Very hot ex racehorse

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afhtas

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I have a 15 year old ex racehorse. We have had him for two years . He is ridden by my son who is a very quiet rider. We only want him for hacking and perhaps a little jumping at home .
He is just so hot . It is impossible on a ride to trot except sideways if the reins are picked up and certainly will not canter. We have schooled him with running reins to keep his head down and in an enclosed space his trot is ok but cantering he is pretty hopeless. The sad thing is that it has put my son off riding . Any tips please
 
I would if I had the money go to the best pro but i dont so that is why I am posting on here .. thinking about it if i did have loads of money I would buy a more perfect horse so please post helpful remarques
 
Wow! I'm pretty amazed at your response afhtas!! That's a bit harsh when amymay gave her opinion when asked, which is what any normal person would do anyway. Get some professional help. If you can't afford to sort your horse out before it becomes dangerous by professional help, then the best thing to do is sell it, before you ruin it even more or you end up with a seriously injured child!
 
How rude.
Well I should think the answer is that he needs reschooling, so either reschool him yourself, pay someone else too, or sell him to someone who can.
 
The horse is not dangerous and my son is not a child . I don t live in the uk so pros are not thick on the ground .. there are quite a few semi pros who are pretty macho riders which i obviously don t want . Just want someone kind and helpful to share their ideas
 
I agree that it would be a good idea to seek some sort of help - maybe somebody could recomend a local instructor who would be able to give you some lessons?

Can I ask what you're feeding it? I ask as my ex racer lives on chaff and ad lib hay only. otherwise it goes to his head. At the moment he's been quite hot headed to handle and ride so i've put him on a calmer supplement - in my opinion anything with magnesium is good.

Other than that, I would focus on getting some really good quality walk work before you move on to trot- lots of suppling exercises, getting him to walk out and come back to you, generally getting him thinking and off the aids, then hopefully when you move on to the trot he'll be a bit more willing. Don't move on to canter until you have total control in trot. Don't do anything too exciting for a few weeks - e.g. keep hacking simple and relaxed.

I wouldn't use any kind of draw reins as that tends to make them bubble up and it sounds like you want him going forward into a relaxed contact and not sideways :)

Good luck, its not easy and I really would ask for help at this stage.
 
My view, honestly, is that the horse is 15 and you are not going to make any huge changes to his ingrained behaviour now.

However, adjustments to feed, adding a calmer, finding a rider who has the confidence to school him on a loose rein, could all help at bit.
 
afhtas said:
I have a 15 year old ex racehorse. We have had him for two years . He is ridden by my son who is a very quiet rider. We only want him for hacking and perhaps a little jumping at home .
He is just so hot . It is impossible on a ride to trot except sideways if the reins are picked up and certainly will not canter. We have schooled him with running reins to keep his head down and in an enclosed space his trot is ok but cantering he is pretty hopeless. The sad thing is that it has put my son off riding . Any tips please
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I had the same problem with my ex racer mare. I gave up in the end and sold her to my friend as a companion for a quid :rolleyes:
 
^^ this.

I'd assess his feed and turn out and re-assess if realistically this horse is the right one for your son. If he's already got it into his head he doesn't want to ride it (or in general), is he likely to change his mind? Some people do and some don't, only he will know.

Lastly, at 15, whatever change happens, unfortunately it's probably not going to be a big one. His mind has been set. My ex racer only raced for a year at 5 years old, I had him at 6 and even after 3 years of re-schooling with the help from professionals, he's never going to not have his quirks.

But I think many ex-race owners will agree, it's part and parcel of having a ex-racer!
 
I agree with the above^^^^
my ex racer has raced for 8 years and trying to re school him is proving to be a nightmare. He is what he is and very quirky but I have to accept that or sell him.

You say you have no money to re school him else u would off brought a better horse to start with, I do hope you didn't buy a ex racer because they are cheap? They aren't the easiest but do get the odd real good ones
 
afhtas said:
I would if I had the money go to the best pro but i don't so that is why I am posting on here .. thinking about it if i did have loads of money I would buy a more perfect horse so please post helpful remarks
Click to expand...

You don't need loads of money to get professional help - you just need to employ the services of a reputable local instructor. Most are very reasonably priced, and a lesson a week may well be invaluable.

I hope that was of more help:rolleyes:
 
My forester was like this and took us 6 years to get him out of it. He would go sideways unless he was at flat out gallop! Sideways into ditches, down main roads, bunny hops, rears, you name it, anything apart from going straight!

Focus on keeping him straight when you school, get him going between trotting poles and gradually make them narrower and narrower. Out on a hack, treat it like a schooling session. You can't deprive him of a canter/gallop as this will just make him hotter. Again, focus on keeping him straight, do lots of transitions and praise him when he stays straight. If he starts to mess around, bring him to a halt, ask to walk on then start again. It took us years but my forester is now sensible(ish) to hack (but not in open spaces!) Sometimes he just needs a good gallop to get it out his system, he has a very hot head.

ETA:It is really frustrating, sometimes we wouldn't get out of walk & halt, but it really did the trick. My PC instructor thought it was very amusing at rallies and we always spent the lesson getting him going straight. Does he do it going at fences too?

Also put my forester on liquid calmer which helped him no-end. Agree with looking into his feed, and plenty of turnout so he is a little more 'chilled' to begin with. Anything that can help is worth a go :)

I hope this might help, I know how horrible it is!
 
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same advice really, cut his food down as far as you can, chaff and pony nuts is more than sufficient.
and similar to what other people have said when mine loses the plot I walk and do ALOT of transitions so will go into trot and the second he isn't trotting how I would like (racing off in my case) we go back to walk, wait until he is walking nicely, then trot. If you do this until you are both on the verge of a boredom-induced coma he will get the message.
I would recommend a bungee rather than draw reins. Much kinder and more encouraging. :)

ETA: also try protexin probiotic
 
I'd also turn out as much as possible. At this time of the year, I'd just ride him from the field. In my experience living out really does help cool them down.
 
afhtas said:
The horse is not dangerous and my son is not a child . I don t live in the uk so pros are not thick on the ground .. there are quite a few semi pros who are pretty macho riders which i obviously don t want . Just want someone kind and helpful to share their ideas
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No one on a forum can give you a definitive answer to your horse's problems, the fact is he is too much horse for your son, ie not suitable.
You have two main options, improve the horse and rider combination or sell the horse to someone who can.
 
You do not say anything about having its back, saddle and teeth checked, as perhaps the problem could stem from these areas, just a thought, as being a 15yrs old if its always behaved like that he would have surley been 'eaten' long ago !
 
Far to little info to comment really.
So many factors to consider...

  • What do you feed?
  • How much turnout does the horse get?
  • Have you had back,teeth,saddle etc checked?
 
Hey,
When I had my ex racehorse I fed him just pony nuts with a balancer (no mixes as the mixes have sugar in it) haylage (reduced sugar one) and Hi Fi. I left out all the oil as that can have an adverse effect. I also fed straight magnesium that I my farrier recommended off ebay for his feet and it also worked as a natual calmer. My ex racehorse also thrived on a routine and was much easier to ride and handle. he also hated a running martingale and it made him 10 times worse so I just rode with a breast plate. Have a look at your feed and turnout routine and his work level. I would start slow and like someone said once the walk is right he will be able to carry himself in trot. I would also recommend a tack check as some racers run or are hot from pain. Rocky acted like this when his back was out once which was a shock to the system I can say!! I hope this helps!
 
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