ex racers... yay or nay

Mine has been off the track just over a year, took a couple of weeks to learn to stand at the mounting block but was easy enough, I took his shoes off and he was sound from day 1, he lives out 24/7, and only wears one rug, and lives on a fibre only diet. So not all are the same!

He has been on holiday for 2 months, a bit full of energy at the moment, and a git to lead, but otherwise I hope he will continue in the right direction when I get back on!
 
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High maintainance in the winter,no matter how sweet they are. I have 2 currently on my yard at the moment.

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actually that is not necessarily true. i have 2 and they are both looking fab and cost the same as any other horse to keep in winter. infact they are very cheap on the hard feed.

i love mine and and they are both very rewarding and loving animals.
 
with my 2 they are in at night in winter, and out 24/7 in summer. this is my preference they could be out 24/7 365 and would cope.

My mare - has adlib haylage and goes through a green bale in 3 days. in winter. goes through 2 bales of straw a week. she has 1/4 round scoop of fast fibre and the same of hifi. she is shoed every 6 weeks never had a days lameness or feet issues.

my older gelding - ditto the above except he is on hemp bedding due to respiratory problems so he goes through 1 bale of bedding a week if that. he is shoed every 6 weeks too but he did have some lameness issues due to bad farriery and lack of knowledge on my behalf.

in summer they don't get any haylage and a small token feed once a day.
 
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High maintainance in the winter,no matter how sweet they are. I have 2 currently on my yard at the moment.

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any horse is high maintenace in the winter!

YAY to ex-racers though. mine is very loyal, well mannered and a pleasure to look after.
 
^ Not true Blossom, not every horse is high
maintenance in the winter.

Personally ex racers are a nay from me too, having seen one turn second hand, and knowing now the rider will never ride again after his experience.. I just wouldn't risk it. I know not all of them are like this, my godparents are ex p2p trainers and I used to ride some of their ex racers as a 14YO, but for me the gamble would be too much and the stakes too high.
 
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High maintainance in the winter,no matter how sweet they are. I have 2 currently on my yard at the moment.

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Mine's not - in fact with not being ridden for the last couple of weeks he has put on loads of weight and that's just on fibre and forage.

However he loves vets and farriers and costs me a fortune in both.

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hahaha sounds so familiar!!!!! Mine doesn't cost too much to feed, is fantastic weight- if not a bit too chunky and is only fed on ad lib hay, spillers nuts and regular dengie, but isn't on high workload

However costs a FORTUNE in vets bills- constantly cutting himself and most require antibiotics as rubbish at healing
 
oh and the one horse on our yard that has lost weight this winter ( we have 2 tb,2 wb, 4 idXtb and 2 cob and 1 nf) is one of the cobs everything else has held its weight well.

so its not always the TB thats are the poor doers in winter.
 
I have one ex racer, one full TB (not an ex racer) and one who is almost full TB (with a tiny bit of ID in him). This winter has been the coldest we have had for years and years, and all of them are looking really well. They have one feed a day which consists of chaff, simple and cheap horse & pony nuts (except the older one and she gets veteran mix) and fibrebeet, and pretty much ad-lib haylage. I don't think they are especially high maintenance in any respect.
 
I've been riding an ex racer for most of last year, and he's lovely (right side of my siggy!). He's very affectionate, lovely to ride, travels brilliantly (goes as a companion to the vets with one of the other horses on the yard) and hasn't got an ounce of malice in him. He's very good at staying sound, but one I knew a while back was awful and would be hopping lame after brushing in the school! I don't think you can generalise with them, I'd happily buy blue if I had the money, but the one I knew before could be a complete prima donna if he didn't get his way!
 
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