Racehorse to showjumper?

[slumdog]

For a while I've been half-looking for another horse to bring on and jump alongside B. One day about a month ago I was watching the boys have a mad 5 minutes in the field and Slumdog, who is my 7 year old ex-racehorse and a pet, jumped one of the cross country jumps! It suddenly occurred to me that I have another horse and he's sat in the field doing nothing for no good reason!

I bought him as a three year old straight off the track, he was ridden regularly but just hacking and a bit of schooling until about 2 years ago, then injuries (typical self harming tb!) change of yards, lack of facilities etc meant he had a lot of time off. Then I ended up on a dealers yard, got B to sell on, fell in love and ended up buying him myself. Concentrated on him as his jumping was established and Slummy just became a pet.

I've been lunging him for about 3-4 weeks, he's rather porky (actually he's built like a brick shed and looks like a stallion lol!) but he seems to have taken back to the work happily. Yesterday I got on for the first time in 2 years, I wasn't quite sure what to expect but he was fantastic. He has quite a natural outline anyway and I was really pleased, obviously didn't do too much as he is unfit.

I did a bit of trot and I did trot him over a pole however, just one on the floor. He walked over it fine so I asked him to trot the next time round and he must have cleared top of the wings, no exaggeration. I would love to say I went with him gracefully but I actually went "WAHHHHHH" and snapped three nails trying to hang on! My other half thought it was brilliant and tried to make me do it again!
So he's certainly scopey!

Basically the point of my rather long post is I was wondering if anyone on here has re schooled their own racehorse into a showjumper? How did they take to it? Any tips? Shall I just treat him as I would a youngster who's just learning to jump?

 

[Firewell]

Well my ex racer show jumps very well and my racer before that was a lovely showjumper as well. When I got my boy had flat raced and hadn't been taught to jump so I started him as a baby (he was a 4yr old anyway). I'd start yours like you are teaching a baby for the first time and see how it goes!

I did pole work, little baby jumps from trot, then tiny grids, little courses and just built up really. Both my racers never even looked at a filler, very brave and both super careful and scopey. I did BS with my late mare and current boy has dabbled in it as well as doing RC teams and showjumping as part of eventing.
They really like it and were/are really good at it .

 

[dianchi]

Yeah my TB jumps for fun. Just slowly build it up, if you already have ground work in place then that's one thing already done! Have fun!

 

[lex2501]

I am by no means an expert as only just starting out my journey of turning my little 4yo ex racer into my Badminton horse

She was very cheap and the original intention was to sell her on after a bit of reschooling as an allrounder so I wasn't too bothered when she showed absolutely zero natural ability over some tiny cross poles when I tried her. She sort of ploughed through, very ungracefully... Bambi on ice springs to mind and poles went flying

I have never been a fan of the lightweight plastic poles and I was convinced that she didn't quite "get" jumping so I loose schooled her through a jumping lane using heavy wooden poles. I had a small cross pole with 2 short strides (they tend to back off a bit first time) and then gradually built up a little spread. She was a bit useless the first few times, then made a real hash of it and the penny dropped. She suddenly sprouted wings and the most fantastic little pop revealed itself

I repeated the exercise the next day and she was brilliant, careful and confident so I got on her and haven't look back with her ever since.

Like Firewell's horses, she is so incredibly bold and you can throw any filler you like at her without her so much as batting an eyelid! My only issue is that she is a bit too keen, and would blast at them given half the chance so I literally walk between my fences and let her trot quietly to them, and build up to allowing a couple of strides of canter. I always circle if she surges as she needs to understand that she has to do it with a bit of decorum

I wish I had photos of her last session at the weekend - she was absolutely breathtaking and I couldn't take my eyes off her in the mirrors whilst jumping - she looked superb We have our first show jumping show on sunday so I will let you know how we get on.

Ooops, sorry I have slightly gone off on a bit of a Jammies gush! So in summary, I would definitely recommend loose schooling through a jumping lane to let him work it out without the influence of a rider. And secondly, try to avoid letting him get in the habit of rushing by coming back to walk, and circling when necessary.

Keep us posted

 

[Lolo]

Reg is possibly the worst example around, but shows quite well even those with relatively limited ability can be competent! He's happy popping round be100 and they might try the next step up. I've noticed that they aren't looky compared to their unraced friends!

 

[Swirlymurphy]

Another one with a scopey non-spooky exracer here! We would be out doing more if he wasn't forever injuring himself but that aside, he took to jumping really well and as his muscles are developing, is showing better and better technique. He's very happy over 95cm/1m now.

 

[MandyMoo]

I think it is definitely possible to make an ex racer a decent SJer :smile3: I myself had an ex racer who ended up doing fine 1m level BS before we sold him, but he was very scopey and honest/brave and never batted an eye at anything I pointed him at. I didn't bring him on straight from the race course, he had 3-4 years being re schooled before we bought him, but he didn't do much at all during that time, just the basics really...So when I got on him he was still rather green. I just treated him like any other young/green horse if I'm honest! I just built him up slowly, a step at a time. This was in the days before I lost all my confidence....!!

Also, if you skip to 1:30 on this video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcAOJmXwbaE ) - this is apparently an off the track TB who is popping casually round 1m60....so...point proven haha. go for it!

Best of luck slumdog :biggrin3: keep us updated!

 

[humblepie]

I had a little ex racehorse who went from 2'6" unaffiliated up to jumping Foxhunter and in the main arena at Hickstead. I can't claim to have done anything special - she just loved jumping and would try her heart out. We were not stylish but she just loved jumping. I didn't know her racing background (it was pre passport legislation, pre micro chipping) but I imagine she may have hurdled, as the only issue we ever really had was shortening her up for a short double or treble. We once one strided a two stride double in a Newcomers. I don't think I ever really changed her style of jumping from racehorse to stylish show jumper but did do quite a lot of grid work and work with poles on the ground to get her landing shorter over a fence.

Keep us posted and good luck with your horse.