Off Track Thoroughbreds

Going Coastal was a “dream rescue” who turned into a dream horse for 15-year-old owner/rider Bridget Lautensack.

An underweight stallion who just last March was standing in a small sandy paddock in Florida, his tail caked with manure, his frame shrinking with malnutrition, is today a treasured show pony who recently packed his 15-year-old owner around the estimable HITS Saugerties circuit.

Going Coastal’s life story made several quick turns, and looked pretty grim, before helping hands put weight on his body, gave his life a new purpose, and eventually turned him over to Bridget Lautensack, a young Pennsylvania equestrian who had her choice of several first horses, but who only had eyes for the kind Thoroughbred.

It all turned around for Going Coastal last March, when well-known Thoroughbred advocate Melissa Rudershausen got a desperate phone call from a family trying to care for the stallion after the animal’s owner suffered a sudden change in life circumstances and could no longer do so, Rudershausen explains.

Going Coastal
Show name: Mark My Word
Barn: Marco
Sire: Coastal Storm
Dam: Gertigo
Foal date: March 13, 2008 “The horse had been malnourished for over a month and was in bad shape. I went to go see him and he was in a small sand paddock with no grass. The people were trying to do the right thing but they were feeding him cheap sweet feed and he had horrific diarrhea,” She says. “His whole tail was matted with manure and he was about 200-300lbs underweight. I took him in for two months, rehabbed him and he eventually went to a wonderful new home in Pennsylvania, where he has become quite a nice show horse even showing in the ‘A’ circuit.”

But on that day in March when she agreed to take him in, the only thing that known about Going Coastal, other than the obvious physical condition, was that he had a kind and gentle disposition. Feeling lousy and as yet not gelded, he was nonetheless incredibly sweet tempered, she says.

The seasoned Thoroughbred rescuer and trainer went to work immediately. The biggest challenge was getting his diarrhea under control, which she accomplished by feeding him probiotics as well as all the hay he could eat, and gradually adding a pelleted feed to his diet.

Going Coastal dappled up in good health under the care of Melissa Rudershausen of Double Rock Thoroughbred Rescue.

After about a week, the lethargic animal started to trot over to her when feeding time came, and by the second week he was galloping and bucking in his field, feeling great. “He was so happy and full of life! It was amazing to see the transition,” says Rudershausen, of Double Rock Thoroughbred Rescue. “He gained weight, got gelded, and we started him under saddle—he was a perfect gentleman from day 1. He knew his lead changes and was super quiet. Plus, he was always sound.”

With four weeks of riding under his belt, the result of good feed and exercise, Going Coastal was shipped to Pennsylvania to trainer Dawn Taylor-Bell, with whom Rudershausen has worked successfully for years.

And it was in Pennsylvania, as young Bridget Lautensack searched for a riding horse, with her mother Kathy by her side, that she noticed the bay Thoroughbred, all dappled in good health.

“He just looked so kind and sweet, and there was something about his face that made me want to know more about him,” Bridget says, before her mother Kathy Lautensack adds, “She really took to him. She just looked at me and said, ‘Mom, that’s my horse.’ ”

Though inexperienced, Going Coastal, who has been renamed Mark My Word, or Marco for short, tried very hard for his young rider. He had been training with Maria Trongo of Out of Reach Farm before his new owner took over the reins. Beginning with ground poles, he steadily progressed to 2-foot-6 jumps, and in July, placed in several classes at HITS Saugerties!

Despite the big atmosphere, and the newness of showing, Going Coastal got three 6th place ribbons in classes of 50 riders! “That was pretty amazing for him,” Kathy Lautensack says, noting that she and her daughter couldn’t be happier with the addition to their family.

“He’s come along really well,” Bridget adds. “He’s really smart and very athletic.” ♥

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Time Point, 21 and Marilyn Vail, 70, are still going strong as a dressage team in California.

What’s a 70 year old lady doing riding around on a 21 year old Thoroughbred?

Winning championships on the California dressage circuit, for starters.

In 2013, Marilyn Vail and her lightly raced T-bred Time Point were named:
North American Thoroughbred Society’s National Dressage Champion, the DASC Year End High Point Thoroughbred Champion and the California Dressage Society’s High Point (against all breeds) Third Level Regional Adult Amateur Championship.

The pair has been so good they were even featured in a December 2013 Chronicle of the Horse issue about inspiring amateurs, and last weekend learned they won a 7th Place Championship from the DASC Year End Third Level!

The credit, Vail says, goes entirely to Time Point, her 16.1 hand dark bay who is so good at his job that even in a new “spooky” show ring, he can put in winning moves while scoping his unfamiliar environment for horse-eating monsters!

“Timey, when he’s spooky, can be looking all around, and doing two tempe changes at the same time!” says Vail. “The other day he was really distracted by a big show going on in our barn. He could still do all his fancy work, but he was looking around the entire time … he’s a horse who never says “no.” That’s a Thoroughbred for you.”

Time Point
Sire: Private Thoughts
Dam: Victoria Cane
Foal date: April 1,1993Vail bought Time Point in 2010 from Victoria Duffy Hopper, a talented Eventer. After three starts and a single victory in which his race report notes he “dueled gamely to the wire,” he went on to train for eight years with Grand Prix rider and dressage trainer Charles Pinneo.

Just at the point where she swore off horses, the two met.

“Before I met Timey I lost a horse who was very ill for eight months, and nobody could figure it out. He was a lovely Trakehner, and after he died, I was sort of done. I had years of bad luck with horses.”

Her moratorium lasted only until a friend called and suggested she check out Time Point, and soon after “I was back in the saddle again!” she quips.

They compete and win against the fanciest Warmbloods.

Though she has put in hours taking lessons with Time Point, she credits their success in the dressage ring to the horse, whose competitive spirit and desire nails every move. “He loves to show. Oh my God, he’s a real perfectionist. I’ve had Warmbloods, but there’s nothing like a Thoroughbred … I just get along with them. They’re so intelligent and the way they work for you” surpasses the ethic of other breeds she has ridden. “He’s so willing.”

The oldest pair in the dressage classes, they often find themselves up against powerfully built Warmbloods with amazing gaits, Vail and Timey have helped to prove that the Thoroughbred is just as capable.

“Thoroughbreds can win regionally against imported Warmbloods with Olympic sire pedigrees,” she says.

Though Vail was forced to take a year off after sustaining a broken shoulder in a fall, not from a horse, but from tripping over her dog, she and Timey have been schooling, and are looking forward to more successes in the future.

“I wanted to ride horses my whole life, and I always wanted a horse. But my father said I needed to concentrate on my education first. So I got three degrees and work in the law field.”

She eventually became a horse owner, and four years ago found Timey, the horse of her dreams.