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:

I feel I should keep a running count for my readers, as Cavalry Charge, aka “Calvin,” has a specific knack for losing things. This month we are down one halter, two bell boots and one shoe. 

Also on the agenda for the week, I mowed my ring. You heard correct. I wish I had a nice sand ring, but instead I am training my off-track Thoroughbred in a field on a slightly sloping hill. It’s far from ideal, but I find when I take Calvin offsite he is much easier to ride. So perhaps there is something to training your horse in a field with no enclosure, on grass footing, that may or may not be wet. Calvin really hates being ridden on wet turf. Considering most of his wins came over a firm turf course, yes, I believe that Calvin is a diva. 

Erin Knehr photo

We hit our first challenge in January without having a ring. Calvin had a hard time holding his canter lead and picking up the correct lead. I tried some round pen work with a lot of transitions so he could work on his balance but each time we went back to the “ring” he would struggle with his leads. So we went on our first field trip with an actual ring and it made all the difference. It’s easy to see that Calvin really wants to get things right the first time, he just doesn’t know how. Well, one session in a ring and the light bulb went on. Sometimes you just need a change of scenery.

So back to our field and back to crawling forward in our progress between field trips. Jumping full courses in the field is hardly ideal, so we do a lot of pole work and single jumps which is perfect for this stage of training. We save the exciting work for our field trips. My ambitious goal is to take him somewhere each week or maybe every other week. We try to have lessons offsite on a regular basis but also try to visit other facilities where we can use the facility or just take in the experience. 

Recently, I was excited to take him to jump around his first baby course. He was able to do a combination of 18-inch and two-foot verticals, far from impressive in height but great for his mental growth. Exposure to different environments is a very important part of his training. He obviously has a lot of experience visiting tracks, but indoor arenas, outdoor arenas and not racing another horse in the riding ring is an important part of his development. Up to this point Calvin has been unflappable in new environments. We only had one moment where a horse cantered up behind him and I felt him tense up and flick his ears wondering if we were off to the races. But he quickly realized that was not the goal of our ride.

While we have our ups and downs and the progress is slow it’s a great feeling to hit the baby milestones. I am so excited to keep moving forward and hopefully update you next month on our steady progress.

Mary Termer:

Many doors will open for you when you realize it’s ok to start again. This resonates with me now that the initial grieving period of Devin’s retirement is over. I still have sad days of course, but as the days go on I am realizing that so many doors that I chose to close in order to work with Devin are now open to me once again.

Working with a baby is challenging and rewarding in its own way. Finn, formerly Decorated Invader, is proving to be super smart, and almost easier to deal with than Devin as a seasoned show horse. He’s super chill and has yet to be worried about anything. He’s learned the routine of grooming, tacking and riding. He even learned to stand at the mounting block after just one try. We are still working on catching in the pasture. Finn loves to just play hide and seek instead, until I’m 10 feet from him, when he’s like, “You found me!”

Mary Termer photo

We are now taking weekly lessons with my trainer, a short trailer ride from home. Finn is open to anything we throw at him, proving to take it all in stride, grunting when it’s hard, but coming out better with each ride. I’m the one that needs work, trying to not get ahead of ourselves, being ok to just walk or trot and knowing that everything else will come with time – which is proving itself already. Finn's body is changing as he learns both lateral and longitudinal rhythm, suppleness and balance, learning to move his body as one and in pieces as asked.

As he’s learning these things, Finn has also tried to take the reins. There have been moments where he’s like, “Let me show you how it’s done,” and he drops a shoulder and rolls some bucks. I just sit up and circle telling Finn that he’s not in charge yet. Then we go right back to work and he proves to me that he can do it right. 

We also hack out in the neighbors’ hay field once weekly where he gets to see the sights. Cars, mailboxes and cows, none of which he’s fazed by. A week ago, I almost died when a deer jumped out and ran ahead of us. But Finn just stopped and watched it bound away. Then we proceeded on our walk. I was so proud of him for not taking off trying to race it and handling the situation like a big boy. 

Last weekend, we competed in our first dressage show together. After an early morning of breakfast, bath and braiding, we arrived at 7 a.m. to rain showers. I checked in, tacked up and was on. I’m ever thankful for my trainer, Dona, and she coached us through the warmup. Despite minor construction, lots of trucks and trailers hauling in, and even other horses in the warmup, Finn handled everything like a champ. Other than one slight bobble in the first test where the judge joked afterwards that Finn saw dead people in the corner, he was amazing. I couldn’t have asked for better rides at our first outing. We managed a 61% and a 68% for second- and first-place respectively and were the TIP high point for the show! 

From here, we will continue our training and outings and see what the next month holds.