….…while working for almost 10 years on a boarding farm
that handled mostly Standardbreds , I got to see lots
of great horses- and I’ve always thought what a wonderful Distance horse
some of them could make…..or crossed with an Arab, yes!!!!! Watching
those trotters take off across the paddock when I took them out- wow- what a
trot!!!! (pacers ore OK, but give me a trotting horse any day.)
..….in re their training methods, the trainers I met up in Indy
at the Fairgrounds talked about just putting them in harness and putting them
in a stall, and letting them come to grips with things that way. I found most
of our boarders to have great temperaments, and the weanlings gentled down
really easy and fast. (That was my favorite part of the day, working with the “kids”.)
I now work on a Thoroughbred farm, and ,wow, are they
DIFFERENT!! I guess because the S’bredsare still bred for good easy handling and mellow temperament….those
trainers were great fans of gelding! -while the racing Thoroughbreds are bred
for one thing—speed. Doesn’t seem to matter if their legs are crooked or bad feet
or if they try to kill their handlers- breed ‘em
if they run fast!!! Give me a Standardbred any
day…….Chris E./Indiana
