Cost of rebacking a straight off the track ex racer?

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kerie

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Hi all, I've lurked for a while but only decided to sign up today because I have searched a few times and can't find a thread with the same questions I have at the moment. Any answers you guys are able to give would be very much appreciated - or even if you can link me to a previous thread if I've totally missed them?

Can anyone give me a rough guide price to rebacking a straight off the track ex-racer and the average length of time it may take? I'm more than happy to send him away to the right person for whatever length of time he needs to sort his brain out and become a nice rideable person - I'm just trying to work out how much it'll cost. (I'm aware the answer is probably 'how long is a piece of string?' but even ballpark figures would be appreciated) Currently he's lovely on the ground and in the stable, will box well and is used to road work when he is out with the string - I don't think he'll ever have gone out alone though - and as far as I know he's not known to nap.

I'm due to have a chat with our trainer soon so I will be getting some advice from him too - although I know he thinks we should keep him running for another year or more (horse it 7 atm and has only ever known flat racing).

Many thanks.
 
The first cost is going to be that of grass livery (unless you have your own land and other horses), rugs and hay, as he will need to be let down/turned away for a while. I would, personally turn him away for the winter and then bring him back into work (retraining) in the spring.
 
Faracat said:
The first cost is going to be that of grass livery (unless you have your own land and other horses), rugs and hay, as he will need to be let down/turned away for a while. I would, personally turn him away for the winter and then bring him back into work (retraining) in the spring.
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This ^^^

Im a big fan of letting them chill in a field over winter unridden and just get handled on the ground (daily if stabled due to yard restirctions etc) and maybe introduced to the school on the lunge at the tail end of winter :)

Does alot for resetting their brain letting them be a horse for a bit and if I ever took on an OTTB then its what i would do :)
 
Thank you both, I hadn't thought of wintering at home although it makes a lot of sense and allows us to get to know each other and him plenty of time to chill out a bit.

In which case, if he comes home 'til Spring to live with my other beasties livery costs etc aren't a worry (they live in the 'garden'...which is just under 9 acres) - extra hay, rugs, feed, bedding and whatnot aren't going to be an issue.

I was more meaning how much do people charge to reback them, bog standard schooling livery prices or is it usually more (sorry I should have been clearer on that point)?

Thank you both again :) Can't wait to get him home, end of October won't be here fast enough!
 
I wouldnt imagine it would be much more than a normal backing as hes used to the weight of a rider and will have aids (albiet not the normal ones ;) ) and will be used to certain sights and sounds.

Will more likely be reschooling and its really going to depend on how and who does it for you and what your looking to be the outcome of the schooling :)

Is he going to be a comp horse?? RC/PC?? Happy hacker?? Different people are good for different levels of backing/reschooling.

I know a friend who wanted her youngster just to be able to W/T/C balanced and able to pop a small jump and she would do the rest and it cost her in the region of 800/900 quid I think and that was the horse stabled at schooling livery and ridden/worked 5 times a week over a 10week period I think I may be wrong just going by memory :)
 
Thank you TallulahBright - not quite as bad as I was thinking then :). Can I ask how long your girl raced for? I'm guessing that a horse that has only been trained but never raced might be quicker to 'turn around' than one that has raced for six years? Or does it not really make any difference?

Sorry for all the questions - while we've had racehorses for a while, I've never brought one home to ride before!
 
BlackBeastie - I'm probably a bit like your friend, as long as he comes back balanced in all his paces and can pop a wee jump I can work on the rest. I'm not really too sure what I want to do with him tbh, I fell in love with him when he was a baby and decided he was coming home, hell or high water! Not the most sensible reasoning but he seems the sort that can turn a hoof to most things. Thanks for an idea on cost too - I reckon if I budget around £200-250 a week for 8-12 weeks I should be good (and hopefully have some left over to buy him some pretty new things).

partyangel - thank you for your help, much appreciated. As you'll see from the bit above I'm doubling that and (hopefully) using it as a savings plan :)

Thank you all for the help, very much appreciated - it's not quite as scary in NL as I thought it would be :)
 
Another option would be to keep him at home when he comes back into work, but get/pay a trainer to come to you. This does depend on having a suitable trainer in your area though.
 
We got a new one on Tuesday, had A LOT of runs - from 2 year old (he is 7 now) and last ran in August this year. He is an absolute poppet - easier than our other one who had raced less, spent a year in the field and started hacking out and schooling when we got him, it's a very individual thing :)
 
Faracat - sending him away will be cheaper than building a school :( In all seriousness though, I'd rather send him away to be schooled because I'll know he's going to be worked properly every day. Not having an arena I know I'd be at the mercy of our weather and I don't fancy trying to get him balanced and working well in a soggy field.

Minesadouble - good to know, thank you. I'm hoping he'll be easy because he is very chilled out - even right before a race but who knows. Mine sounds just like yours, started out as a 2 yr old and has raced consistently since (his last race was earlier on this eve) and I think we'll be entering him up for the rest of Sept...Good luck with your new boy, I wish you many years of joy with him :)
 
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