race track to trail

[Chelle Sherman <cms@fluent.com>]

Hi - having personal experience with this, I feel compelled to respond.
First, $6-7,000 seems like a lot to pay for a horse off the track. You
can get a horse with trail experience and none of the baggage the track
creates for half that amount! I own a mare that was race trained and
raced a few times. Much of her race conditioning was on the trail, so
making the transition to trail horse was easy. She had lots of
experience with traffic, obstacles, etc. and loaded/trailered well. She
adapted easily to new surroundings and had no trouble eating and
drinking on trail. I had to teach her to understand leg aids, and to
half-halt and bend. This is commonly not taught in race horse training.
We had some issues to work out about getting competitive on trail, but
these seem to be mostly resolved after one year of work.

I think that the track experience can be good for them mentally. BUT,
and this is a big BUT, she has developed some soundness problems that
are a direct consequence, in my opinion, to being worked too hard, too
early after coming back from an injury (non-track related). This mare is
7, has lovely conformation and a great mind. She looks like she could do
100 miles tomorrow, but she won't do endurance. CTR is about as much as
her compromised body can handle. This saddens me much, because my dream
is endurance, and I truly enjoy spending time with this mare. I had her
vet checked when I bought her, but not X-rayed. I would NEVER buy a
horse from a race program again without having it X-rayed and
comprehensively vet checked. I bought my mare from someone who also had
an excellent reputation, and I don't think he intentionally sold me an
unsound horse - I don't think these guys understand the punishment a
distance horse has to take - they think short distance and speed, and
their idea of good conformation is different from ours, in some cases.

That said, I'm sure there are lots of nice and sound horses that come
out of race programs, and can think of a few that are very successful at
endurance. These horses were all started young and worked hard early -
look at them very carefully! Race horses are taught to lean on the bit
at the gallop (to hold the jockey up with their faces) - so expect to do
a bit of retraining in that and other areas. Factor that cost into the
cost of the horse and $7,000 is no bargain.

Best of luck finding a good horse!

Chelle


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=