Kauto on the ITV News last night.

I think it is a no brainier as far as Laura is concerned, she has had more publicity in the national press over the last few weeks than any other rider, her sponsors must be pleased! And she probably had an inkling this might happen when she took him on, smart move I say. I follow her on twitter and think she is doing a great job.
 
FinalFurlong said:
If i where laura collett id feel privileged to be riding KS.

As long as the horse gets a varied, fun lifestyle with little pressure I am happy. He should, in my opinion, be jumping, hacking and schooling with turnout.

He shouldn't be jumped, hacked and turned out as a one off and schooled all the time as that's just putting unnecessary pressure on (he will never have a dressage career).

He should be turned out like an average horse (everyday) and jumping shouldn't be a one off treat neither should hacking.

For me, the most important thing is for KS to have a relaxed, chilled, low pressure retirement which he enjoys and i think with a variety of hacking jumping schooling and turnout that is easy to achieve.
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Reading the article in H&H this week, it sounds as if he is having varied work,hacking, jumping and turn out each day.
 
BWa said:
I think it is a no brainier as far as Laura is concerned, she has had more publicity in the national press over the last few weeks than any other rider, her sponsors must be pleased! And she probably had an inkling this might happen when she took him on, smart move I say. I follow her on twitter and think she is doing a great job.
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Indeed. It's not rocket science. She gets a little bit of extra attention and publicity and she gets the big bucks (or pounds, but the alliteration doesn't work) for livery and training from the owner. Who wouldn't?

Horse looks great.
 
A little late to the discussion here...

I thought he looked alright for two months worth of work... course, it's boring for him. Christ, I think if you knew someone with insomnia, a day out at a low level dressage comp would cure it.

Looking forward to seeing more of him out and about.
 
I heard something about master minded in the field too. Ironic as clive S always says, when asked about kauto, 'oh I don't think ex racehorses should just be stuck in a field!' That angers me.
 
But Master Minded had a very serious tendon injury and after initial rehab, he has been turned away for 12 months. He is with a lady in Somerset recovering. My understanding is that once he is ready to return to work, Clive Smith will look at options for him, but it will be very dependent upon what that leg will stand up to. I don't think he's just been thrown in a field and forgotten about !!

I thought Kauto looked very well at Newbury on Sat and it is nice to see him learning something new and taking it easier but still remaining active. Apart from the media, no-one connected with the horse has said anything about him working to a high level in dressage, simply that they'd see how he took to his work and take it baby steps at a time.

I don't really know what all the fuss is about. Hes fit and well, clearly loved and cared for, has super facilities and a top class young rider and a world class trainer to start him off and give him the best chance of making the transition from race horse to riding horse, whether that be dressage, low level jumping, showing or just being a safe and sensible hack. I'm pleased to see Denman doing so well in the hunting field, but it doesn't mean all ex race horses are suited to that life, physically or mentally and there are plenty of other things they can do and enjoy without HAVING to go hunting.
 
Sorry to be dim not knowing the first damn thing about dressgae but why will he definately not be setting the dressage world alight? He's a big brown horse and only a few months into training as far as I can gather...surely it'd be possible yet to mould something out of him? Or can you already see that he just doesn't have the talent?
 
DanceswithCows said:
Sorry to be dim not knowing the first damn thing about dressgae but why will he definately not be setting the dressage world alight? He's a big brown horse and only a few months into training as far as I can gather...surely it'd be possible yet to mould something out of him? Or can you already see that he just doesn't have the talent?
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Horses bred for the top job are a different shape than those bred for racing. In a race, you want the energy all to go into moving the horse forwards as fast as possible, whereas in a dressage horse you want it to be split between forwards and "up". You need a lot of suspension, "up", in the paces to win at top level, and racehorses are not bred for it. Dressage foals drop out of their mums bouncing!

Occasionally you will get a top dressage horse who was not bred for the job, but most of them seem to have heavy horse blood in them, like a shire for example. Since continental warmbloods were originally bred from some heavy stock, that's perhaps not very surprising.

It depends on what people mean when they say that he will not set the dressage world alight. Kauto could do well at lower levels but even before he ever raced it would have been obvious that he'll never win internationally at Grand Prix in this day and age of specialist breeding.


ps someone will now probably name the winning FEI Grand Prix horse that was bred to race :D
 
I personally would have preferred to see a 14 year old chaser sent hunting which he would excell at than asked to retrain to do some moderate novice/elementary or even medium level dressage.
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How exactly do you know he would have excelled at hunting.....?? Plenty of ex-racers do absolutely not excel at hunting. It's like saying he would excel at show-jumping. He might but he also might not! No one seems to object to Neptune Collonges doing dressage....what is the difference? I am struggling to see why people on this forum want Laura to fail so badly.

Good luck Laura and Kauto....I can't wait to watch his progress.
 
tyson said:
How exactly do you know he would have excelled at hunting.....??
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I don't but I think it's a darned sight more likely than him excelling at dressage - though that depends on your definition of excel.

I am struggling to see why people on this forum want Laura to fail so badly.
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I don't see anyone who wants Laura to fail on this forum, only people who want the horse to have the happiest life that it can. And some of those being people who think an ex chaser of 14 competing Novice dressage living as one of many in an event yard is not the most likely way to achieve it. Personally, I really wish his owner had found him a one-to-one home.
 
From another point of view...

Kauto Star is a VERY well known racehorse, Laura an up and coming event rider. A lot of racing owners/followers will be interested in Kauto Star, and so by following him, maybe their interest will be taken into other equine sports too, maybe creating new owners for the eventing/dressage world....?

Anyway, as long as the horse is well looked after, who cares, but i do think (and hope!) we see some new "owners" appear in the world of eventing as a result of this publicity...
 
Considering how many falls and near falls he had i'm not sure he'd make a great hunter. I think dressage is a sensible choise, kep him fit and flexible but not too much danger or strain
 
cptrayes said:
Horses bred for the top job are a different shape than those bred for racing. In a race, you want the energy all to go into moving the horse forwards as fast as possible, whereas in a dressage horse you want it to be split between forwards and "up". You need a lot of suspension, "up", in the paces to win at top level, and racehorses are not bred for it. Dressage foals drop out of their mums bouncing!

Occasionally you will get a top dressage horse who was not bred for the job, but most of them seem to have heavy horse blood in them, like a shire for example. Since continental warmbloods were originally bred from some heavy stock, that's perhaps not very surprising.

It depends on what people mean when they say that he will not set the dressage world alight. Kauto could do well at lower levels but even before he ever raced it would have been obvious that he'll never win internationally at Grand Prix in this day and age of specialist breeding.


ps someone will now probably name the winning FEI Grand Prix horse that was bred to race :D
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Interesting, thanks! You never know, he might still turn out to have a passion for bouncing once he's had a bit of training and worked the right muscles?
 
armchair_rider said:
Considering how many falls and near falls he had i'm not sure he'd make a great hunter. I think dressage is a sensible choise, kep him fit and flexible but not too much danger or strain
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I am with you on this having seen some of his howling errors I am not sure jumping a gate on him with a pack of hounds in front would be much fun.
Not all horses enjoy hunting it just does not suit some.
Flat work a bit of grid work hacking turnout with a great rider on an lovely yard I really don't understand the problem.
 
armchair_rider said:
Considering how many falls and near falls he had i'm not sure he'd make a great hunter. I think dressage is a sensible choise, kep him fit and flexible but not too much danger or strain
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I see your point. I was unaware of his fall record, I assumed because he was such a winner he could jump :D
 
He can jump, he just makes a mess of it sometimes. I will agree though that LC doesn't seem the most obvious person to take him on, at least on a permenant basis. It is a real shame that he couldn't stay at Ditcheat and be reschooled there.
 
Cptrayes - unbelievable ! You have made countless comments on this & other threads about what YOU think should happen to KS & have readily dismissed the opinions of others yet you clearly show you know nothing about him !! Priceless.

And yes he can jump, he wouldn't have won 16 grade 1 races if he couldnt jump its just when he does make an error its usually pretty spectacular.
 
KautoStar1 said:
Cptrayes - unbelievable ! You have made countless comments on this & other threads about what YOU think should happen to KS & have readily dismissed the opinions of others yet you clearly show you know nothing about him !! Priceless.


Haha, glad its just not me that has noticed that they nothing about this horse but has dismissed others opinions who have been lifelong fans of his. They couldnt even get his age right or who trained him and have similar opinions on racing, again having no knowledge of the subject.
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Is it possible that the owner loves the horse and although doesn't want the day to day care of him, or to ride him himself, doesn't want to turn him out to grass and forget him either?

Perhaps it gives him pleasure to see his champion who owes him nothing, being worked, looking good, feeling good and enjoying a slower than before working life and why not for heavens sake, it is after all his horse?

I wouldnt say that at 13 he's at retirement age is he?

I think he looks great!
 
Dobiegirl said:
KautoStar1 said:
Cptrayes - unbelievable ! You have made countless comments on this & other threads about what YOU think should happen to KS & have readily dismissed the opinions of others yet you clearly show you know nothing about him !! Priceless.


Haha, glad its just not me that has noticed that they nothing about this horse but has dismissed others opinions who have been lifelong fans of his. They couldnt even get his age right or who trained him and have similar opinions on racing, again having no knowledge of the subject.
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Wait a few weeks and the "experts" will be out in force over the Grand National.
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I saw him at Cheltenham in the pre parade and the paddock. He looked flat and unsound, as he appears to have developed a mild stringhalt.

Disgrace. :mad:
 
Caledonia said:
I saw him at Cheltenham in the pre parade and the paddock. He looked flat and unsound, as he appears to have developed a mild stringhalt.

Disgrace. :mad:
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Really?

He didn't look unsound in the clip they showed on Ch4 Racing.
He also didn't look 'flat'- he was pulling both girls along very merrily, they were jogging to keep up with him!
 
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