2014 $10,000 America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred Contest winners Icabad Crane and Phillip Dutton. Photo by Megan Stapley Photography, courtesy of the Retired Racehorse Project.
Last week, we brought you a great video featuring Phillip Dutton and Graham and Anita Motion’s Icabad Crane as they prepare for their 2015 season. Two more videos have since been published, taking a deeper look into Phillip’s training methods with the OTTB gelding.
In the first video, Phillip works with Icabad on a small jump school, focusing on getting him to round and use his hind end more over fences. Phillip utilizes a ground pole after the jump and slowly raises the cups to achieve his goal; it’s interesting to see the horse work through the exercise and figure out what is being asked. Check out the video below:
In the final video for this series, Phillip works on a grid. He puts the fences up to around Prelim height to see how Icabad handles himself. The video also features more commentary from Phillip on the reasoning behind each exercise and his reaction to how the horse takes him through the grid he set up.
These videos are a great way to get a behind-the-scenes look at one of the top riders in the business, so we’d like to thank the Phillip and the Motions for sharing their journey with us. Go Icabad Crane!
