Advice Please - for 16hh Ex Racehorse

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Peanuts Mum

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I would be grateful for some advice please, I purchased a 16hh ex-racehorse approx 2 months ago, who is very weak in front, he has a muscley bum but nothing on his shoulders and a neck like a Pipe Cleaner! He is really downhill in his build to look at, I am having trouble getting a saddle to sit correctly on him, I have a front riser pad on him with inserts to lift the front.

Can someone please offer some advice on the exercise you would be doing with him to build the front end up, he is obviously working on his forehand quite badly at the moment. I live in Wales and do have alot of hill work availble to me, which I believe is good, but how is best to ride them and what else would you be doing?

Thank You :)
 
hi my exracer was the same when i got him took apprx 3-4 months to get a top line a nd some muscle up front... all i did was school long and low then progress to asking for a shape.... lots of hacking (i had no hills to use either) but fast work helps too and alot of circling will help with the neck muscles!

then after 2 months of hacking i progressed onto teaching him to jump which gave him a whole load of muscles and top line!

plus the right feeding helped too... well mine was on happy hoof and a lot of hay and grass and the right work and he looks amazing now!

let me know how you get on :)
 
Thank you for the advice, i have been trying to get him long and low and I know it's important not to force him into a shape at this stage, but he is having none of it, front legs just paddle along with his head in the air!

anymore suggestions, anyone, Please..........
 
The only thing I can suggest is long and low too, however, not sure where you can go if the horse is not too happy with the whole idea!

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but how about some light lunge work in a pessoa or side reins (the stretchy elastic ones) until he starts to develop the muscles?
 
Peanuts Mum said:
Thank you for the advice, i have been trying to get him long and low and I know it's important not to force him into a shape at this stage, but he is having none of it, front legs just paddle along with his head in the air!

anymore suggestions, anyone, Please..........
Click to expand...

My horse used to "go Llama" in the end we put him in a bungee. It's the john Whittiker training rein which is an elasticated bungee which goes over the poll through the bit rings and onto the girth through the front legs so you have nothing in your hand. This means they have some pressure on their poll when they are going like a llama and when they are going correctly it hangs loose! You have to send the horse forwards but it made all the difference to me!! I hacked out and schooled in it! They are for sale in lots of places, I got mine from Robinsons!!

http://www.johnwhitakerintltd.com/product_detail.cfm?id=TR
 
Trouble4125 said:
My horse used to "go Llama" in the end we put him in a bungee. It's the john Whittiker training rein which is an elasticated bungee which goes over the poll through the bit rings and onto the girth through the front legs so you have nothing in your hand. This means they have some pressure on their poll when they are going like a llama and when they are going correctly it hangs loose! You have to send the horse forwards but it made all the difference to me!! I hacked out and schooled in it! They are for sale in lots of places, I got mine from Robinsons!!

http://www.johnwhitakerintltd.com/product_detail.cfm?id=TR
Click to expand...

Ooh yeah my friend had one of those and it worked well!
 
It is unusual for the front end to be weak and the back end muscled so I would do the usual checks, if you have not already, teeth, back and worming.
If he is working on his forehand you would expect most of the muscle to be on his front, probably in the shoulders, if all is ok maybe start to do some lungeing or longreining to give him some idea of how to stretch, without a rider on he may find it easier.
You are right not to force things but if he has no idea a pair of loose side reins or a bungee could help get him started in the right direction. If a horse has never learnt to go in a long frame it does take time for them to realise it is ok, sometimes they have been stopped from stretching down and are actually worried about doing so.
I have been schooling a horse, not an exracer, that really didnt get it I had to get a helper to offer a carrot until he realised he would not get told off for stretching. Carrot stretches before riding are a good way to get the message through to them and can be a good bonding exercise too.
Lots of hacking up and down hills will soon make a difference maybe use a martingale to help.
 
my share ex racer was eactly the same. He had 6months in a field before starting work just to wind down but when he began being ridden he went with his nose poking how they are taught. This is my run through what i did
1) 2 weeks of lunging (he knew how so that helped) had loose side reins which i put on midway through session for 5mins to beign with then increased until they were on for a 20min session of 30min lunge. Also i encouraged him with my hand and the line to stretch down to the floor. (walk and trot only) I did give him quite a large circle to lunge to begin with as he wasnt too balanced decreased as he improved (now lunges on 15m).
2) 2 weeks of walking work and still lunging twice a week in side reins as before. When riding my position wa sshocking to try and get horse to stretch down (on advice of brill instructor) I position my hands very low down the saddle and play with the reins so he searches for the bit but has to stretch to find it. Lots of circles being included in ridden work.
3) started to ask for him to come into a contact (low) in walk and then progressed this into trot as he felt capable. only for short sessions then i slowed the pace or gave him a rein to stretch down into. I also started to add in polework at this point to and decrease the lunging with more riding.
4) i began adding in canter work at about 6-8weeks. small number of strides though and on a full arena not a circle as he was not balanced enough. Also do lots fo ahcking from day 1- i went round the fields as he wasnt happy on the roads alone.

My advice is to get yourself an instructor to give you pointers, also i had an osteo out to my boy after he had a few weeks off due to an abscess and slip in field, since having her out he is much improved in self carraige. To encourage his self carraige and continue building right muscles he is doing lots of pole work, lots of circles and spiralling, lots of bending in every direction and introduction of lateral work.
I havnt used side reins now since the first month of working him. i dont like gadgets for the sake of using them. He is now going amazingly and my dressage instructor recons we will be doing elementary by spring next year if we get out and about!
 
I acquired a croup high Llama 4-5 months ago (ex racer) and despite being assured that her teeth had been "done" the previous month, I have just had her seen again by a highly qualified equine dentist (not a vet) who was surprised she'd allowed me to put a bit in her mouth her teeth were so sharp! Now she is comfortable in her mouth she is willing to take up a contact and we are getting gradually longer periods of lowering every day.

Being croup high makes saddle fitting a bit more complicated as the saddle tends to sit in behind the shoulder blades, making it more difficult to muscle up at the front. However, once you're sure she has no physical problems, back, teeth etc some sympathetic schooling with a bungee should help.

Hillwork - very good for building up muscle, but apparently you shouldn't trot up hill, but canter or walk.
 
Have you had your vet check him for Sweeney? Sweeney is disuse or neurogenic atrophy of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles. Neurogenic atrophy is due to damage to the suprascapular nerve, which supplies the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles.

In plain English, there may be nerve damage causing lack of muscle in the shoulder. I've had ex-racers and TBs for over 20 years and have only once had this, but it is something you should ask your vet to check to rule out as no amount of work, long, low or otherwise, will put muscle onto his shoulders if there is a neurological problem.

If the vet gives you the all clear then all I can say is have patience. Ex-racers and TBs can take a long time to readjust both physiologically and mentally. Two months is nothing more than a blink of an eye in rehabilitation terms. With my current ex-racer its taken 4 years to get a collected canter with him sitting on his hocks rather than being on the forehand. He came to me with virtually no mouth after many years as a very successful racer but now after lots of patience he goes happily in a happy mouth jointed snaffle. If I've learnt one thing with TBs - you just can't rush it. They are the masters in teaching you to be patient!
 
where abouts in wales are you?
agree with be positive that is odd that he is muscled up behind but works on the forehand. should be the other way round. What is the horses name and where did you get him from?
 
Thank you All for your replies, lots of information that is very useful. having read it all, i think i am being rather impatient and hoping to turn him into a Dressage horse rather more quickly than in reality is possible!

I have tried lunging him in the Pessoa, he is like 'Houdini' in it, he manages to kick and twist until he can flip the sheepskin covered rope that sits behind the back legs onto his back thus releasing the pressure of the whole system, I have tightened it up but feel it is then forcing him into shape, rather than him working into it. So perhaps just side reins or the bungee mentioned would be better.

To answer some questions, he came out of racing in February this year, i don't know if he was 'let down'. I did not buy him from the racing yard, he had been purchased by a lady who bought him to sell on, she supposedly owned him and schooled him for 4 months (I doubt that).

To watch him work in trot, his front legs are doing most of the work with the hind leg taking very short steps. He feels much better in canter, it's very big feeling under your seat but then feels as if it is being lost down into the shoulder.

As said, I think i am being impatient and therefore getting frustrated with his progress. I will have his teeth and back checked (I was told they had been done) just to be sure nothing is wrong.

thank you once again for the advice :)
 
Ok, so he's stopped growing. I was just wondering whether or not he'd level up with a bit more time. Even so, he is still young and he would probably benifit from being turned away for a bit, as I doubt that he has been.

I would then bring him back into work slowly. I found that often the best approach was to forget about an outline - just aim for him to be relaxed (no stargazing :p ) and moving forwards nicely. If you can (hopefully you don't live in a flat area), lots of hill work. I was always taught to do 6 weeks of walking up and down hills before we started to introduce trot. Once the trot was going well, we then started to do short schooling sessions, then introduce canter etc...

It was all a slow process and the focus was always on 'forwards in balance' and only move on once you're fully ready. Once the horse is then muscled up better, an outline becomes more natural and easier to get by asking, with no force. (I hope that makes sense?)
 
Thank you Faracat, i'm sure you are quite right, he has raced from the age of 2-6, turning him away and allowing him to chill a bit may be just what he needs, mentally as well as physically. Some days I bring him in and he looks at me as if to say 'do we have to', in fact on several occasions he has flatly refused to go into the arena!

I think we will take things a little more steadily, plenty of chill time and some quiet hacking up and down all these Welsh hills over the winter months, and start to concentrate on the 'turning him into dressage horse' next spring :)
 
I'm currently working with an ex racer who apart from having a muscly bum and being croup high has all the typical working habits of an ex racer.

He's actually a cracker and very responsive to leg/voice aids but massively on the forehand especially through his downward transitions. Like yours has a lovely walk and canter but loses his 'swagger' in trot. However, I'm not encouraging much forward movement from him in trot at the moment because I want him to be controlled and balanced first.

I'm literally spending 3 nights in the school working mainly on walk/halt transitions, asking for submission in the halt then asking him to walk on again maintaining the submission, 1 night lunging (only in walk and trot) in the pessoa on a loose/low setting then hacking at the weekend.

They're smart cookies and 'get it' quite quickly, it's just a case of maintaining 'it' once they've got it.

I'm hoping that this sort of work will build the correct muscles which will continue to help him have the strength and self carriage to come off the forehand.

I must admit, I'm at the stage now where some assistance from the floor would help, but I don't want to end up in the hands of an instructor that wants us doing a lot of trot & canter work. He has to understand in walk first, then we'll take it up a level.

IMO ex racers are superb. Good luck with him
 
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