spacie1977
Well-Known Member
I'm considering buying a racehorse at the Newmarket sales. My YO is experienced with racers and has re-schooled a couple of her own in the past, and says she'll help me through the process with my own. She knows a couple people on the race yards who have told her which horses to look out for that have a nice temperament and will hopefully go onto becoming nice eventers. So I've been reading up like mad, going through the RoR website, and have my eye on two horses in particular who apparently have nice temperaments, have only raced once or twice and not done well on the track (i.e. will hopefully go for very little at auction).
They're both 2 years old and although the YO says racehorses mature very quickly and I can go straight out hacking with them at that age, to be honest that doesn't sit well with me. If I bring one home, I'd like to give them a couple months off in the field with my other horse, to unwind and get used to a slower pace of life. I'd then want to spend a couple months walking in hand alongside a friend hacking, and gently introduce them to normal tack, spend time in the school doing in hand work, lunging, long reining and de-spooking. Hopefully as they've not raced much they'll be easier to re-school than an older ex-racer, but at that age I think I should still be treating them like any other baby horse and going right back to the basics with everything; re-backing and schooling in 6 months time as if they've never been backed before. I just think they'll be calmer and happier if not rushed, and I've got to look out for their physical health too as they're not yet fully developed. Am I being too precious? What has other peoples experiences been with taking on very young ex-racers straight off the track? Should I leave them to unwind for longer than 6 months before getting on and hacking out with a friend? I'm also wondering if it's better to do all the groundwork at home then pay to send them off for a few weeks to a professional re-trainer so they can get off on the best foot as I'm not an expert.
They're both 2 years old and although the YO says racehorses mature very quickly and I can go straight out hacking with them at that age, to be honest that doesn't sit well with me. If I bring one home, I'd like to give them a couple months off in the field with my other horse, to unwind and get used to a slower pace of life. I'd then want to spend a couple months walking in hand alongside a friend hacking, and gently introduce them to normal tack, spend time in the school doing in hand work, lunging, long reining and de-spooking. Hopefully as they've not raced much they'll be easier to re-school than an older ex-racer, but at that age I think I should still be treating them like any other baby horse and going right back to the basics with everything; re-backing and schooling in 6 months time as if they've never been backed before. I just think they'll be calmer and happier if not rushed, and I've got to look out for their physical health too as they're not yet fully developed. Am I being too precious? What has other peoples experiences been with taking on very young ex-racers straight off the track? Should I leave them to unwind for longer than 6 months before getting on and hacking out with a friend? I'm also wondering if it's better to do all the groundwork at home then pay to send them off for a few weeks to a professional re-trainer so they can get off on the best foot as I'm not an expert.