Re-training an ex-racehorse...

[Grey_Arab]

I have recently started to ride and school a 15.2hh ex-racehorse, he is an absolute sweety and is very sensible, but has litterly stopped racing earlier this year and so has had little or no schooling, consiquently his walk is lovely and free, but the trot is terrible, very unbalanced, however the canter is alright, when we actually manage to get there?!
I do have lessons with him, but I was just wondering if anyone had any advice for me that I could do extra to help bring him on any more??
Thanks!

 

[Laafet]

Take it slow - his muscles are all to cock at the moment. Here is a before and after of my boy.

Before one week after finishing racing

After - three weeks ago

Try using a pessoa, lots of slow hill work, conditioning feed and blue chip to promote good digestion, I did use draw reins over a period of a week to help him understand what an outline was but dispensed with them after as he soon got the idea. Also raised trotting poles

 

[seabiscuit]

Agree with Ria. It took my boy about 6 months to get strong enough to be able to cope with flatwork and a further 3 months to become REALLY strong.... loads of lunging in the pessoa,long walks out up hills, good conditioning feeds,ad-lib good quality hay, regular saddle checks as he will be changing muscle/shape all the time,teeth checks, and most important of all a few physio appointments.

 

[Laafet]

Also don't school for more than 20 minutes initially to be fair on his muscles and make sure you have a good chiro/physio. Mine does accupressure as well and with mac I found that some of his back problems - he was bent like a banana - were due to the fact he'd had some major falls racing and a gut problems caused by being feed a high amount of concentrates. If you are constantly cramping your stomach it does affect you back. So keep him checked out regularly even if he does seem fine initially and you should have a happy horse.

 

[seabiscuit]

Ria who do you use for chiro/physio?BTW Mark Barton is my farrier now, he is not too bad at all!

 

[Laafet]

Mark Barton is ace - am trying to snare his apprentice Matty so that I can get cheap shoes

I use a lady called Sherry Rayner - she is from New Milton which I believe is New Forest way. I met her through a mate of a mate and she trained with a Tony Gilmore a chiropractic we used in the racing yard I worked at and had ultimate respect for. She costs about £50 but gives no bull sh*t and doesn't condone the treatment under deep sedation that some of the leading physios do down this way. My horse had a session on monday as he was looking a bit under the weather and grumpy and after he had his sparkle back in his eyes and was v. happy. You can take your horse over to hers for treatment which is sometimes free if you let the students loose on your horse (with her supervision)

 

[Grey_Arab]

Thanks peeps, I'll give it a go!

 

[Parkranger]

With Ty we started off walk and trot only out on hacks and in school for nearly 4 weeks. It is painfully boring but helped him start to get his topline and his butt is muscling up.

I'd also recommend getting a physio out before start an exercise program so that they can 'unlock' any tension before you even start.

Ty isn't brushing hardly at all anymore (used to virtually cross over at the back) doesn't stumble (finally enjoying work) and is generally enjoying work as we took our time......

 

[melv1lle]

Just to agree with everyone else really - I have found the key to reschooling my lad is:
1) a good physio as ex racers have generally been through a lot (especially ex steeplechasers which mine is)
2) Cortaflex HA - brilliant stuff!
3) Pessoa training aid - agree it really helps in supporting your schooling once you have built them up through long reining and road work
4) and the most important - patience, patience and more patience

TBs in particular (or at least mine anyway) get wound up much more quickly that other types and so trying to bully them into anything always backfires. I tried draw reins for a couple of weeks, for example, and all it led to was bigger and bigger fights and my horse getting very stressed. We have now changed instructors and found someone who focuses on building us up slowly and concentrating only on his back end so that the impulsion, contact etc. is coming up through increased power rather than dragging him down at the front.

Not sure how much use my babbling is but I also have a blog (in my signature) which gives you an idea of what we have gone through to get where we are now...

 

[racingdemon]

having reschooled a number of ex racehorses, here are my tips

little & often
plenty of long slow work
keep everything varied
lots of transitions
introduce basic lateral work fairly early, keeps them interested & supple
plastic/rubber/happy mouth bits have suited ALL mine better than a metal one
the pessoa is a very useful tool, but try and mix it with lunging with nothing (not even side reins) as it will give you a good idea of how is overall musclature is working without any interferance.

 

[Oaksflight]

Patience!