What happens to ex harness racers?

stangs said:
What I find fascinating about Standies is that, in the UK, everyone also finds gaited breeds so interesting, everyone wants to try riding a Icelandic or Paso Fino, and yet no one wants a pacer.

When I was maybe 8, I rode a Standie off the track that came to my RS. One of my favourite horses that I’ve ever ridden. There’s a picture of little me somewhere with my legs shorter than the saddle panels, and just this humongous trot stride underneath me. Never managed to get him to canter, and never cared about it because his trot was just that fun. He then followed me around the field after the lesson and made me fall very in love with the breed. So now whenever the racing season’s over, I spend hours on DD and FB pages telling myself I’ll buy one eventually.
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I had a retired pacer years ago , breaking her to ride. I was a little (ok a lot 😂) lost with what to do with her gaits back then. I have since had some Icelandics and currently have a gaited Icelandic cross but I wish I'd known what I know now when I'd had her. If I wasn't so old and knackered I'd fancy another pacer now.
 
Goldie's mum said:
Was he never happy unless he got to the front of the ride though?
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No, actually he was fine anywhere. We didn't hack in big groups though - only every three or four of us - and we didn't really hack in a line either except on the road (where he could trot like the clappers as second in the string - I had to hold him then simply because he was so much faster than the lead horse!). I don't remember ever having a problem with control though, he was happy to bimble alongside the others.
 
FinnishLapphund said:
In Sweden trotting is a way bigger sport than racing with Thoroughbreds. Some Swedish Trotters/Standardbreds competes in both trotting, and monté, so is at least used to having someone on their back. Not many, but a few trainers uses normal riding as part of their training.
Lots of Swedish trotters goes on to become riding horses, after that their careers as harness racers are over. But I've also heard that there's e.g. a four-in-hand driver (I don't think he was Swedish) who used ex trotters especially for indoor competitions.


In case someone haven't seen monté, to get one with English commentator, I've found this example from USA:

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There's a lot of monte in France as well
 
Red-1 said:
Thank you for that. Järvsöfaks looks amazing, so smooth and powerful.

I love the look of the harness racing. It just looks right.

The trotting under saddle assaults my senses. I am taken back to when I would ride to bloodhounds way back and a horse would get a silly trot on and I would think, goodness, canter already! It just looks awkward and uncomfortable.
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Having owned a trotter who had harness raced, it is the most incredible thing to ride and them break into their full trot, I was on a pleasure ride and we went for a blast and my boy went into a full blown trot (not what I had planned, as asked for canter 🤪) and we left everyone for dust and it was surprisingly smooth and easy to ride. The speed was unbelievable and he definitely had more in the tank if I would have let him.
 
Gloi said:
I had a retired pacer years ago , breaking her to ride. I was a little (ok a lot 😂) lost with what to do with her gaits back then. I have since had some Icelandics and currently have a gaited Icelandic cross but I wish I'd known what I know now when I'd had her. If I wasn't so old and knackered I'd fancy another pacer now.
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No such thing as being too old for a pacer… Saves you the trouble of having to rise to the trot ;)
 
I knew someone with a pacer years ago, beautiful coloured mare, the owner struggled with her, as the pacing threw the owners back out constantly. Icelandics are a big thing here, we went to a big sale and they’re something else, the Tolt is incredible but the size of the riders in comparison to the horses is quite eye opening (and I’m 5ft 8 and have an 14hh!).
 
There is a local stud that I sent my mare to foal down at that breeds top of the line racing Standardbreds and I was lucky to see their stallions, if I didn't have so many Arabs if definitely get a standardbred!
 
Goldie's mum said:
Thank you for your posts that is very interesting. It is lovely to hear about equine sports that are so different from what we have here.
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One of the best things that I know of with Swedish harness racing training is that I've always heard that in general most Swedish trainers have the belief that to compensate for asking trotters to unnaturally run around in big ovals, it's important to allow them to go out in paddocks/fields as much as possible the rest of the time. I became interested in trotting as a kid somewhere around 1982/1983-ish, so long before the talk started in Sweden about that riding horses should have the right to spend x amount of time per day outdoors, loose in a paddock/field, the trotting trainers were already doing it.

Not saying that all Swedish trotting trainers are perfect, there's probably some rotten eggs involved in it somewhere, as there is in most types of professions, but overall, I think the standard seems to be quite good.

Not sure if it's the same at all French race courses, and besides, things might have changed since I heard this interview some years ago, but I once heard a Swedish trainer talk in an interview about what a culture shock it had been to get his first few stables at one of the biggest French trotting race courses, and realising that there wasn't any paddocks available for "his" horses to go out in during the day. Besides going out to exercise, the only option for the horses to spend time outside their stables was basically if their grooms took them out for a walk in lead ropes.
He mentioned the horses seemed to cope surprisingly well with it, but he had therefore also invested in getting some stables away from the race course with paddocks available.
 
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The harness racing yard I worked on had some horses from Sweden , I’m presuming Standardbreds. One was a stallion named Midshippe( I think that’s how it’s spelt), this was in 83/84 when he was 12. He continued to race here as well as be used at stud. He was a good racehorse and when he retired that was an article in a Swedish newspaper. He spent all day turned out and was only driven when he raced. We also had a load of young colts who would come for a year or so and then they would go back to Sweden.
 
stangs said:
Thank you, very interesting!

I saw a video of a Shetland in a sulky once, looked quite competitive. I’m presuming that was also Sweden then.

Do you have any pacing races in Sweden or is it all trotters?
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I wouldn't be surprised if they have Shetland trotting races also in e.g. Norway, but it could certainly have been a Swedish trotting race with Shetlands that you saw.

There is no pace racing with Standardbreds in Sweden at all. And if a trotter starts to pace during a race, it gets disqualified for, in direct translation, unclean gait.

As I understand it, most pacers wears pacing hobbles while racing on official race courses in the USA (and Canada etc), and using hobbles on a race horse in Sweden (and the other Nordic countries) falls under our laws/rules about animal cruelty. Pacing hobbles are used to help balancing their stride, and to ensure the horse maintains their pacing gait. To try to trot while wearing pacing hobbles is uncomfortable for the horse.
I think you can say that our laws/rules about racing basically thinks that making them race is unnatural enough, the horse shouldn't also need hobbles to keep it in the "correct" gait.
I don't think they're as common as pacing hobbles, but I know that some trotters in the USA races in trotting hobbles. Trotters are not allowed to race in trotting hobbles in Sweden.

An example of a pacer in pacing hobbles for those who might not have seen it:

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By the way, when talking about equipment details differences, I just remembered that in some countries Standardbreds are allowed to race equipped with 2 head poles, one on each side. It's meant to help keep them straight, but at the same time they of course restricts how much the horse can turn its head, and neck. In Sweden you're only allowed to use 1 head pole, and it's not often that I've seen a trotter race equipped with a head pole.

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FinnishLapphund said:
In Sweden trotting is a way bigger sport than racing with Thoroughbreds. Some Swedish Trotters/Standardbreds competes in both trotting, and monté, so is at least used to having someone on their back. Not many, but a few trainers uses normal riding as part of their training.
Lots of Swedish trotters goes on to become riding horses, after that their careers as harness racers are over. But I've also heard that there's e.g. a four-in-hand driver (I don't think he was Swedish) who used ex trotters especially for indoor competitions.


In case someone haven't seen monté, to get one with English commentator, I've found this example from USA:

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I should also say that looks a tad more organised than some of the monte I've watched!
 
Lots go to slaughter in France, most young horses going to slaughter in France are either trotters or draft horses. There are rehoming charities, but trotters are not popular.
The horse in my avatar is a trotter, I bought him through a charity at 3 as he would otherwise have gone to slaughter. He is now 8, a happy hacker who loves cuddles, has been to a few dressage shows, can pop a small jump...has been for sale for 3k for 2 weeks as I have to reduce numbers but no takers so far.
 
How big is harness racing in the UK? I have seen videos of it in the USA, but have only seen travellers having trotting races in Appleby over here.

One of my horses years ago was allegedly a French Trotter. When other people cantered on a ride, his trotting kept pace with them. It was a nice trot to ride too, even at sitting trot.
 
Palindrome said:
Lots go to slaughter in France, most young horses going to slaughter in France are either trotters or draft horses. There are rehoming charities, but trotters are not popular.
The horse in my avatar is a trotter, I bought him through a charity at 3 as he would otherwise have gone to slaughter. He is now 8, a happy hacker who loves cuddles, has been to a few dressage shows, can pop a small jump...has been for sale for 3k for 2 weeks as I have to reduce numbers but no takers so far.
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don’t tempt me 🫣 I’m looking for a happy hacker
 
www.bhrc.org.uk (Britisn harness racing club)also on Facebook the British harness racing club and Northern harness racing, 21 venues Inc Wales and Scotland shows all venues but all dates not yet confirmed, 16th April is the 1st race at Amman valley in Wales male and female drivers, mainly on dirt tracks, but some on grass, afternoon/ evening racing, some with stands some without, betting on site and you are able to walk round the harnessing areas etc.
 
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Having seen some horrible videos of harness racing pile ups from the USA I really like the idea of monte (under saddle racing) of SBs. So much less risk of disasterous crashes but still seeing them do their competitive thing. I can see how they would be competitive in endurance. I kind of see what people mean about them not being the most conventially beautiful as they tend to not have the most refined heads but I met a lot growing up in the States and the ones I met seemed to have great temperaments and be really tough, straight forward horses. Handsome is as handsome does I guess. Weirdly I've also known some who could really jump - not sure why as you'd think the 'gait' thing would be an impediment.
 
The crash thing would worry me being in a sulky. Years ago, we were on holiday and my sister badly broke her arm. She had to be transferred from the local hospital to a more central one. She was transferred in an ambulance along with a chap who'd crashed his sulky at the local races. He had a really badly broken leg, from what I remember, but was really impressed by my sister not acting up and being 'brave'. She was in early junior school at the time.
 
Alwaysmoretoknow said:
Having seen some horrible videos of harness racing pile ups from the USA I really like the idea of monte (under saddle racing) of SBs. So much less risk of disasterous crashes but still seeing them do their competitive thing. I can see how they would be competitive in endurance. I kind of see what people mean about them not being the most conventially beautiful as they tend to not have the most refined heads but I met a lot growing up in the States and the ones I met seemed to have great temperaments and be really tough, straight forward horses. Handsome is as handsome does I guess. Weirdly I've also known some who could really jump - not sure why as you'd think the 'gait' thing would be an impediment.
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They are breeding modern types now that have a more refined head like a thoroughbred.
This is my gelding's head :
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But as you say the best thing about them is their temperament. Although a bit hot and sensitive, they generally have a heart of gold.
 
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