With an impressive resume of adventures to his name, there are few pursuits eighteen-year-old standardbred ‘Moveitalong’ has yet to turn his hoof to.
Fortunate enough to live his whole life in the care of his breeder Rob Brown, Moveitalong had just one race as a youngster and then enjoyed a spell for several years whilst Rob tended to life’s demands off the track.
During Moveitalong’s break from racing, Rob’s partner, April Robinson, decided to pursue her passion of endurance riding.
Lacking a suitable horse, April decided to introduce Moveitalong and his paddock mate and fellow harness racehorse Corey Monster to saddle, to see if either made a nice ridden prospect.
Initially considered the least likely of the pair to transition well to ridden training, Moveitalong surprised his family by taking to saddle with ease.
With Corey Monster ‘lying down flat on the ground when anyone tried to mount him’, a memory which still gets a giggle to this day, Moveitalong became April’s primary riding partner.
In his prime at the time, at around ten years of age, Moveitalong took to the trails enthusiastically and enjoyed two seasons on the endurance circuit, earning his Yellow Logbook during this time (stepping up from Novice to full-fledged Endurance status!)
“Moveitalong’s first ever endurance event was a 5km ride with my son, who is not a rider, being led by Rob”, April recalls.
“This demonstrates just how calm and trustworthy Moveitalong is; he’s always been fantastic and safe around our whole family, which is a common trait shared by many standardbred
“Although quiet by nature, Moveitalong has also proven himself to be a very capable and competitive and capable riding horse. A special moment we shared in endurance was his first VERA 80km ride at Eldorado in September 2017. Out of the six Heavyweight horses to enter, Moveitalong was the only one to successfully complete the ride and was awarded Best Condition. I was so proud of this achievement!”
Unfortunately, after their amazing start to their endurance career, April sustained a broken back from a fall off another horse and took a year out of the saddle.
Being in peak fitness at the time from his endurance training, Moveitalong became the perfect option for Rob to put back in cart and renew his harness racing training license.
As a twelve-year-old with a mature head of his shoulders, Moveitalong was welcomed back to the track (with particular support from the Maryborough Harness Racing Club), stepping into the role of a great leader for the young horses to learn the ropes and gain confidence from during their trials.
With Rob’s license successfully renewed, along with his passion for harness racing, April was able to regather the reins and return to the saddle.
Lacking confidence from her accident, April got back into riding slowly, grateful for Moveitalong’s calm, reliable nature.
Together, the pair explored new territory, enrolling in natural horsemanship clinics to give April the opportunity to gradually rebuild her confidence and Moveitalong some education beyond the trails and track.
In 2021, the pair joined several riding clubs, including the Mandurang South Pony Club, Central Vic Working Equitation Club and Castlemaine & District Adult Riders (both with HRCAV), and dabbled in a variety of fun an exciting activities, including dressage, jumping, cross country, showing, games, obstacles, western, tent pegging and even archery!
“Moveitalong’s such an easy horse and he’s shown just how versatile standardbreds are”, April explains.
“He’s a sweet boy and although I can sense that he prefers to be out riding in the bush to some of the more technical disciplines we’ve tried, Moveitalong will still go along with whatever I ask of him without a fuss.
“I’m excited to get back into endurance next year with Moveitalong, as this is something we both really love.
“Rob’s also gotten right back into harness racing and we’ve started breeding and training some youngsters. We just love the standardbred nature and how easy they are.
“Even as foals, the standies are so quiet and friendly. They’re safe around our kids and so willing to learn; from birth to racing and beyond, you can’t go past a standardbred – they’re such wonderful horses!”
