( Racehorse to riding horse )
Retraining and Rehoming ex Racehorses by Amanda Mills
The Retraining Process
One of the most important things is be ready to give your ex Racehorse time. When they leave their Racing Stables they are not just embarking on a new home but a whole lifestyle and career change. Some horses take to this change better and quicker than others.
Lunging We always start the retraining process with some lunging. This is a great way to start bonding with your ex Racehorse and it also enables you to see their capabilities before asking any questions of them. We never expect too much of them during the first lunging sessions. It is best to keep them short and relaxing as you are asking them to do something that many will not have done since their early years when they were first backed. We only ever start them in bridles with a roller and very loose side reins. When their ridden training begins we will oſten still keep the side reins loosely attached to the saddle for a few days.
Schooling Many ex Racehorses can be very mouthy and throw their heads about when they start ridden schooling sessions. The side reins can help to keep a loose but even contact so rather than the rider feel the need to be holding on to their heads, the horse can begin to find their own balance and comfort zone without the rider interfering with them. Ex Racehorses can also be quite dead to the leg and in the early
stages it is all just about encouraging them to go forward. During the ridden sessions don’t expect your horse to be cantering 20 metre circles in the first week! Some will be able to but it oſten takes time for them to even learn how to strike off on the correct lead especially if your horse has only ever ran one way. Again we keep the schooling sessions short, they will be using different muscles to what they have always been used to and you want them to enjoy these sessions not get mentally tired from them or physically find it hard work. A lot of people are surprised how hard their ex Racehorse finds cantering in a school. We always begin schooling the horse in canter riding half seat.
Drop your hands into the base of their neck and don’t ride too long. Allow the horse the freedom to go forward and then over time you can begin to sit deeper and carry your hands once the overall balance between horse and rider has improved. Don’t be afraid to use a neck strap! It isn’t just there to stop you falling off it helps to keep your hands still and relaxed so you aren’t pulling against the horses mouth especially if your horse tends to throw their head around a bit as it learns to adapt to the new way of been ridden. Racehorses also aren’t used to having their riders sitting deep in the saddle with their upright posture and carrying their hands so to begin with just ride your horse like a Racehorse! It will be a long, slow process of training before your horse will be pushing from behind and working uphill for you, so have patience!
Hacking Once some school work has been established we usually start some hacking sessions. These horses are used to been ridden out in a string from a very young age and some may have never hacked alone yet. Many horses may also only ever have hacked to the gallops and back again and not seen busy traffic. We always go on a nice short hack to start with and try to go somewhere we can continue on a loop so we don’t have to turn back on ourselves. Some horses will still be thinking that when you stop and turn around that’s the time for a gallop! There are plenty of ex Racehorses that just don’t enjoy hacking alone or even hacking at all. We never force a horse to go hacking if they don’t enjoy it. There is also the other issue that your horse may get too excited going out for a hack. Be realistic about whether
80 MAY/JUNE 2019
it is safe to do it or will it just keep blowing your horses brain which can then create more behavioural issues. If they aren’t in the right frame of mind at that stage of their retraining wait until they are more settled before trying again.
Tack and Training Aids All our ex Racehorses start their retraining in Micklem bridles and Neue Schule bits, for no other reason than we’ve found our horses to be much happier in them. What bridle and bit suits us during their retaining may not be what suit other riders and it is important to remember that. Bits especially have to suit the horse as well as the rider.
As the horses get stronger and are comfortable with their ridden
exercise we also introduce lunging with an EquiAmi. We find this is an invaluable piece of kit to help encourage the horses to start working themselves correctly and build up the different muscles that many have never used whilst in training. The Micklem bridles are great to use with the EquiAmi as you can attach the lunge line to the clip on the noseband so there is no interference to the horses mouth. We will also work some horses in the EquiAmi riding aid during their retraining.
Competing Once the horses are established at home we may take them out to some competitions to see how they cope in different environments. Warm up arena’s and standing on the horsebox are a big test to a newly retired racehorse. People oſten asked why their Racehorses get upset in warm ups and for some it can purely be down to the amount of horses working in from all different directions that they struggle with. Racehorses have mainly always followed others in one direction and having lots of horses coming at them from all angles can be really daunting for them. It is oſten best to try and start off going to small quiet shows and clinics or just go out and hire an arena to give them different environments to get used to without the pressure of expecting them to behave for a lesson or competition. Although Racehorses are well travelled they don’t tend to stand around much on horseboxes. They can sometimes struggle to settle when travelling alone or when a friend is taken off the box and they are expected to wait on it alone. All these things can just take time and patience to overcome.
Routine and settling in a new horse Definitely the most important part of retraining a Racehorse is their home environment. We always keep a nice relaxed routine for our horses. When they
first leave the Racing Stables it can be very hard for some horses to settle in to new yards. A lot of people don’t understand how much routine these horses thrive off. The way to approach it is, how do lifestyle changes affect us? Changes of jobs, new houses, schools, friends, these things all impact on our own lives and some people deal with change better than others but oſten we can all forget how it also impacts on our animals! We always spend time getting to know what the horses prefer when they are with us for Retraining. Are they better in group or individual turnout and what stable and ridden routines suit them? This is important when we have prospective new owners coming to view them. Not only do we have to make sure the horse and rider combination will work but then we can advise on whether we think
For the latest news
visitwww.centralhorsenews.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96
