Advice for re-training ex racehorse?

SammehM

SammehM

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Hi all! As the title suggests I am getting an ex racer straight off the track. Yes you may think I'm mad :) anyway so I have two thoroughbreds already one is a ex racer but as I've never retrained one myself I was hoping someone might have some advice, past experience, opinions on this as I've found people on here to be very helpful so any imput is much appreciated! :D
 
Alot depends on the age and type of horse ? Jumper or flat horse ? Bit pedantic but I don't like the phrase straight off the track ! I assume you are getting the horse direct from the trainer, not off a racetrack ?
 
From the trainer he's 3 and flat. I don't want to have a set plan with him as it depends on how things go just want to know sorts of things that can help like long reining for example
 
Find a really good, patient instructor! Probably with an eventing bias?

Al has 2, Reg and Bee. Reg was just 9 and untouched out of racing. Bee was 5 and untouched out of racing. Reg she did on her own, and it's taken them 3 years to be at a point where he can consistently work well (they're at BE100, aiming at PC Opens maybe). Bee was broken professionally and has been under saddle for 5 months in total now and is consistently scoring 65%+ dressage and is aimed at BE90s later this year...
 
I agree that time off is a very good idea, but I would ride him for a few weeks first to establish some new boundaries. I would do a bit of hacking in company, long and slow and do 5 mins in the school when you get back, just in walk, to start to establish a consistent contact, bending and turning. If he's been started well then this should be in place anyway.
 
At 3 I would turn him away for a year. With his early start it would be the best thing for him to catch up with his growth. Its what was done with my ex racer.
Then start him again as a 4yr old, slowly like a normal youngster. You will find he will probably progress quickly as he has done a lot in his short life already.
You could start now but he won't have that chance to grow up mentally and physically and it may come back and haunt you in a few years time with injuries.
Even with a year off at 3 my ex racer grew from 15.3hh to 16.2hh between the ages of 4 and 7!
 
Firewell said:
At 3 I would turn him away for a year. With his early start it would be the best thing for him to catch up with his growth. Its what was done with my ex racer.
Then start him again as a 4yr old, slowly like a normal youngster. You will find he will probably progress quickly as he has done a lot in his short life already.
You could start now but he won't have that chance to grow up mentally and physically and it may come back and haunt you in a few years time with injuries.
Even with a year off at 3 my ex racer grew from 15.3hh to 16.2hh between the ages of 4 and 7!
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This, exactly. I'd give him lots of time off. You can still spend time with him, grooming, massaging, etc, getting to know him and vice-versa, without putting any physical pressure on his body. It will pay off imho.
 
The problem is a lot of ex racers are in a routine, so throwing them out straight away is almost more stressful. I'd start as TheMule says, and would do lots of long reining to encourage them to start to use their back, and introduce turn out in short spells, then increase turn out until they're happy to be thrown our again once they've been let down :)
 
if you are looking for someone to point you in the right direction, victoria bax (VB eventing) specialises in retraining ex-racers and is an intl 2 star eventer herself.

She has a team of ex-racers who she regularly competes BE and BD.

She can be found on facebook
 
As he's only three, I'd pretty much re-start him as if he was an unbacked youngster - really go back to basics.

Good luck!
 
We got ours straight out of training, and although he was 5 when we got him, I think the principles are the same. Over the course of a week, we introduced turnout for longer & longer periods, whilst long-reining and leading in hand, grooming etc. We then turned him out 24/7 for 3 months to unwind and drop a bit, before starting again with him pretty much as if he was newly backed.

Everything we did to start with was done slowly and carefully without pushing. Ours is fairly highly strung so it is particularly important to not overload his brain - he's very bright, and it's important not to ask too much of him. I am also a great believer in the early days that if he has had a 'challenging' schooling session or whatever it is, then he can chill a bit and either have a couple of days of calm hacking or even a couple of days in the field. As ours has now been back in work for 8 months, he is in much more of a routine and you can see his muscles are developing and his strength is coming on. I suspect another year and he will look completely different.

Fred & Rowena Cook have a really good book on retraining - I've found it to be fantastically useful as with their website. (I'm not linked to them in anyway other than being a fan!)

Good luck and keep us updated
 
I got mine from his trainer aged 5. He flat and hurdled.

The best advise I can give you and from my own experience is to take your time!
 
If he's flat has he raced recently? Depending on what he's been doing, let him down over few weeks or less if he's a chilled bean, increase turn out time daily and just get to know him, let him be a horse and mature and bring him into ridden work next year.
 
I had a 3 year old straight from the trainer and planned to give him time off staright away, however this really did'nt suit him and I had to do lots of very short in hand work with him, he is almost 5 now and after alot of hard work we are finally moving forward :)
I'd say a lot of grroming/massaging/in hand work for bonding is very important to start with and key is not to rush anything.
 
I got mine at 4 straight from trainer, we took everything slowly. Didn't canter for 3 months until he was built up, had a great RI (Eventer) after 6 months bought a dressage saddle, this helped us lots. After 12 bought a jumping saddle. Introduced coloured poles at month 6. Hacked out, schooled in a field. Went to WT dressage, then at 8 months did a prelim. Started jumping seriously this year.

Bough a horse for 30% of the price I have paid on lessons in year 1. He's now becoming a lovely all rounder. Doing prelim and jumping 2'5. He had previously flat raced, my mentality with him is to be calm always, and not to rush anything. I haven't cantered out in a group yet but have in a school, I didn't hack on headland for 6 months either just road work.

Basically I slowed his life right down and now I am speeding it up in places he is ready to move on.
 
I have re-schooled several ex-racers the last 1 I evented, and my current 1 I also am training to event.

You can read all about them on my blog http://www.gifthorseeventing.co.uk/

If it was me I would turn him out for a minimum of 2 months, they are stiff, sore and frazzled when they come out of racing so a good period of 'down time' is essential to let their bodies and brains begin to unwind.

Then before you are ready to begin any work, go through the MOT

teeth (exracers can be prone to bone spurs and retarded wolf teeth, bad dental care) get a GOOD EDT to come and sort those out

back health, suppleness, get that seen to and corrected

feet, begin remedial shoeing to improve foot shape and growth

saddle get something that is adjustable (changable gullets) because they will change shape so much in the early days (my boy went from med wide to extra wide!)

gut, I always put my exracers on a gut balancer/anti acid product to protect against ulcers, which can be a common side effect from racing lifestyle

nutrition, keep the fibre high but the sugar low. all my ex-racers have found feed with added sugar or molasses almost impossible to cope with, drive them potty! even alfa a, sugar beet, hi-fi, any type of 'mix' was a no no for them

brewers yeast, i would get him on that asap it's a wonder for settling tummies and brains

there is loads of info on my blog of all the discoveries i've made with my boys, both training and care related. GOOD LUCK!

Oh and I second the person who said 'take your time'!
 
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