Ex-racehorse re-training effective methods please!

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shadowboy

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Some of you may remember that a collegue at work was trying to find a nice youngster to buy. Well she had asked for my help in choosing one and we had been to see many. I thought we were off to see one this tuesday but i received a phone call last night to say she had found one and it was a 5y old ex racer. She is a lovely, kind and quiet rider- but has never had a youngster before and i am a little worried about her re-training him. I asked her if she was going to have her sent away for re-schooling but she is adamant that she want to go through everything with this mare, but was hoping that i could give her some advice on youngsters. I said i knew about youngsters but not race horses!. Apparently the mare won a few races but started to loose interest in the races so they sold her on. She was baught for £3000. I have no idea about the value of ex race horses so i have no idea if she was ripped off or had a bargain. Nice looking thing. Bay, 16hh passed vetting on sat. So from you people i would like some tips to pass on about how to retrain ex-racehorses. I think she plans to have lessons on the mare- stable name Moomin!
But in terms of handling- are they handled differently when they were racing that she should be aware of? what about turning out? Can she just turn her out for 8 hours a day or should this be increased gradually? Also the only comment the vet made was that she had a small windgall on the near hind- he felt this would subside with less work- is this true? (and that she had small feet)I Although i was not there to see the horse when she purchased it, i feel somewhat obliged to continue to help her as she has been sooo wonderful in helping me with this new job!
Any info will be gratefully passed on
 
hiya i'll pm u with some details for an ex racer forum and also a site dedicated to ex racers and retraining
laugh.gif
 
We were discussing this a couple of months ago, and I think the best point made was by GTs, who said that the reason people have so many problems with ex-racers is because they forget that they are ordinary horses too.

We also came to the conclusion that the best way to re-train an ex-racer would to be to forget about it's racing career entirely and break it as if it was unbroken. I.E. the lunging, long-reining, laying-over etc. Ex-racers are not that different from normal horses: I have one myself.

Ex-racer forums are a great place too.

Maybe PM vicijp... She knows alot about this too.
 
Ex race horses are used to routine, so I suggest you get her into one that suits your friend. As for turn out etc, treat as a normal horse and do what suits you.

She is young, has passed the vet and so I am sure your friend will be fine. I would image that if she has just come from a racing yard, she will be full of grain and it would be a good idea to get that out of her system and give her non-heating food.

Dont be afraid, just get on and start hacking her out. Race horses love their road-work and hacks and this would be the best thing for her. She wont be used to schooling, menage environment and so I would take this more slowly, so you dont blow her brains, little and often.

I am sure your friend will be fine.
 
yup - the two youngster Exracers I have had I have basically rebacked from scratch - only took a couple of weeks to get them going how I wanted and the joy of the exracer is that most have spent loads of time being hacked and handled and thus are great with farrier, traffic etc etc... they are probably the two easiest youngsters i have had to work with....
 
I echo everything already said, but do remeber that she will be used to being worked in company, so if hacking out go with another horse until she is quite familar with the route.
I have one ex-chaser and just rehomed anothe through this forum. Thoroughbreds are the most generous horses ever and I am sure your friend has many years of fun ahead.
 
If I were you I'd reccomend your friend to visit this site The Ex-Racers Club

First and foremost, if shes just out of training, I'd reccomend at least a month turned away to get it out of her system and relax, at this stage I'd get your friend to spend lots of time building up a bond with her by grooming etc, at the same time get her back and teeth (more so the back) checked out by an equine physio, mctimmoney or similar, as its better to sort any issues out first than waiting until she's in work to discover a problem.

Next step is for her to find herself an instructor with plenty of experience with exracers (the exracers club site will be able to help there too) and begin to work on the mare under the advice of her instructor, not to much school work to start with, she might never have been on the lunge so may need to get used to that, and also some quiet hacks with company getting her to go behinad and take the lead as she builds up confidence, as its unlikely she'll have gone out solo.

In my experience with exracers, and I've been retraining for over 10 years, people treat them as though they should be as offay with everything in life as a regular horse of the same age, and that is where the problems start. They are trained differently, when you take up a contact on an exracers reins it goes faster not slower, its unlikely that you'll be able to mount from the floor and various other little quirks, which is where the advice of people that have been there and got the t-shirt will really help!
 
Would really back up the advice on turning away for a few weeks - we did this with our chap, who was bought straight off the racecourse, and VERY hyped up. We gradually switched him over to a cooling diet, and did lots of handling and grooming, and let him enjoy himself out in the field. After about 6 weeks he was very definitely saying he was ready to start work, so we did a lot of gentle hacking with him. Although he was very responsive to schooling he found it very tiring, so we did build it up very gradually.
Good luck!
 
I would treat her as a normal horse- expect that a change in routine will take her a while to adjust to but dont make too many allowances as the basic prinicpals need to be the same.
Ours dont have a break when they come to us- you wouldnt chuck a fit horse straight out in a field/ let it do nothing. The basics are instilled from day 1- the mouth is normally the first thing to work on so lots of work in walk teaching gentle flexion and acceptance of the bit. Dont be scared to trot and canter- they can take a while to find a balanced working canter and stick to straight lines in canter until steeringh is fully established.
 
All I can say about retraining my ex flat racer is patience and time. Take things slowly so you don't blow the brain. Its really helped with long lining to go from the racing aids to 'normal' riding aids as he now listens to the voice and leg commands.
 
I am a bit undecided about the best exercise for cantering, I just started on a biggish circle, and kept going until he found his own balance (a bit scary at times), then rest and do it again. Each time he got balanced more quickly. But then I had a lesson with Susie gibson, who worked on slowing and stopping in straight lines which also worked. Sov is now fab on the right rein but still a little unbalanced on the left.
 
I think you just have to get on and canter- they pick up the new balance through experimenting with different ways of going. With Floss, I cantered in straight lines in the school for the first week, then introduced large circles. Every week or so we canter out in the fields to open her stride back up otherwise she tends to lose a little of her power.
She's tricky though as she has such an active hindleg. We have a little horse called Easy at home and his canter has rapidly improved simply by being given freedom and time to find a balance in the school.

I think people can tend to under-ride ex-racers and not lay down the way of going as you would with any other young horse.
 
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