S2 E9: Chelsey O’Brien’s RRP Application Tips, UBie Updates & Advice for Niamh’s OTTB Journey

Transcript: S2 E9: Chelsey O’Brien’s RRP Application Tips, UBie Updates & Advice for Niamh’s OTTB Journey
[00:00:00] He is like a full, huge, massive, I'm not a big horse person. Yeah. It's a lot when they're big like that, too. Oh, my gosh. Every like my traps hurt. I was like, Oh, my God, I am sore.
Everybody says they want a big horse and I'm very tall, so like I should have a big horse, but I don't want a giant horse. They're harder to ride. There's more to do. So much to package together. And he's going to be five. So I just feel like he's still figuring out where all the feet are. He did make 20 starts, but he's just like a big goofy guy.
Yeah. I love it. Yeah, , my last horse was, he finished over 17 hands. He didn't stop growing until he was seven. Oh yeah, I think that's how this guy's gonna be. He was actually raised by , With Layne Schafer at, Layne Schafer's farm at Arrowwood. And I asked her the other night, Is his family huge?
Cause this thing is massive, and I think he's growing. I would think he's probably 17 hands, I just don't have a proper stick. Yeah probably better just to not know. Look I'm a little tiny peanut pony kid on him. Yeah. That's actually, when we looked at the listing photo of my hopefully RRP horse, he looked huge in the photo.
Yeah. And I was like, you just to confirm how tall he is. And she sent him to me and I was like, I thought we were looking for a horse for you, not for me. And then we found out he really wasn't that big, but he looked huge in the photo. So you never can just goes to show. Yeah. He's 15, three, maybe.
Plus his head is where like. 17 hands would be, or maybe 18 hands. Yeah. His head is like up in the sky. Yeah. I was like, how tall is that person? And I was like trying to figure out how tall the person was that was holding him. And there was nothing near the person for reference. So I don't know.
That guy could be six foot tall or he could be five foot tall. At the track. You really have no idea. Sometimes it's four, eight or something. Yeah, exactly. Oh, man. All right. We're super excited to have you back on Chelsea. We'll get our ourselves started here.
I hit record, so we're off to a good start. Hi everyone. And welcome back to OTTP on tap. I'm Niamh And I'm Emily. Hey Niamh what's on tap today? Today we're here with Chelsea O'Brien, a fan favorite from our RRP Trainer Chronicle series from 2024. We thought it would be super fun to catch up with her and see how her RRP horse is doing.
post the symposium last October. Since I'm hoping to get to the RRP this year with my OTTB Go Green, we thought it would be a great time to get some top tips from a seasoned competitor who has an approach to training that we would love to emulate. Chelsea, thank you so much for joining us again.
Now that we've had you on for several episodes, we hope some of the nervousness has disappeared. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, now all of a sudden we started talking, now I'm nervous, but I brought it up, sorry. No I'm so excited to be back on, and honestly, it feels like a little bit of imposter syndrome that intro right there.
Oh my gosh, she said, fan favorite. Honestly when I, applied to be a part of the RP trainer chronicles and stuff, number one, it was spur of the moment. And then I Did it and then I was like, oh my gosh, but I'm gonna have to talk and I'm gonna have to sound coherent and I have such severe ADHD that the topics just go all over the place and it's never linear.
This was a terrible idea. You're in good company because we're both the exact same. Yeah. But no, I'm excited to chat today, tell you about Yubi, but honestly I just can't. Put into words how surreal the whole process has been and I'm just grateful that you guys, saw value in my journey because I've just always been a weird Horse girl sharing my stuff on the internet, just speaking into the void.
Once again, you're in good company. I never thought anybody would really care to listen. I was just more of a diary or something online. And then we're sending you recording dates and you're like, Oh no. I guess I asked the universe for it. I have to say though, I give our guests a lot of credit because it took us quite a while to get at all comfortable with this and you guys just jump on and do it spur of the moment once or twice or for you this is I think your fourth maybe episode something like that.
So I give you a lot of credit because it is nerve wracking to be talking and talking into a void, even though we talk all day long, right? But it just feels different. And it's thinking that somebody is going to listen to like many people. I don't know how many people listen to each episode, but I possibly don't want to know until the end.
Okay. Don't tell me. It's people from 28 countries. Oh my God. Yeah. It's a lot more than when you first started doing this with us. So you're going to find out about how weird they already know how weird I am. It's totally fine. It's totally fine. We can just try to out weird each other. Let's talk a little bit about I know we did discuss this right after the makeover a little bit, but can you just tell us a little bit about your makeover experience and how it felt arriving to the Kentucky Horse Park again? I drove out there, me and my little family, and UB was on a van to get there we met there. He pretty much settled in like a champ.
There was definitely a lot of nerves [00:06:00] going into it because you just are like here we go. We've been preparing for Ten months for this and hopefully it all just comes together and he was a pretty straightforward horse, he had his own path of, learning and they're all that way.
But as far as going to shows and things like that, he was always super easy and took everything in stride and, was just like, okay, this is my job. And so he was a total pro, there, and obviously, it's totally different than home. I do a lot of turnout at home, there isn't anything.
Turn out unless you rent a round pen there and unfortunately, the round pens this is a suggestion for later, but, last year, I want to say, all the round pens were sold out in February. If that's something that you want to prioritize having be ready to, book it in advance.
But we didn't have a round pen, but I have been a show groom and a show manager and stuff. So I'm pretty you know, akin to keeping them moving and stuff and going for walks and hand grazing and just going out to see the sites. And he handled all of that really well.
And so the first day when you get there, . First, you have to check in with the office, then you get your number, you end up in a queue first, a team of vets come out and they inspect your horse, so they're looking at body score, they're taking their temp, they're listening to their heart, listening to their lungs, taking temps and there's a lot of vet students there who are, using this as a learning opportunity.
So they're ask if, has this horse had any injuries so that they can look and see those things, if that's a great wealth of experience right there to get to see all of those things. So you get that, then you get the green light from them.
And then there's part two where you have to bring your horse For them to do a lameness, it's just a walk, so you're just walking up, circle to the right, circle to the left, and they're just evaluating, body score and, It's not a jog or anything, but your horse does have to be sound when they arrive.
We got through all of that. So then you get a sticker on your number your bridal tag. And so until you're, accepted, you're not allowed to just walk the horses freely around the competition. So once you get your stickers, then you can go, you can hack out that night if you want,
so that's Monday, Tuesday, in the morning, they'll do more vet check ins for people who arrived late or aren't arriving until Tuesday. But then Tuesday is also warm up day you want to be able to get your horse situated and get in as early as you can, if possible. So he handled all of that great, and then we, went into warm up day and he was a little different.
Not that he was bad, but it was really crisp. in the morning. Feel like that time of year in Kentucky can be quite chilly, especially. It's like really chilly in the morning and then really warm in the afternoon. And I was a little panicked on warm up day.
Not that he was bad. It was just like, oh gosh I don't know. I'm feeling really unprepared. And then you see everybody else going around and , oh, like y'all the cool ranch riding people. There was a whole group of them that were just in full garb and I look like a bum.
I'm not going to do well. Look at them. They look so cool. And overall it's a little bit daunting. Cause you see everybody and you're like that looks good. And that looks good. Wow. That's who I'm competing against. So I don't think you'd be cared one bit.
It was me. Yeah. Yeah. And the atmosphere there, I feel like just. It's so big. Everything's at such a big scale. There's so many stablings and so many places to go and so much to look at. It can be a little bit overwhelming. Yeah. And there's just there's so many rings going on at once.
And then we were in the covered arena. for all of my classes. And so the covered arena brings another level of scary, particularly in the barrel racing aspect. And, for the barrel racing warmup night, you get. two chances to school in the ring.
You get ticketed warmup. I could go in the covered and, hack around. And then I could also work on the ranch obstacles that they had set out. And the obstacles were different, so he hesitated with them. But then he, got more and more willing.
And then same arena later on. They shut it down, they drag, they set up the barrel pattern. You can make two runs and that's it. And I went in to the first time, and I was just gonna go slow and just lope it nicely. And you're headed out, white concrete walls That are only 12 foot off of the oh wow.
Yeah, so you're running straight at a big white wall Yeah, We struggled with that the entire time like in the first time he totally was like Do you really want me to do that? Do you really want to do that right now? And I was like, yes I do And so that was good. We made it through.
The warm up and got progressively better through the week, but overall he handled the atmosphere really well, but I had really focused on when I did take him places while we were training, going to places that were a little overwhelming barrel races in general are very overwhelming for any horse, not just a recently retired race horse that, the warmup pen is pretty, pretty crazy.
I think your recollections of some of those shows that you took him to seal the deal on me, never wanting to barrel race. Oh no, you gotta do it one time. I was like, Oh God, this sounds terrifying. No, it actually sounds like controlled chaos, but it's probably very cool.
I think that's why it works for me because that's how I describe my life. That's awesome. Other people would debate that it's not [00:12:00] controlled. Yeah. I know that you recapped in detail when we spoke to you after the the RRP, but can you just give us a couple of standout moments for you and Yubi throughout the competition?
The big thing for me going into it was that I was really dead set on for the barrels, you have the horsemanship pattern and you make two runs to make it to the finale. And so I was like if I'm going to do well, I really need to step up and have a really good horsemanship pattern.
Because. That's gonna help me. I have to have a good horsemanship pattern and make two clean runs. Fast, but clean. But clean being the most important part. And consistency is really hard with a young horse on the barrel pattern. And making that many runs back to back can make you or break you.
They either get better as the week goes on, or they don't. blow up. So my goal was not that I thought that he would do that because he's pretty chill. You just don't know. It's a completely different environment and he definitely, changed in a good way. He shocked me in so many ways, not in a bad way.
He was like, Oh, I'm show horse now. And so he got his treatments like
P E M F and things like that while you're there. And he is so rotten. He was like, I like this. Since we've been home, he definitely, acts like he still wants to be Mr. Show Horse. He's Oh no I would like to be pampered now. But him changing and getting better and better as the week got on that was, one of the biggest highlights for me.
And then also, doing the horsemanship pattern and we were tied for first going into the barrel runs. And that was my biggest goal going in, because I really wasn't sure, he was doing well on the pattern, but we really hadn't pushed for a lot of speed. And that's where you start to find your holes.
And he got better with the white walls. And so then when we made it to the finale, I was like, okay it's a one and done. That's it. You do your your one run. And so I'm like Reckless Abandon, here we go. I'm out there and people probably thought I was a total weirdo because I'm out there and I have my music blaring and I'm just out there pretending to do the pattern out.
I'm visualizing and this is how I'm going to ride it. This is exactly how I'm going to come in. This is how I'm going to ride to the first barrel. And I'm really going to push and we're going to push past it. And then I'm just going to send it right from there. And I was listening to Eminem the whole time I was out there and getting myself pumped up.
I love it. And then just even the quiet moments that, happened while we were there were just the highlight for me. And just seeing our partnership that had grown through the years. From all these months and then it coming together all and doing so well Which was you know beyond my wildest dreams even just getting there was you know, the bucket list was already made there So yeah, it was just the icing on top and he's just such a cool horse now that's awesome. And it's been so cool to listen to your partnership with UB grow over the past almost year that we've been talking to you. And I'm sure that helped you get over some of the things like the scary white walls and all of the nerves and the competition, but it's so awesome that you guys did so well.
What is next for you and UB? Do you have any specific goals on the horizon? Since we've been home from the makeover, I wanted to end the year with a big, finish off strong. And so we hit a barrel race and we and I took him to a parade and I took him to a cow sorting.
And so we're just going to do a little bit more of the same with that. And , keep seasoning him on the barrel pattern, get them out to some races. I would really like to refine some of our skills on the ranch work stuff like master a few maneuvers and stuff and, see where things go, he is available for adoption my goal is to get him out and seen, and, I'm always one to try and, change the stigma about the thoroughbreds, and when you go to places like the sortings and stuff, they're on little tiny Quarter horses and, a horse like him stands out like a sore thumb.
And not even that he's that big, but comparatively speaking, he's huge. But for him to go stand there and watch you basically stand right there at the fence and watch all these cows coming at you and everything and showing people who do those kind of events that like a thoroughbred is worth it and, getting them seen by all different people and showing oh yeah a horse is worth it.
Thoroughbred could be used for this and look he's not crazy. He's just standing here like everybody else, Yeah, so that's really my goal is to get him seen, love to find him as person and in the meantime, I'll keep enjoying and loving him and Keep on training and he just gets better all the time.
So It's fun. He's a lot of fun. I was really impressed when you took him to the parade because he was all decorated and everything too, wasn't he? I was like, you know what? I'm going to find out today if he can do a parade. And then later in the day, he were so happy.
It was really cute. Yeah, I decided at eight o'clock that morning we were going. I did no preparation whatsoever. Probably for the best. I think he had Three rides that week or something, but he had the day off before and it was really cold that week and that was really it was pretty cold that day and then you know I got him off the trailer and I just started decorating him and he was are you for real lady?
And but he he never took a foot out of the place He led all of the horses he was the first horse coming through the whole thing, and he was so chill. And people were [00:18:00] running up to us and stuff, and taking pictures with us, and, he probably loved it. He's they're all in here for me. And then when we, Got to the end of the parade. They're like, okay and just ride back to where you were. And so he led all the horses and then I had to step out into traffic because we were not near crossing guards anymore. So I stepped out into traffic and stopped.
You were the crossing guard? He's 30 mile an hour traffic and I'm like sticking my head out. Okay, stop! So I got in the road on him and waved everybody bye on my, Stereotypically crazy, throw over it. Yeah. Wild OTTB. But yeah, he really is such a dude. He's just so down to do anything.
I love it. It's awesome. And are you planning on being at next year's makeover? I am. Yay! Yes, I am. Do you have your horse picked out yet? Yes my Pazzer Place horse is not here yet. So I am probably going to pick him up in the next week or two. We haven't begun our retraining process, but I'm really excited.
We can't wait to hear about him when he arrives and maybe we'll have to have you back on to do a little intro to him. Yeah I'm really excited. He's really cute. After doing the Pastured Place episode with Allie, I think that episode in particular really touched us. Both because of our personal connection with the racing group themselves and some of the horses that we've had over the years.
But just hearing about organizations like that and all the good that they're doing. And it's really nice to be able to continue to support Pasture Place by working with some of their riders like you. So yeah, I'm going, they are, They have changed my life. Like I said, I just answered a sketchy.
That was so obscure. But when I applied, I hoped that it would come to fruition, but they took a chance on me because I was just a new mom who was like, I would really love to do this. It's been on my bucket list, but I can't make it happen.
And so I sent videos and all of that, but I really didn't think that I would get picked because there are so many people But not only are they doing good for horses, but they have empowered me to have a lot more confidence in myself, and I've realized I'm a lot more capable than I give myself credit for, even though I'm not.
That's even hard for me to say. I don't feel that capable, but yeah, that's amazing. All right, so let's get into the second part of our episode. Thank you so much for catching us up. Now we're going to have a little intro to the makeover and some advice for Niamh as she's preparing for, hopefully, if she's accepted into the 2025 makeover.
To be determined. To be determined. We want to make sure that Niamh gets her application in as early and completely as possible, though, so can you Chelsea, since you're always so early with your applications, can you help walk us through some of the steps that you should take when applying? Yes, cause I am always on time and I'm always early.
It's never at the last minute. One of the biggest parts to getting accepted to the makeover is your writing videos. You want to ride on a horse that you're comfortable with that you feel you can do walk, trot, canter, change direction, walk, trot, canter, and show a halt.
You want to show off the fact that you have, your basic skills to do those things, picking up the right lead, get, on your right diagonals, I'm already squished. Questionable. I always joke around when I'm writing and I'm like, I've been writing for 40 years and I still put post on the wrong diagonal a lot, like not, I change it, but you're supposed to be able to feel these, aren't you?
You will work on that.
Quick question. Should this be, me. A new video on a current horse or can you submit like an old competition video? Are they specific about the timeline of? So it's supposed to be within two years. On the description it says something like, you know A good example would be ride a test or all of the tests for different horsemanship patterns for different divisions.
Ride a test pattern or ride a dressage test or because it will show all of the gates and, certain maneuvers that you'll have to do on those. And then you're going to have to submit another video. Showing, things that you're going to have to exhibit in whatever division you choose.
So if you're going to jump, you have to show a course of, I think it's at least eight jumps of jumping two foot six, and it has to be two foot six, because I will tell you I did send in a video just in case, because I wanted to do a Western horse, but what if I got the horse and it wanted to jump, I'm like, horse centric person.
So whatever they want to do, they can do. And I think it's good to try everything with them. But I I didn't have enough time to really find a horse. None of my horses were going to go jump at two six course. And so I was like, I have this video from before I'll put that.
And, when I did the. Class or whatever. It was supposed to be 2 6, but it was a small 2 6, anyways so I did not get accepted to do a jumping, interesting. But they do say you have until July 1st or whatever to resubmit a 2 6 video. And so that's where you have to make sure that you're sticking to the guidelines.
There are a really great video that Kristen Bentley put together of even if you don't have a videographer, like here's a great way for you to make your video. And, it doesn't have to be Instagram fied where it's zoomed in and all of that, she showed her, her making one out in a in a field with her she made a little contraption for a fence [00:24:00] post.
And so it doesn't have to be overproduced or anything like that, but just showing a good example. And then they have examples of people doing a Showjumping course, or I think if you want to do cross country, you need to show a video of you out schooling cross country, or like having a hand gallop out in a field, or things like that.
I don't know, because I'm not an event rider I haven't really looked into specifically what video, but it's just, showing a good breadth of, your ability because they want to make sure that they're setting the horses up for success with riders who can handle, whatever is asked of you because when you are in Kentucky, with the event horses, you are going to be asked to hand gallop across the field and you're scored on that and Yeah, so the videos are really important and so you know, make sure you're reading it to a T because like I said, I got denied I never did send in another video because I wasn't going to jump.
I had decided I was going to do barrels with my previous horse and then with Yubi, he was not going to jump. He was always going to be barrels and perhaps you know, Other things, but no jumping and then my biggest recommendation is, go through the rule book. Because there are a lot of changes this year because They're taking top ten back instead of the top five.
So it's gonna give a lot more people opportunity to make the finale. Yeah, I think that's, it's really cool. And yeah. So there are some differences because now that they're offering 10 competitors to come back for each division, they are also competing in the rings that they were competing in before.
So before everybody just competed in the covered arena during the finale. So now eventers will compete. I think I read something like they'll compete on the cross country course with a mixture of stadium and cross country jumps. Okay. Again, I'm not an inventor. I'm not a hundred I definitely will not be doing eventing at the ARP.
All good. Scan through to see what all the changes were, with the ranch, there's going to be two. Two different stages of the finale. So there'll be sorting, but then there'll also be the pattern class again. So I think that's really cool. Barrels, I think is still one and done.
And every, I think maybe the hunters might have to either hack or maybe they have to do a pattern class. I'm not sure, the rule book is very long and very lengthy, but it is very important to read these things to make sure before you're entering your horse that it is in fact eligible how much they had done prior to December 1st, because that's a big thing.
And then, You're going to fill out an application form, which is very lengthy. It's going to ask about all of your experience. If you click that you have experience with, for instance, me barrel racing, like how many years experience do you have? How many years have you been doing this?
And, so it will ask you all of those things. So you have to be prepared that it's not going to be something you can really sit down and do. all at once. Maybe you could. I can't. But, you can knock it out over a certain period of time. And, I think the applications are able to be submitted from the 6th to the 24th, but the 24th at 5 p.
m. is absolutely the last day. The last minute that you can get it in. And so that's always good. Wait till then ladies. So I'm going to be sending both of your reminders. I know you have your application. And how far are you on it? Yeah, and you will the other important thing is you really need to read your email because I'm really bad about that, but, oh, once you get accepted, which is February 18th they start sending out their accept, acceptances.
Yeah. But you really need to check your email over time. And there's also the RRP trainers only forum. So the secretary and different people from the organization will send reminders. And it's really funny because it's nice to know that there's a lot of kindred spirits out there waiting to the last minute, even though I think that it drives the RRP staff crazy.
It sounds like it is quite lengthy and involved. It sounds like there's a good reason for it, so that they make sure that they have trainers that are of the appropriate skill level and especially making it more discipline specific. Which I don't recall from when I, Did it years ago having to be that specific when we actually entered so I think that might be a recent change, too It's really interesting Yeah, I think when I was looking through the application for this year, it'll say which discipline do you hope to?
Compete in And then it does go into, like Chelsea said, further detail about each other thing that you're saying that you have some skill in, and then you just have to back that up with actual information about yourself. Are there anything that you would say would help your chances in the application process?
I would say, just be honest about your, history and things and just, Sit down and really think about it before you write it down because at least in my experience, I'm pretty good about forgetting things that I've done in the past.
And you just want to be inclusive of everything that you've done. And be very thorough. You want to make sure that you're presenting yourself in a good light when it comes to your videos. I think the videos are really important. I know they have a whole panel of people who are watching the videos and then Oh, jeez.
I but, I didn't tell anybody I was going to apply. I didn't think that I would make it. And I did my video because I was, working as a broodmare manager. And so I didn't have a ring at the farm that I was working at. And I had my horses there with me.
[00:30:00] So I was just praying that there wasn't going to be a yearling stampede while I was riding in one of the paddocks and like my horse, that would have been amazing. They would have been like she's qualified. I'm just like, and I put so much pressure on myself and I was like, oh my gosh.
Cause , my. My main horse Tomo, she's a barrel horse through and through, and she's a workaholic, and she doesn't always like to do a flat footed walk, and I'm like, oh my gosh, she needs to do the flat footed walk. It's really easy to put a lot of pressure on yourself, but get on a horse that's going to make you look good.
Don't get on something that's can't do a flat footed walk and stressing you out and not presenting you in a good light. Maybe they might think that's impressive. I don't know because I don't know how the panel works. I'm like, wow, look at what she's stuck..
Give yourself the best chance you can maybe borrow a horse if you need to. And they definitely say do not use your r. P. horse if you're hopeful to do it, so definitely choose a good horse to do it on dress for the occasion, show a clean horse, do I know if those things are really going to, against you?
No, and then for me if I plan to do barrel racing, then I'll plan to show like a couple of my competition runs. And I don't know if it's because. I turned 30 and now I, I don't know how to use technology or something like uploading that's always been a really hard part for me is uploading my videos to YouTube and then you put the links into your application and that's, I don't know.
I guess I can't always figure that out. And then I'm stressing out because I've waited to the last minute to do it. But yeah and I'll make a little compilation video or something like that. And then the other thing that you have to have is I know the Fox hunters, if you want to do Fox hunting, you have to have a letter of recommendation from an accredited Fox hunt.
So it's not something you could just be like, okay. change your mind and be like, I'm going to do fox hunting instead. Like you have to have a whole letter of recommendation. And then the other big thing is you have to have a letter of recommendation from your vet. And I'm sure all of those things are going to make you stand out.
In the application process and because, they want to make sure that these horses are ending up with people who are going to give them the best opportunity to show off the versatility and the abilities of the thoroughbred. And You know something that they say in the application, if you go to their website You can go to the thoroughbred makeover drop down bar and then you can click want to apply and You know a lot of people will say How expensive is it and it gives you a whole infographic about how it breaks down you pay when you apply and then you have your second entry and that's, I don't remember.
It's got to be like August or something. You have to make a decision on your discipline and all of that. And but the big thing is that it is a huge financial undertaking to do the makeover because, to prepare the horses to take care of them properly. And that's why they're doing like all of these things to make sure.
That you're not just haphazardly, getting a horse and, I'm gonna do the r. P. but then they want to make sure that you're gonna go and do right by them and not just throw them into oblivion when they get there. Yeah, definitely. Once your application is sent in and everything what's the next step of the process?
Then you bite your nails until February 18th and just and then, you have to register your horse in the portal. So once you have your horse, you should, declare your horse. So you have to go in, and then they have to accept your horse into the the secretary and staff are gonna go through and make sure that your horse is indeed eligible, and then you'll get an acceptance of your horse.
And so then that's it for several months and then you have all that time to be training, whatever it is that you're going to do if you're going to start bringing them to shows, maybe you're not competing, but maybe you're just getting them out there or, what have you.
So then you have final entry fees due in August. So at that time, you're choosing your discipline and then I mean if I'm going to be honest I would enter every horse into two disciplines just in case something happens because sometimes you know your horse might get to the competition and be a little sore or not settling in or you know you can always scratch but it's only an extra hundred dollars to do the a second Division and then if you decide to scratch, as long as you do it within time I don't think it costs anything to scratch.
I don't think you Get refunded your hundred dollars, but I think it's a good safety net, yeah You're gonna go all the way there. Yeah, you yeah, I mean might as well so I think that's important. And so And they do have a really good infographic on there as well with all the important dates.
Yes, and that's always important to that's like the first thing that shows up when you open the trainer portal. And then things that have passed I think are already in red or they're, Or like coming up or in red and then like things that are done or scratched out. And so they're really good about these are things like, you would miss these things only if you were really trying to not they, they really do a good job about keeping on top of people because, there's a lot of people out there like me.
I'm not alone, I have learned, but just staying on top of all of that and reading all of the The letters that go out is really important. They do a lot of webinars and things like that, That will tell you like, okay. And here's where we're going to go over the application process.
And here's where we're going to go over arrival and the, so they're very organized and they want to set everybody up for success. And, I think that's amazing. Because, you're not just thrown to the wolves when you get there. You could stop anybody and they're so willing to help [00:36:00] you.
Even if you're not the most organized person in the world you would really have to try hard to not, do, meet the deadlines. You just have to be organized enough to do the things that you have to do, like health certs and vaccinations and things like that. So once you're accepted and you get your timeline in place and all that let's talk a little bit about the training and the timeline there.
How did that feel to you? I know it sounds like a long time, right? February, you don't declare your discipline until August and then you don't compete until October, but is it a long time? Does it go fast? What are your thoughts or what advice would you give Niamhor someone doing it for the first time in terms of the actual like horse training timeline?
I think it could feel very different with different horses, with Yubi, I didn't. I felt the biggest thing for him was that I really needed to get him broke well. And I think that goes for any horse, getting them broke really well. But, I focus on that before I start taking them places.
But like maybe, in different disciplines it might be more advantageous to go out and compete a lot more. Obviously doing cross country and things like that. That's good. a lot more than what I, do. So I don't know what the preparation for, or how many times your horse should see things like that, but it should definitely shouldn't be the first time when you get to RP, Emily goes by a lot faster than you think.
And I don't know where I am and where you guys are It's really hard to power through those winter months, but you have to and then, here in Virginia, we get a lot of these like weird 80 degree days in February or something, so I'm like, okay, and now I'm ready, and then here by St.
Patrick's Day, it's finally springtime, and then it's game on after that but You have to make the most of the time that you have, but the biggest thing for me is that I can't watch what anybody else is doing because I have to stay really true to what my horse is asking, I'll watch other people's journeys, but I try not to compare myself to that.
Because the more you start doing that, the more you start getting in your head and you start pressuring your horse because you're like, I'm so far behind. But there are people who have only 25 rides on their horses when they get to RRP. And some horses do really well with that.
Or there, there are people who like, their horses are battling crazy injuries. You guys have heard crazy stories like that. And was it Jules? She had to go through all of that before she, made it to to RRP and it can happen and you can still do well.
It's just making the most of the time that you have and looking at your own horse. And the biggest thing I will say is that if you start feeling like there's something wrong with your horse, don't do it. Wait, because again, you have to declare your horse by August. So if there's a chance that your horse isn't going to make it, or you're not feeling prepared, don't worry.
Every time the last two times that I have, August has come, I've paid my dues. And then all of a sudden, we've already done it. And then all of a sudden, something happens. You're like, we're never going to make it. I think those two things are really valuable.
And honestly, the. Looking around and comparing yourself to other people is such an important piece of advice because I think we're all guilty of doing that just as riders. And then I do have a couple of friends. In fact, my barn manager and I have a couple other friends that are hoping to do the RRP this year.
And, I'm just trying to get my horse to the ring at this stage and, my barn manager's already, walk truck cantering hers around and she's hacked him out. And I think it is really good to just focus on your own journey and let the horse be as much a part of the equation in terms of the speed that you're willing to bring them along.
And actually I've just been really focusing on a lot of very thoughtful groundwork at this stage because I want to make sure that because he gives me the impression that he could be a little high octane at times, even though he's been a pretty good boy about things. And I just want to make sure that I install all of these really good buttons with him on the ground so that he understands that I'm not going to be over facing him in the saddle.
And so I'm probably really slow to progress, Because I start with a lot of groundwork and it's probably people are probably like, why don't you just get on them? Exactly. Part of it is I have to feel like I have a a connection and stuff.
I used to be the, like I'd catch ride anything. I, did IHSA in college and stuff and I would just get on anything, but now I've had so many concussions and all of that, and and I've had, injuries, and now I have a child. And so I'm like I'm more Changes things, right?
Yeah. I'm way more cautious nowadays and, I just, also want to instill confidence in me, because I can easily break my confidence, and I also want to instill confidence in the horse, and I feel There's some, I have seen, and I'm not saying anybody's doing anything wrong, everybody's journey is different, and how everybody trains a horse is different I've seen people already out at barrel races, taking horses to clinics, doing all of this stuff, and I still haven't even gotten, my horse for this year.
And that's the case for a lot of people, it's just different, and every horse is gonna dictate things differently, My first year, I did two solid months of groundwork with her because she had some belly issues, we treated her for ulcers, and we just said, let's just treat for ulcers for 60 days, and then after, I think at 45 days, I started getting on her, but I did, Like a full almost 60 days of groundwork with her just to she was like that a more high octane to start she ended up not being that way, but Just but when we did all that I felt like once we did start going places.
She was like [00:42:00] Okay. With things. It wasn't. Yeah. And I feel like when you self regulating ability, yeah, it's self regulating. I think it's been a topic of conversation. We actually had a local rider come out to our barn for a little holiday party yesterday and she a little mini clinic based on.
groundwork and self regulation for the horse. And I was like, Oh, this timing is really good. Yeah. With my three year old filly. So it was even better for me. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I think too, like you're saying, if you think something is going on to address it, because I feel like you don't get that time back later when, say you had pushed her through.
Thinking that she was ulcerate and now you've got this like problem, and then she doesn't like working and then she's Aggravated and maybe stops enjoying work and all that kind of stuff And yeah, that's a big thing like, you know I would just nip it in the bud as soon as possible because if you even you know You just don't know, like you said, it could just spiral into, ending up becoming resentful.
And so just don't worry about the end goal. The way that I look at things is I try make the smallest goals possible and then, smash that goal and go to the next one. But I try not to even think about RRP until like basically September.
I'm just trying to, build confidence and, get those things going. I think that's a really hard thing in human nature is to, see everybody else and be like this person is doing this and when I got to RP and I saw how cool everybody looked there and I was like, I don't know.
Oh, no, I'm not cool. I think too, I talk about this a lot, especially as I've gotten older, but I'm somebody much like yourself where my confidence can get shot by in a moment. And I've really worked really hard on that. And I always like to say that it's like a bank account. And if you're not depositing into your confidence bank account, then you're going to end up in debt, emotional and, confidence debt where you don't get that back.
And, once you're already in debt with your confidence, it's so hard to build it back up. So I feel like you're saying is just always making these small deposits into your confidence and your horse's confidence. Then you always have that, you have the reserves then to rely on when maybe.
Down the road a training challenge pops up and you actually have something you can lean on. Right and make it manageable, if it's just hey today I got on and we did three strides of trot and that was all we could accomplish today. Sometimes that's you know, I don't At least my training style, I try to keep it short and sweet.
I think that they learn really well that way. An overdoing it can But again, everybody's process is different and I'm not saying my process is any better than anybody else's. This is just what works for me. Yeah, absolutely. Like you said, it can be destroyed all in one little so if you can create, a good balance of confidence and keep depositing into that.
And they're the best horse in the world because they did three steps of trial or your horse, typically runs away with you and, you got a moment of greatness, reward every second of it, because and be proud of yourself for those things. That, been the biggest thing for me is, I have to be my own little cheerleader because I I'm riding alone most of the time I try to make my little goal list, and this is what I want to accomplish and how can I make that short and sweet, and make it, good for the horse, and make it not feel dreadful for us to be together.
Yeah. Yeah I think that's the most important thing. Yeah, I think also surrounding yourself with, good help and good people, I've been really lucky because Emily is, coaching me through this process a fair bit. And, obviously I'll get outside help when, when I want to start going to lessons and things like that.
But, it's, we haven't had a off the track thoroughbred in this kind of way in a long time. And so I think it's been. interesting for the both of us. Me doing this kind of all by myself this time around. And I was up in the ring the other day and Emily's yeah I'm proud of you.
That was great. What else could you want? Kind of thing. And I'm like, because I feel like I should have done more. But he did everything I asked him to do. And, so it was what ride number three three total something.
And Went up to the ring and walked and trotted and kept a lid on it and I was just things in the distance and didn't freak out about them and you know I was saying that chelsea about our ring and it is daunting and especially when you don't know what the brakes are like and the steering wasn't installed.
No brakes or steering and you're on a slippery wet noodle. Yeah. And he's he's very noodley in his body and the gravitational pull of the entrance to the ring and the non existent fence start weighing on you and you're like, I'm all alone. Somebody help me. Yeah, it's easy to get in your head and and worry about all the what ifs, but I think yeah, your advice is really good.
I'll shamelessly share another podcast that really helped me. Is Fallon Taylor. She's a barrel racer and she has a really inspirational story. If you listen to her interview with ed Millett. Her story is very inspiring, but she also has a podcast called the Fallon Taylor.
Podcast, she is a world champion and she says the same things, just breaking it down and making it really manageable, your goals and, visualization and, I believe in all of those things and, and then also make your little what's that called your vision board and , build yourself up with confidence because your own worst enemy is going to be you in your own head and it is great to have somebody, in your corner, I had my neighbor is a racehorse trainer and she came over the other day and she was helping me with one that I had here that was a little tougher and, I got off and , I'm really hard on myself and I'm a [00:48:00] perfectionist.
And this happened to me at RRP too. I was like, Oh man, I totally tanked that. And it didn't feel good the whole time I was going around and then, but I did okay. And but I'm really my biggest critic and she sat there and she was like, no, I'm really proud of you. That was hard.
And you did really good. And I was like, Say thank you. Yeah, I believe it. Also believe it when someone tells you that. And yeah, I do really like how you put that you like to set really tiny goals and then smash them and move on to the next. Cause I think that's just such a great way to think about it rather than The huge daunting goal that how am I going to get this thing?
I can't steer to go compete with, I don't know, hundreds of horses in Kentucky and in less than a year. But that's the best part about like my journey is that I'm, so obnoxious about videoing everything. That's what I was just going to say. Cause then I was actually thinking about that when I was writing him the other day, I was like, I'm going to look back at this in six months and be so proud of everything that's happened.
Cause you have to compare like last week, I couldn't even get them to do X, and it's just amazing how much happens in a year. I put up two pictures of Yubi and there was nothing wrong with the first picture of him from last February or whatever, but now I'm like, look at his body.
He's he's changed so much and and thinking of where we started and, where he's ended up, the sky's the limit. And even on the bad days, yeah. I can't remember who said it, but you have to treat every moment a fresh start. If you had a rough day one day, and a bad training day, or you just couldn't get to the end of it just, Hang it up for the day. Don't get into a, a war because, these guys are really sensitive. You just want to, again, build the confidence in them and, but you have to be like, really strong in your own head.
And it's the R. P. I feel is as much of a mental game. And you have to be really strategic with. Your choices when you get there you can throw it all to the wind and, or you can, I'm always really cautious anyways. I used to not be, I used to be a little lunatic, but I just, I do feel like being present and also being like,
I don't know what the word is, but being easy on yourself during the process you just have to be willing to go out and probably get embarrassed a lot when you do start going out and you have to just, that's hard, taking young horses along and being like, And I look like a fool. It's funny that you say that, because I've been talking about trailering to an indoor near us.
And there's a couple of different options around. And I know this probably doesn't make sense to anybody. I was like, but I want to go someplace that I already know and I understand. And I know the owner. Cause I don't know how it's gonna go, I want to go to a place where I feel comfortable and I've ridden in before then go to a place where new people will be looking at me and wondering what I brought in the trailer, if that makes sense, that's my safety net is that I know these people and it's not new people to embarrass myself in front of, it's just People that have already seen me embarrass myself, right?
And that's the best part about RP is that when you get there, we're all in the same boat. You know what I mean? We're all on off track. There are reds that have been retired within the last two years. And it could go many different ways. And, nobody is looking at you like, Look at that girl on that crazy thoroughbred, even though it's when you go some, it's all of us.
We're all the people on the crazy thoroughbreds. That sounds great. Let's see. So any other tips about the competition itself? You said, if you want. Make sure you apply to try and get a round pen early, which I recall too they sell out very quickly. Anything else you can think of? Get a golf cart, get a golf cart.
You're going to want one. Yes please. Golf cart please. And they have them for rent there. Is that right? Yeah, there's Deaver golf carts, and they also, the ones who manage the round pens. Just start saving ahead of time. Exposure getting them really well broke.
That's always, I'll harp on that till the, but the other thing is Turn your horse out really well. Looking wise Erminio was a five star show groom, so I was very lucky to ask him along the ride. When he's he's always really hard.
He's like polishing my boots as I'm getting on. I'm like, no barrel racers do that. I'm like, no, they're going to know I'm like an imposter. My boots are too plain. Yeah.
That's funny. But yeah, you want to present them in the best, light possible when you get there. And, I do know somebody was saying to hire a braider, even if you can braid yourself really well.
So if you're in a discipline where you want to have braids, that it's well worth it to just hire somebody. So it's one less thing that you have to worry about. And I didn't really even consider that because I pride myself on being a really good braider, but , It would actually be really nice to know that somebody else is in charge of that.
Yes. Little things. I call it my only vacation of the year. But it's not really a vacation. We leave, Horses to go do more horses. Yeah, there's a lot that goes into it. So you're getting there first thing in the dark to go, feed your horse, prep your horse.
If your horse needs a lunge, if you need to go get on and hack around or, my horsemanship pattern I rode at eight o'clock or 8 0 7 a. m. or something. And you have to get there in time that your horse is eaten, you have to be really good with your time management while you're there and really think about, your horse's quality of life and not just sticking them in the stall and saying, okay, good luck.
See [00:54:00] you later. And You just want to be prepared there's a lot that goes into, while you're there at the horse show and, like you said having a braider, they do offer a night watch service, although , I go and do night check myself and, pick stall and do all of that and graze and hand walk at the end of the night and stuff and but they do have the ability for somebody who stays up all night and drives through all the barns and start thinking about lodging and what you're going to do, cause they do have a campground there, which I hear people love it because you can get your golf cart and just drive through.
Right back over, that's nice. And it's very convenient. And then, there's a lot of hotels in the area, but I do think things book up really fast. When you do wanna do stabling, if you wanna be stabled with certain people, you can request that. I don't know if I can think of anything else.
I think you've given us a lot . You'll have to give me like , a porta potty map. That's all I need. I need a map of the Kentucky Horse Park. I need to know where the porta potties are at any point in time during the composition so I can hand my horse to someone and go run off to the bathroom.
Oh my gosh. Yeah, and I was so happy with our stabling last year and I just I wish I could request that same stall every single time because I was within feet of the covered arena. It was perfect, but I don't think I'll ever get that lucky again.
I never win the lottery. So
Chelsea, thank you so much for giving us all of your insights and tips, and I'm sure you'll think of others as time goes on. So we might have to check in with you or maybe you can check in with me about my RRP horse. And once you get yours, we can do a little intro to him. We hope that this has been helpful for anyone who's thinking about applying for the retired racehorse project.
I'm trying to finish the episode. I thought you were, I thought you were but do you have, is there more?
No, hold on. Don't ask me because I'll keep you guys in another hour. And then , you'll have to do a third episode where it's just me and me just talking, but it has nothing to do with Thoroughbreds. And Emily's just gone. You guys are like Emily. And that's just like crickets.
Yeah, you just put like a little cardboard cutout of yourself. Ooh, I need to get one of those. I made one once of one of my coworkers in our old office, and so it was only half of his body, but it was him and it looked like a photo, but then it had a speech bubble above it, like a cartoon, and you could put it on the arms of his chair.
So it looked like he was seated in his chair. And one time the owner of the company came into the office over the weekend and he said, It scared him so badly. We got in so much trouble for it, but it was awesome. I was like, how did it fool him? It had a speech bubble. I want to know who it was. It was Patrick.
Okay. I'm going to retake this part. So this has all been super. Informative Chelsea, thank you so much for sharing all of your experience and wisdom with us today. I'm sure our listeners, myself included, will feel so much more prepared as they think about applying and getting involved with the Retired Racehorse Project, which is my cue to really start filling out my application more thoroughly than just my name and email address.
Yes. And maybe start thinking about some videos. Yeah. All right. Thank you again for being here, Chelsea. And to our listeners, if you're thinking about applying for the retired racehorse project or competing in the thoroughbred makeover, we'll have links to the resources in the show notes. Awesome.
Good luck, everyone. We'll see you next time. If you like what you heard today, please leave as a five star review on Apple podcasts. You can follow OTTB on tap on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, and also sign up for our newsletter and bonus content at www. ottbontap. com. We love hearing from you until next time.
Cheers. Emily, Emily now makes me say that. And I get embarrassed every time. So this way, maybe someday I'll be able to give you a leg up.