When Saint first came to us he was quite out of shape for the use of endurance, or any other form of riding! He was a pasture pet who suddenly was expected to work for a living. His muscles needed toning, his attitude was un-except-able.

He had gotten away with so much bullying that his ground manners were non existant. --Something that does not go over well in my house.-- So I started right away teaching him the basics of "my space, your space".

Despite a few mild disputes in the beginning he picked up right away and was quite a gentleman. He worked like a charm in hand, but there was still the little matter of getting his muscles back into shape.

I began conditioning him nutritionally. He was having problems with his teeth so his new favorite food became Alfalfa pellets and Equine Sr. He had been on a diet in which the Sr. to Pellets ratio was 3 parts Sr. no pellets. So our little task was to slowly switch him over to more pellets less Sr. He now receives 1 part Sr., 2 parts alfalfa pellets, 3 parts Soy hulls. This took a few weeks to do as naturally we wanted to be careful that he didn't colic.

Once I was able to I began to walk him for about 15 minutes at a time. Slowly I increased te speed and length of his work outs. Even once he was strong enough to go 15 miles with out breaking a sweat he wasn't ready. His tendons and ligaments still needed to heal and grow strong. Such business can take up to 2 years for an older horse. Perhaps longer for some.The whole first year I would not let Saint exceed a controlled canter. Toward the end of the year we worked up to a slow hand gallop.

Now Saint is finely getting in shape to the point were we are training for endurance. A few have said he's too old, some say he's too crazy. He'll prove them all wrong yet. --Well perhaps not about the crazy part -- He can out run any horse on the flat. Go for miles and miles and never lose that vital spirit. Yes he's finally back in the game.

SO GET OUTA HIS WAY!!!!