Stress of racing youngsters

["Tracey" <tracey@tbt.co.za>]

Caveat : what follows is opinion, based on limited experience, no reading, and the odd musing.  Not meant to be taken as gospel / to sway opinion, but to encourage debate (ticking off new year's resolution to be nice on the internet)

 

I have zero experience with Arabs, racing or otherwise, but the local riding industry is heavily weighted in favour of OTT TBs.  They come off of the track regularly and frequently the owner does not want any money for them.  Many of these TBs go on to have careers as jumpers / dressage horses / eventers, despite having raced. 

 

Not all of these horses "break down" as a result of injuries sustained whilst on the track or because of wear and tear.

 

My take on this is that, much as we'd like to generalise that using a young horse on the track will cause damage, it doesn't always.  HOWEVER I believe that horses raced by certain trainers are more likely to have "knocks" than those raced by others.  The trainer is the most important factor in taking a horse OTT.  There are some trainers I won't touch, no matter how good the horse looks, and some I would take a horse from, sight-unseen. 

 

Many things factor into my opinion : the number of times a trainer will run a horse, the time he allows between races, whether he "drugs", the jockeys he uses, the bloodlines he prefers, his stable management, the handling of the horses when they're not racing, etc, etc.

 

That's my take on the physical aspects of racing a horse from young.  But of course, there is more to it than that.  No matter how good / kind a trainer is, horses that come off the track after a racing career (even a short one) need time to "come down".  They come from a place where they are stabled 23/7, worked hard, fed a high-energy, high-protein diet (often with "little things" added to it to increase performance) handled by people who frequently have little idea of the psychological needs of the horse, or little time to take these into account, and are the horses are usually just pissed off with life.

 

 

(CAVEAT NO 2:  This is my experience with the SA racing industry and not meant as a reflection of racing in general.  There are exceptions to the rule everywhere)

 

 

It usually helps to turn these horses out for a few months to "come down" off the track : slowly reduce the grain and change them over to a lower protein, less heating feed, or cut it out altogether, up their hay, fix up their feet (racing plates are not my favourite form of footwear!), give them time to get over their knocks, and time to learn some ground-manners in a safe, unstressed environment.

 

 

Unfortunately, what usually happens is that the horse is re-homed and work commences the day after he arrives in his new yard.  The horse goes from doing fast work to being asked to do slow, more collected work.  He is often shoved into draw reins (yup, gotta get those heads DOWN) / de gogues / chambons and asked to work in a frame for which he has not built sufficient musculature.  I've seen horses jumping three foot after being off the track only three months.  IOW, he just isn't given the time to alter his muscular-skeletal system to cope with the demands being placed on him.

 

 

And THAT, for my money, is why OTT TBs "break down" earlier than unraced ones. 

 

 

JMHO

 

 

T