Advice on emaciated TB needed from those with experience with them.

I agree! He is very weak and unsteady looking and that may be all it is! I would definitely go and look at him and go from there! Good luck!

Goodluck, please keep us updated im very interested in to see how this goes. Good luck, I hope he's just a tad weak and nothing too bads wrong with him due to the fact where I live if that were it the horse would have very little chance of survival(doggers are so common here around the race track ottbs)
Goodluck again! I'm subscribing to this thread :)

He looks like he could have some potential if he's sound and gets the groceries needed. Keep us updated if you go and check him out. Id take him if transportation wasnt so hard seeing as where I live.

I still don't foresee this being do-able with paying both horse's board. But I have good news... Epona Horse Rescue says that if I get the guy to relinquish the horse, or I otherwise acquire him (purchase cough cough) THEY will take him in.... so he has a rescue yay. I really really want him for myself BUT I know that if I don't have all the funding necessary to stall him, he is better off at a rescue. Maybe I can adopt him later :)

Realistically, I'd say that it will take six months before he can enter a regular work regime, providing he recovers without any additional complications (ulcers, abcesses, ongoing parisite problems). I'd guess it will cost you at least $5,000 and possibly up to $10,000.

'Give' time? As in for free? For how long? How many times a week? Once he returns to full health I can tell you from experience that on average it will take regular work, 4-5 days a week for several months before you get something that even resembles a horse ready to take out and do an introductory test. Is this person willing to donate that amount of time? Perhaps for the first month, I don't know many people that would keep up that kind of deal for very long.

If it's not for free, you're going to find that this becomes exceedingly expensive very quickly.

If it's truly dressage that you want to pursue, this would be the way to go. There are no guarantees that this horse has the ability, or more importantly, the mind, for dressage or indeed any kind of competitive endeavour.

Bear in mind also, he's 8 or 9 and has raced a long time. These types are, as a general rule, much more difficult to retrain - they have been racing for a very long time. I don't like to pick them up unless they were finished racing by around 5. Not to say it can't be done, but another factor to consider.

If you want to put the dressage plans on hold for a year or two and turn your focus to learning how to re-train a horse (lots of fun I guarantee you ) Then go pick him up!! It is a very risky business but also very rewarding. Don't pick him up as a dressage prospect though, it will be a long time before you have any idea if that will be the case.

Okay, I looked at him AND....drumroll please....the pictures looked far worse than in person. CO (current owner) says he purposely took the pictures to make him look bad so that people don't think he's perfectly healthy.

I was able to go into his stall, do a little grooming. I picked all 4 hooves and he is a DOLL with having his feet done. His hooves look just as healthy as Cinny's with no signs of wall separation, coffin bone rotation, etc. Legs and tendons are smooth and feel like there's not a single blemish on any of them. We put him on the hot walker for a bit and he has a very pretty walk without a sign of lameness. We took him off and felt for any heat or signs of an issue and there were none. Took him for a trot and he is such a pretty mover!!!!

He still has SOME padding over his hips, it's not completely gone. Fat in the tail, a bit ribby and his spine is prominent by about 2 inches. He has a vet appointment on Tuesday for shots, coggins, worming and dental if he needs it. He is in a clean stall with plenty of food and water. I think he is safe for a few days at least. The guy said he would be more than happy to work with me, he only wants the horse to go to a good, NON racing home and maybe get a little $$ back for the vetting and feed.

I did see HIS horses (this horse was his brother's) and they are currently on the track but they actually look a bit beefy and filled out for a race horse. Very well taken care of. Once actually looks more like a QH than a TB.

I think I'm going to see what I can do, I think I might be able to handle him if I get Cinny Leased or Sold. Robo won't let me pay board for 2 horses... but he did tell me that if I can get a discount for this horse sharing the little private dry lot with Cinny, he will do that :)

By the way, His full registered name (JC) is Dice. I found this information on him. He was last raced in 2010.

Dice (NE)
GR/RO, G, foaled April 8, 2004
( Itaka - T. C. Diamond, by Today 'n Tomorrow)

Connections as of last Start:
Jockey: William Henson
Trainer: Kylea Duszynski
Owner: Kylea Duszynski
Breeder: Marvin A. Johnson & Doug Schmuecker

Career Statistics:
Starts: 36
Firsts: 4
Seconds: 5
Thirds: 8
Earnings: $41,566
__________________

Dice's History

With the added information he sounds like a race horse that just wasnt into racing (: he won a few but he last races were all claiming races where he didnt place too high.

Hey, I love Ottb and retrain/rehome them all the time. I produce them as eventing horses or whatever they might succeed in otherwise. I don't think they are hard to retrain. But they are hard to gt weight and muscle on, they will look like an off the track TB for up to two years.

Here's my tip. Don't waste time and money only boarding them. For the first three months find someone who has a nice big paddock with other horses and good grass. Worm him and turn him out. You'll be amazed how many health and social problems this fixes with these horses. Keep an eye n the feet but take shoes off and give him a regular trim.
I do this with every one I get and it does wonders. Time and good grass heals almost anything.the more grain you pump into these horses, the more problems it can cause. Time to be a horse will do a lot of good.
I havea sneaky little trick for re- schooling to. I do all of it in a rope halter, yes I do mean dressSge work, as they come usally with so many mouth issues from racing, a month or two of this then I out them back in a bridle and I don't have any issues. It's unconventional but it works, and I have lost count of the amount of horses I've turned around.

It's amazing what man come from a pile of emancipated horseflesh, it is so rewarding to turn a sows ear into a silk purse,I recommend it.

You can check out my latest rehab horse and results here with before and after photos. Its not one of my thourogbreds though unfortunately the wild horse project: The stallion

The play he is going to be boarded out will have him turned out all day in a 2 acre turnout with other horses and free choice brome in round bale form, I know it's not grass, but as it is free choice and it's good quality, do you think it will work okay? They also feed flakes at night in their stalls so that they can munch at night if they want.I wasn't planning on doing to much grain, I don't even really do more than give my current horse strategy. I was thinking more along the lines of things like Rice Bran and maybe a little alfalfa pellet as this is what my vet recommends for horses that are at high ulcer risk. I don't like sweet feeds and the such because I think the sugars cause way more problems than they help, especially in horses that are not in work no matter how thin they are.

His stall isn't really a "stall" in the traditional sense. He is going to be in the stables brood mare facility as they don't use it anymore...with my APHA once they are aquainted. It's a BIG shelter that has walls on 3 1/2 sides. It is attached to a small dry lot...this is what he will be in at night...with another horse and more brome.

He was taken off the track 2 years ago and has been at a home where he roamed around and was periodically ridden by novices... He has no shoes currently as they literally just let the racing plates fall off of him and never had him trimmed up. His feet look amazingly healthy considering that, you can even still see where the nails were. But they aren't super overgrown. I was planning on keeping him barefoot until a vet or farrier says he MUST have shoes. I like to keep them barefoot when I can. But anyway, he has been sitting for 2 years, but by himself. I agree he will probably need to learn to be a horse.

And I like your style...I'm a HUGE fan of the rope training halter and the rope hackamore both. This is how Cinny got his start (he was a 7 year old pasture ornament with a very bad 30 day training experience when I got him....his claim to fame was bucking everyone off lol). I am also a fan of the mildest bit that works..... Cinny is in a Happy Mouth Peanut Snaffle.

I think we are on the same page except for being able to put him in a pasture...

Well he is very cute. Free choice hay will go a long way toward fattening him up. It sounds like he's a good boy, although you never know with sellers these days in terms of drugging and stuff. Hell, for $500 and a rescue standing by as a backup, I'd try it.