why did you buy an exracer,what do you do with it and would you buy another??

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kez1001

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as title really, trying to remind myself why i have one. So i'll go first.
Mine is 10yo,chesnut mare, raced til she was six, but "didnt stick her neck out" according to trainer, always 3rd/4th, owned by a syndicate who wanted rid so i bought her at blood stock sales as my old horse had been diagnosed with DJD and could no longer event and it was a moment of madness! :D
so three years on she can do a pretty nice DR test and is awesome XC but SJ is another story! also at this time of year she is wild on spring grass and has rotten feet! would i buy another?? well just agreed to school one that was bought for £42,000 and was last in every race but think he mite make a nice eventer, lovely nature and very laid back,balanced and athletic! and hes only four-excited! here we go again! :D
 
I bought mine for many reasons, because he could be anything I want, because he could be a happy hack, because I felt sorry for him, because I couldn't bear anyone else to have him, because we have a bond, because he is the most stunning horse I've ever seen.

I love my little horse and I wouldn't swap him for the world, I've got a total blank canvas of a horse without having to actually break one in myself!
 
I have two (madness!!) - my elder one after 3 years of shying,bucking,spooking,rearing and just generally behaving like a giraffe on speed and thinking everything and everybody is out to get him :) finally seems to have calmed down and matured a bit (at long bloody last !) we show and dressage mainly and haven't been too bad at it - we are off to kent county in july so I may take back those comments :) My 3 year old is a different kettle of fish far too confident for his own good and this has led to his current predicament of being lame :( Not a good sign for a project :( He hacks out perfectly on his own and in company and is just generally a lovely person to have about . I went through the whole lameness thing with my first and I hope I don't have to go it again
 
I brought mine, as I had worked in racing for so long and had fallen in love with them! Mine retired in Sept 09, I brought him in November and he has been a complete super star. He's schooled over xc fences, including water with no problems at all. We have competed in dressage, he hacks alone and I can even lead my 17hh ISH off him. All he wants to do is please you, its so refreshing. Oh and hes a 4 year old.

Yes I would absolutey buy another!
 
I bought one about a month ago, after i sold on my first horse (a morgan X appaloosa) and he is fabby! Love him to pieces already :) He jumps anything you point him at, i've jumped him 1m50 already, and he has amazing flatwork! I took him in an exracers ridden class at a show last weekend and came 2nd out of 5, qualified for Blair Horse Trails Ex Racers Champs, so very excited! So yes, i would defo buy another :)
 
I bought my Ex-racer nearly 7 years ago straight of the track, he was my first horse and not at all what I was looking for.

He is great to hack and has pretty good stable manners but he isn't really a horse I can take out and about. Unfortunately I didn't get a trailer till last year so he got to used to doing nothing and now is an absolute Pr@t if I take him anywhere :rolleyes:

My aim for the year is to take him X-Country schooling and that if we both survive it will be quite an achievement for the both of us :D

I love him to bits though so I will put up with his silly moments!

Would I get another one.........ummmmm.......Maybe, maybe not!!
 
lol thanks for the replies you are all renewing my faith in the first chesnut mare i have :D
dizzle- love how positive you are about your horse, i think i felt sorry for my wee mare when i bought her she looked so sad
toomayhorses26- i have to laugh at the comment of acting like giraffe on speed,sums up sj mine :D
curragh - thats amazing you have done so much with yours so far at this age. im not sure how much to do with the wee 4yo i have. just started riding him, only maybe done 5 schooling sessions, but he is already going sweet, nice outline and some fabby trot work :)
how much do you do with yours each week?
gillian - wow qualified for blair, im so jealous! will have to come watch you love blair atholl, well done!
3 beasties - i never got transport til last year so we spent two years with very few outings but last year we were out at least once a month and it started a bit dramatic and i was usually on my own with no backup help but eventually it got better so if you persevere you never know!
 
I work mine 5 days a week, we have a dressage lesson once a week and we do lots of hacking. I know racers love rountine and thrive on regular work. He doesn't even look like the sorry state I brought home last November.
 
I went to a dealers to get some cheap ploddy cobbies for the riding school I manage . ... spotted a skinny TB thing cribbing and weaving continually, and bought her instead .... 5 years on i have now 7 ex racers and 2 other TBs, they compete in absolutely everything imaginable, and I dont think I'd consider ANY other horse now.
I have had some straight from the trainers, but my favourites (!) are the sort that have been screwed over by someone post racing but still young (usually bought out of market as cheap by naieve people), and then I do a repair job. I have two that have been starved, one I found in the back garden of a semi in a nearby mining town!
 
Curragh - i will try to do more with the four year old! i was worried he had taken the huff cause he got three days workt his week and was walking away from me in the field, though came for sweeties, greedy pony!
moggie - you can have my mare! think ive ruined her sj chances! lol in a back garden lmao, what do some folk think!! tehe :D
 
Wasn't looking for an ex racer or even a TB but ended up with one and am now totally hooked.
Mine is 7 ( was 5 when I got him) and was too slow and lazy to even bother to enter in a race. But that means that he is easy and pretty laid back but still fun and he's such a bright quirky little horse with an opinion about everything.

We've had some soundness issues which hopefully are now on the way to being resolved and looking to get him out and about this summer and doing a bit of everything but especially looking forward to getting him out on a cross country course.

The only thing I couldn't really do with him is showing - not because of temperament or conformation but because he always has a new battle scar from playing with his mates but that's OK as it's not really my thing.
 
I am on my 2nd ex racer. This one has the potential (I am hoping) to do a bit of everything. He was skeletal when I bought him. He last raced in sept 09 and was then turned out with very little food and no shelter for the whole winter. SO yes, I did feel sorry for him, of course I did! But he did tick the boxes of having his withers higher than his bottom (a major problem in dressage with the last horse!), he had a nice balanced walk and trot and most importantly he's a really lovely person. After three months he is really starting to look like a 'proper' horse, is putting on weight and building muscle and has lost most of his 2'' long winter coat! He has been unfazed by anything I have asked him to do so far. He is lungeing well, working in Pessoa, hacking confidently and starting to accept the contact. And today, my friend and I boxed our horses up and took them 15 mins away for a different hack. First time off the yard since I've had him and he didn't put a foot wrong and thoroughly enjoyed himself. So proud!
By the way, he was sold at 9 months for 58500 guineas!! He raced in Hong Kong for a year as a 2.5yr old and then hurdled in UK. Did ok, but again, was a 3rd or 4th sort of a boy.
I think having gone through the getting him back to full health bit and seeing him emerge as a handsome cheeky boy from this hairy malnourished little man who had just about given up, I feel very attached and protective of him. The fact that he is reciprocating by being a joy to work with and to generally have around makes it so worthwhile.
The best of luck with yours!! I love TBs and would without a doubt take on another.
 
Mine is an 8 year old ex-National Hunt racehorse. His Dam and Sire are famous American horses, and he has a pedigree to die for and is related to many of the greats. I've traced him back to Man O' War and St Simon, in 1811. The reason I have him is that despite his pedigree he never actually won a race in his life! He was bought by a Syndicate after I think his original owners realised he wasn't going to be a superstar, and then after 3 years with the syndicate they gave up on him too and I bought him from a charity 15 months ago.

I love him to bits, he's a real character and he and I have bonded like no other horse I have ever known. He's come on really well with his schooling and does lovely novice dressage tests (at home). He loves showjumping (at home), and most of all he loves hacking and he is pretty bombproof. The only trouble I have is actually taking him to events as he gets incredibly excited and he's really hard to handle and at 17.2hh he is not pleasant at all. I'm trying to desensitise him and not worry too much about competing. It's frustrating because at home he displays signs of being a really nice all-rounder, but when we're at any event something happens to him and he turns into a horse I don't recognise. I have since found videos of him racing, and he wasn't easy to handle then by the looks of it either.

He gives me great pleasure the rest of the time, and hopefully one day we might be able to compete at quiet events. He'll stay with me for the rest of his life now (like my other 33 yr old who I've had for 26 years!)


We have previously owned another ex-NH-racehorse back in the late 1980s. He was a retired one, who'd had his tendons fired. He was a sweet horse, but his weak tendons meant he was just a light hack. He had to be PTS after he'd been hoolying round the field and one of his tendons ruptured and the vets said it was the kindest thing.
 
A few of my friends have ex racers and all are absolute diamonds, and I thought as my daughter would be moving up from her pony to a horse and likes to get out and do local shows/xc she'd really enjoy having one too. I liked the idea of a reschooled ex racer because they were reasonably priced and I felt they would be well socialised, have good manners, be professionally trained.

In my mind I pictured a 7-12 year old gelding a few years out of racing that had done a bit of this and that maybe needed a bit of polishing.

We ended up with a 3yo filly 2 months out of racing bought from a dealer who described her as reschooled and suitable for a teen. We felt sorry for her.


We're having a difficult time with her at the moment, she's got some hoof issues and possibly some hormonal issues, but she is a lovely horse. If we end up selling her I would like to think she'd have a nice home.

A photo thread:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=353465
 
I owned one for 6 yrs. Basically i bought her out of a field for £1500. I was 20 and my parents decided that if i wanted another horse i had to buy, pay for its keep etc myself. I had a £2000 limit so was aware that what ever i got would be a project in some way or another. I bought her from the guy that breed her. he was a lovely old man! She had done 3 races. He was very honest and told me that he occasionally bucked. She was 8yrs old when i bought her and had been turned away totally untouched for the best part of 8 months. Wasn't backed till she was 6yrs as she used to chuck herself on the floor when they put the saddle on.
Well she fell over when tried to lunge her as was totally unbalanced, when out hacking totally freaked at other animals in fields that we would ride past. Although she was fantastic in traffic, motorbikes, wagons, trucks, tractors etc. She would rear vertical with no warning (going over with me 3x) one year into owning her we had done some small sj and a unaff 3ft one day event. dressage was not her strong point as she did most of it on back feet waving at the judges with her front ones!! over the 6 yrs i had jumping and flat work lessons with her and she was fab!! would jump 1.20m all day long never stopped or duck out she was as honest as they come. I sold her 2 yrs ago as had bought a foal that had just been weaned. But I hope with all my heart that she is well cared for and loved!
would I buy another ex-racer? Simple, Yes!!!
 
Because I had lost the will to live looking for a horse. I'd looked at cribbers (oh he never does it), quiet horses (I got bolted with past a hosepipe), even quieter horses (wouldn't move without spurs and 2 whips). I threw the Loot paper on the side in disgust and it fell open at the garden section where I spotted an advert. It said "Bay horse, good with kids and dogs". I rang her, didn't go to see him. Then got a phone call back saying she was desperate, I sounded like I could ride, and a man who said he was an eventer got on and couln't do rising trot.
I went to see him that night, he had been on a **** full livery through a messy divorce and was SO poor. I trotted him up the road (no school to try him in), fell in love while Mum shook her head and muttered about "No more recsue animals"
He came a few days later and the YO immediately put him on isolation for 2 weeks. I fed him, and fed him, and fed him some more, bathed him, hacked off the dreadlocks from his tail and he started to look more like a horse.
I had a massive loss of confidence on my last horse and bought him as a confidence giver. My first ride, I sat on him crying while Dad walked me on a lead rope. I asked a friend to take him out, and do whatever she wanted and come back and tell me what he was like. She came back dripping and told me "You didn't say it could jump!"
I lunged him over a cross pole and realised, "could jump" was a slight understatement.
A few weeks later I rang to find out a bit more about him, and spoke to Wetherbys. She reeled off these numbers and I had to sit down. I thought he had only done a few point to points and she was telling me he had raced from 4-15 and done over 120 races, mainly chasing.
To cut a very long story short, I did everything. I risked life and limb going XC, I did some local shows, I hacked for miles and hours. We even battled some schooling. The only thing I couldn't do was SJ, because the sight of all the jumps in one blew his brain
I ended up with a horse that would load, clip, injected, shod, all without a headcollar on. He was ridden by a 6 year old, and took her over a small jump. He gave me all my confidence back hacking and jumping, and I had the time of my life
Then after abcesses, lameness etc, he looked at me one day and I knew it was time. He was PTS a week later, and soppy as it sounds, my heart broke beyond repair, and I haven't had another since
Would I have another? Send it this way!
 
Our two are fantabulous!
My girl Couloir is half sister to Frenchman's Creek, so everyone thought she was going to set the world on fire, and she turned out to be utter **** poor thing, so she went to stud, and bred three mental children, and then decided she was fed up with babies and wasn't going to play that game anymore! I bought her for the princely sum of £200 (with two Rambo rugs, I think that was a spectacular deal!) and 3 years on, although she now can't be ridden due to losing most of her sight and turning into a bag of nerves in new situations, I still love her with all my heart and she'll stay with me til the day she dies.
And then there was Moonbeam....poor Majestic Moonbeam was bought by JP Mcmanus for £100,000 (I'm not joking...it makes me gulp!) and won his first race beautifully. He hates lots of horses around him (ie: out hunting he has to be up front or at the back or he loses the plot) and so he worked out that he could get away from all the other horses with much less effort if he came last! At least he was consistent! He was a gift to us, and is one of the quietest, sweetest horses I've come across - although he's 16.3hh, I would put anyone on him out hacking, and, as Jonjo O'Neil said when we went to pick him up "he's laid back alright, to be sure, I've never even seen him swish his tail".
So Beamy is now no longer hunting or racing, but just pootling around with his girlfriends and enjoying being the most expensive horse on the yard!
I would DEFINITELY have another ex racer.
 
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I got my ex racer from a rehab place for ex race horses. They permanent loan them out which is why I ended up going there in the first place to see him. I wasn't acctually intending to buy a horse and I think my mum only agreed because it said 'loan'! However we ended up paying a 'small donation' of £1000 and ended up with a hat rack that had been off the track two years on permanent loan! I tried him out - he jumped, he hacked and could walk, trot and canter in a straight line. (Note the straight line) At this point I had very little experience having gone from a 13.2hh New Forest. I flew about 3ft out the saddle in sitting trot he was so bouncy compared to little pone! I loved him straight away - he was such a gentleman (on the ground!) and you could leave the stable door open and he woudn't move. I got him in Jan 09 and the day after he arrived, it snowed. After a year and a bit it feels like we have been through loads and we are now finally starting to achieve something with his flatwork. He can jump like a stag but I dont have the guts but I must really get out and jump him. Hacking is interesting to say the least. Alot of the time I spent on the floor rather than in the saddle and he just cant cope with being behind in a group of horses. However this has improved my riding ten fold because I acctually have to ride and think properly on him out on a hack - I also learnt to take bends wide at all costs - you never know what might be lurking there! We have also conquered his fear of prams and scary things walking down the road (he was always perfect with the huge lorries!) and I can now trot behind the lead in a group as long as we keep up! He has finally put weight on and started to build muscle. My experience and riding ability has grown so much since having him. He has been XC Schooling twice and for the majority he behaved like an absolute dream, we have been out to an SJ too. We are going to our first outing of the year next weekend to a small, local prelim dressage. I am suprised to hear that alot of people on here had trouble taking theres out. Pete is like the model horse when it comes to travel: Get in the box, do the work, get back home ASAP for tea! He is a real character and I dont know what I would do without him. Would I get another? Of course!
 
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I bought mine because a) i could afford it, b) I like thoroughbreds. :D

I've ridden them since I was a kid, I got my first (but on a full loan, nobody would ride him) when I was 15. So when he was PTS due to colic, I went looking for my own horse. I ended up with my boy, a 16.2hh chestnut gelding, who I bought the day he finished racing and came down from the racetrack. He was about £300 and given to me as my 17th birthday present.
As for competing, I've had him just over two years now. I don't have a horsebox or towing vehicle so don't get to shows as frequently as I'd like. He's competing at Novice dressage (won his first one actually :D ), hoping to get him elementary this year.
He jumped clears in the 80cm class a month ago, but we'll be going straight to 90cm next time out..it was more to see how he felt at a SJ show :) At home he's jumping bigger, but happily..

I've got one to try out this week who I'm hopefully going to take in the elementary class at the end of the month, I've been offered him as a sort of 'back up' horse..he's competing in the 1.10m SJ as well, so it suits me fine :D

And yes, I'd absolutely buy another one :) They're what I know, and almost all the horses I've spent a fair amount of time riding have been ex-racers :) Wouldn't swap my boy for the world..
 
Hiya

I bought mine last August, first horse, totally uneducated buy. Not in great condition, no muscle and history of colic. Wondered what the hell I had done buying this loopy windsucking 5year old. With alot of work, and help from my yard manager, he is a total diamond. Have had to deal with lameness, terrible foot condition, absesses etc but come out the other side with smile on our faces. Now gone barefoot and going well. Showing promise in dressage lessons so may take him out and about this year. Next on the list is teaching him to jump!!?! Love him to bits.
Anyone got any advise on how to teach him not to windsuck.........
 
I bought mine because he was cheap and beautiful!! I sj/xc/team chased/dressaged. He was bombproof to hack, only thing he was naughty with was clipping, but that was because he was sensitive. Perfect in every other way and yes I would buy another!!
 
After always having arabs and part bred arabs I have now bought an an off the track ex flat racer. She is 4 and had her a month. She is going through the rehab process now (already had 2 months off any work) and has been oddly very well behaved! Throwing usual youngster tricks at me, but generally a very chilled out young lady.

Will let you know at a later point in owning if I'd have another! But so far very very pleased and she is very pretty, kind and willing to learn.
 
I was given mine from his trainer. He was orignally bought for 130,000 guineas. He was retired after being pretty succesful but threw in the towel.

He's just turned six and I've had him since October, he is the nicest person, tries his hardest in everything I ask him and is sound and vice free. I've been very lucky - he's a star.

I have taken it slowly with him but he hacks out alone and in company, he is working well on the flat and i hope to do some dressage with him.

If I could have another like him, then definately - yes!
 
I was looking for a welsh section d when I found Charlie. Charlie was sent to the local meat market by his trainer with the instructions of dont bring him back. A young lady found him there and outbid the meatmen for him. He then went to 2 loan homes in the space of a year and did nothing. The young lady then fell pregnant and was put up for sale at the yard that he and I were both on at the time. I had a phone call from the then YO asking me if I would be interested in trying and buying him. I immediatley said yes, tried him the next day and fell in love with Charlie. That was 6 years ago. I had no experience of ex-racers at the time and in the first 2 to 3 years had many ups and downs with him as I tried to re-train him. Now he regularly places in dressage, showing and showjumping. Usually the best behaved at all shows. Very laid back temperament. In his racing career he has very good breeding and should have done well. However, he never won a single race or was placed or won any money. In my eyes he is an absolute superstar and will try anything that you ask of him. He will hack out alone and in company, good to box, shoe, vet etc. Yes I have had some humgous vets bills, but I would do it all agin tomorrow.
 
Im loaning one at the moment, my first exracer, my first TB, my first anything other than a Cob (excluding the arab insident which we wont even go into!!)
I was looking for a project, something to play with whilst we wait to see if my old boy will ever come back into work.

I dont think I had a 'type' of horse in mind, I wanted some thing relatively sane to have fun with, I found him through a kind HHO'er who contacted me after a frustrated 'where have all the loan horses gone rant!' I went to see him and just fell in love, he was not what i was looking for and eveything I was looking for all at the same time!!!!

Pretty much all my horsey friends thought I had gone loo-la when I said he was an exracer!

I am now totally - 110% converted, hes great, hes taught me soo much, is gentle and easy to handle.

First show together next month and I cant wait :)

So yes, definitely will be getting another.
 
Mine just did his first eventers challenge..........complete legend 1 pole down and clear XC..................and he was fast:eek:
 
I got and exracer because I have always loved TB's and I didn't have any money to spend. I say 'got' as he was free - me or the dog food tin basically. this was in New Zealand where I have lived for half my life. As far as I'm aware, there aren't any charities like Hero's etc re-homing exracers. So it really is pot luck as to what happens to them.

I heard about mine through a horsey friend. She knew I was looking for one and put me in touch with the owner/trainer. I went down to see him, had a ride and deceided that he would do. I have worked for 20 years as a professional groom, so feel I do know what I'm doing. During that time I have developed a feel for the types of horses that suit me. Riding as a job you have to take all commers and be prepared to ride anything, but you still have your favorites and will know within two mins of sitting on them if they're going to be your cup of tea. I knew that with Bert. I liked him on sight; big ears and a kind eye. I place alot of importance on temprament and he was a gentleman from the get go.

Predictably we had our issues. He was not the most confident of beasties, this manifesting itself in being hard to catch, suspisous of me, spooky and (as I discovered on getting him home, the owner having ommited to tell me) a weaver. However time and patience worked wonders and I ended up with a safe and enjoyable ride, who could turn his hoof to almost anything. He was never going to set the world alight in the competative arena, but we still enjoyed ourselves at a local level, coming home in the ribbons most outings.

I had to sell him to return to the UK, and worked hard to find him the right new owner. She loves him to bits too, appreciates him for the qualities he has to offer and two years down the track, still emails me with updates on what she has been doing with 'our' Bert.

I would definately buy another and plan to return to NZ at the end of this year and do just that. I would say that the fresh off the track characters (as mine was) are best left to competant, experienced riders. So often I hear the phrase 'typical TB' and not as a compliment. Unfortunately this reputation comes about from people who should never be let near a TB getting them cheap, when they'd be much better off with a steady hairy. I turned away many prospective buyers from Bert who I knew weren't the rider for him. Despite his good disposition and plenty of mileage with me, he was still 16.3hh and prone to being a chicken if not handled with confidence.

Yes, I would and will have another!
 
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