When Maggie arrived at her new home, she settled in quickly. She got a few days to accustom herself to her new surroundings, including the rubber mats on the barn aisle, which surprised her the first time. Maggie handled everything well at the beginning, including turn-out with her new "mare crew" While many people give their horses fresh off the track weeks to months off, Maggie seemed to be ready to try new things right away. We spent time doing ground work and grooming and introduced lungeing. During her first lungeing session, Maggie showed up a little lame at the trot, and it looked like it could be originating from her hips. We decided to have my chiropractor come out and look at her first, before having my vet look at her. The chiropractor found that her pelvis was very twisted, and there were some other minor adjustments that she needed to make. The pelvic adjustment seemed to do the trick, and Maggie was sound at that point. I felt ready (anxious but excited) to get on Maggie for the first time, but unfortunately my saddle fitter had hurt his back so it was a couple weeks before I got my saddle back. My first ride on Maggie was during a group lesson with a couple of my barn buddies. She was as quiet as could be when I got on her and walked her around. We introduced her to walking over single poles on the ground and trotted her for the first time. Other than a lack of steering (ack, let's not run into that jump standard!), our first ride was not what one would expect of a 3 year old who had last raced just a few months earlier.
Maggie's first ride in October 2012
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