test in an indoor coliseum. I couldn’t be more proud. It gives me more motivation to continue this journey with Finn as these baby steps are leading us in the right direction.

Erin Knehr update on Cavalry Charge:

We officially entered the final two months of training prior to the Thoroughbred Makeover. As I write this, I feel the nerves building and the stress rising. Are we ready? Let me do a quick update of where we stand in our training.

A recent field trip (Erin Knehr photo)

As you may remember, I am working with Cavalry Charge, aka Calvin. The one that likes to leave halters, fly masks, shoes, and bell boots in the field. We were having a good run with only a few items missing over the last couple of months and nothing that slowed down our training. Well, he pulled a shoe last week and I decided we can’t have that sort of issue with less than 60 days to go. So, I swallowed the cost and upgraded to glue-on shoes to hopefully allow us to keep working right up to the makeover. We also added hind shoes which made a huge difference in his cantering and jumping. Now I hold my breath every morning as I get him out of the field until he gets in the barn and the light shows if any or all shoes are missing. We also found a bell boot that was missing for over two months. One of our horses threw it over the fence. How nice it was returned! Maybe it’s a sign!

One area we still need work involves our field trip plans. We still need more course work with jump decorations. He saw all of the pretty jumps at 2’ but now he needs to see the same at 2’6.  I am trying to add designer items at home but looking forward to getting to our next show to school around the 2’6. In my effort to bombproof him, we did go out and jump around some cross-country jumps, aka the moment he lost his last shoe. Other than the attempt to leave behind a piece of him, he jumped around without a glance. Hopefully, that carries over to the Thoroughbred Makeover.

A found bell boot (Erin Knehr photo)

The next area of stress for me is the schooling ring. Calvin has not had a lot of experience warming up with a crowd. We have managed to avoid large crowds in the schooling ring and offsite experiences up to this point, but I do notice when horses are hacking toward him, he seems to tense up. So, I really hope this won’t be an issue in October. I am planning on taking the advice of the Retired Racehorse Project staff experts and get there early, but I realize crowd avoidance cannot be our only plan.

Things we need to fine tune include lead changes and getting consistent strides down the line. So close, but so much to do. We just started working on lead changes and I have zero plans to rush him to get those before October. Simple changes are allowed, just not preferred, so we will see what the next month brings. I would say his balance has really improved in the past 30 days — I believe due to the addition of hind shoes — and so, hopefully we can really start to work on course consistency. 

Overall, are we ready? Not sure yet, but it’s been a lot of fun!