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Racing too young

5K views 24 replies 13 participants last post by  loosie 
#1 ·
Do you think that they race racehorses too young??? I do! I think you should wait until 3. Does racing them at the age they do cause bone formation problems??? Do you think they're too young????
 
#3 ·
It isn't only in the horse racing industry that starts horses and has them performing that young. It is in the show world, barrels, roping, ect.

Does it bother me...not so much the AGE but how hard they are pushed. Which is one reason why I am not a fan of barrel futurities even when they are the 4yr old ones...they are pretty much throwaways because they have to push them harder and some of the horses can't handle that kind of pressure and lose it.

So it truely happens in almost every corner of the horse industry...not JUST racing. And I am not saying it is ALL bad because their are cases where people KNOW how to do it correctly. A family friend races QHs and he does the 2yr old futurities then lays them off until their 4yr old year to start them back up.

There is a point where you have to know when to back off.
 
#6 ·
It isn't only in the horse racing industry that starts horses and has them performing that young. It is in the show world, barrels, roping, ect.

Does it bother me...not so much the AGE but how hard they are pushed. Which is one reason why I am not a fan of barrel futurities even when they are the 4yr old ones...they are pretty much throwaways because they have to push them harder and some of the horses can't handle that kind of pressure and lose it.

So it truely happens in almost every corner of the horse industry...not JUST racing. And I am not saying it is ALL bad because their are cases where people KNOW how to do it correctly. A family friend races QHs and he does the 2yr old futurities then lays them off until their 4yr old year to start them back up.

There is a point where you have to know when to back off.

Thank you!

I say this has been debated a million times, and quite often I make a show of myself by sticking up for racing :lol:

Alot of people are going to say yes, some are going to say no. I work in racing, and any trainer I have ever worked with has allowed any horse who shows signs of immaturity and not being up to the job at hand, the time to grow both mentally and physically. Half the two year olds in training with us last year didnt make it to the racecourse yet.

Obviously I will have to state the normal disclaimer that obviously I am aware that everything is not rosey in the garden and I am aware there are plenty of dodgy trainers.

I'm not going to repeat what Barrelracinglvr has already said, but I do agree 100% with it.
 
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#4 ·
IMHO, I would like to see the ages for pretty much everything moved up. Perhaps don't start racing until they are 5 and have the futurities for horses that are at least 4, maybe 5 for them as well. That way, they have plenty of time to grow and mature before being asked anything under saddle. Right now, racehorses and many futurity prospects are started at 18 months...sometimes younger to be ready for the 2-3 year old races/futurities. If they aren't racing/showing until they are 4 or 5, then they can be started at 2.5 or 3 and still have plenty of time to train them slowly and correctly without completely blowing them up.
 
#7 ·
GodGirl & others who don't know what the developmental stages of horses are, look up Dr Deb Bennett & also Sharon May-Davis(aka the Bone Lady from Oz) for more info on the damages done to immature bodies.

No, 3yo is not much better, as far as that's concerned - their spine, pelvis & hocks aren't 'closed' until closer to 7yo, so I personally wouldn't start a horse lightly under saddle before around 4yo & wouldn't ask them to do anything like hard work until around 6-7yo. *mind you I think training & low impact exercise is beneficial from day 1...

I agree with SMRoms mostly, agree with Barrel that it's by no means just the racing industry, but I suspect the lack of care on that note in the racing and futurity industries - they don't care about long term soundness & wellbeing of the horse, only prizes & $$$ - has given a lot of people who haven't looked into it further, the idea that it is fine & dandy to ride(or work hard - harness racers suffer too) babies.
 
#8 ·
, but I suspect the lack of care on that note in the racing and futurity industries - they don't care about long term soundness & wellbeing of the horse, only prizes & $$$ - has given a lot of people who haven't looked into it further, the idea that it is fine & dandy to ride(or work hard - harness racers suffer too) babies.
Sorry, but they dont care?? Seriously? The majority of people involved in racing have all ended up there for one reason - their love of the horse. We care about our horses as much as anybody else. In my time with the current trainer, we have had ONE horse breakdown and need to be euthanised; of 90+ horses in training at any time. We have horses in training that are 9 years old, and all of them are rehomed/sold to jumps racing when they finish with us.

And lack of care?? Our racers have daily turnout. Chiro, dentist, vet and blacksmith on call. They have use of a state of the art equine spa and their beds are that deep and clean that I could quite happily lie in one myself. They all have rugs, warm beds and full bellyies.

Please don't make blanket statements, I can tolerate people disliking and not agreeing with racing as we are all entitled to our own opinion, but incorrect statements like the above do annoy me slightly.
 
#11 ·
I agree completely with Maple. Its not just racing that pushes young horses hard. I also agree that the level of demand on some young started hunter jumpers is just as damaging if not more damaging then racing.

That said there are leg injuries that occur. Harness racing does have its negatives, horses do get injured and break down. It would be great if horses could not start racing until 3 or 4. I think it would also be great if weight limits on jockey's could be adjusted.

I think the horse industry is imperfect. We get in trouble when we start to make assumptions about the industry based on one or two people. This is double dangerous when you have never been on the backside of the track. Heck we have a coming 3 year old who never made a race as a two year old because he was growing. Thats not a good financial decision, to send a horse for a year of training and never see a race much less a paycheck. It was the right decision for the horse. The trainer sees that and we agree with that assessment. If this horse does not make it as a 3 year old he will come home and be broken to saddle. We will try to find him a pleasure horse home. So, please don't say that those in the racing industry don't care about their horses.

As for long term soundness issues. We have 9 horses on property. One 28 year old has arthritis in her hocks after racing to the peak and being a broodmare. We have a 24 year old gelding who has some arthritis in his hocks. He was retired at age 14 and is still upset about that. He was the king of the world at the track with people fussing over him 18 hours a day. We don't have the time to fuss over him 18 hours a day because we have other jobs. Neither horse is significantly lame enough to warrent NSAIDs or hock injections. My good mare interferes so she did not last at the track. The 5 year old was too slow, the 12 year old liked to canter, 8 year old not eligiable to race in other states due to breeding, 10 year old did not like to pass other horses, 19 year old never made it to the track due to bad hocks and traumatic leg injury, 14 year old raced but then was brood mare (now retired from that). So, where race horses end up when they retire or don't make it at the track. In my family, they end up at the house. We may not be the conventional normal; however, I know a number of racing families that do their best to make sure their retired race horses end up in good homes when they retire.

At one point, we had a horse that had been pushed to his limit. He ended up with a stifle problem and was put down as a result of that injury. His care and treatment was after winning his million dollar race, setting a track record that would stand for 10+ years he was loaded up into the trailer (not cooled off, not hot walked) and turned out in a field with a flake of hay. Once he could no longer race he was sent to slaughter where a fan of his career rescued him and then he ended up with us. His owners were not good race people. They are the kind of people that give racing a bad name.
 
#12 ·
I just want to add.. if human children were all cared for as well as the race horses and brood mares I have worked with, there would be no "third world..."

Round the clock observation and removal of any manure every stall check.. water buckets topped off (and this is at NIGHT folks!) and always a little hay in front of them.

There have been studies of bones in 2 year old race horses and the remodeling of the bones to withstand the pressures of race training. I used to think "wait until they are older" but after reading some of the studies and finding that horses brought to racing older were more injury prone I am not so certain. That bone remodeling when training at a young age has its impacts and those impacts are not altogether bad.

An older horse started in race training apparently does not have as much ability to remodel its bones and structure to withstand race training.

Like everything else, it is not always all it seems to be.

That being said, I used to back a 2 year old then wait until they were 3 and bring them back to train. But that was me.. and I did not have the same over head as a race horse trainer.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for all your opinions! And I didn't know they did that with barrel and other competition horse >=( From the sounds of it, you should start their training at 4, right? And they're retiring some at 4.....
 
#16 ·
Unfortunately I think you could make the age whatever you want it to be but when you pay BIG money to show at top levels people are going to start them at the same age anyway. It's all about the all mighty $ and if they push the age back then that's two more years of training they can put on those horses.

Idk what will get people to not start horses to young, you can't confiscate them and monitor people 24/7 to make sure they do things the better-for-the-horse-instead-of-the-wallet way.
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#17 ·
We have a 4 yo rescued standardbred that was retired at three yo and destined for dog tucker because she didn't run fast enough. She never made it to the track. When she came to us at 3 yo she still looked like a filly but now we can see her finally filling out and looking more like a mature mare now that she no longer has the demands of race training on her body. We are spending time with her doing just ground work, grooming, leading, lunging etc. We have also noticed a marked change in her attitude. She is much more responsive to human company, a lot less reliant on the presence of other horses (she was herd bound) and overall you can see she is a lot more relaxed and happy than she was when she arrived here.
She is still young and we are in no big hurry to break her to saddle, instead concentrating at first on building her trust and relationship with us.
Our experience with this horse certainly has us wondering about the ethics of the racing industry.
 
#18 ·
FWIW when money is involved (and it always is) it does not bring out the best in people. Not in horses (who can have a horse standing around an extra 3 years when it is a busines). Not in dogs (got to get that Champion breeding). Not in people (got to win that political race).

Money brings out the need for profitability and the way to make a profit is to have the least you can in expenses over the most you can get in income.. and.. well "d**n the torpedos..."

Just sayin'
 
#19 ·
Maple, I understand that you feel the need to defend the industry that you are a part of, and I respect that, but I have a very strong suspicion that the racing industry where you are isn't the same as the racing industry here.


But, either way, when a horse is being used/trained/worked so hard at such a young age that they have to be retired/culled/dumped before they are 5, then something is seriously wrong in the entire process, whether it's racing or futurities or any other program.
 
#24 ·
I've never said that the industry is perfect, infact I've said numerous times on this forum that things could change for the better. If they ever changed the ages, well that would be fantastic. It wouldnt change my view on the sport at all and it would only benefit people in the longterm. When you move away from flat racing to jumps racing, a heck of a lot of those are broken as 3 year olds, let off until 4 and then brought back in. They do have 3yo hurdles.... but a lot of the horses competing in those races are moving along from the flat racing scene.


Maple - thank you for your answer. I wasn't accusing, I was generally curious. I probably should have explained that in my post better. I think probably racing gets the brunt of this because of all the OTTB's that are injured, have ongoing issues, etc and it's more "out" than the rest of the sports if that makes sense.

I have a young one that will be 2 in April. He is not even CLOSE to being developmentally sound in mind or body at this point. I don't see that changing in 3 months. Even if he was there, he'd still only be 2 and my feet would still be firmly on the ground. When actively looking to buy, if I even smelled a hint of backing before 3, I ran the other way far and fast. There's a lifetime ahead to consider for my horse.

BTW - I'm a western rider ;). So to say it's cultural is a fairly large leap, IMO. It does occur of course, just like in any other discipline. I walked away from many english type horses that had already been jumped at 2-1/2 to 3. I'd never say that's the norm or cultural though.

Sorry if I came across bullish - not intended. You hear alot about OTTBs that are injured because those are the ones easy to make public. People are going to feel like they have "saved an animal" if they take on an OTTB from a rehoming program. What recognition will they get taking on the QH who was ridden too hard on the ranch, or the warmblood who developed a leg after being loose jumped at a year of age?

The media's fascination with painting racing as this horrific sport where aimals break down all the time; brings in big viewing numbers. It makes for great debate and gets people talking. The cameras aren't following around all the horseshows/events/hunts. As I've said before - I can't change opinions, and can't make people like racing. All I ask is that people be aware we are horsepeople as well; we want our horses healthy and happy - just like everybody else. :)
 
#22 ·
I grew up on the race track, my Dad was a serious gambling addict. I actually owned a lot of horses because Dad as an owner, couldn't get into certain areas with children so he discovered that owners could not be denied access. So as children my sis and I owned maybe about 50 horses, that I can remember, so likely a whole bunch more.


I am very familiar with the TB racing industry as a result.



In an ideal world, horses would be racing at 4-5, not 2-3 however this can't work financially. Barns are not making enough profit to keep a none working horse that long.


My personal foal, and I have not had one, despite a lifetime of horse ownership (I am about to turn 37) I do not feel experienced enough for a foal. So hypothetically, I would not sit on the horse until it was 4. I would not ride the horse until 5. They are just babies and it's our eagerness to force them into this sooner. But it's cultural, western riders start their horses often at 2, I think that's abhorrent, but it's the norm.
 
#23 ·
Maple - thank you for your answer. I wasn't accusing, I was generally curious. I probably should have explained that in my post better. I think probably racing gets the brunt of this because of all the OTTB's that are injured, have ongoing issues, etc and it's more "out" than the rest of the sports if that makes sense.

I have a young one that will be 2 in April. He is not even CLOSE to being developmentally sound in mind or body at this point. I don't see that changing in 3 months. Even if he was there, he'd still only be 2 and my feet would still be firmly on the ground. When actively looking to buy, if I even smelled a hint of backing before 3, I ran the other way far and fast. There's a lifetime ahead to consider for my horse.

BTW - I'm a western rider ;). So to say it's cultural is a fairly large leap, IMO. It does occur of course, just like in any other discipline. I walked away from many english type horses that had already been jumped at 2-1/2 to 3. I'd never say that's the norm or cultural though.
 
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