Dangers of riding a strange horse.....!

Smiles.... Good morning from NZ...

A fine day for a change, winter is drawing to a close finally..

I have enjoyed this lively debate in this thread..

There are millions of folks who ride horses, there are a million different ways humans inflict their own stamp in the name of training on a horse..

Who is right, who is wrong.? it doesnt matter, your training dictates the perimeters you ask your horse to work within..

Some folks do things quickly some folks take their time.. again it doesnt matter..

At the end of the day, as long as you are happy that your horse is safe to ride and wont run you over on the ground or cause you to bolt over the stable door to save your skin, its all in a days fun with horses.

My aim is to achieve a safe and reliable mount, to me.... time is not the issue..

I love what I do and love working to achieve a nice well rounded horse..

Time to saddle up and go for a ride... enjoy your day folks...(smilies)

Cheers and thank you all...Tony

Sounds like pussyfootin to me . Sorry OP I have worked with Troubled horses and not troubled And I have Never seen a "sound " horse get a year off.. more power to you if you have the $$$$ to feed said horses.. Good luck to you.

Does it cost any less to feed them if they're working?? Are you saying that they're worthless if they aren't "earning their keep?" What about old, retired horses? Should we just euthanize them because they are just getting fat off our hay/pastures and not doing anything for us in return?

I'm sure some feel this way, but to me horses are more than just something to ride. Since I haven't ridden in three years, if they were I certainly wouldn't be on a horse forum.

Good morning..

I have a number of ex race horses here that have rescued off the track to save some of them going to the dog meat man..

While they are turned out they don't cost anything to eat grass and it doesnt cost much to throw them a bale or two of hay in the mornings

I also have 5 other horses that are under saddle that between my wife and I try to ride most days so a lot of riding is done here..

I turn out all the race horses for about a year to let them relax and leave their past behind...

I have said many times in previous posts that I like to take my time in restarting our horses..... to us this works just fine thanks....

Please go ahead and train your horses as fast as you like...(smilies)

Have a great day...Tony..(smilies)

I don't think the post was saying to shoot the old horses or anything like that. If a horse is being properly cared for, there are going to be expenses - blacksmith, worming, vaccs, dentist, whatever self inflicted pasture injury they decide to drain the bank balance with, ect. Take into account bad weather - you need hay and hard feed. If they decide they only need half their near hind leg? Add bedding onto that as well.

A lot of people on here wouldn't have the means to keep a horse who isn't being used. I know I wouldnt! I'm restricted to what I have at the moment, I pay livery and don't have much of my own land. I'm choosing to ignore 10 years from now when Bandit is on his well earned pension cus I don't know whats going to happen. I can either choose to find him a retirement home or forget about riding - but he's a happy hacker, not competitive - my decision would be completely different from somebody who wants to compete.

There is a significant different between a horse rider and a working yard. Not saying anybody is... but if you go out to ride and spend time with your own horse, that is great. If you are in a functioning yard, where you have to get tasks done and horses trained, 1 year is well OTT.

Everybody on here are from different walks of life. I work in racing, I enjoy racing, I am also very aware that I'm in a minority on this forum. Of the 100+ TBs that are going to come my way this year... none of them will need to be rescued. The slow boats will be rehomed as riding horses. The good ones will be sold on to go jumps racing. The good fillies will find their way to the breeding shed in time.

I know of TBs galloping in the morning, and doing dressage in the afternoon. I know of several who went from the racetrack to the arena in a few days. I've heard people say 6 weeks to chill, but this is obviously going to vary from horse to horse. I even knew of a horse who raced on the weekends and in a riding school during the week.

The brilliant thing about a forum like this is that we get to have discussions with people about topics we feel passionate about. I would think that the majority of the people on here want whats best for horses and there are many different techniques that will be successful for different people. The general concept of needing to rescue these horses from the racecourse... I could be fairly certain if you saw the level of care that our horses receive, you could very well change your opinion.

Thank you for your post.. different countrys do things differently, different trainers / owners do things differently..

Personally is use the word rescue... as here many ex race horses are infact sent straight to the dog meat man after track time.....

I hate hearing about this....

The Standy for example in my side pic with the pack saddle on at the rear, was just another heading to that fait... today is a cute little guy,, loving and always first to come up to the gate.. I love this repore...

Take care...(smilies)..Tony

I haven't read all the replies but this seems to be a rapidly expanding thread and I'd like to put in my piece.

First of all, groundwork does assist with manners etc, however, there are so many situations that just don't warrant it. "Hey, wanna go on a trail ride with me? You can ride my 18 year old QH gelding that I teach very beginner lessons on." does not warrant 30 minutes of ground work.

If I'm going to view a potential buy, I request to see that the basic things are in place (leading, tacking, touching all over, staying out of my space, all that good stuff) IN THE BARN before anyone gets on the horse, I look at the tack they use, the spurs (if any), and any other equipment they intend on using. Then, the owner gets on for a short period of time, and then I'm on there quick as a flash, pushing the horse to see what it can do.

I have friends who have bought horses at auctions for PEANUTS and they've turned out to be some of the most fantastic horses I've ever met. In fact, my own horse was purchased at one.

As for "getting what you paid for" you can find fabulous horses at auctions for goodness knows what reasons. The horse market in many places isn't doing so great, coupled with the lack of hay recently? Who knows what you'd find. I bought my horse (years ago), for $1,000. He had been raced, shown, and had some very solid dressage training. He came UTD on everything, with his blankets, and a whole bag of feed. Now, he's 12 years old, in his prime, doing everything from western gaming to teaching beginner lessons. He's worth his weight in gold as far as I'm concerned - AND I got him from an auction.

Seems to me that there are an abundance of very experienced riders on this thread all very keen to point out how great they are and how quickly they can turn a horse around.
Unfortunately there are more and more people out there with not a lot of cash in a desperate rush to buy a cheap horse and not a lot of knowledge or common sense. These are the very people who will fall foul of unscrupulous sellers - one quick ride around a menage after watching a young girl who is a much better rider than you give her credit for make it look easy, quite often the horse has been ridden enough before they got there to wear it out and maybe also given a 'little shot of something' to settle it down. They are buying from sales with no warranty and not even a chance to ride. Even in the UK with a warranty at one time horses were being sent back to auctions like Brightwells as fast as they went out because they weren't what they were supposed to be. Trouble is you can't keep them long enough to see what they will be like after a lot of handling and settling in.
There is groundwork and there is groundwork and if you don't know what you're doing you will mess it up anyway. A lot of problem horses are so messed up that it can take ages to sort them out mentally and physically before you even think of riding them. These horses are best left to the experts who can afford the time & money to do the job. A quick fix job by an experienced rider to sell a horse on fast usually involves some bullying, the moment that horse realises how easily it can get the upper hand with a novice it soon returns to its bad ways
I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with anyone here but there are far too many people who think they are better than they are & buying out of their depth, not enough genuine good trainers willing to put the time into producing a safe horse, not enough honest sellers

Good morning to you.. I value your opinion..(smilies)

I would like to extend to you also to come ride one of the two recent arrivals here without doing any ground work to see what he does first...

He looks a great looking horse, calm in the paddock, all the bling that folks seem to look for today,....I will even help tack him up for you.......

This by the way, this is the horse a good friend bought bout three weeks ago from auction, my friend is a good rider who can stick fairly well but is currently resting up in hospital with four broken ribs after this horse bolted after a truck past it and at a gallop back to his paddock started rodeo bucking.....

I believe this horse may have a few issues but you will sort them in five....

Smilies.. I await your arrival.....

Cheers Tony

GREAT comment. Love it.

At any rate, I somewhat resent the fact that some posters (not the poster I quoted above, but others) seem to be trying to imply (or just coming flat out and saying it) that those of us who choose to take our time with horses are doing so because we can't handle it, are afraid, or don't know what we're doing. Maybe we're taking our time because we feel it's best for the horse. It's certainly not hurting the horse for them to have some time off just being a horse and being pampered for awhile. I certainly admit that it's not an option for everyone but I, like the original poster, have an abundance of pasture (and also free hay) and having an extra horse or two out there isn't going to cause me any extra grief.

But... the fact that I prefer to move slowly with horses that I feel need it means that I would never cut it in the professional training world... I just don't operate well under timelines and prefer to let the horse... not the owner... dictate what speed the training progresses at. (I'm certainly not saying that all horses take a year but I certainly will never believe that 30 days training on a horse is enough for a greenhorn rider to be heading out on the range on it.