Overpriced TB's

cptrayes said:
OK, a bit of realism. Yes a good horse is a good horse, and of course there are exceptions to every rule, BUT

Thoroughbreds -

- tend to need a vet callout for the tiniest knocks and bumps and tend not to be the most robust horses to keep. If there is an injury to be found, they will find it.

- tend not to live as long as other breeds of horse

- tend to cost more in food to keep because they are not normally good doers.
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Funny that, my last two warmbloods have had exactly these problems!
 
millitiger said:
Yes, they sound like very stupid prices.

We all know ex-racers can only be worth £5 tops regardless of temperament, scope, potential, rideability etc.
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lol worth that much??:eek: I've just put mine up for sale and i'm just waiting for the first emails/ texts offering to take him off my hands for pennies seeing as he's an ex racer:rolleyes: the fact that he's easier to handle and calmer than my friends 'ploddy' cob will be completely ignored purely because of his breed:rolleyes:
 
For Jesstickle


Spike2.jpg




Hopefully he will arrive next weekend. Just got to sort out the transport!
 
cptrayes said:
OK, a bit of realism. Yes a good horse is a good horse, and of course there are exceptions to every rule, BUT

Thoroughbreds -

- tend to need a vet callout for the tiniest knocks and bumps and tend not to be the most robust horses to keep. If there is an injury to be found, they will find it.

- tend not to live as long as other breeds of horse

- tend to cost more in food to keep because they are not normally good doers.


Ex flat racers -

- have usually been broken and shod at or before 2 years old and tend to have ruined feet and even worse life expectancy than TBs as a whole.

Ex jumpers -

- have done a lot of heavy duty work if they have done several seasons and are much more likely than other horses of their age to have arthritis and other work related problems.

- are quite likely to have fallen at speed at some time during their career and can have hidden injuries which catch up with them as they get older.


In my opinion, most people who just want a nice RC horse would be better off long term with a 3/4 TB 1/4 ID than a pure TB, especially a pure TB off the track. And that's why they tend to be cheap, because supply is plentiful and demand is low.


Of course there are exceptions to every rule.
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think that's more generalisation than realism, :rolleyes:
 
How many ex racers have you bought and retrained Ibblebibble? Which bits are you disagreeing with - ALL of it :) ?

Plenty of realism in with the generalism, I assure you. Unless you live in a different country than me, you will find it relatively easy to find 25 year old IDx's in work and difficult to match the numbers with ex racer TBs in work.
 
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TicTac, he is absolutely gorgeous. I lost my TB mare a month ago, and would have another one in a shot. So intelligent, well, most of the time!
 
cptrayes said:
OK, a bit of realism. Yes a good horse is a good horse, and of course there are exceptions to every rule, BUT

Thoroughbreds -

- tend to need a vet callout for the tiniest knocks and bumps and tend not to be the most robust horses to keep. If there is an injury to be found, they will find it.
.
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In the case of mine I have to 100% agree with this. In the 2 years I owned him he had to have the vet out more than 15x!! :eek: every scrape became infected, every knock was a swollen limb, he couldn't go out in a herd because he would be beaten to a pulp by the other horses/the shetland!! Certain fencing he would injure himself on and he got cold easily. He always came in with SOMETHING bite, cut, scrape, lost shoe etc etc. Feet were poo and he needed a lightweight rider. In short term I couldn't keep him in the way I like to keep my horses which suits my cob. He needs a flat clean turnout paddock, with a nice companion and bringing at night. Piling with rugs, stuffing with feed etc. Luckily his new mum loves nothing more than keeping horses like hamsters :D which is perfect for him!
 
I have toyed with bringing my old ex-racer back into work as she's sound, but my grey was shortly going to be old enough to back so I left her as a lady of leisure. :)

I think that I must be lucky, I've known so many good, kind, tough and sound ex-racers.

This was one of my favourites (sorry scanned photo)
oakley.jpg


He was foaled in America, raced there, Hong Kong and in Europe. He was then retrained as an eventer, then specialised in Dressage (I took him to some RDA comps) and died in his twenties from a heart attack in his paddock. I never knew him to be lame and I really wish that I'd bought him when I'd had the opportunity.

I'm probably biased though as I love TB's. :D

ETA. Here's my TB. :)
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I have had more than one TB (and worked at a flat yard so known really rather a lot of them) and apart from my current one they've been no worse about blowing up than WBs IME.

Mine is fat as a pig and does much better than my WB. We've never had a skinny one yet infact. Nice and healthy and lean but never one that doesn't thrive.

I expect a lot of them are lame early on because they have worked hard. They race early and often retire into hunting, team chasing or eventing. All of which are pretty tough going for any horse.How many dressage horses and eventers who work at high levels also make it to 25 sound and in work? You have to compare like for like I think.
 
Have skipped through all the posts but, I have all sorts of horses love them all including ponies.
My dad is purely a tb owner he has point to pointed and always had them so we were brought up around them, so any weird behaviour well seemed normal and I have to say while some can be very quirky they are lovely.

As for them not being long lasting or lame all the time we have had everything from flat horses that have raced as 2 yo who have hunted until he was 27.

We currently have two oldies a 20 yo and a 25 yo both ex racers who are still in work still getting out and about and probably doing more than most would recommend but we think its the best way for tbs.

They can cost more to feed, but sometimes it looks less hassle than the constant monitoring of our fatties, all breeds have their pros and cons we have not found out tbs to have more lameness issues than any of our others.

OOp north where I am they love the tbs for the commmon ridings charging around on tarmac rough ground and it all goes on all summer so they have to be sound, I have to say tbs are the choice for many who hunt.

As I said I have all types and often favour the natives but a good tb is worth just as much as any other breed, well where we are anyway.
 
I think a lot of TB's are underpriced, what's more amusing is some of the overpriced warmbloods that baffle me.

I had a ex racer and she will always be one of the best, safest, trustworthy horses I've ever owned. She was a flat racer but with good bone and had quality and conformation to die for. She was a good stamp for ROR showing, lovely jumper, great flatwork and I could take her out down the road for a hack by myself, regardless of weather. She also lived out 24/7 and was perfect for handling on the ground.

To be honest if I had all the money in the world to spend on a horse, I'd want another her.

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Trinity Fox said:
Have skipped through all the posts but, I have all sorts of horses love them all including ponies.
My dad is purely a tb owner he has point to pointed and always had them so we were brought up around them, so any weird behaviour well seemed normal and I have to say while some can be very quirky they are lovely.

As for them not being long lasting or lame all the time we have had everything from flat horses that have raced as 2 yo who have hunted until he was 27.

We currently have two oldies a 20 yo and a 25 yo both ex racers who are still in work still getting out and about and probably doing more than most would recommend but we think its the best way for tbs.

They can cost more to feed, but sometimes it looks less hassle than the constant monitoring of our fatties, all breeds have their pros and cons we have not found out tbs to have more lameness issues than any of our others.

OOp north where I am they love the tbs for the commmon ridings charging around on tarmac rough ground and it all goes on all summer so they have to be sound, I have to say tbs are the choice for many who hunt.

As I said I have all types and often favour the natives but a good tb is worth just as much as any other breed, well where we are anyway.
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Very nicely put :-)
 
TicTac and Muddy Wellies-lovely photos :)

My OH is currently looking for another horse and his choice would be a TB, should it be an ex racer, he has the experience to hopefully be able to deal with any issues that may or may not arise. However I feel every horse should be judged on its own merits and not stereo types!
 
I paid 2.5k for mine straight out of training. Massively overpriced, even after I knocked the owner down from 4.5k. She knew I loved the horse having ridden him everyday in his yard and used it to rinse every last penny with the old adage 'he's well bred'....

Yes, he is very well bred but this obviously hasn't occured to him given his race record! However, I would have paid double that because I couldn't bear the thought of him being run again and again until he broke. Not every trainer or owner does this but they were looking for a sale and would have run him with that in mind.

He is the kindest, most honest horse I have ever dealt with and is doing brilliantly, even with me training him! I paid a deposit on a much cheaper horse and gave it up after finding out Fred was for sale. I know I made the right decision because he is the right horse for me but I try not to think about how much he has cost!!
 
Whilst I agree with what Cptrayes has put........I love em - my last one was an absolute gem and if I could have cloned him I would have. He cost me £300. The day I lost him was the day a chapter in my life ended. He raced NH til he broke down at the age of 10 and I took him on at the age of 11 - for the next 10 years until I lost him last year the extremely ugly tendons didn't cause him a day's lameness. The cuts, kicks and broken leg did though! But I wouldn't have changed him for the world. He didn't have the best conformation but it didn't affect him

The TB mare I have now has every ailment under the sun - but I wouldn't change her for the world.

Would I buy another if and when this one goes? Debateable....
 
well whilst we are on the topic of ex racers, heres my girl ive had for just over a week, she is not long out of training so requires a fair amount of work but has the basics. A bit lively in new places but she has only just turned 6. She wss 1200 which I dont think was overpriced at all!

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