OTTB trained as a cart horse?

And granted, the DO look a bit like TB's (they should, since the Standardbred was formed from the TB...) I definitely have confirmation that he's 100% racing stock...I even went and found videos of him on the track!

the STB comes from more than just the TB. in the beginning there were only trotters. pacers were actually formed from trotters who went sore, they would begin to pace. so they were trained and bred then. thats how you know a sound pacer, they will trot. you should see my pacing mare warm up, she looks like a goof out there trotting because she bounces all over. i need a video of it, its so light and bouncy lol.

In response to the OTTB not cantering when lunged on a circle without a saddle but will with a saddle. Alot of OTTB retraining is mental, you put the saddle on and they will automatically think run but without one they are walked or they may prance while being walked. I walked my mare for days before I put a saddle on her, the first time I put a saddle on her she went into canter/race mode. Try continueing with walking and trotting with and without the saddle on then gradually ask for the canter. I am unsure how long you have had him but it may take a while for the muscles to develop for that type of work.

I agree somewhat with the last post. Also, sometimes, if you don't think a horse will canter on the lunge... guess what?

He won't.

My paint used to do this--I could not, for the life of me, get him to canter in the round pen when I first got him. And when my trainer would go in there, he would run around like a loon toon.

Sometimes it's just the attitude of you. If you know he can do it, and he is not in pain, then there's only one thing left for you to do before he starts taking advantage of this situation--make him canter. You have a whip, use it! Start out with the lightest cue possible, but do NOT be afraid to use what you have. If you always threaten (I'll hit you with this whip! Really, I will! I mean it! Look I'm waving it at you and flicking it at your heels!) but you never come through, your horse will very, very quickly learn to disregard and disrespect you.

Good luck!

Oh, we use it.....I wish I could make a video, but he's at the point now where he just stops at the gate and tries to get out, so the round pen is useless. I'm going out to the barn today, so I'll record us in the arena on a line.

But in general, my attitude didn't change from the first time I tried to get him to canter and expected him to charge forward because he responded so well to the whip, to when I put a saddle on him and he actually cantered. Actually, when he cantered full circles, we praised him, etc.

Go to the canter website and click resources, or google retraining the OTTB. Lunging is very difficult for them and alot of their retraining is different then with other horses. You can't expect to use a whip and think that you are going to get it to its job. A racehorses daily life is soo much different then the average horse. my friend just got a OTTB and he has been racing for 8 years, she can walk him around and he is calm and relaxed but when she saddles him he becomes a hotwire. So she now walks him around daily with the saddle to show him that he isn't going to the racetrack but a relaxing walk. I would continue working with him walking and trotting and canter him controlled undersaddle and keep tell him CANTER so that he learns the verbal cue.

If I Shorten My Stirrups To Jockeys Length And Stand up Lyk A Jockey Even In Walk Oscar Starts Prancing And Shaking His Head Raring To Go!

So I've decided that there was a good chance that the round pen was too small for him to get a good extended canter in.....however as you can see in the first video how he was reluctant to canter and just picked up in to a faster trot. I didn't record the whole session because of my camera memory, just when we switched sides.



We found a spot in his left hip thats slightly raised, and we have the chiro coming back out again to work on him, so we'll see if he improves any more.

I would say you really need to just work on a controlled balanced trot on the lunge. Try to not be just standing in the middle letting him pull you around. Work on walking relaxed in a smaller circle and use your body language (turn your shoulders some almost like you are walking him and gradually let him out. Then ask for a nice relaxed trot. He is not balanced enough on the circle trotting to even think about asking for a canter. Give him time and do things slow and steady.

He needs a MUCH bigger circle then what he is on--that is why he's not balanced.