Team Wallace

I technically ‘bought’ Good For Me (aka, Goody) December 1, 2004, my birthday. I was between horses at the time and as I usually do in these periods, just wait for the horse to ‘find me’. My brother is a trainer at Penn National and learned of Goody’s need for a new career. My brother also knows the ‘must haves’ for event horses – good conformation, soundness, and good mind. He thought Goody fit the bill on these fronts, so I bought him – sight unseen, except for his CANTER picture. He arrived in Georgia the first week of January 2005 – your typical OTTB – no topline, no heel, and very stiff to the right!

Goody’s career transition to an event horse is not unlike others; however, Goody is likely the laziest horse to get off the leg that I have ever ridden. It makes me wonder how he survived 17 starts at the track! He is definitely the TB ‘kick’ ride – you would think he is a warmblood – think stop and he stops… drop the reins… he stops. You have to get him ‘very’ excited to get some energy from him! As a 40-something re-rider, this became quite a physical ride for me. I worked with several BNT on getting him to ‘lighten’ up, but the heavy lifting and kicking remained. After a while, it became clearer that it was probably me! Alas, we slowly progressed as we both got stronger.

During a nice warm day in May of 2006 Goody experienced a bout of colic that required surgery at UGA in Athens. Turns out he had a 360 degree tortion twist, but due to our quick trip to Athens and surgical team availability, once the colon was untwisted things ‘pinked’ right up and no resection was needed. A 3 month rehab and back into training allowed us to compete at the November Pine Top Farm Horse Trials later that year.

By Spring of 2007 the demands of my job and Atlanta traffic made it clear that I needed more consistent help to get Goody to where I knew he could go. I had heard of Elisa Wallace’s recent success at Maui Jim, and I knew of her dad. So I thought I would give her a call, she might be able to help. Told her I had a nice young TB and thought he had some deeply hidden talent, but I couldn’t get it out of him! She came to ride him and I think she thought I was crazy! Even she had sore arms and legs after his ride – but agreed that there might be something there. We worked on some shoeing issues, strength issues, etc. and slowly he started showing us that he could be a ‘hoss’. Elisa rode him training level at Poplar Place that June – won the dressage and had a good cc round, but unfortunately another set-back – popped a splint! Ugh! I didn’t have the patience for this rehab so I sent him to my sister’s farm in Iowa for 6 months. He came back to Georgia in December 2007 better than ever! Sound, fat, and forward! Maybe he just needed a break!

I competed Goody successfully at Novice through the Winter and moved up to Training level by Fall of 2008. He was going so well that at the end of the season we thought it was time to move to Preliminary, but with Elisa in the tack. She ran his first Prelim at Pine Top Thanksgiving (in the deluge of rain!). He finished 4^th!

Yet, always lurking behind his training progress was the colic. It was becoming a chronic problem. Finally – ding-ding – we realized we had an ulcer problem. Several tubes of UlcerGard later and maintenance through Starting Gate and I think we have it under control. He is holding good weight; coat looks great and has a gleam in his eye.He has had a very productive fall season and we are very proud of him.