Re: where to get ex-racehorse arabs?

["Heather Hamper" <hnhamper@hotmail.com>]

Hi All

I have bought several arabians from Poland over the last few years, 
specifically for endurance and ultimately as breeding animals.  All arabians 
in Poland race providing they fulfill the basic criteria.  Without exception 
we have had problems introducing them to endurance because of their 
competitive attitude.  As we had purchased these horses as long-term 
breeding prospects we were prepared to take the time to re-educate them but 
it is a pain.

Our Polish stallion, Samarang, was best racehorse of his age in Poland when 
we bought him.  He did 5 seasons endurance in France and completed several 
big rides like the 200kms Montcuq ride etc however he never got his head 
round the fact that you couldn't always be in front and you couldn't always 
go at a zillion miles an hour.  We always had to run him with a stable-mate 
otherwise he panicked when he found himself alone on the trail.  An 
otherwise adorable horse.

Another little mare who had also raced and who did 4 seasons endurance.  Her 
final endurace race this same 200kms ride where she finished 15th out of 
60-odd starters and she has now bred us a lovely foal.  However there were 
times when I despaired of getting anywhere with her because she was so hyper 
and competitive.

So with endurance becoming more and more competitive I personally would not 
want to take another horse off the track as to my mind (depending on the 
individual) you start with an immediate disadvantage as you've got a fair 
amount of re-education right from the start.

Additionally as others have pointed out a lot of these horses come with a 
great deal of emotional baggage plus the added wear and tear of being 
started and trained early on in life when they're perhaps not physically 
mature.

Obviously these horses do tend to come cheap but if you wanted to go down 
that road I would want to check out the pedigree fairly closely to make sure 
the mind-set was right for endurance and then go for something as correct as 
possible in the limbs and feet department.  Check out the back carefully and 
go for something that was useless enough as a racehorse not to have had too 
many outings!

Anyway hope this is useful.


Heather Hamper
Aquitaine Arabians
UK & France



>From: Laney Humphrey <laneyh@mbay.net>
>To: Susan Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>
>CC: Tara Wheeler <harpy@io.com>, ridecamp@endurance.net
>Subject: RC:   Re: where to get ex-racehorse arabs?
>Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2001 17:04:45 -0800
>
>Hi Tara,
>     I have a Lang Park horse that I adore.  A good friend bought a 
>wonderful
>horse from Magness Arabians in Santa Inez, CA, sorry I don't have contact 
>info
>for them but I expect she'll also reply to your query.  Be aware, though, 
>that
>not all ex-racehorses make good endurance horses, especially the ones that 
>have
>been raced a lot.  What they go through on the track would ruin anyone's 
>mind
>and even the good one's require a lot of retraining.  Also, short sprints 
>and 50
>miles of trotting are about as opposite as possible so a super-specialized
>(conformation, muscle type and mind) "racehorse" isn't necessarily going to 
>be
>able to handle the demands of the trail.  Oh, also keep in mind that 
>racehorses
>got started really early and have probably never set foot off a flat, 
>smooth
>surface until you go on your first trailride.  All the things most horses 
>learn
>about as babies and youngsters, these horses have never experienced.
>     In other words, taking on an exracehorse is not for the faint of 
>heart!
>There are a lot of wonderful horses out there that are better bets than
>exracehorses for most people.  Another friend found a wonderful horse in 
>her
>local "Auto Trader" magazine.  Yup, "auto" trader - it has a very small 
>"pets"
>section.  Keep looking, good horses are out there.
>Laney
>
>
>
>
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