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.

Erin Knehr: 

Wow, what a month. It is really hard to write an article this month as Calvin and I have had so many ups and downs. For those of you out there retraining your Thoroughbred, you can do this! I have worked with a lot of Thoroughbreds in the past so I know there is always progress and then a step back. It’s still hard to deal with, especially when you are under a timeline. I keep reminding myself if we don’t make it to October it’s OK, but my inner competitor really wants to be ready. 

‘Calvin’ and Erin. (Erin Knehr photo)

We started the month with rain and wet fields which limited my time in my “ring.”  Due to the high humidity and high moisture we also battled hives and other skin issues. I suppose you can say we spent a lot of time training on medicated baths early this month. Then when we did get time in the saddle he seemed to be stuck.

Uncharacteristic for Calvin, he started throwing himself into the canter, having trouble with his leads again and spending a lot of time trying to cross canter.  When I started writing this article I said “on the left side,” but then it progressed to the right side as well. As I realized he is using a whole new set of muscles, it was good to take a step back and have the vet check him out. After a quick vet check to discuss his maintenance and a decision to put him on the chiropractic rotation, we are back in the saddle. The skin issues also seem to be contained and improving, so I hope we are turning the corner on everything at the same time. I am cautiously optimistic that his canter departures are starting to improve again along with his ability to relax while cantering and not feel like he needs to swap his lead on the straightaway. Calvin seemed to forget that is not a requirement for a hunter flat class! 

To this point, I have been extremely lucky that he loves going places and will hang out on a long rein and just watch everything going on. Very few things bother him. My neighbor turned a new yearling out in the pasture next to our “ring,” and while Calvin was extremely distracted during our ride, as you would expect when watching a field of yearlings run around squealing at each other, he held it together and did not take off running with them. You could tell he thought about it, but decided against. 

On a final note, I wanted to be sure to provide an update on Calvin’s pasture gifts. So I will end this article with the current status: we are currently at three bell boots this month which are still missing. Time to go mow the fields again and see what I can find.

Mary Termer:

They tell me patience is a virtue, as I’m reminded that it’s all the little milestones that count. Personally, I’m still struggling with the slowness of restarting. I feel like I’ve gone from 90 miles an hour to nothing, even though the progress with Finn is still there. Sometimes it's hard to see the progress, as I’m the one in the saddle not witnessing it. 

‘Finn’ in the field. (Mary Termer photo)

Finn has now decided he doesn’t need to run and play hide and seek from me when I go out to the pasture. Now he’s decided to play, “I’ll just stand here and wait for my treats.” Progress, not perfection, right? It also helps that his pasture mate Rio will gladly come right up for treats and Finn doesn’t want to miss out! He still doesn’t like anything but his Nicker Makers and Bakers Bites, spitting anything else out, but I’m still trying other things. 

We continue to have our weekly outings for lessons to our trainer Dona. Finn takes this all in stride. He self-loads when we leave home, and stands like a champion at the trailer for me to tack up. We have even made a couple of full day stays at the barn where I’m told he is quiet but inquisitive, watching all the happenings. And when I show up after work to pick him up from horsey day care, he notices me right away watching me walk down the aisle to him. Our bond is slowly but surely forming. 

Last fall, I purchased a new dressage saddle fit for Devin and after shimming it up with four saddle pads, I’ve made it work for Finn. His lack of muscle and top line as compared to Devin made for a challenge with this new saddle! The saddle fitter came from the Netherlands two weeks ago, and she worked her magic flocking it to fit Finn. I finally feel like I can sit up and Finn is happy and much freer in the shoulder, with just one saddle pad. 

Consistency is key, right? I tell myself this over and over as we are now consistently cantering, but not cantering consistently. We really put cantering on the back burner while we focused on connection and rhythm, not bucking or taking off – and now that Finn has a good basic understanding of the job, we’ve opened this new can of worms, and it is a bit of a mess right now. I’m learning to sit up and trust the transition taking in Finn’s huge hind leg and stride, which is way easier said than done. Left is better than right, but we’ve had moments where I can see the potential. 

This past weekend, we went to our second show. It definitely wasn’t social media pretty, but I’m here to tell you about the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s hard to not get frustrated with our baby moments, like stepping out of the ring or an explosive canter transition. But when he can come back and finish the second half of the test after that, nailing the second canter, I can’t be anything but proud. He watched lunging horses, worked in close quarters with others and didn’t care about the ins and outs of the concession stand. 

So onward we go as we finish mud season and head right into the heat of summer. More to come as we continue the saga of our journey.