Standardbreds .Has any one got one ,what can you tell me.

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merlin12

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A friend has just bought one as a hack. I have never really come across the breed before.I am impressed with this horse, and wondered if any one could tell me what they are like to own and ride.
 
I have one!!!

She's great, she is very easy to do and is a perfect hack, my very novice brother can hack her out no problems.

We did have a few issues with canter but that's now been cracked so she'll now do a nice dressage test and has got a scopey jump, she loves XC. She has hunted and will hunt again this winter (if I get my bum into gear!).

We've done Endurance rides which she was fab at and fun rides etc.

People describe them as TBs but with a bit more bone and a more sane brain!
 
Thank you Monkeybum 13 ,where did you buy your Standard bred. Just trying to find out more about them . TB's are n't my type of horse but the Standard bred does appeal to me .
 
Imo they can look a little 'cut and shut' sometimes lol.
When you get them to stop pacing and start cantering they are good little horses with a cracking jump but they will always revert back to their pacing ways when unbalanced ime.
They are okay horses if you get the right one, I very nearly bought one who was bloody amazing and made an eventer yet he sold before I got him and others that I would not touch with a barge pole lol
 
Merlin, I bought my horse from a private seller, I wasn't looking for a standardbred, she just suited what we wanted.

Mine has never, ever paced under saddle and I've never seen her do it in the field either for that matter ;)
 
I rode a trotter before but found them a pain because instead of cantering he'd just trot a million miles an hour (must admit it is cool to trot that fast though :P ) thats the one thing that would but me off them sadly , but apart from that I'd imagine there lovely :)
 
EimerR said:
I rode a trotter before but found them a pain because instead of cantering he'd just trot a million miles an hour (must admit it is cool to trot that fast though :P ) thats the one thing that would but me off them sadly , but apart from that I'd imagine there lovely :)
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I went to look at a horse described a TB type and when I got there he told me it was a standardbred, this did put me off, from experience of riding a friends horse a few years ago and the whole trot/canter scenario.

Was wondering is it standardbreds as a whole who have trouble with canter or just ones that have raced as pacers?

Sorry to not be much help OP, the horse I looked at was beautiful and had a lovely temperament but it was knowing that he was a standardbred that made me not buy, had he been a TB I probably would have done but that was just down to personal preference.
 
A nervous novice neighbour has had 2. The first, a gelding was on loan but had to go back because he got to be too much for her - made each other nervous. Now she has a saint of a mare.
There is a SB stud near to us. The mares and foals all live out all winter with very little shelter on the top of the Pennines and seem to do well enough.
 
ex racer rider said:
Imo they can look a little 'cut and shut' sometimes lol.
When you get them to stop pacing and start cantering they are good little horses with a cracking jump but they will always revert back to their pacing ways when unbalanced ime.
They are okay horses if you get the right one, I very nearly bought one who was bloody amazing and made an eventer yet he sold before I got him and others that I would not touch with a barge pole lol
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They don't all pace, it is a breed which is suited to harness racing because they have an active trot, pacing is faster than trotting so some are trained to pace by using hobbles, not all harness racing uses pacers.
 
I have a 5 year old that I bought last year, she was advertised as a sports horse lol, she did a lovely trot round the arena, canter was green and she was a saint in traffic. She was a right bargain and everyone loves her.

Still working on canter tho - monkeybum
 
ex racer rider said:
Imo they can look a little 'cut and shut' sometimes lol.
When you get them to stop pacing and start cantering they are good little horses with a cracking jump but they will always revert back to their pacing ways when unbalanced ime.
They are okay horses if you get the right one, I very nearly bought one who was bloody amazing and made an eventer yet he sold before I got him and others that I would not touch with a barge pole lol
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I have to agree, i have a 12 year old SB which i have had 5 years, she does look a little 'cut & shut', in the time i have owned her i have never really cracked canter, she does not pace but just does the fastest trot, if i have enough space i can break her trot but we then just end up with a really unbalanced gallop & a hyper horse which does not feel safe at all so i have given up.

She is a fantastic hack and is honestly 150% bombproof on the roads, does not buck, rear or react to other horses messing about so a a great nanny. Unfortunately she has had a number of injuries so is only ambling round the countryside now.

My mare is a lovely looking horse & i love her to bits, but given all the issues i have had over the years with her, i should have walked away & bought myself a nice little cob lol
 
I bought one off the track years ago. Was excellent hack and learnt to trot quickly using poles. It was never a great jumper but would have made excellent endurance type I think.

Lovely gentle temperament, I miss him.
 
Ned's an ex pacer and he's almost forgotten how. He fell into pacing last time I rode him, but the horse in front slammed on the breaks, then sped off. This really threw him and he paced for about 6 strides, then reverted back to normal trot. He's not done it for months though.

Ned had obviously been through some horrible stuff in his life, which I blame for his 'nutty' behaviour and mistrust. Had he been brought up in a good home from day 1, I think he'd be the cracking horse that's starting to shine through. Before Ned, I'd never really come across them, but I would get another!
 
If you're looking for more info on Standardbreds as a breed, take a look at www.standardbred.org or www.bhrc.co.uk

There's also several pages on FB that are used by people who have bought Standardbreds and ride them. There's 'Standardbreds in the UK', 'Standardbred Riders' and the STAGBI facebook page.

I know from experience how difficult some Standardbreds can be to retrain, but I also know from experience how much fun you can have with them. I've had so many people emailing me and contacting me via the STAGBI facebook page with wonderful stories and amazing achievements too.

I'm biased but I think they're a truly under-rated breed with bags of potential!
 
I have one, i didnt know he was a standardbred when i bought him, he was advertised as a tb x.

He was weak, unsettled, slightly bonkers and stressy when he came to me, but he was and continues to be the sweetest horse i have ever known. Despite having obviously a shakey (at best) past, he is still a people horse and is a pleasure to be around.

Schooling wise, he will still pace when something is too hard or stressful, but hes getting better. With him, he had no muscle at all when he came to me, so ive been taking it slowly, rebuilding him up and starting at the beginning. But as the other poster says whenever he gets unbalanced , and if hes tired he will revert to pacing, i presume its because he just finds it easier. We are fine doing walk-trot, trot to canter, but the downwards canter- trot transitions are the trickiest for him and he struggles to go from canter to trot without pacing in the middle! His trot is actually lovely when he gets going, and ive had some really nice comments from judges about it when we've been out competing (only low level obvs)

He loves jumping, but finds it super exciting. Hes spooky though and can turn on a sixpence, i swear hes a little games pony in a 15.2's body.

I only have lowly aims for him, i want to do some low BD and ideally some one day events with him.

Part of me wishes i knew more of his history as i literally know almost nothing, but then part of me doesnt really want to know- its a can of worms i think may be best left in the past.

More generally hes a really really genuine horse, who trys his hardest for me , and, even knowing now what i know about him (all the paciing etc) i would still make the same choice to take him on again everytime in a heartbeat.
 
Lovely horses with a lovely temperament but if you want a horse for going round in endless cirlces and cantering easily they're not great. However if you want to do endurance, a lot of hacking, hunting, common riding or just being friends they're fabulous.

They're generally much hardier than TB's and a lot less silly and fizzy. Most are great to hack and suitable for a novice. They can also have huge jumps.

Cantering can be a problem though. Some find it naturally very easy and you'd never guess they are trotter, others find it next to impossible. Being a papcer usually doens't help their canter.

They are also very varied in type and quality. Some a really ugly looking, badly proportioned fuglybugs, others are stunning beautiful. I had a stunningly bueatiful one :D ;)

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Rose Folly said:
Don't see the point of buying a Stanadardbred and then trying to change its paces. Why not stick with what it was bred to do and does well, or buy another breed that doesn't pace?
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This is the problem - Standardbreds are bred to race, and a lot of them simply don't make the grade. Some people are happy not to have a world-beater, and there are races/breakaway committees that cater for non-winners and horses who basically aren't as fast as the 'best'.

But not everybody is that happy with having a mediocre horse. My old boss sold a racehorse on behalf of it's owner to a man up north, in the hope that a change of scenery and different tracks would sweeten him up a bit (he wasn't running at all well despite having won races before and not being handicapped out of races - physically there was nothing wrong with him, but I could see mentally he'd lost the 'want' to do it). He ran a couple of good races with the new guy, obviously enjoying the new life but after a couple of weeks he went sour again. Unfortunately, I received his passport back from the slaughterhouse a couple of weeks after he last raced. That horse was nine years old, had been broken to ride and was a perfect gentleman. He never got the chance to find a home with someone who might want to teach him to trot, canter and jump.

I want Standardbreds to have a life after racing, however the pacing gait doesn't lend itself to much. It's great for endurance and hunting but not so good for your dressage and jumping, which is what a lot of people want to do. I successfully retrained my first pacer to trot and canter but retained her pacing gait specifically for hunting (to save my poor aching body!). Besides, Standardbreds have an ability to pace, it doesn't mean that's all they should do.
 
We had one on loan for a year, sadly she was an ex pacer and at 5 was starting to pay the price, both the vet and the farrier thought she had been hurt, she kept going stiff/lame so we sent her back.
 
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