where to get ex-racehorse arabs?

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

> not all ex-racehorses make good endurance horses, especially the > ones
that have> been raced a lot.  What they go through on the track would
ruin > anyone's mind

Actually, I found the opposite when dealing with Appaloosas off the track
in a previous life. Other than the fact they're started too soon, they
have a great background. They're handled a lot by people who tend to have
experience. It's all business, they've seen lots of stuff: crowds,
starting gates, ponied in tight quarters, hot walkers, radios, etc. They
really don't work them fast much, lots of galloping but very few real
sprints.  Not nearly as many as I was putting on my poor horse when I was
16. >g< 

The way to get a real bargain was to show up at the track a month or so
into the meet. Some horses had proven that they weren't going to pay
their way, the trainer's running low on cash, the owner's running low on
patience and it's expensive to keep them there.  It would cost them a lot
of money to ship a losing horse home without the rest of his stablemates
and they don't want to pay the really high board. I'd think the ones who
didn't make successful short track horses would be the best bets, as long
as they weren't lame. There really weren't that many horses who got raced
"a lot". Most proved they weren't winners pretty early and they were
buyable. I'd want to know somebody who was an insider just to make sure
about the reason they were for sale though.  It's not an option for me,
but if I lived anywhere near a track I'd be poking my nose around.  And
by the way, if I was going to Florida to try to buy one I'd haul a load
of hay down with me. Hay that went for $1.50 up here was bringing $7 a
bale on the track when we were there in 1980. Those small time trainers
had a lot more horses and a lot less hay than they needed.

Angie 
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