[KZWestern]

Lately I've been meeting quite a few off the track Theroughbreds that seem so nice and are AWESOME at dressage. This has kind of piqued my curiousity about it. Have any of you guys adopted a Theroughbred and what was the horse like at adoption time? Did he seem anxiouse, misbehaved, unresponsive, did he try to run run run or was he pretty calm and collected? What kind of training did you have to use and how long did it take? I think that the next horse I get, be it before or after Isis passes away might be an adopted Theroughbred. Then I can do something good for this world and hopefully have an ok dressage horse after the training is done! Anyways, even though this is far in the future, I'm just curiouse for your guy's opinions!

[Christin_appy]

It depends on the horse, some are calm and others are nervus..I recomend 24/7 turn out if all posible for them to become use to their suroundings and being able to move around. If your interested in one,When you go see it just observe how it reacts to everything, saddleing, mounting w/t/c, cars, lound noises..

[Circle C]

I have had quite a few off the track.

Amazingly, when you put them into a canter, they don't try and take off. All mine had a nice canter to them.

When I first get them home, they are anxious and full of energy. They also are used to being in a wooden fence that is highly visible. I have to take them in hand and lead them around our fence b/c all we have is 3 strands of electric wire. I walk them around the fence for a couple days before I actually turn them out. I might lunge them to get rid of some of that bottled up energy from being stalled.

As far as training, they don't have much. Basically, to do it right, you should treat them like they are an unbroke 2yr old. You should do your ground work first & progress slowly. Lots of bending exercises.

Another thing they won't do is stand still for you to mount. They never have to stand still with someone on their back at the track. Even when they are being mounted, someone is leading the horse at a walk while someone boosts the jockey up while the horse is in motion. They have a problem standing still period, b/c they were never taught/let to stand.

None of mine were ever afraid of traffic either.

They are very emotional and very fun They arent' for the first time horse owner though b/c they can be very hard to deal with. I love them though. I'll always have an OTTB around the farm.

[mslwpk]

Well my mom had one and used him for dressage and she won a lot of 1st place ribbons and made the best horse she ever owned. They had the best relationship between horse and human..

[amy2120]

What you need to remember about OTTB's, is that they have never been pets. They are working horses, and have been treated as such their whole lives, and as a result can often be a handful to deal with, because a lot of the vices that would be a big problem to us, just don't matter to trainers of racehorses, plus the only human attention they get is work related. Bad manners aren't a problem, so long as the horse runs fast and straight! They are creatures of routine, and so often will show behaviour problems when they are retired from racing, due to the change of routine.
Thoroughbreds are flighty by nature, and as a previous poster said, they should not be anyones first horse.
Now having said all that, if you are experienced, and have the time, confidence and patience for a Thoroughbred, go for it! You can get them very cheap off the track, as they are (as was previously said) like a 2 year old who has just started training. They are a beautiful and able breed, and can make the best dressage, evening or showjumping etc horses if trained properly.

[2000-Flash-2000]

It really depends on the horse, some are hot and crazy and you cant get any where near the horse, and others are gentle giants who you can put a child on,,,,,,it really all ends up to what kinda horse it is and how it was basically treated. =)

[ShadyGirl82]

im actually right now looking into adopting an OTTB

if you get it RIGHT off the track.. they defiitely have an adjustment period before they become anywhere near a pleasure mount. they are used to being in a stall by themself without love and affection.. some of them arent used to being turned out in a group...

you have to kind of teach them how to be a horse again but in my opinion that just builds a stronger bond between you and them

but if your looking for a horse to hop on and ride right away, thats not the way to go.

im excited because they are such good movers (thoroughbreds in general - not just offtrack ones) and are so well fit for so many disciplines.

but there are alot of ex-racehorse adoption places that start under saddle training and ground work and everything before they adopt them out. thats just info you need to find out on the specific horse before you adopt

a couple good resources for racehorse adoption:
New Vocations - http://www.horseadoption.com/
Canter USA - http://www.canterusa.org/

[monica-n-shiloh]

It totally, totally depends on the horse.
A friend of mine from childhood got a OTTB... I hated that horse with a passion. She had it out for everybody. I cant tell you how many times my friend got hurt with that horse. She had her for years... she still was spastic. She finally sold her when she went to college (much to my happiness).

Now on the other hand... we had a 3 yr old OTTB come to where I work. All I thought was "oh great, here we go". I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this horse. I want to steal him... hes the most awesome 3 year old Ive ever met. SO LEVEL HEADED!!! He walked off the trailer went in his stall for about 20 minutes...stood there quietly....was pulled out and had his feet trimmed without a peep. I stood there and had to pick up my chin from the floor. We all joked with the owner... said "ok so how much quietex did they pump him full of???" Hes been here over 6 months....not a change...he only progresses.

It totally depends on the animal.

[amy2120]

Oh it definately depends on the particular animal, and there are some really great natured ones out there, however with the thoroughbred, the naturally quiet ones are more the exeption than the rule. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they are all crazy, just that in general they are highly strung by nature, and environmental factors more often than not cause behavioural problems, but if you have the experience and patience, these can easily (in most cases, anyway) be dealt with, and you end up with a fantastic horse!
I do have to say though, I'm currently working with a VERY bad tempered Thoroughbred, and he is really trying my patience, so I've got a bit of a grudge against them at the moment, lol!

[haunani]

It really depends on the individual animal.

That said, my BO takes in OTTBs and retrains them for resale. She has 7 of them right now and they're all absolute sweethearts (and are ALL BAREFOOT!! ).

She put them out to pasture for about 6 months to start with (with some groundwork to make sure they had manners) to just let them be horses, or in some cases, learn HOW to be horses. So many of the OTTBs haven't seen a pasture in a long time.