In this November 2024 owner update, the trainer/handler at a Pennsylvania farm reports on Alby’s (also spelled Albi) current condition, rehabilitation, and training program for owners Liz, Tammy Pollard, Ava Chase, and Debbie Halliday. Alby arrived in good health with appropriate weight and sound legs after a period of rest and stall rehab. A veterinary exam by Kevin confirmed his soundness. The initial weeks focused on hacking, followed by progressive trot work, flat work, and plans to introduce jumping soon. The trainer notes Alby’s breeding (out of a Clover Hill mare) and compares his traits to a previous horse, Master Frisky, highlighting dressage potential and a slight stiffness at the poll that the flat work aims to improve. Steph is handling treadmill sessions, scheduled for alternating mornings. Daily routine includes 30‑40 min walks, alternating 20‑min trot sets, and simple flat work, with an anticipated increase in workload in December. Peter Wild will review the horses in a few weeks. The plan is to take Alby to Aiken, South Carolina in mid‑January for cross‑country schooling and low‑level shows, gradually progressing to higher levels. The trainer thanks the owners for their support while Liz recovers.
Chapters
This is an update for all the connections involved with Newmarket Coulee, including Liz and the owners Tammy Pollard, Ava Chase and Debbie Halliday. Well, guys, everything's going great with Alby. He's fitted in really, really well at the farm. He seems to be very laid back, cruisy type character and I'm getting along well with him. He turned up in great health. He's got good weight, his feet look good and like I said, he seems like he's right at home here at the, at the farm here in Pennsylvania. Like all the other horses, we spent the first couple of weeks just hacking. From what I understand, he was on a bit of a rest since mid year. He also at the beginning started out on a little bit of stall rest. He just bashed his, his leg in a paddock I think at Liz's and he was just on a bit of rehab. But we contacted Liz's vets and said that he's good to go. I also got my vet Kevin to come out and check him all over and he trotted up perfect and his legs look in great order. I've been keeping the, the training pretty brief, so the first couple weeks we just did a lot of hacking. Then we started doing a fair bit of trot work on the track, just slowly but surely building up his fitness, getting a bit of muscle back on him. And then after a couple of weeks of just trotting and hacking on the track, we started doing a little bit of flat work with him. The flat work was very straightforward. He seems nice on the flat, he's easy to get round, he's got good paces. He feels a little bit Irish. I looked up his breeding and I see that he's out of a Clover Hill mare, which is good. And he reminds me of a Clover Hill type horse he's sort of got. I had a horse called Master Frisky that was out of Cloverhill mare and they've got some of the same traits, but to me he's obviously well produced, especially in the dressage. We haven't done any jumping yet. I'm probably going to start jumping him a little bit next week. I just sort of wanted to get a bit of fitness into him and make sure that he was, you know, strong and legged up a bit before we started doing anything strenuous. Obviously the flat work's really good. He seems very straightforward and, you know, I'd like to. My biggest goal actually would be to try and get him just a little bit more soft and supple through his poll and funny enough, it reminds me of my horse Master Frisky, which is similar breeding that just where his head joins his neck is sort of where he locks a little bit. And with my flat work training, I'm trying to get him just a tiny bit more supple through that part of his body. Peter Wild's going to come up and have a look at all the horses jump in a couple of weeks. I'll probably pop him over a few fences once or twice before he arrives. Steph's been doing a little bit of treadmill training on him. Once he gets the hang of this treadmill, he'll probably go on this treadmill every second morning for about 30 minutes. And the trip between treadmill sort of goes up and down every second day. At the moment with his training each day he's walking for 30 or 40 minutes. And then every second day he's just doing a long trot set usually up to about 20 minutes. And then on the other days we're doing simplistic flat work. As we move into December, I think I'll increase his workload a bit. He seems in great spirits and like I said, I had my vet check him from head to toe and he looks like he's in great shape. My plan is to probably take him down to South Carolina to Aiken in the middle of January. I need to cross country school him a bit. I looked at his record, he's been a little bit up and down in the cross country, so I might just play it safe and start him at a pretty low level. I need to cross country school him a couple of times before I take him to a show, but probably while we're down in a one or two shows and, you know, maybe even start at the modified level once or twice and then move him to prelim and get him ready to roar. But at the moment, Alby's in great shape, girls, and really, really appreciate you putting in with us while Liz is getting back on her feet.
