Horses for Life

December 2007 • VOLUME 28 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine

Retraining the Ex-Racehorse: An ongoing series on the concerns and opportunities involved with retraining the ex-racehorse.

Last month we began the discussion of many of the considerations that you need to take into account in retraining the ex-racehorse; we started with some of the things to consider before you even purchased your horse. But we saw too how in the end:

“Studies have shown that racehorses are the most problematic of all horses when it comes to their physical health. Breakdowns that are both visible and unseen are the norm, not the exception. Damage to the sacro-iliac area is common. Any horse that is started at the age of one, and in full racing by the age of two - when the skeleton is not completely mature until the age of six - is bound to be damaged by the experience.

The final message is that buying a horse off the racetrack is always a risk. Definitely a buyer-beware situation.”

But then again, “The positives of buying an ex-racehorse are that they are plentiful, their conformation tends to be excellent and hence they tend to be beautiful creatures; they are a breed known for their forwardness and keenness. Being what is referred to by some as a hot blooded breed, also means that they tend to be very sensitive creatures, light to the aids once trained, which is a pleasure known by anyone who has worked with them. Some trainers believe that the thoroughbred cannot be trained for upper level work. Considering that for decades before the advent of the warmblood the thoroughbred was the horse of choice from the military to the dressage ring, we can see that, quite to the contrary, the thoroughbred can be all that we want him to be and more.”

We then looked at the transition phase. The transition from racetrack to the new environment, and what the best thing we can do to help our horse with the transition is, and what kind of problems we will run into during the transition phase. Feed, health, physical problems and behaviour are all areas that need to be addressed.

One of the best ideas is to give your new horse the time off he so desperately needs.

“If your horse is young, his body needs time to mature without the stress of training. He needs time for ligaments and muscles to heal. He needs time to put on weight in the right places. He probably needs time to detoxify. Time is the best healer. He also needs a mental break, time away from previous training requests and the new set of requests that we are going to be asking.”

We ended the article by raising questions about one of the main differences in training the thoroughbred, and that is the retraining process. Retraining the ex-racehorse is far different from retraining and working with any other horse. Yes, their past is going to make that much of a difference.

No other horse is expected and encouraged to act out as much as the average thoroughbred is. Given their youth, the racing, the competition, often working with stallions, and the high octane feed, acting out is the norm and not the exception.

“There are many different trainers out there, with many different training styles. Depending on the race track, the area of the country that you are in, and the trainer, you may find that your horse has been encouraged to act out at some levels . Some trainers working with high spirited young horses, often just newly broken, excited by the high energy levels of the feed, and high off the speed that they race at, not only get used to high spriits and the expression thereof, but also come to expect it, almost encouraging behaviour that some would find offensive or even dangerous. Remember, this is what your horse has learned to behave like. This he thinks is normal.”

“Your expectations are going to be completely different. Which is only going to confuse your horse and you.”

So what are some of the best ways of dealing with this realization that you need to work on extinguishing behaviours that are normally dealt with when the horse is very young and when there hasn’t been time for the behaviour to become established? Instead you are going to be dealing with a horse in the full prime of his physical capabilities that has learned that his behaviour as it is, is completely acceptable.

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