Ex-racehorses

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Alisonhh23

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Has anybody had an ex-racehorse that has not raced that proved too backward to ride at rising 4 years? We have a gelding who is 4 in April who has been away for re-schooling and is coming back as he is too immature to ride. He was turned away last October for 4 months and another year is recommended in the field before he will be ready for training. We did ride him before he went away and he went quite sensibly but has not stood up to riding every day and being asked to learn. Any comments/experiences anybody else has had would be welcomed while we make our minds up what to do with him as another year in the field at livery will be rather expensive and not give us anything to ride which was the reason for having him in the first place. We did not expect him to go to the top, just be a nice riding club level horse which he might make in the end but on the other hand might not.
 
He's still terribly young isn't he?? Although I can't imagine that the odd bit of quiet hacking 2 or 3 times a week is going to harm. And he certainly wouldn't need to sit in a field for a year.

However, at 3, I think you're being a bit ambitious - and do need to give him time to mature. Why would you have got such a young horse if you weren't prepared to give him time?
 
He was given to us and we thought (obviously wrongly) that he would be able to be given some light work this year.
 
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Anyway maybe another year will do the trick but he is almost 17 hands
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Good grief, no wonder he's not up to hard work.

Chuck him in the field. And the words 'should' and 'most' don't apply to horses really.......
 
Its funny you should post this..

My late Grey Mare never raced but she was in training for 3 months after being in a large stud pretty much untouched untill she was sold at the sales.

They said she wouldnt make a racehorse and her owner hacked her before I brought her.

She was good hacking, but she couldnt really cope with school work and found being taught new things really upsetting. Mentally she would freak out! She would just bounce on the spot or do a weird spider dance and I really had to hang on!! She was like it with everything, first time I went to lead her off the bit she reared.. she couldnt cope with being shod,loaded, anything really!

Like AmyMay suggested I just hacked her for 6 month. For some reason she accepted this! I taught her all schooling movements out hacking, lateral work, how to move forwards into a contact everything.

After 6 months I gradually introduced school work, first of all just leading her round the school, I progressed to lunging and then riding.. just at walk and then I gradually introduced trot, canter and then jumping.

It took me a good 18 months to get her to be a 'normal horse' as in schooling properly, going to shows ect and she could always be sharp and flighty! I never fell off her funnily enough, wether that was luck or because I knew her boundaries I dont know..

She was just a highly strung horse.. for instance her first shows for a year were interesting, it always took ages to warm her in, she would be so fresh and not concentrating!

However she turned out fab!! She was as brave as a lion and would jump ANYTHING. She was a crazy old thing but the moment you were on her back she was very responsible and kept her head to be a really really fab competition horse, she would ALWAYS give 100%. By the time she was 9 she was a pleasure to handle and ride although I did always have to be respectful with her as I knew how sensitive she was.

I would say hack for 6 months. If you try and teach your horse something new just be really sensitive to what he can and cannot cope with. Back off immediatly if he cant or wont do something and instead find another way to teach him.

Tbh, I never really let anyone else ride my mare in the early days.. she really needed a one to one. I certainly never sent her off to be trained with someone else.. she would have been upset by that I dont think someone who was paid by me to ride her would have had the inclination or the patience!

I dont know if this helps :)
 
No wonder he didn't race the poor boy needs time to strengthen to carry himself let alone a rider at that height. Not at all unusual.
 
Not sure I have seen all of your post.

What do you mean by too backward and what sort of training are your wanting him to have?

I currently have four horses who are rising 5 this year. Two of them are around 16.1 hh but the other two are much larger -one is 17.1 and the other 17.3. Although they are warmbloods and not TBs the larger two did very little as four year olds as they still had a lot of growing into themselves to do. This year, the two "littlies" are doing about 3 - 4 days a week and the larger two are only just being bought back into work having been turned away for the winter.
 
Did you want to ride every day?

There's a difference between the gentle riding/hacking that one would do with most horses of this age and the work that he's been asked to do at the moment.

Bring him home and let him grow up and have some fun - hack and enjoy each others company :)

Time enough to start the serious and the hard work.

You should be well rewarded if you give him what he needs :).
 
I'd say give him a year out to mature, if he's 17hh that takes a lot out of them just growing never mind putting someone on his back, a couple of hacks a week shouldn't harm him, but more serious work I think would.
 
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