The Right Time: Change of Plans

 

Lasie is Highway’s full sister. She was foaled in 2014. She decided we are her humans in November 2015. This was right about the time my dad was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer – the cancer that took him less than six months later. Dad would have loved Lasie. Her personality and spirit are the kind that he really liked. I had no intention of getting a fourth horse. I had enough to keep me busy with Pistol, Angel, and Highway. While I did not raise Lasie from birth like I did with Highway, I have known her since she was a weanling. My barn owner had been trying to get us to buy her since we started boarding Pistol there! It took a bit over a year, but Lasie made the decision for us. I am glad she did. She is a special mare! I think part of what influenced her was being turned out with Highway and his pal, and me working with him and spending time with him. She wasn’t getting the daily handling that Highway was and wanted a human of her own, too.

Lasie hand grazing

      Lasie has also changed my plans. Dressage was my discipline. I had no plans to get into jumping of any sort. I was almost 50 at the time. I don’t bounce. I have a temperamental back. As I got to know Lasie, spent time with her, and worked with her, those plans began to change. She is not the chill puppy dog that her brother is. She is a natural jumper. She loves to free jump. She has hunter/jumper in her bloodlines from sire and dam. Her and Highway’s grandsire is Truckin Kinda Guy, and they trace back to Man O War 10 times. Man O War is my favorite thoroughbred in history. Lasie has a bold personality and what my husband calls her “Thousand-yard stare”. She also has the “Look of eagles,” as we say.

The "thousand yard stare"

      I spent Lasie’s first year with us checking and working on her ground manners, walking her around the farm, walking through the hay shed and near the road, daily handling and grooming (or at least every other day), and introducing her to bit and bridle, boots, and surcingle. I was working part-time plus doing some chores at our barn in exchange for board, and was also working on our house so we could move in that fall and bring the horses home.

Lasie & Highway "helping" build the partitions in their shelters

     I started her under saddle in 2017. We had just gotten started back to work in 2018 (after the winter off mostly) when she popped splints in both of her front legs. She never had any lameness, swelling, or heat, just popped the splints. We were just going to start back to work after that when I broke my foot. That was a LONG six weeks! Lasie was pretty easy to start under saddle, having been handled patiently and well from birth, she accepts new things fairly easily. Very non-reactive compared to Pistol. Longeing and ground driving were introduced in 2017.

Getting use to bridle and boots

Then, I introduced the saddle and continued longeing her while teaching her to stand still at the mounting block, leaning on the saddle, and many of the other things I used with Pistol. She dealt with having a rider on her back well, though I did use the sandbags once or twice to see her reaction before getting on her myself. As I said, I don’t bounce any longer!

After a ride early in her training

 

We have ventured into the hunters with our move to Memphis. We did some beginner classes at a few local schooling shows, placing well with some champion and reserve champion placings. She has a natural talent for jumping and lovely movement for the hunter ring. She handled being at the shows like she was an old pro, which was awesome. She took everything in stride. We have had some setbacks as well, with hindgut ulcers, a dehydration incident, and the retained follicles in 2022.

Ribbons at the schooling show

 

We were preparing for our first rated show debut in the Long Stirrup division (unrated division) in spring 2023 when I took a fall after a jump during a lesson. I looked right as we landed, she went where I looked, and I did NOT! I ended up with six stitches in my elbow and seriously bruised ribs. I withdrew from the show, which had only been a week away. There was no way I was going to be able to be back in the saddle that fast.

 

Me after coming off. I was waiting to see the doc and get some stitches!

Then in 2024, she ended up with microtears in the deep digital flexor tendon in her right front, followed by microtears in the proximal suspensory in her left front. Both injuries occurred in the pasture. We got through our rehab rides by the end of April, which took forever due to the weather being a mess (the typical late winter and early spring weather here in Memphis). Lasie can be a bit of a challenge. She likes to go, and probably wishes I had a magic wand so I could just wave it and she’s groomed and tacked up, ready to go! She has a great work ethic, though! She actually gets a bit grumpy if we miss too many riding days. She is spirited, but not really a difficult horse to deal with or to ride.

 

Practicing some jumping

I have switched to Western with Angel and was going to switch them all to Western or dressage, but Lasie has her opinions, and back to jumping we go! I finally found a saddle that fits me and her rather than just her. We are now rebuilding her stamina and mine, and will be aiming for the showring in 2026. I am planning for the hunter ring, but we will see how things go. She does have an issue with swapping leads behind at the canter, so we will have to see how that progresses. Hopefully, we can get her to stop doing that. We were pretty close to having her past that, so hopefully we can get back to that.

Flatwork, which she does enjoy also