Fw: race track to trail

["Mary Anne Maynard" <paulm1@jps.net>]

Hello
I have ridden a number of horses off the track ( arabs ) and they are my
favorite. I find that they are dead broke to trucks, noise, any and
everything that would spook your average horse. I also like that they have
been trained to be foreward; all the ones I have been on have wanted to go
and  even pass others but have been managable in a snaffle. Just Xray those
legs before you take them home.
Mary Anne Maynard
-----Original Message-----
From: Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>
To: gwcarman@crosslink.net <gwcarman@crosslink.net>
Cc: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Thursday, July 15, 1999 5:14 AM
Subject: RC: race track to trail


>
>  Sooo, my question is -
>>what are your experiences in taking a horse from the track to the
>>trail?  Is this a worthwhile venture or does it take sooo long to
>get>them trail worthy that is is too time intensive.
>
>I got my first "off the track" horse at age 17.  He came home (2 yr. old
>stallion) and I rode his aluminum racing plates off on the mountain.
>(actually they held up better than I expected).  My family raced
>Appaloosas at Pompano Park, FLA. for a few years and I got to be around
>the business a little.
>
>If they're sound, I think ex-race horses are great choices.  They've been
>handled 7 days a week by people who knew what they were doing.  They've
>been hauled, feet handled, put on a hot walker, hosed, clipped, learned
>to handle scarey stuff like crowds and starting gates.  They've been
>handled very methodically and have more experiences than most horses that
>age.  Now, I'll admit I've never spent much time on a horse that was a
>"successful" race horse.  Of our two, one spent his 2 yr. old summer at
>the track, and the mare was there at age 2 and 4.  A horse who actually
>raced for years might be a different story.
>
>The only training problem *can* be that they're taught to lean on a
>snaffle bit to race, so sometimes taking a hold on them can mean "go
>faster".  My first two off the trackers didn't go well in a snaffle but
>were light as could be in a grazing curb.  The Arabian that I have leased
>for my niece right now was on the track and he's so shy of any contact
>that the slightest snaffle will stop him, so they don't all end up that
>way.
>
>Very little of a race horse's time is spent "running".  They put in days
>and days at just a nice canter with 3 horses side by side and just easing
>them up to the front, back and forth to give them the idea of racing.
>Funny thing about Ben Amil the ex-racer we have here now.  He'll dog
>along behind you all day, but if he gets beside you he'll put a move on
>you and hit another gear for the pass.  That may be his race days coming
>back.
>
>Even when you take your horse to the track, it's amazing how hard it is
>just to get drawn to race.  If they run hard once every other week you're
>lucky.  Seems like there were always too many horses trying to get drawn
>for the race ours needed to be in.  As a matter of fact, my stallion
>wasn't all that racey when he came home.   I made him that way racing all
>the neighbor kids.  An ex-racer is probably a heck of a lot calmer than
>an "ex-17 year old's mount".
>
>It's very expensive to keep a horse at the track.  When one gets an
>injury that needs to recover for one month, and the trainer isn't going
>home any time soon, they sell them cheap, fast.  Just be really careful
>about what the lameness is.  There's an endurance rider in Georgia whose
>father is a TB trainer in Kentucky.  He warned me to always get x-rays if
>you buy off the track... seems like it's the left fore you want to be the
>most concerned with, since they run counterclockwise...(so I guess it's
>right fores if they're imports :-)
>
>I'd feel a lot safer trail riding on an ex-race horse than somebody's
>backyard pet who'd never left his field before.
>
>Angie
>
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