Retraining racehorses..... or rather racing ponies...

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My little 14.2hh TB started life as a dressage pony until he was 6, then unfortunately has spent 2 years as a racing pony before I bought him. I know he is going to be a project to bring on, so we are taking things very slowly - he has no topline and lacks condition as he has been turned away all winter and was only just being brought into work when I got him.

Obviously his whole desire in life is to go everywhere as fast as possible! So lots of hacking/schooling/lunging to slow him down.... after a week we can hack out with relatively little jogging at walk, which is amazing :)

Just wondered what your tips and thoughts were about introducing canter on hacks? I went down a bridlepath today and deliberately stayed in walk, he was fine, but I was dying to have a blast down the track :D On the other hand that is the sort of thing I know I shouldn't be doing with him, it all needs to be calm, relaxed and slow....
 
We are currently retraining a former racehorse having done months of rehab with him 2 years ago following a tendon injury, he went back to race last spring, then finished and is now starting out on his new life, a lot of his rehab was done on tracks/ open fields and he was happy to walk, then trot, then when fit enough canter was introduced but only when asked, he has this well established and is now proving to be a really well mannered hack but it took a lot of discipline on behalf of the rider to ensure he does not think grass = go fast.
Your pony is nowhere near fit enough to gallop yet and you will risk injury or blowing his mind by doing so, it will be possible once you have settled him down, it may take months, taught him to relax on grass and spent hours walking, trotting then quietly cantering the routes, if you want him to do a job as a competition pony the time spent at this early stage will be worth it even if it seems rather boring that is just what he needs to be thinking before you move on to the exciting stuff.
 
Thanks BP - as I mentioned in my original post, he was perfectly relaxed on grass today so that isn't an issue fortunately :) In hindsight I phrased my OP badly; I fully realise he isn't fit enough to gallop, what I was thinking about was more a little canter rather than a flat out gallop - the dangers of the written word without engaging my brain again... :p

I don't actually have a school at the livery yard I'm at (there is one available 10 mins walk down the lane) so I think we will be doing quite a bit of work on grass! Had a first lesson (1/2 hour mainly at walk) on Friday & my instructor has confirmed I am doing the right things with him.
 
It sounds as if all is going well, it may be that he has done most of his fast work on an all weather gallop so grass will not be too exciting but it really does pay to get them established in walk/ trot first as things can quickly escalate and it is then more difficult to undo what they then consider acceptable, when you are ready to canter start by trotting and then pick up canter just for a short way near the end of a track so he is expecting to slow down just as he would if you were trotting.
As he started life as a dressage pony you should find the basics come back fairly easily once he gets out of racehorse mode.
 
I spent the first 7/8 months hacking my buzzy ex racer mare everywhere in walk. She jogged and head tossed for the first few months everywhere but soon got the idea. Like you there were times where I was desperate to have a blast and in actual fact in some ways it may have been easier short term. However we stuck to it and made great progress in the school so was able to introduce trotting on hacks then onto cantering. Hacking wise she settled way more when I was able to do some fast work as probably a lot less frustrated. I find she is happy to walk after a canter, no matter how short, (think in her head she has run her race lol) I am reeping the benefits of taking my time now though as she is happy to do a relaxed walk in open fields, grass tracks and huge beach. Hills are good for introducing canter work if you have any :)
 
That's really interesting thanks ID! I am very lucky that Frodo only raced for a couple of years (and I am pretty sure he wasn't in work for all of that time as the children who rode him just couldn't hold him!) as BePositive said I'm hoping he will re-find his inner dressage soul quite quickly lol - he didn't seem to get frustrated and joggy today (maybe because it was somewhere new?) but we will see what happens next time :D
 
Fully agree with 'be positive'.
Stick to very short canters (half a dozen strides) until you can guarantee that he will stay relaxed and come back to trot when asked. I am sure his 'inner dressage soul' will come out too.
 
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