Ex Race Horses

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sally678

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Anybody got experiences of re-homing a ex-race horse? What sort of problems would you have?
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I have one - he came from Doncaster sales last May.

He has been an absolute gentleman, no real problems at all. We have had to start from scratch with lots of stuff (hacking on his own, traffic, circles, poles, jumps etc. etc.) but it has been no more difficult with him than with any young horse.

My boy was very green though - although he came out of training he never actually ran - I think that has made things easier.
 
i've had lots, rangling from those that behave like normal horses, to those that needed 6months of rebreaking, it depends what you buy, from where and for how much, I'd recommend buying from doncaster rather than ascot, buying as young as you can, and buying something that has no record of falling/refusing to start/or front runners that don't stay (they are often running off with the jockey until they run out of steam) Anything you are considered you can check its form (lack of) on the racing post website (look at comments in running for good info)

They are in general very bright, easy to reschool (even the lunatics), the tend to go better in happy mouth bits than metal ones and all of mine have needed work on thier backs before we started anything.

have had 6 or 7 now i think and all have promising new careers
 
Just to say that I agree completely with RacingDemon in terms of the most sensible way to find an ex racehorse. I have been very lucky with mine as I got him a year ago when he was nine when he was on the way to the meat man due to a damaged tendon (never a good idea to offer to take on a horse when you have had a couple of glasses of wine
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). Anyway he has been an absolute star despite the unpromising start (see my diary below if interested) and I have found that although he is a bit of a loon when riding he is an absolute gent in the stable, clipping, etc.
 
I too have an exrace horse, he had been pin fired for damaged tendons (not my choice).. He's sound as bell now and hunts regularly in the winter He's the most loveliest horse i ever owned... can be bit aloof sometimes but does have impeccable manners in and out of stable. Loves being ridden and going out to places... i had him for 4 years and won't swap him for the world... The 1st two years was resting (12 months) after tendon damages and 12 months to bring him back to full work.
 
Makes two of us
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I can stand in the stable for ages just giving him a hug (although he thinks I am a bit of an idiot for doing it).

On the subject of firing - Sam has been bar fired on all four legs (came from that kind of yard) and when I looked into those ex racehorse showing classes they said not to bother as he would immediately get marked down. Seems a bit of a shame to me as I would have thought quite a few horses that have raced have been (sadly) fired.
 
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On the subject of firing - Sam has been bar fired on all four legs (came from that kind of yard) and when I looked into those ex racehorse showing classes they said not to bother as he would immediately get marked down. Seems a bit of a shame to me as I would have thought quite a few horses that have raced have been (sadly) fired.

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I am sure that's not possible cos as far i know there's exracer forum (i will give you link if you want it) does alot of shows all over places and none of pinfired horses get marked down,
 
I've got an ex-racer, who is just adorable. He is a pleasure to be around and very soft and gentle.
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Have a look on the rehoming of ex racers website which has all sorts of information on what to expect. Also, there is an article by Kelly Marks called 'the racehorse in your garden' or something like that, which is really interesting; i think that is on the intelligent horsemanship website.
Good luck.
 
Have one - bought him as a 3yr old (He's now 7) direct from the trainer. Raced on the flat. He had a few months off and then started re-schooling at 4. I would echo what RD has said in trying to get one as young as you can. I'm glad we did. All in all our boy has been pretty easy - fabulous temperament and easily trainable. He has nice paces (scoring up to 72% prelim and 65% novice at affiliated BD - now with a few points) but his only downfall is that he is built rather downhill. He has the trainabiliaty to go further and I'll hopefully get to Medium on him - but he'll never achieve the engagement and collection for his changes and higher level work. However, it'll be a steep learning curve for me and the finding how to train him will be fab. My OH events him too - placed at PN and will hopefully go Novice next season - all being well.

There are pitfalls however -we've inherited a clipping problem, but in all other aspects he's fab. They're not for novices - he can be very sharp especially when hacking. I wouldn't take on anything similar again (not at the moment anyways) due to the time commitment. I'm having to put my boy on full livery as I just haven't got the time during the week to do everything - and I love riding him cos it's usually so straightforward. But I wouldn't take on any young horse at the moment - not because he's an ex-racer. However if I was looking for a more established horse I wouldn't let the fact that something is an ex-racer affect my search - aS long as it ticked all the other boxes...but I don't want another "downhill" horse - I'll be obsessed with natural self-carriage and uphill paces in my next search. Not sure if anyone else has found TB's and ex-racers in specifc be naturally downhill? Would be interested to know!
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S_V my two exracers are/were certainly not downhill infact Owen is one of the most uphill horse you can find he naturally carrys himself in just the right place.He would be a pure out and out dressage horse if I were to concentrate on dressage with him and a few dressage judges have asked me if he is for sale as he does move and carry himself a lot better than a lot of warmbloods.


I've had two flat racers and just had a 5 year old put down.Both horses have had a wealth of physical problems I simply do not want to buy another flat racer again although I would love a retired jump racer.. They are lucky if they get away with not being permantly damaged by racing as a 2 and 3 year old but at least with the National Hunt horses, they dont start training until the end of their 3 year old year or even not until they are 4 or 5.

However despite my 2 boys long list of health problems they were both absolutely lovely horses in all respects. One is a absolute gentleman and the one that was put down was very cheeky& adorable.Both had/have huge talent for everything,if I can keep Owen fixed and sound, I have high hopes for him!
 
I have an ex-racehorse, he jumps like stink and would jump over you if you were infront of him but can be pretty stressed at the weirdest of times. Take him to a show miles away on his own and he is fine - have him in his stable and take his friend away and he'll practically try and jump the door
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. Also say, an insight to how much he must have loved racing when we were at Scone Palace BE which is next to Perth Racecourse and he was hyped up making the strangest over excited grunts!

Very rewarding but challenging, would definately do it again.
 
I've retrained two ex racehorses and they couldn't have been more different! The first one was fine when I tried her but when I took her back to my (v busy) yard I think she thought she was back on the racing yard and turned into a complete nutter! That said, she did turn out to be a decent showjumper and general fun horse once I'd sorted out the rearing and napping. The second ex-racer I rode was very laid back but quite stiff when it came to schooling. But he turned out to be a good dressage horse. I would definately do it again (when I can afford it!) as it is so rewarding to give them a new career and watch them develop.
 
We have an ex-racer currently being retrained : a completely mad purchase, bought him off the racecourse as a 6 year-old! Wish I'd read Racing Demon's post before doing so ... He is a lovely chap, but as his trainer said, "racing blew his mind", and its taken almost a year for him to lose his "worry wrinkles", put on weight, and chill out. He's a very happy chap now, hacks out superbly (although very forward-going), but will always have some physical and psychological problems from having started life in flat-racing. The trainer who first had him said that he was so unhappy in a racing yard environment that he went on hunger-strike. He crib bites, and has some sort of recurrent problem with his back/offside hindleg which we haven't been able to resolve through scanning and nerve-blocking. We now manage it by not jumping him (though he jumps like a stag) and limiting schooling sessions, and that way he seems to stay sound. But he absolutely bears out everything that RacingDemon says about the damage that is caused to immature TBs through early breaking and racing ...
 
Have one at the moment and she is lovely. But when she arrived all she would do was weave and mucking out was a nightmare, very dirty mare, also took her some time to socialise with my other three horses, but we got their in the end.... Otherwise she is great, had a couple of days with the Bloodhounds on her and she was great.... Very rewarding at the end.........she is destined hopefully to event..........
 
Pictures of my ex racer are in the Gallery forum under Virgin Picture Poster
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! I've been out on a hack with him this morning and he is really feeling his feet with the frost we've had this morning- silly old man that he is. I've had him 13 yrs and wouldn't sell him even if I got offered a blank cheque
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The racers we've bought we have purchased direct from the trainer. That way you can see them in a more normal environment, have no experience of buying from sales so can't comment. Don't know where you are based but know of a couple of trainers in the Leics/lincs areas that are worth a call if you are looking.
 
I've had several ex-race horses. A couple of them have had certain 'issues' like not liking to hack out alone at first (PF!) but most of them have been lovely. Very well-mannered and one was a complete plod!! One or two came with a reputation for spinning and bolting home (never happened) or lying down and refusing to go out (ditto) so basically, in my experience, even the difficult ones improve once out of the racing environment.
 
Had one who had been out of racing for a while, he was a successful ex pointer who could still explode when his feet hit grass. In the stable, in the school and to handle all ways he was an absolute gent but at 17 was still a very forward going ride, used to come back from hunting with sparks literally flying from his shoes. Like many others he had been fired and hobdayed
 
I got an Ex racer she is the lovliest horse ever, good nature and can do anything with her, shows, Hunting, X country, you name we do it, Going back to the Pin firing if you go on the ex racers web site then they have all the answers you need and as far a I know if you enter there classes then you won't be marked down.
 
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