Runbridled and Tennessee barrel racer Melanie Lyell are a couple of renegades in Quarter Horse country. And soon they’ll be running barrels at the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover Show.
The most shocking part about riding a Thoroughbred in Quarter Horse country is how easy it’s been.
So says longtime barrel racer Melanie Lyell of Tennessee.
There were no explosive moments. No funny business with orange barrels. And the only thing that has been “run away with” is the heart of the equestrian who says her jaw drops nearly every day she places a western saddle on the back of her seasoned ex-racehorse Runbridled and goes for a slow, steady ride.
“Before I adopted Runbridled, I’d heard so many stories in the Quarter Horse world,” says Lyell, a Tennessee equestrian. “Everyone said Thoroughbreds would never make a barrel horse: They’re too big. They’re explosive. Sitting on one is like sitting on a ticking time bomb.”
So Runbridled was quite the surprise.
Runbridled
Barn name: Grace
Sire: My Unbridled
Dam: Lightly Decorated, by Brightly Decorated
Foal date: April 28, 2010Shortly after Lyell adopted the bay mare with 25 racing starts, everything she’d ever heard about Thoroughbreds just fell away as they took turns around the arena.
“I noticed she was really really, broke, and I didn’t expect that. I thought she’d feel pushy on the bit, stiff through her body, and want to run left,” she says. “I was absolutely blown away. Not only wasn’t she hot, she’s kind of lazy. And the biggest challenge she has is picking up her left lead, which is crazy. She’ll pick up her right all day long.”
Her experience has taught her to go with her gut instincts, and let the naysaying nabobs worry about themselves.
Runbridled and Melanie enjoy a quiet moment.
Though she was hesitant at first to jump onto the Thoroughbred bandwagon, she was quickly swayed when she met her beautiful mare at Thoroughbred adoption agency Second Stride of Kentucky. “My friend Brittany Wright, who grew up in the hunter/jumper world, had told me good stories about Thoroughbreds. Then one day she turned up with this OTTB named Seton Hall, who raced until he was 7 or 8. I thought Brittany had lost it. But, lo and behold, he turned out to be a great horse.
Fast forward to October 2015 and an invitation to tag along with her friend on a road trip back to Second Stride.
“We drove up together and I’d picked out a mare I liked. Not Runbridled, but a different one. But, as we walked out of the barn I saw this bay mare standing in a round pen, and she was just so pretty and well put together. She’d only been on the premises for two days, and was still racing fit. But, she just had the look to me. She looked like a barrel horse should look.”
A couple weeks later, on Oct. 30, 2015, Lyell welcomed Runbridled into her life. And had her heart stolen.
“I never expected her to be so calm, so patient, and so smart,” she says. “She’s such a hard worker, and a perfectionist. With each task I ask of her, she gives me her all. And with every ounce of love I show her, she gives it back tenfold.”
—Lyell will show Runbridled at the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover in Kentucky Oct. 28
Melanie your girl looks so happy in her new role in the western world. I have had the pleasure
Of riding one thoroughbred in my life. He was at least 16hh all black except for a white blaze on his face. He was such a great ride, I don’t remember his name but just remembering how smart he was was the best feeling ever. My fiancé Ryan and I are going to be adopting a couple of OTTB’S in the near future. We can’t wait either.
Runbridled is really pretty too.
My OTTB has awed many people with her beauty. elegance, her suspension and her athletic ability- she has done dressage and hunter jumping. No, she’ll never do barrels, but that’s fine, too!
love, cherish & honor her!!!!-that is great, I love mine too!!
Good for you! They are so beautiful. So well bred. Don’t forget that they train and must run till they practically drop, get on and off vans, travel, see new places, loud cheering crowds, many handlers/riders and sometimes, unfortunately, abuse. Of course they are happy being owned by a single caring and loving person who will take the time to teach them. They are smart and quick learners. OTTB owned privately is like heaven for them. God bless those willing to take the chance and time.
Practically ALL OTTBs in North America will naturally take their right lead on a canter transition over the left lead as it is the right lead (outside lead) that they ALWAYS need first during their race career when breaking out of the gate in a race, and when starting their gallop exercise in the morning. Because the race starts at the beginning of a long straight stretch of the track, and it is the outside lead that horses must be on on the straight of ways. Lead changes are done at each turn, so that the horse is on the inside lead on the turns and the outside lead on the straigt of ways.
Follow Runbridled on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/runbridled/
Thank you Susan! Enjoyed talking with you! Excited about what the future holds for my wonderful mare!
A big thank you all of our sponsors! Rockin Peace Ranch, Performance Horse Plus, Hustle and Home Custom Tack & Accessories, Equi-Mag, Pro Rider Saddles by Jeremy & Lesley Bethune
And thank you to everyone who has helped us so far through this journey! Jeffrey (my husband), Colton (my son), Cheryl Fisher (my mother), Darren Scholl of GBA Farms and of course Brittany Wright! Without Brit I wouldn’t have even known about all of this!
Melanie:
I’m so embarrassed that I forgot to mention your sponsors!!! Thanks for mentioning them here. Best, Sue
Thoroughbreds are magnificent horses and the premier athlete in the horse world. Good to hear of one more educated person in the horse world.