Following on from Glenruby's post - Ex Racers

My friend used to ride for a trainer.
The owners of a horse she rode out regularly had turned her sour by racing her too much and no breaks. she is 3!!!
My friend got her for £300 as she was starting to become really nasty to certain people if they went into tack her up to ride out etc.

she now loves playing around in the school, starting to do jumping, and being a fat TB in a field a few days a week as well!

It can be good, or can be a bl**dy awful decision! as will all things often depends onthe horse!
also never get anything for free! at least pay like 50p-£1 to ensure money changes hands to exchange ownership!
 
I rode for a trainer and although we didn't get given horses for free we could take them for a few hundred quid if they weren't fast enough sometimes.

We also sold some to other people although for a bit more money! I expect the easiest way to get one is just to give some trainers a ring and ask.

I don't think I'd neccessarily want one for free as I'd be a bit worried there was something wrong with it. The trainer I worked for wouldn't just give them away as at the end of the day it was a business and she could get money for them. Maybe this isn't the case with all of them though. I just don't know!
 
I wouldn't expect one for free, but still to sell a horse that was probably bought as a "potential" winner for 1000's of pounds and then to be sold on for a few hundred seems crazy!
Great for the buyer who ends up with a great allrounder, but is it really THAT simple?
 
If you work with them then yes it really is! Ultimately if it isn't any good as a race horse then it isn't worth thousands of pounds to a trainer and it probably isn't worth thousands of pounds to anyone else as it needs totally reschooling. Plus there are absolutely loads of them out there which pushes the cost down too.
 
Adverts cost money, so they just go to the sales on a lorry with a load of others. And, sad to say, some probably end up on a meat wagon.

I got mine for nothing. Worked for the trainer, knew the horse and owner. Have had him for 6 years now. we regularly sold them to local people though - if someone rang up looking for one we'd put them on a list if we had nothing available at the time.

Ex-racers are moved on for many different reasons. Mine did a tendon and his owner didn't want to see him breakdown on the track so wanted him out of racing (I had to sign a letter saying I'd never race him or sell him). Some are just too slow. Some have fabulous temperaments for the non-racing game and generally trainers are really honest about that.
 
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