Ex-racers, big disappointments and new beginnings

minesadouble

minesadouble

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I don't post that often but in light of lots of recent ex-racehorse posts I thought I would post with a little update on ours. I bought my eldest daughter a lovely ex-racehorse as her first 'proper' horse after ponies 3 years ago. She aimed to event him but he quickly let us know that jumping was not his 'thing', so she began to show him in ex-racehorse classes and had loads of success, though he often let us down when the ride judge got on him!

This year he seemed to have turned a real corner and put in some foot perfect performances early season. He then promptly went lame, preliminary investigations turned nothing posititve up so we decided to just give him a long holiday and see whether time would put him right. Daughter was very upset and disappointed as she has put in so much work on him and absolutely adores him :(.

So while browsing the for sale ads (as you do) I came across an ex-racehorse for sale from the trainer. Only 2 weeks after his last race so he was very very lean and fit looking but watching him move on a you-tube vid I really liked his movement and thought he was nicely put together despite the fact he was so fit and whippet-like. Daughter went to see him and I'm sure you can imagine the rest of the story.

We brought him home a month ago and he is just starting some light work and short educational sessions in the school. He is such a star for having done so little I just had to post, we are so proud of him. So far he has taken everything in his stride. He's very green, at 7 he has done nothing but race and he has had a LOT of starts both on the flat and over hurdles. He can be a bit nappy (trainer warned us of this before we even went to see him) but overall has a fabulous temperament.

To anyone considering buying an ex-racehorse if you are experienced and patient I wouldn't hesitate to encourage you. My daughter was just 16 when she got her first and did all of the work on him herself, with minimal help from the ground. Neither of ours are 'nutters' and they are so rewarding, they both try so hard to please, and though our latest boy is clearly going to be a long job I'm sure he'll be more than woth it in the end. Pics;-

Goose at his last show before he went lame (button bushers please note - YES it is a pro-photo, YES I purchased it and YES I have permission to use the image for facebook etc.

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The new boy the day of his arrival, I feel I have to say he's not 'neglected' thin, he was very well cared for but was ony a few weeks out of training after a very hard season racing.

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And working in the school yesterday, just under four weeks later;-


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Sooo proud of him :)
 
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travelmad said:
Oh! Lovely... What are you feeding him - my ex racer tb really needs to put weight on! And yours look great
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Well ....Goose, the light bay suffered regularly from mild colic when we first bought him. So after about 6 months we tried cutting out ALL hard feed and the colic magically stopped. So he eats only grass and ad lib good quality haylage and does absolutely fine on that!

Luckily Henry does not have such a delicate constitution. He gets 3 feeds a day of fibre beet, chaff and calm and condition with pink powder (I find pink powder works for some and has no effect on others but it's worth a try!) and sunflower oil. He is also on ad-lib good quality haylage. He is slowly gaining weight and losing his racing muscle but it's not something that will happen overnight - unfortunately :)
 
I have to say he does look alot better that first photo is quite shocking imo. I also have a ex racer straight out of training and regularly go to the races and none of them look any where near as poor as yours did...I wish people wouldnt associate fit race horses with skin and bone.
 
He's a bit leaner than your average flat horse but to be honest he wasn't that much skinnier. His trainer told us he was the leanest horse on the yard and always ran up light during after his races.
 
He looks very sweet, and who cares what he looked like - he is beginning to look much better now.

Your daughter looks like a lovely quiet rider and I look forward to more updates!
 
Jenni_ said:
He looks very sweet, and who cares what he looked like - he is beginning to look much better now.

Your daughter looks like a lovely quiet rider and I look forward to more updates!
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Thank you so much Jenni! I really didn't want this post to turn into a slating of his condition when he came. My daughter saw plenty of other horses on the yard, all in super condition, and it's a fact that some take their racing harder than others. They were lovely people who take fabulous care of their horses and make a real effort to ensure every horse they sell out of racing goes to the right home. I would be mortified if they saw people questioning how well they took care of him.
 
He looks to be coming along really nicely so well done to both of you and your other horse looks lovely so hopefully he will come back well.

Good luck with him. We may well end up in the same classes next year!
 
Good luck with the new boy. Some tb's cant seem to put on weight on their ribs. There is an xracer in the yard I'm in. He is a ribby flea bitten grey with a thin main and tail. Most unattractive horse but great performer. He's an ideal rc horse.

Regarding the other horse's lameness, it might be worth checking out if it is muscular, which is something a vet might not pick up on easily. A session with a physio or an equine massuse could tell you a lot.
 
He looks a nice sort. To those who are "shocked" at how he looked just out of training - this is what a fit horse looks like; he's not thin, he has a pack of muscle over his loins, shoulders and thigh (not so much over the top as these muscles are not necessary for going really, really fast). Wish more horses looked more like him and less like beef cattle any day.
 
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