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Standardbreds

6K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  SueC 
#1 ·
I suppose there are a few folk who would criticise the breed but they have a certain charm that can go unnoticed.Imagine,head tied to tail,all four legs tied together,going flat out in second gear.They make it look smooth and easy too!This takes a very special horse!I convert Standardbreds to saddle and have found them to be a true wonder to do anything with. :!:
 
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#2 ·
The very first horse I remember seeing as a child was a Standardbred. We had a harness racing track in the town I grew up in. I always thought they were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Till I got Vida that is :wink:
 
#3 ·
I have 12 vacuums wrapped in horse hair at the moment. A ban on horse movement due to E.I. means that the`re eating my place to desert. Most will move on to new homes when they are ready but I have 4 that will be here for life. No one gets on the place without being thoroughly horse scanned at the gate. They frisk everyone for food, one 20 yo gelding(old enough to know better) stole a cheesecake from the front seat of a neighbors car.
 
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#4 ·
Bailey

Right now I have a big black Standardbred named Bailey. We saved him from a horse rescue becuase he wasn't good at racing. They told him I'd never be able to train him to canter... He had been trained well with a big whip to NEVER canter racing or not. I didn't think this was true. I brought him back to my barn and worked with him little by little every day. When ever I clearly asked for a canter, even on a lunge line, he would understand put his ears back and keep trotting at almost galloping speed. Finally one day I came in without the whip for lunging. He eyed me putting the whip down he calmed down instantly his ears went up again and he seemed to take a bid horsey sigh, :) . After nearly 45 minutes he cantered!!! It was only 1 stride but he did it. After the stride he quickly started trotting again. I let him stop and pampered him like all day. Still now I can only get him to canter a few strides, riding Or lunging. But he was such a hard loyal worker and still is, he'll jump walk, trot, do trotting poles, but never canter. Standerdbreds are great horses, just for some advice don't get one who raced if you want to canter or do showjumping/dressage, even if they are the sweetest horses ever!
 
#13 ·
Just for some advice don't get one who raced if you want to canter or do showjumping/dressage, even if they are the sweetest horses ever!
This is often not true! :) I used to ride a Standardbred stallion while he was also racing (pacing races) in metropolitan meetings, and he walked, trotted and cantered just like my Arabian mare. When I took him out to endurance or other public places, people couldn't believe he wasn't an Anglo-Arab.

All of the harness racers we have had in our family that were also ridden had no issues with the canter.

Occasionally you strike a natural pacer who can't canter very well. We had one like that, out of thirty or so.

Mostly the problem is that people don't train Standardbreds very well for saddle work. To re-train them off the racetrack, if they were not ridden as part of their preparation, takes a few tricks and I've outlined some of those in my journal, and am always happy to help people who are retraining and facing issues (on my journal please).

The French Trotter mare in the post above had raced in France. No issue with canter or jumping either. But then, in France people commonly ride their trotters as part of their training too.

There are several raced Standardbreds I personally know of successfully competing in dressage, and many more in showjumping. :)
 
#5 ·
i have a standardbred named cougar. he is such a sweetheart. ok, he can be a pain in the bum on occasion when he decides hes racing/pacing again but all in all, hes a dream.

i really honestly dont understand why people give them such a hard time. standardbreds seem to be copping it a bit on this forum at the moment and i think its not cool lol

i think the biggest reason a lot of people dont like them is that they dont understand them or they have ridden one who refused to trot and or canter. with a little work and retraining, they can be not different to any other horse. my dad used to breed standardbreds and there were some beauties in there. some really nice, honest & gentle horses :)
 
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#6 ·

This is just two of the horde (Tas ,my sisters horse, and Sam my number one, he`s usually grumpy and would sell his soul for mare cubes. He can put your life in prospective though) They have forced the,re way into the house yard but at least it`s better then the feed room.
 
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#7 ·
Standardbreds are fabulous horses. They are good for just about all disciplines. They have great legs for jumping, an arresting charm for western, a uniquely elegant body for dressage and an easy, outgoing temperament which is great for trail! I really recommend getting one if you think about it. Also, a good idea would be to actually rescue one from a sail yard. So many are thrown away to the knackeries because they are not good enough for the racing industry. My standardbred is a rescue, he came to me as a bag of bones, and now he is healthy, strong and happy. If you plan on getting a skinny horse, it is a full on journey but I assure you it is extremely rewarding! :)
 
#8 ·
I absolutely love standies! I have one of my own, that used to pace. her name is Luna and after 4 months of owning her she has been cantering on her left lead..Were working on the right but its super hard for her, does anyone know how to held the standardbred canter both ways??:runninghorse2:
 
#17 ·
Which way around do the harness horses race in the region this horse came from, Gabby? Here they race anticlockwise, i.e. circle-left, i.e. if you were cantering that, it would be on the left lead (unless you were performing a counter canter). My hunch is that your horse raced mostly anticlockwise, and perhaps the trainer wasn't 100 percent dedicated to working the horse both ways in training (many don't). This then results in a "sided" horse.

This also happens to TBs, for similar reasons. My saddle fitter says that she sees a lot of off-track horses, both TB and SB, who have not been worked equally in both directions and whose bodies have deformed because of it. They will be more muscular on one side than the other, and sometimes their spines will have curved sideways. The older the horse is at this point, the longer it will take to correct the problem. What you need to do in that case is to consciously work the horse to build up the opposite side, by spending more time, in your case, working on circle-right etc, and going clockwise around your arena. Uphill-downhill work is also great.

To do this effectively though, you need to spend no less than 1-2h five times a week (building up gradually) working with your horse, and mostly not at a walk. Free-lungeing at the trot and canter, preferably in a sand yard, and say 70% on circle-right, 30% on circle-left until the horse gets more even, is also fantastic, and in some ways better for the horse than ridden work, as it doesn't have to try to deal with a rider while it's so out of kilter. Realistically though, I'd say, divide your time between lungeing and riding. Just work the horse harder when lungeing, at least for the first three to four months. Remember it must work up a gentle sweat in each session (assuming cold weather) and be out of breath. Recreational riding horses don't work nearly as hard as racehorses, and at the usual recreational pace, it may take you a decade to significantly address the problem as opposed to a year or so. (It will take at least a year. Problems that have developed over quite a few years also aren't quick to fix.)

Best wishes! :)


Some trivia: Many SBs are also worked in harness at the canter on sand tracks, by the way. Trotting or pacing is the most efficient way for them to move on firm, level surfaces (like race tracks), but in deep sand the canter is more efficient. The idea that the canter is "beaten out of" SBs in training is a myth. It's just that some trainers under-utilise the canter in training, and don't do this kind of sand training.
 
#15 · (Edited)
A grey Standardbred! That's rare, I like to see it though! I have a photo of one that colour I took at trials a while back, might dig it out. Are these your horses, CL?

I used to ride Sunsmart with a friend on a (now deceased) TB. The poor TB used to get so stressed out when my horse started his floating trot. He was like, "If this is his trot, what's his gallop going to be like?" :rofl: Anyway, with my horse trotting flat tack, the TB was already at gallop speed. Of course, at the gallop the TB was faster - as a glance at the two physiques will explain:








That TB used to hold a record over short distances in Queensland. But he'd work up such a sweat when my boy was trotting! :)

And just to reiterate for novices to SBs, Sunsmart canters just fine, on both leads, like all our harness horses who were saddle trained, plus he has a hell of a zip when I let him gallop up a sand hill. ;-) And his great-grandmother would be proud to watch him jump!
 
#10 ·
They are a great breed and people give a lot of lip about them. I will never own anything other than a standardbred because they have a brain. They are smart, willing and not going to lie he is fun. A lot of people don't know how to work with them. Of the track they need retraining, not unlike a thoroughbred, but not the same as a thoroughbred.
 
#12 ·
I ride a French Trotter/Standardbred cross:







He likes to play with the sponge at bathtime. :) Also he picks up sticks and walks around with them.

This was his French Trotter great-grandmother with me when I was 10:




His mother and uncle, who are at Redmond with us:




Our ancient pure Standardbred Romeo:




My parents bred French Trotter crosses and Standardbreds for 30 years. They were driven and ridden. I journal here about the present and the past:

http://www.horseforum.com/member-journals/trotters-arabians-donkeys-other-people-479466/

Visitors always welcome.
 
#14 ·
I agree with SueC it depends on the amount of training the horse has had. Some drivers in the US start their 2 year olds under saddle before going to harness. The only standardbreds retired off the racetrack that I would not ask to canter under saddle would be the ones that were retired at advanced age. We have a horse that retired at age 14 (as is the requirement by the USTA) and he has never been asked to to much other than stand out in pasture and look pretty. At 14 being told never to canter it might rock his world. Just as much after 14 years he earned a retirement (and he knows that).
 
#18 ·
Photos of sand track training. This mare races in pacing races, but at home works at the trot, canter and gallop as well.

Warmup:




"Roman Chariot driving" :)








This is my 76yo father with his little mare Dezba last year. He still trains three horses and drives them in races himself. They've had many placings and a win so far but best of all, they are both enjoying themselves and feeling well. :)
 
#19 ·
My first horse was a grey standardbred and he cantered well. He was a great horse, could go for miles on him, and did, the farrier had to put new shoes on him every reset.
He was an honest dependable horse that did everything I asked him to do and I was a beginner rider too.
He rarely ever paced so I think basically he was a trotter.
 
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