Thoroughbred / racehorse advice!

[Racehorsemodeactivated]

hi!

im very close to buying a thoroughbred ROR horse- it’s been retrained and is an absolute jumping machine so hoping to do some eventing and sj. 16.2 and 9yo. Retired from racing clean and injury free and has been reschooled and retrained

obviously TBs have such a bad reputation, I guess what I’m asking is for peoples own experience with them? Good and bad! Personally I believe any breed can be good or bad and I’ve always thought tbs have an unfairly negative reputation, but obviously an exracer will likely have quirks.

I previously schooled a tb- it was absolutely insane and ended with a 999 call for an ambulance! But equally I know of lots of other people who have had good experiences with the breed.

so, if you have any experience with thoroughbreds, please give any advice or words or wisdom! 🙂

Feet! Check hooves carefully, I had an ex racer with bad hooves and it was a nightmare with pulling shoes off etc

They're all individual so it's hard to comment really. Mine would load himself which was helpful, if slightly embarrassing - he would launch himself gleefully onto any open box/trailer even if it wasn't mine and stand like "where we going?!"

You might be better looking on the Horse and Hound forum. Good luck

Not sure aibu is the right place, but I love a tb. Treat them like they have shit feet, ulcers and kissing spines - so shoe, feed and pre-hab appropriately. If it's been retrained and is doing what you would want to do with it, then go for it. Just dont pay silly money

Most will be beautiful, well trained.
Keep up the farrier and dentist and ulcer treatment.

Give it time to feel at home, lots of love and attention.

I rode a TB with a bit of Arab for a fe

Fat fingers! Tb x Arab for a few years and he remains the most glorious and the most unpredictable horse I've ever met 😁 beautifully schooled and very pretty dressage horse, but scatty as fuck - would jump a fence and then freak the fuck out at a set of trotting poles, amble past a digger without batting an eyelid and buck me off round the next corner because he'd seen a leaf he didn't like the look of... But broke my heart when he had to move on and I couldn't buy him, so I'd probably say go for it on the whole?

And yes to the feet - he was the most awkward of the lot for shoes (yard of six) and it felt like we had the farrier or the vet round in rotation for ages until we found aluminium shoes he coped better with.

But... I loved him!

I have owned several TBs. Their reputation is accurate. They are temperamental and skitty.

Their legs get injured very easily constant cuts from the field with no obvious cause.

Feet can be a problem

They are incredibly beautiful

My old ex-racer had an absolutely beautiful nature, but equally rubbish feet. And she never quite forgot her racing past! Innocent hacks with with my sister and her TB X, would often turn into mini-grand nationals 😂

But I learnt a lot from that mare, and I still miss her! Would definitely have another.

And to add - be prepared to get to know your vet on a first name basis 😆

Feet are usually bad, they like to self harm, they are usually just goofy soppy sods.

The ones I've met that failed at racing were surprisingly ploddy by nature, perfectly happy bimbling about as much as blasting through fields or over the beaches. Not novice rides by any means regardless.

I don't know why you posted this in a i b u you might want to ask m n h q move it over to to the tack room plenty of knowledgeable people on there to give you advice.

I have looked after TBs and xTBS the the worst one was a mare TBx with Belgian Warmblood she was so unpredictable and so scatty she was almost impossible to handle most of the time despite the best efforts and all necessary vet checks.

I had quite a few and also years of owning arabs (which are much more robust but not great jumpers generally). A lot depends on their past but IME their feet are their biggest downfall even if they are a good shape (which of course many aren't) they pull of shoes at the drop of a hat, particularly in the field, many don't really like individual turnout because when in training they never do anything alone (this is a big issue in lots of areas) but turn them out with others horses and if they start galloping round the field and they will really gallop because that is what they've been trained to do and off come the shoes. You'll have your farrier on seed dial. They also endlessly cut themselves and nearly every cut blows up and you have to get the vet out as said above you'll be on first name terms with your vets/veterinary nurses/receptionists etc and will become an expert at injecting anti biotics and bandaging legs.
I've also been told by those who some specialise in retraining race horses that the sprinters are almost impossible to retrain as basically their brains have been "fried". The jumpers are much more amenable to retraining.
Obviously there are plenty of exceptions but look into his past those that have come of the very top racing yards have led a life in their formative years that are virtually impossible for the average owner to reproduce again they struggle to make the adjustment. They are usually good and easy to handle although very sadly Ive had a couple that have been abused often good in traffic etc and do appreciate good hay!
Finally as others have said watch out for ulcers as well more expense!

Ask this to be moved to tack room.
I love ex racers and wouldn’t own anything else but a few things
I prefer them much younger. When did they stop racing. They go into the system at 1 if they are now 9 and only recently retrained that’s a long time in the system and they may be quite institutionalised. The oldest one I ever took on was 7, and he was not a pet. Not cuddly, didn’t have a clue that a carrot was a treat (just looked at you like you’d lost it waving one in his face).
Has he hacked alone ever? That’s a HUGE hurdle to get over and a lot of them just never. Ditto open spaces without boiling over.
Where they’ve trained will make a huge difference, horses in Newmarket will have seen every imaginable sort of traffic/used to loose horses/pedestrians m/buggies/building work horses on purpose built training complexes will not have and can be like showing a 3yo the world.
As others have said feet! If recently out of training, they may be ulcery and potentially overkill but I feel they can be very prone to kissing spines and I’d want to be checking for that.
They are often poor doers and feeding without getting the fizz can be a challenged. Every one I’ve ever met has been pathetic about bad weather also.

Re temperament i find the ex NH ones usually a bit quieter. I had a gelding who came off the yard safe enough for a beginner to have had a sat (obviously we didn’t but he was remarkable) I’ve also had a mare who was actually dangerous. My current is probably more usual - will walk past a combine harvester and then put you on the floor because a leaf looked at her wrong.

They are wonderful horses and all they want to do it try but they more often that not need careful (and expensive) management and knowledgeable homes even if they are quite rides.

I'd say it depends more on you really. If you are a confident rider, then you'll get on fine with one as any bad moments won't bother you. If however you get nervous after a fall, don't get one. They will usually react a lot quicker to your nerves than other horses. They aren't bad horses at all, my friend has one and he is a lovely boy, but it's easy to see that he takes his confidence from her and would become a nightmare if I got on him. 😂They do have the downsides of being prone to injury etc but they can move well and are good for most disciplines. It's more the rider that is often the problem, novices or not very confident riders will likely not get on well with them, unless you've found the holy grail of a quiet thoroughbred (and they are usually part something else from my experience).

Put some time and effort into “unschooling” and you could potentially have a great partnership.

bad feet can be helped by changing diet - just because horse ate X when it was in racing, does not mean that’s an appropriate diet for a pleasure horse.

walking long and low will aid any potential spinal issues.

horses are kamikaze twats no matter the breed and if you’ve not met every vet in your county, you’re not paying attention.

I took a 4 year old racehorse to pony club camp in my teens, no more of a ducking numpty that anyone else’s nag.

I've had my ex racehorse just over a year, got him pretty much straight from the track, still had his racing plates on.
I think their reputation is undeserved, TBs are fantastic horses but not for beginners or novices. If you are a decent rider you will be fine and your TB will try his heart out for you.

I agree with a lot of the "issues" mentioned above. His feet were crap, farrier came out every 2-3 weeks for the first 6 months, but now we can go 5-6 weeks generally. He looked like a hat rack for about 10 months after I got him, all hips and ribs, and cost a fortune in expensive feed, but now has filled out.

He had to be taught to be tied up in the yard, a lot of racehorses are eg tacked up in their boxes. He had to be taught to stand at a mounting block. I think you have to treat them as much younger than their years in a lot of ways. Even though he is 9 and has been retrained, give him time, time and more time.

My boy is a joy. So clever, so willing, with such an engine. Also a bit of a twat! Walks past combine harvesters without hesitation and then throws shapes at a bunch of daffodils.

The Retraining of Racehorses org has lots of good info, holds clinics/camps/webinars. Worth a look. Good luck!

Totally agree with above Comment.
Prevention is better than cure!

We have a RoR who is extremely sensible and shared between myself and dd16 - we have had him 2 years and he has kissing spines which we are treating with injections and intense rehab and he is super now and shows no sign of discomfort.

He pulls shoes off for fun so lives in over reach boots and has pads on his shoes to Prevent bruising and consequent abscess's

My dd is planning to event him next year when he is 8 and fully rehabbed /has core strength following his KS diagnosis and I hack him out As he is so Quiet.

We adore him as he is such a character

On the other hand we have a Irish sports horse who is never sick or
Sorry and lives on fresh air but is very "hot" to ride!

Horses are all Individuals - tb need extra care and attention in my experience and probably not for happy hack home.

I love a tb, but be prepared for vets bills, they seem to manage to need be stitched where other horses would scratch, their sensitive thin skin can rub more easily and the usual feet and limb issues. They can be very stressy and some prefer a regular routine
Like all horses I've found huge variations in temperament from proper feisty hotheads to quiet as a church mouse types, so it all depends on that.
Some can drop condition at the drop of a hat, so feed costs can increase too.

My sister has had several ex-racers and they have been very varied. Some have semi retired into lovely riding horses, and some have been extremely skittish years after being "retrained". I think you need to look at them individually to see if you can find one that fits exactly what you want.

Like a PP said, maybe pop over to H&H where there are lots of very experienced people with ex racers. I've had a few and would say just like any other breed they massively vary in personality, there's one on our yard at the moment that's quiet as a lamb, he'll happily be led around with tiny kiddies up, nanny anything young or green or take granny out on the roads without turning a hair. And another who's a sharp, spooky nutter who is permanently on the sick list! I think a lot depends on their experiences in training like LastQueen says, not just whether they've raced a lot or not and how many years they've been in training, but also some yards do a lot of roadwork and hacking, these days some school/dressage regularly in normal tack and make big use of arenas etc so those horses will transition easier than the yards where they only ever go around a sand canter or up a gallop in a big group... Also be aware of how much reschooling has actually been done, there's a few people I know of that specialise in picking horses up cheap from yards, spending 2 weeks tidying them up, getting pics and vids of them in normal tack and loose schooling over big fences, declare them 'reschooled' and move them on, obviously those horses still need an awful lot more input than one that's had 6 months downtime, a full health MOT and been rebacked from scratch, but of course you should expect to pay much more for the latter. If you are looking for an serious eventer/sj-er personally I would prefer one that's flat bred/trained, my best ever ex racer was a lovely stamp of an NH type, had successfully raced over hurdles and fences and never fallen, but while he was super brave and genuine to a fence I never cured him of his 'hurdler-style' long and low technique and he was an inveterate pole-basher which would have been a constraint had I wanted to go up the levels (as it was he served many happy years as a mums hack and lead horse in pairs hunter trials and so on)...

They respond well if “professionally” handled firm but kind and one of mine thrived on a very large professional training yard (eventers and dressage) I think because he’s come off a very large training yard and thrived on the activity and they do like routine. He also liked to be cross tied I’m assuming that’s what he was used too. Like others mine would walk past a tractor/lorry/combine without even flickering but a slightly unusual or god forbid small leaf slightly blowing in the breeze was viewed with horror (Arabs do the same). Extra care also needs to be taken with teeth as many have mouth injuries and you need to find the right bit. I agree about working them long and low I had a special lunging gadget that lots who retrain race horses use that encouraged them to stretch down. The other issue is the fitter they get often the more stress/anxious they can get. They can bring hours of pleasure but I think need confident handling both on the ground and under saddle.,

They can be fabulous - TBs are athletic, brave and very beautiful. Unfortunately the reputation for poor feet is often highly accurate. And they can be stressy. And need confident handling/riding - definitely not for novices or nervous. And they can be buggers to keep weight on especially as they age.

Even the most laid back ex-TB I ever came across could be a twat if he ever got so stressed that adrenaline took over. I have a retired 3/4 TB large pony/small horse and he was bad enough back in the day if something tipped him over the edge and reason flew out the window. I've also known more than one TB ex-racer ending upside down in a drainage dyke when the red mist of panic descended. My native mare would NEVER - no matter what happened - end up in a ditch. Her rider might but she would come to her senses at the last minute and save herself!!

I also think a lot depends on how ex-racers are bred - I used to work in racing yards and the sprinters were generally explosive and temperamental. The long distance horses by far the more sensible.

Personally I wouldn't have one given, having seen the remedial farrier and vet and feed bills that can come with them. But there is no doubt that they can be amazing competition horses in the right hands.

I had a retired racehorse in my teens , she was 10 when we got her and died aged 27 after suffering years of health issues from different ailments . She was beautifully bred but her best finish was a 3rd in a small race at Ascot and she was lightly raced . She didn’t jump , only boxed with sedation and was a nightmare in company if more than 2/3 horses were present . She was also really horrible to handle if she thought she could get away with it and terrorised my mum and sister ! She bit my mum one afternoon and nearly gave her a partial mastectomy - stitches required . On the plus side she was excellent on the road , a great listener and probably one of the best friends I’ve ever had . She died in 1997 and I still miss her .

Only good experiences. I used to share one, my sister is on her second, mine is TBx. We have both had quite a bit of experience of ex-racers as we used to help someone who had a quite a lot. I think they are great, ulcers are my concern and I would treat any ex-racer as if it has had ulcers.

The feet wouldn't concern me but I'm a barefooter and believe that feet respond to their environment and management. They can generally be improved, my "typical tb feet" horse has been barefoot for years now.

They have generally seen a lot of life young so are normally pretty decent to deal with. They are normally ok for the farrier and to clip, with ok ground manners, they are normally ok to hack too. Some won't have been hot shod, some aren't used to being tied up to do things with them, most won't have hacked alone. They can seem a bit aloof at first if they haven't had much one on one.

I would have one like a shot if I was thinner!

I've obviously got the exception to the rule, my boy is 5 now, got him when he was 3 cos he was a rubbish racehorse. 6 months in the field to chill out when he came first. He's quiet as a lamb, doesn't bat an eye at anything, loves people and runs across the field for a cuddle when he sees you. He's barefoot and has great feet. He has his own quirky personality, he's more like a dog than a horse.