Expert: Stallynrydr - 3/29/2009

Question
i was wondering exactly how much experience(hands on ) you have with race or ex race horses? you sound book smart but i am not sure how much hands on time you have spent with these animals! i would like to know! are you for so called natural horsmenship or what? it says the info we recieve is not professional advice!

Answer
I personally have had about 25 years of experience working with Ex-racing stock. I have made it my personal goal to try to help people realize the potential an ex-racing Thoroughbred has as a normal riding horse after it's first career is over. Many of the horses who aren't cut out for the track are simply written off as an investors loss and are sold into uncertain futures. Many end up being shipped to Canada or Mexico and are then slaughtered. Another group of these unsuitable horses are sent off to other auction yards and might be sold to people who are just looking for a cheap horse to learn on. These are the truly unlucky animals as the new owners may have never owned an OTT horse before and the horses often are fed poor quality food or are thrown into paddocks with other horses that bully them.
I try to find OTT horses who are basically sound and healthy and we retrain them for a career that suits their personality best. I have been very successful retraining ex-race horses for competition in the show ring, I have some who work out beautifully as ranch horses and many of them who have become the family horse, living with a family who has been trained with the horse on how to handle them from the ground and while in the saddle.
What most people do not realize is that a Thoroughbred is born and raised to do nothing but run it's heart out for it's rider. The Thoroughbred has been extensively handled since birth and while they can sometimes be temperamental, they are not mindless or out of control.
I got my first "Off The Track" horse as a teenager, from someone who had decided they wanted a big tall horse to ride in the Rodeo Drill Team. It seemed logical to them that since this young horse was trained around lots of people and had been ridden hard and fast with other horses surely a Rodeo setting wouldn't be much different. They sold him after the owner ended up with a broken back when the poor horse panicked and threw him upon seeing cattle for the first time.
I fell in love with the poor guy when I saw how desperate he was for some human reassurance and it took me only a few months to teach him how to jump and collect himself for a rider. A racehorse knows how to run but is never really taught to slow down or give to the bit. I have never had an ex-race horse who was impossible to retrain. They are smart and well bred but usually just very inexperienced at being a horse.
Natural Horsemanship means more to some folks then it does to others. There are those of us who have learned from being in the saddle and figuring out on their own how to make a connection with the horse they are on, and there are some who learn all about different ways to train a horse by listening to seminars and reading self help books. I started out working things out on my own and moved on to riding under many different Instructors and eventually riding and competing FOR different Trainers. I have been to Parelli classes and Shrake demonstrations and I have even enrolled in the community College Equine courses from feeding and nutrition to finishing classes.
I have studied Dressage and even had the pleasure of being evaluated by Hilda Gurney with my OTT rescued Thoroughbred stallion. I have ridden Western, English, Competitive Trail and even a few gaming events (not my favorite) I exhibit my own horses under saddle and in hand and when the time comes for their retirement, I have never simply sold off a faithful old friend but I allow them to live out their lives in their familiar environment until their time comes.
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