Racehorse to Riding Horse Competitors

[AdorableAlice]

Yesterday I had the pleasure of judging, for the first time, a Racehorse to Riding Horse Class.

It was a wonderful experience and those of you who take these horses on and give them a happy future and home deserve much respect. My class was over too quickly but judging horses that had run in the Arc and other grade ones, plus horses that had run over 40 times across all three disciplines and retired sound was a real honour and what superb types those horses were. Most of them would easily show at County Level as L/W hunters or RH's.

Good luck and much success to everyone involved in Racehorse to Riding Horses.

 

[Carefreegirl]

It's a fabulous idea. My horse is an ex-racer and I absolutely loved doing these classes. I haven't done any for a couple of years due to various reasons but I still try and keep up to date.

Well done to Jack the Giant for winning the Championship today at Hickstead.

 

[khalswitz]

My lad is an exracer, but due to having raced in Ireland he isn't eligible for all the ROR stuff that is so popular now. It's very frustrating, as he is a nice type just has too many scars on his legs for regular lightweight hunter classes.

Very frustrating!!

 

[AdorableAlice]

My lad is an exracer, but due to having raced in Ireland he isn't eligible for all the ROR stuff that is so popular now. It's very frustrating, as he is a nice type just has too many scars on his legs for regular lightweight hunter classes.

Very frustrating!!

Never under estimate the many uses for waterproof mascara and marker pens !

 

[khalswitz]

Never under estimate the many uses for waterproof mascara and marker pens !

Do they do those in white for socks as well?? He's an awkward two legs of each colour type.

Having had a trade stand at a local Blair/HOYS qualifier today I am feeling very wistful... so may try and tidy him up yet...

 

[Leo Walker]

You can get white eyeliner, and eyeliner is made to be pretty sticky! But chalk mixed with a bit of water would work much better on white legs. You can make a thick paste of it

 

[khalswitz]

You can get white eyeliner, and eyeliner is made to be pretty sticky! But chalk mixed with a bit of water would work much better on white legs. You can make a thick paste of it

Excellent. I may rethink my scrapping of showing classes then

 

[Lolo]

If you make the thick paste with chalk powder you can literally cover the leg in a way the whole thing stays chalked for the next million years!

I wish Reg was more into showing, as he is very handsome and well-schooled, but he gets very grumpy and then makes his own entertainment!

Reg pulling his best 'showing is a joke' face...

 

[LaurenDobson]

I have an ex race who can't do the RoR series as he did his tendon before making it to the track so therefore isn't 'taxed' and can' compete very frustrating as most of the classes are for horses who have 'raced'. We have to do TARRA and other unaffiliated classes which there aren't many about!

 

[Liane]

You can get white 'horse make up', I used it on my coloured youngster to cover his scars and bald bits from wrestling with the others, its brilliant stuff, they do it in white, brown and black, think it is supreme products that sells it.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

My lad was a complete moron at a show on Saturday. It was his first time out since August so he was hyped up to the nines in the ring. The judges were nice enough about him at the end but the ROR Area Co-Ordinator has a lot to answer for!

It's great that these horses can go on to do other things and to be honest judges don't take scars into consideration unless it is a split between 2 equally good horses. My lad has won and done very well with a big banana leg where he tore the tendon in two.

I do think that the ROR classes are big enough now to warrant either a separate amateur class or at the very least a rosette for the highest placed home produced horse in each class.

Never underestimate the power of the TB!

 

[Lolo]

Or split by how often a horse raced- it is hard for a horse who raced properly to beat a horse who hit the track once and then went off elsewhere. I love it when horses who raced properly do well, rather than the one-hit-wonders who've seen less of a racecourse than I have!

 

[humblepie]

The two winners at Hickstead on Sunday have both won a lot racing - one over £1m which is brilliant to see - and agree it is really good to see horses with several years racing under their belt coming out and adapting so well.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

I don't think it should be split by how many times they raced. Yes a horse that hasn't done many races may be easier to reschool as they haven't become too tuned into the racing way. But then an older, more experienced racehorse will probably take to it's surroundings at an event quicker as they are more used to the hustle and bustle. And as said the Hickstead winners won a lot. Purple Moon travelled half way across the world and back to be 2nd in the Melbourne Cup. Jack The Giant competed at numerous Cheltenham & Aintree festivals.

You could split it the way they do at Hickstead into Flat and National Hunt due to flat horses being trained to be more buzzy where as jumpers are strained to conserve energy, chill out and stay the distance. Most jumpers are flat cast off's these days anyway and your old fashioned chaser is dying out quickly.

 

[khalswitz]

If you make the thick paste with chalk powder you can literally cover the leg in a way the whole thing stays chalked for the next million years!

I wish Reg was more into showing, as he is very handsome and well-schooled, but he gets very grumpy and then makes his own entertainment!

Reg pulling his best 'showing is a joke' face...

This made me ridiculously happy. Good old Reg!

 

[AdorableAlice]

Reg would have gone up the line if he grinned at me like that !