Patsy's Kim '21 Moving Along Nicely in her Training

We received a very informative video today from Ciaran Dunne of Wavertree Farms on our filly's progress. Unfortunately, we can't share the video because it's exclusively for the partnership and not available on public formats (YouTube, etc.), but it was a great education in the preparation steps for the young horses. (I did locate a video tour of Wavertree Farm itself which I'll share in a separate post later today.)

Mr. Dunne first demonstrated some stall work with a groom and Patsy's Kim '21, showing the steps in teaching the horse to bend their necks toward the handler, and in following cues and commands. He then introduced a "roller," which takes the place of a saddle in these early stages and teaches the filly what it feels like to have the girth cinched up and to move with the roller in place. The roller is basically a wide piece of leather that goes over the back with a buckle for cynching. Mr. Dunne explained that in early training, it's much less cumbersome than working with a complete saddle.

The video then moved on to the next training phase, which is round pen work under saddle. Patsy's Kim '21 worked with four other yearlings (all fillies, we are assuming) as they walked, trotted and cantered/hand galloped both directions around the round pen with a rider on their backs. We were especially pleased with our filly's very well behaved demeanor and her attention to what was going on around and in front of her. 

The conclusion of the video was a brief chat with Ciaran Dunne in his office, where he addressed Patsy's Kim '21's progress. In that discussion, he said: 

"The Audible filly out of Patsy's Kim has been very straightforward. She's moved through the first few phases of what we do, and as you can see, is currently galloping in the round pen. Beautiful moving filly under tack and she's very strong and  mature for her age, and she's happy wherever you put her. Usually she's a leader, but today she was in behind. She's a filly who carries herself with a lot of confidence and she's moving forward well."