Understanding Your Ex-Racehorse
How Racehorses Live
Helping your horse make the transition from high-end athlete to everyday riding horse can be hard for both of you. It may help you to know more about how your horse has lived before coming to you, and how a background in the racing world can differ dramatically from life for many other horses.
Early Starts
Thousands of Thoroughbred foals are bred annually, often at dedicated studs. The richest owners will have paid highly to have their mares mated by the top stallions; Cape Cross, the sire of the acclaimed flat horse of 2009, Sea the Stars, currently commands a fee of 32,000 pounds, around 51,000 dollars. There are however, many potential sires available, for varying prices.
All Thoroughbreds have the official birth date of January the 1st, whenever they are born in the year. Even a foal born in May officially becomes a yearling the following January. This has contributed to one of the long running controversies in racing; the early age at which horses are broken in and raced.
Frequently sold as yearlings, they are backed and ridden once they are bought into the racing yard and most start racing at two, considered early enough by many experts, but even more so when many of their number could be several months younger by true birth date. Some argue that Thoroughbreds mature faster than other breeds, but others protest that money is the only driver behind getting a horse broken and into work when so young.
Whatever your view, it is worth remembering that although your horse may have seen and done a lot in life, it could still be very young and may prove babyish in responding to the tasks you set it.
Life in Racing
Your horse may have raced from age two and continued beyond age four. The best flat horses usually retire to stud at four but those less capable over the shorter distances can try a career over jumps - if they still show no aptitude they will leave racing at five or later.
The racing yard is a bustling active place. Work starts early, with the stable staff often on site before 6 am when the horses are fed, mucked out, and prepared for exercise. The racehorses work as a ‘string’: an often large group of horses, which walks and trots to the appropriate grounds, then moves to the faster paces in pairs or small groups, cantering or galloping two or three stints as instructed by the trainer before returning to the yard. Early afternoon is the quietest period, with the grooms resuming their duties after 3 pm with feeds, grooming and health checks. Feed, hay and bedding is all top quality- these are valuable animals, and will be used to the best of everything, right up to the day they leave racing. You may have to pay out extra in the early days as you wean your new horse off this top-class diet.
Though the horses may spend a lot of time in their boxes they observe activity in the yard throughout the day- this is not always enough to prevent stable vices developing. You may think you are doing the right thing for your horse by keeping it stabled if this is the way it has always lived, but a horse moving from a busy yard to a relatively quiet one can react badly to the resulting boredom, and is even more likely to show such vices as cribbing. Turnout suits most ex-racers although it may need to be gradually introduced and the fencing must be solid and safe.
On race days horses arrive on course early - at least a couple of hours before running but often the night before. They enter the paddock groomed and blanketed, and are led around at walk not only for the public to see but to loosen them up. Once saddled the Jockey mounts and they move onto the track.
Ex-racehorses may be unfairly considered difficult as they can appear fractious on course, particularly when going to the start or being loaded into stalls for flat races. It is worth remembering that these are horses in the peak of physical condition, full of high energy food and aware that they will be galloping full speed within seconds. Away from the track and with a new lifestyle and diet, most horses will behave differently.
In a race the horse is signalled to speed up by the jockey shortening his reins - the classic response of a nervous horse rider and the perfect illustration of why a fresh-out-of-racing horse is a bad partner for a rider who lacks confidence! After the finishing line the jockey rises up in his stirrups and relaxes his hold, when the horse will slow and then return to the stables to cool off.
Breeding Ambitions
Though prize money may seem a great incentive for running horses in races, the real financial gains for owners are to be made after racing, in breeding. Fortunes can be gained from a champion colt that then stands as a stallion. As we have seen, the best horses command astronomical stud fees, so every owner wants to find himself with a talented stallion. For this reason many of the younger male horses that leave racing after a stint on the flat will still be entire. The hope for connections will have been to see that horse through to a stud career, and if he has not proven capable and they did not decide try the jumps as an alternative, chances are he will leave racing as an entire horse. Most horses that have been tried over jumps will have been gelded - stallions are rarely seen running in the National Hunt races.
It’s important to be aware of this before you take home a racehorse. If the horse is male, you may need to not only consider costs of gelding, but suitable accommodation for a horse that may still exhibit stallion-like tendencies while he is recovering from his operation.
More information on working with ex-racehorses is available on Suite 101.
Racehorses Have a Unique Lifestyle
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