The saying goes that ‘you can't teach an old dog new tricks,’ but standardbred Musculus is certainly bucking that trend in retirement.
The former harness racehorse is thriving under the care of young retrainer Lily Small at Logan Village, who has been teaching “Mack” trick riding.
The bay gelding last raced in 2021, having earned close to $130,000 in a 75-start career that notched 12 wins and 30 placings.
Musculus was trained by Grant Dixon out of his Tamborine base, and it was there that Small came to first lay her eyes on the gelding at the end of 2019.
“He was one of the horses that was being trained there and I instantly fell in love with him, and I knew I had to have him,” Small said.
“From the start, he was always a very special horse - he's very quirky, and he was very different, and he had such a presence about him that I had to have him.
“I didn't really know what I was going to do with him…but I took him home, and then we started out doing the basic stuff you do with an off-the-tracker, just getting used to riding and I took him out to some little events, like show jumping and dressage and hacking.
“I was trick riding at the Australian Outback Spectacular and after I left there, I was thinking that if I want to keep trick riding, I'm going to have to train a horse to do it.
“There isn't really much trick riding for standardbreds, so with the help of a couple of coaches, I managed to get him started.”
Small had learnt the craft of trick riding from coach Hollie Shiels back in 2020.
Trick riding involves the rider performing a number of stunts including standing upright and hanging from the saddle, with an abundance of training and safety equipment required.
Small said Mack had been brought up to speed quickly with the new discipline.
But it was the tutelage of Gary Lung through the Queensland Off-The-Track Program’s Subsidised Lessons Program that helped the 23-year-old take Mack’s retraining to the next level.
“I'd never had lessons with him before, and Gary hadn't really done a massive amount of standardbreds, but then he met mine, and thought, he is really cool,” Small said.
“I ended up doing masterclass at the Brisbane CDI with Mack to represent the breed, and Gary helped a lot.
“The horse has to trust you and basically needs to be able to run and hold your body weight on the side of them, or on top of them, and the lessons I did with Gary really helped that, because it helped me get Mack balanced.
“Gary's lessons out of pocket are very expensive and being able to get them free through the Subsidised Lessons Program has been so great, because I don't think I would have been able to afford the lessons otherwise.
“Obviously horses are expensive and I'm a young person and I've got rent to pay and stuff like that, so the Subsidised Lessons Program has really helped me achieve my goals on this horse.”
Small has been retraining standardbreds for a few years, and currently has one other retired racehorse on her property that she shares with partner and harness driver/trainer Bryse McElhinney.
She is looking to join the QOTT Acknowledged Retrainers Program as a specialist standardbred retrainer, having worked with the breed in several harness stables.
“I've never had too much to do with thoroughbreds personally but they are very different horses - typically, standardbreds are a bit more laid back,” Small said.
“In my opinion, I think that standardbreds have the best brains, they are exposed to so much on the track with the gigs and the mobiles and all that sort of stuff.
“Mack was a trotter and he didn't have a very solid canter so it was just about trying to build up the strength to get him into a nice stable canter, so I can do the trick riding off him.
“I think that standardbreds have so much ability and such good brains that any job that you want to point them at, they're ready to go.”
Small is also looking to complete her trial drives to obtain her licence to line up in the sulky in the future.
The support from her fiancé McElhinney has been invaluable as she looks to expand her retraining efforts.
Having grown up in a harness racing family and now training and driving his own horses, McElhinney can testify to the vital role the QOTT Program plays in the industry.
“I think the QOTT Program is actually remarkable – the horses have got a life after racing, they don't have to just go to the paddock to live out their days - they've got something else to enjoy,” McElhinney said.
“I've watched second-hand how Lily was able to retrain a standardbred, and now another one.
“I've worked alongside the first one she did and he wasn't the easiest horse - he was a trotter and he had his quirks, but she was able to train him, and I'm quite proud of the job she did with him.
“It’s the same with Mack – he hasn't been racing for a long time, and he taken it in his stride with what she does.
“Having the QOTT Program is something that is vital in this industry in Queensland and down in New South Wales too.
“The horses do wonderful jobs because they can earn money on the racetrack, but they can also earn in the show ring too - it's just good to have something to fall back on and they've got that life after racing.”
Click here for more information on the QOTT Subsidised Lessons Program.
