Ex-racehorse owners - questions & show me yours!

[skint1]

Hi All
What age did you buy yours? how often had they raced? does he/she have any vices that you knew about when you bought him/her? did you buy direct from the trainer/breeder? What would you do differently if you did it again? what questions should you ask?

Basically piccies and some history on your horse would be lovely!

Thanks

We have 2, Bella and Basil. They're both great horses and it's been a pleasure to have them in our lives, getting an ex racer is a decision you won't regret!
I'm rubbish at buying horses so I can't really think of any questions I wish I had asked but I guess it's a good idea to bring an objective friend and have a checklist in mind so you can make easy comparisons.

Bella was 3 when we got her, 2 months out of training. She had raced 6 times. She wind sucked, was a bit skinny and poor and hated having her mane and feet touched when we got her. We bought her from a dealer in South Wales. If I had it to do again I just wouldn't have bought her, we didn't know enough, we tried our best and she taught us so much, and hopefully she learned a lot but it was so difficult for my daughter and now age 8 she's just turned away, happy enough, but what a waste of a potentially talented horse, she could have been so much more in the right hands.

Basil was 11 when we got him, he had raced 7 times as a 2/3 yo. I've no idea who reschooled him but they did a fab job. I don't know much about his history except he was a lesson horse and belonged to a teen who had found him too much and lost interest in him. My daughter loves him to pieces and after her many adventures with Bella she finds his high jinks out hacking amusing.

 

[Sunset1]

Mrs D came to us on Christmas eve 2009. She had last raced in Dec 2006 and not sure what she'd done since but had certainly had some time off injured. She hadn't been ridden or out of her stable for some time before we got her but had the most unflappable temperament. Kirsty has put in a lot of work (more than she imagined it would take!) but she is a lovely horse to have around and is now eventing at BE 90, hoping to get established at 100 this season. Pics show her sj and kicking a ball (police nuisance lanes) at the blue lights horse show in summer 2010, the xc shots were playing at Somerford in summer 2011 and the dressage rosette was at the petplan areas in Oct 2011.

 

[kit279]

I have had a few! They've all been different and all immensely rewarding. I doubt I'd have anything other than a TB to be honest, although the littlest of them has been a bit of a revelation in terms of being completely unspoilt so I would now look to have something that had done as little as possible.

The old grey, Ottie, who had done NH but was an out and out jumper.

My old chestnut, Pip, ex-flat racehorse, who can do pretty much anything and is incredibly willing and trainable.

Kallie the big black NH horse, who is a total poppet and such a beauty. He is a big boy for me but I'm incredibly fond of this one.

The little Halling horse who is rising 5 and unspoilt and (I think) very special and could be really talented.

 

[Mince Pie]

Long reply eaten so bullet points!
Raced for 3 years over hurdles and on flat, spent too much time in the air over fences so was retired.
Went back to breeder to be reschooled and sold
I was paid to ride her
Liked her so bought her!
Had her for a year but not done much, just hacking and short schooling sessions since last Oct
Very sweet natured chilled out girly, only issues are fear of coloured poles and that she cribs!

 

[Sunset1]

Why can I only see the pictures that I posted when I'm logged in? Obviously a complete numpty at this posting pictures lark... Can someone take pity and help me

 

[Mince Pie]

Why can I only see the pictures that I posted when I'm logged in? Obviously a complete numpty at this posting pictures lark... Can someone take pity and help me

Pics are showing!

 

[Laura_Grey]

Wow such lovely stories!

I have 2 boys; one exracer and one current racer!!

I got GK as a 10 year old straight out of training, he'd run in his last point to point just a week before. In total he ran 35 times, only managing to get his head in front on 3 occasions! I bought him before the real surge in 'exracer publicity' and wasn't intending to buy one, he just fitted the bill. I was very lucky that he came from a friend where he had been treated as an real individual and was quite used to the quiet life. He took to being a riding horse like a duck to water and the only real problems we had with him was keeping condition on him and improving his appalling feet. Just 4 weeks after we brought him he took Novice Champion at his first show, since then he has barely looked back. We did have a few problems teaching him to stand in the show ring however once he learnt the routine of a show day he has not been a problem and is an absolute pro now. 5 seasons later I know he will be exuberant at his first show of the season so I plan that outing accordingly.
He has a few foibles including weaving and loosing his temper if we don't keep to routine. I think this is probably a symptom of spending his whole life being governed by familiarity, we therefore work around it.

He is ace............

My other boy is still in training, trying to teach me how to ride! He will be retired at the end of the season and I hope he will make a lovely all rounder, he has lovely movement and scope. However he is a bit of a a funny one and I would imagine that he will have to be taken very slowly to begin with; he is a racehorse through and through. He is awesome though and has given me some serious spins!

 

[Sunset1]

Thanks Brokebuthappy, obviously even more of a numpty than I thought.. Enjoying seeing all of these lovely horses enjoying their new lives.

 

[BronsonNutter]

"Oh hi there!"

That's Wilby/Wibbles - he's 15.2hh (at the front, 16hh at the back...) and 7 this year - doesn't seem like two years ago that we bought him!

His main shortcomings are the fact that he's a wuss when jumping - on a good day he'll fly over 110cm like it's nothing, but if he scares himself it all goes to pot - and the fact that, with being croup high, he's never going to look the most uphill for dressage and showing. For those reasons I think I'll try and get something that's raced over hurdles or fences for my next horse, as they should hopefully be a bit braver and rangier.

He is however extremely cute, an absolute darling to have on the yard, never fails to make me laugh, and a wonderful hack. He's hunted, dressaged, pony clubbed, done a bit of eventing and SJ, and just LOVES everyone. He also lived out this winter and even my nervous-nelly of a mum hacks him out, although she doesn't canter - so when I get back from uni he turns himself inside out with joy

and he doesn't care what you do to him - he really ought to have been 11hh and come in a fluffy white coat

 

[ArcticFox]

what fab stories, glad I asked for your piccies

If I had been 'umming' and 'ahhhing' over getting one I wouldn't be now!

 

[Mince Pie]

BN don't bet on it - mine is an ex hurdler and is exactly the same as yours RE poles!
Also I wish I had a pic of the day I hung my baseball cap off her ear as a joke and then forgot about it - she had it on her for an hour and a half!!

 

[ArcticFox]

Just wondered,

A couple of people have said that getting a 16hh horse is too small for eventing - what do you think?

I am hoping to spend a few years bringing the horse on, but may have to sell him/her when I break in my yearling, so I would have thought 16hh to 16.2hh might be more sought after? am i wrong??

Cx

 

[DarkHorseB]

Just wondered,

A couple of people have said that getting a 16hh horse is too small for eventing - what do you think?

I am hoping to spend a few years bringing the horse on, but may have to sell him/her when I break in my yearling, so I would have thought 16hh to 16.2hh might be more sought after? am i wrong??

Cx

No I think you are spot on for height there! You are not that tall are you - I am 5'8" or a bit taller and my ideal height of horse is 16.1hh to 16.3hh, never had bigger and found 15.2/15.3 too small apart from my first horse when I was 13

 

[DarkHorseB]

I have owned 4 ex racers and one bred to race that I bought as a yearling

One I bought from the trainer, 2 from Doncaster, 1 from a private home and the yearling fromk a stud dispersal when the breeder died. I paid from £650 to £1500 and these were between 1990 and 1998 prices. The £1500 was the private home/ trainer sale the auction ones were £1000. They were aged 1,5,5,6 and 8.

My absolute golden rule is I would never touch another flat bred that had raced as a 2 year old. I learnt this the hard way with my first boy who I got at 5. He had raced well before his second birthday in the March and he was a late May foal. He paid for it before he even got to his teens with joint problems that made everything hard for him He had to retire from competing at 12 or 13 and was PTS a couple of months before he turned 20 as he legs kept letting him down. Completely heartbreaking and hence I would never go there again. It is impossible to tell the damage and it will have a toll later on and they won't last as long.

One other was flat bred but barely raced and so slow untrue! He was very well bred (3/4 brother to prolific winner In The Groove) and owned by a chap that won the Derby with another horse at similar time and a lot paid for him as a yearling. He was really my sisters and we did noty have him long as she went off to Uni but he was a typical fiery redhead

The others were all NH bred and all 3 had endless scope. I SJ'd them but 2 would have made cracking eventers too. All had scope to go much further than I ever dared. So my tip would be getting something low mileage bred to jump and you should be able to find a pretty lovely horse!! I always liked buying from Doncaster personally though the hardest thing was telling which ones you had a crack at getting. One I ended up owning I had discounted as out of my price league but he wasn't Many more though I thought I had a chance with but they started WAY over my top price I'd also look at the age range 6 - 8 or possibly 9 so you can get started with them but they won't have had too hard a life.

Have fun!

 

[ArcticFox]

Thanks DHB

Have sent you an email

 

[DarkHorseB]

Thanks DHB

Have sent you an email

Not got it Did you send a PM or via FB?
Ah got it now

 

[wench]

Just because it's a flat bred TB - do not discount it's ability to jump!

My little flat bred TB is far better at jumping than previous strapping 16.3 NH TB I had. Her attitude is far better, and she is far easier to deal with. She is very brave and is not scared of fillers or poles (as yet anyway!)

The only difference between them is Henry (16.3) may have had better technique than my mare, but as she is only a baby, and she's only been over smallish fences, I am not really sure how good her technique will be.

 

[Firewell]

Oooo yay fabby post .

We've had 4 ex-racers now, all aquired in different ways and all totally gorgeous, sane quality horses. I'll tell you about my Jpegs though or I would be here all day!

I got J from a girl on here who had been given him when he left racing. He had raced once on the flat as a rising 3yr old was too slow, he was turned away for a year and then he had been gifted to her. Think he would have gone to the knackers otherwise. She had put a few month work into him, schooling and hacking and then put him up for loan with view to sell when he was 4.5yrs. I think she didn't really get on with him if I'm totally honest.

I found him really easy. I don't know why as i'm an utter whimp and he is very cock sure of himself, he is a bright tough cookie but a real sweetie and for some reason we clicked. I liked him when I saw him although he was very weedy and terribly weak and stiff.

Tbh things moved really quickly, he had the basics and he just has a great work ethic. 3 months after I got him, with a bloody good equine osteopath and lots of tlc and short sweet schooling sessions he went and did a BD prelim, got 64% and came 6th .

That was 2 years ago and we have done a lot since then, a bit of everything. He is so verstaile and so happy, he just loves jumping in to whatever is thrown at him. He loves dressage and he has been on RC dressage teams, done unaff, BD has a couple points. He adores jumping, he has never refused a fence in his life, he is just so easy to jump, you just point him, hang onto a bit of mane and he does the rest. He's done unaff SJ, RC showjumping teams, showjumping clinics. XC he just went clear first time, he's been XC schooling a few times, done a hunter trial and a couple BE80's where he went clear. He's done showing inhand and ridden and been well behaved and got placed. He hacks, he's easy to handle in everyway.

I wouldn't say he is necessarily the easiest horse in the world. He is precocious and boystrus at times. He can be sharp to hack when he feels like it and he can be sharp in the warm up for jumping shows as he gets excited. I always keep the lid on him as I know he is just the sort of young lad who could cross the line. However I absolutly adore him. He gives me so much confidence I can't even say. He could be capable of so much more but we have a special bond. Would he be the same with someone else? I don't know but I do know that he is the best horse I've had.

The others we have had have also been really good horses. They have all had ability and class with good temprements and they have all attracted admirers. They have all had some time in the field when we got them so had been let down after racing. Then it has taken between 3-6 months to get them to their first show. They are all different in their ways but they have all been very useful. Beautiful horses.

I'm happy with the way I aquired J. Obviously to loan first I was very lucky and that doesn't often happen. What I would say is pick one that moves like an athlete, has good feet, good confo and a kind eye. There are some cracking TB's but also some really crappy ones as well. My mum late horse had a bowed tendon but that never affected him, however she was careful with him, e.g she never jumped him on bad surface or did fast work on the wrong ground ect.

J:-
permission to post from nicola elliott photography:-

and just to compare when I first got him:-

and these are the pics of our other 3 ex-racers.

Vaya:-

Red:-

Charlie:-

 

[Nikademus]

I've had Guinness, my first ex-racehorse for 2 years now. I got him a week or 2 before his 4th birhtday. He'd only raced 5 times, all unsucessully (too slow).

It's been slow progress but we're now affiliated BE and BD and doing quite well.

I can't post any pictures on here but they are all on my blog

www.racehorse2eventer.blogspot.co.uk

He's quirky, sometimes difficult and full of character but he's so talented, loving and I wouldn't change him for the world!!!!

 

[seabsicuit2]

I have had loads there are no hard and fast rules have had too many that haven't physically been able to stand up to basic work once out of training. There are no hard or fast rules but if I had my time again I would never-

Buy another flat racer. They have been started so young ( often lunging in side reins at 16 months old before going into training before they are 2 years old)

Would not buy from a trainer that is reknown to be a hard trainer ( basically the ones that need to replace their entire yard on a yearly basis )

Would give the horse time,time and more time months of very careful walking out long reining gentle lunging just to very carefully build up the muscles again

Of course there will be exceptions to this rule & loads of horses have coped fine without all the above but with ex racers it's always better to be safe rather than sorry & have it completly break at some point down the line..

For me personally I'd rather go with an unbroken 3 year old, far less miles on the clock and a nice blank canvas to work with.

However having said that, my current exracer is an insane athlete... Such good balance and movement, already cantering 5/10 metre circles and you can hardly feel/hear her feet touch the ground. & she is only a few weeks into basic school work.Only a large sum of money would buy a horse like her if she was a non-Tb!

 

[StormyGale]

Hiya I retrain ex racers all the time - they are lovely horses - some come with quirks some don't as all horses - you will find that certain things may effect them that you don't think will ie. one person said on here tightening your reins for example will give some the que to pull and go whereas some are quite forgiving and don't hold onto their racing ethic too long. I've had several that were banned from the track deemed 'too dangerous' to race and they are now hacking out, hunting and competing at dressage and xc - this isn't for all horses but the only thing they needed was tlc gentle handling and less shouting at them - thats not to say all racehorses are mistreated at raceyards as this is not the case - to retrain a horse to do a different job rather than starting from a blank canvass is a hard thing to do - but believe me the rewards are amazing - they are affectionate loving animals and when you get the old comment of all tb's are nuts my conclusion is the people that say that haven't had the pleasure of meeting a nice one - and usually haven't given them a proper chance - trouble with tb's is they can think quicker than some people lol and lots of them know it - its just about out smarting them lol.

you'll have the best fun in the world - and from what i've learnt its the small acheivements that make you proud - one of mine hated leading out to the field unless he was balanced on two legs a few days of patience perserverance and bit of trust he was leading out fine i made such a fuss of him he realised he'd done something good - despite the fact a sounded like a derranged babysitter that had just got a child to bed for the first time making 'good boy; squeals at him lol - after that he lead out fine but then started to stop and wait for me to make a fuss of him when we got inside the gate - ah that i can cope with lol !!! good luck

 

[WellyBaggins]

have a 16hh ex racehorse for eventing and I think he is plenty big enough, I am not a short person either, I will dig out some photos I have had a few ex racehorses and think they are really fab, I am having a few issues with my horse at the moment but these are nothing to do with his past career, just general horse things!

When I got him, out of racing (Dec 08) and then winter 2010

First dressage, 6 months out of training, qualified for trailblazers 2nd rounds

XC schooling

One of my fav’s, not sure why

Sorry, got carried away I do think he is rather fab though

 

[zacinto]

I'm another who would definitely encourage you to get an ex-racehorse.

I have a 15.3 hh gelding who was bred for the flat. He raced 3 times (once at 2 years and twice at 3 years) and was placed twice. He was gifted to me straight from the trainer at 3 years, a week or so after his last run.

I reschooled him for Eventing and he has done everything I hoped to do and more, CIC1*/CCI1*/Intermediate. I think his best quality is that he gives 100% so even if he is relatively short, built a little downhill and doesn't have the prettiest feet in the world, he more than makes up for it with his attitude and desire to please.

 

[ArcticFox]

Great advice, thanks all so far. Love the photees

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

I now have 5mins to find pics of some of my crew!

This is Jeff. My 17.2hh French horse.

As a racehorse.

As a show horse.

THe video is of him being ridden for the first time since he came home to me, 3 days after he arrived and that was the 2nd time he had been ridden in 8weeks. Not all racehorses are as lovely as him though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0afdFsckffo

Laurel at a show 2weeks out of box rest. He only did the in-hand as I hadn't really sat on him at that point.

My latest project - Gray!

And the spoilt brat of the bunch - Kyle!

First day being ridden after 6months box-rest.

At his first show.

A video of Kyle first ride since retirement and box-rest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e28AG2VsPVg&feature=fvsr

 

[helen75]

I own Kuma (Kumakawa) that was given to me straight from the trainers yard in Newmarket in 2007. He had raced on the flat 119 times!!!

Before I had him I considered myself experienced. I had my BHSAI and had a couple of rides as an amateur jockey for example. Even though I had a full time job I still spent every spare hour at local trainers yards. I even worked full time for a while after my studies.

I soon realised I wasn't as experienced as I thought and owning Kuma has been the biggest learning curve EVER!!! However, I wouldn't change him for the world and have found the whole experience hugely rewarding. He's such a character!! Some pics below (it took a long while to get him looking and going like that!)......

 

[Jenni_]

such nice stories

I would post up pictures of the old racer I used to ride if I could find them

What is the best way to source a horse straight from a trainer? I've heard from people it's the 'cheaper' option, as long as you are willing to put the work in basically from scratch!

 

[Maisie2]

Jenni, you might find something suitable on www.sourceanexracehorse.co.uk

 

[now_loves_mares]

Articfox, there was an ROR demo at SNEC last night. Wish I'd thought to post earlier. Didn't stay to watch after my lesson, but the car park was mobbed, yet very peaceful! One shouty horse, and everyone else was very chilled out

 

[phoebeast]

An inspirational thread . Bought mine aged 12, reschooled but untouched for 2 years...she is 15 now and has just had kissing spine surgery and some days I just feel like giving up!