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High Strung OTTB!!

8K views 35 replies 17 participants last post by  Ashsunnyeventer 
#1 ·
Three weeks ago I got my second OTTB. Her name is Sunny and she is 4 years old. The first week and a half were great; my trainer loved her and she was being well behaved, but a little nervous (understandable).
Recently she has become even more "hot". I test rode her three times before I bought her and she was not like this. She has started bucking and bolting if I do anything more than a walk. When this happens, I just bring her back to a walk and do circles. Before she starts bucking and runing, she twitches her skin and kicks like she has flies, but she doesn't. It's like I can feel the explosion coming. The vet has been out and her teeth are fine, also the saddle fits too. If I lunge her she just gets more fired up.
I'm pretty sure this has a lot to do with the amount she is eating (10 quarts of grain/day and all you can eat hay). She is skinny and we can't cut back on her food. Also, she is stall boarded, so maybe being cooped up doesn't help. I don't want to feild board her because the other horses would eat her food.
Is there anything I can do to make her calm down?? I would ask my trainer, but she is in Europe for a month.
 
#27 · (Edited)
For pasture board, do you get to supply your own feed for her? Is it a dry lot or is there actual grazing for her? If so, I'd say just pasture board her for a few months and see how she does. You might even find that she'll gain weight even when getting less food because her metabolism will regulate itself better with constant access to exercise AND food. I know that our TBs do tremendousely better when they can move around whever they want to. They also keep their condition better and are much easier to handle.

You might also look at trying to find another boarding stable that can accomodate her better. One with pasture board that has maybe 2 or three other pasture mates and you can bring your own feed/she gets fed seperately. There really is no quick fix for this and letting her canter from the start when you ride her is a very bad idea because you won't get anywhere with your training. Actually, IMO, you shouldnt eve be letting her canter AT ALL yet if you've only had her for a month. We gave our OTTBs ATLEAST a 3 month let down from the track where we did only ground work and let them be horses in the pasture, and I didnt start cantering them until the 5th or 6th month of owning them...and only if they walked and trotted quietly first. Besides that you wil be teaching her that running when she wants to is ok and that she can get away with crazy behavior. Thats the last thing that you need to have in her head.

Whether it be finding someone to lunge her or let her play in the arena every day, finding a place where she can be turned out at least half of the day, or better yet- 24/7 pasture boarded- you do need to deal with the situation, not just her behavior under saddle. ANY horse will go stir crazy when living in a stall and only coming out to be ridden because it just isnt natural for them, but a young race-fit, race-fed OTTB will be even worse. You need to think about her mental wellbeing, not just how to get her to behave.

our 'Crazy' OTTB gelding, two and a half years off of the track. 24/7 pasture with 8 other horses, only getting rice bran, free choice hay, and corn oil, low man on the totem pole (dispite being 17.3hh) and as you can see- happy, healthy, and absolutely too high energy for us to deal with ;) in fact I think he's about to eat that little mini and bolt on that little girl!



 
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#30 ·
I didn't get her right off the track. She had about 4 months of let down just being a horse in a field before they started her again. She has been off the track for about 10 months now. Today I lunged her because I didn't have time to ride and found out she doesn't lunge to the right. Just something else to work on I guess...
 
#31 ·
She doesn't look the least bit skinny to me, she looks racing fit. I'd turn her out to pasture, and reduce her grain to a normal amount. Even trying to put weight on, you can't feed that kind of quantity without having issues - and stalling just compounds that.

The more you continue to feed excessively and keep her cooped up, the worse your problems are going to get.
 
#32 ·
I have a lot to do with racehorses out of training. They come here fit from racing and people will think them thin when they are fit.
I never have any problem getting horses to put on weight unless there is a metabolic disorder.

I will let the horses have plenty of turn out time. A relaxed horse is a happy horse and even if it is winter when there is not much and little or no goodness in the grass, they will soon start to gain weight with good quality hay and small feeds.

When in work they still get turn out time, mentally they are relaxed so there is less tizziness about them. I tell them that when they are here they are riding school ponies, not racehorses.

A horse that is stabled for majority of the time needs regular work, not just in an arena which can get boring for them, but taken out for long rides of at least two hours. Walk trot and cantering.

If a horse gets 'portly' then it gets a little less hay and more work. Relaxation is the way to go.
 
#33 ·
OP what have you decided to feed her ?

i dont think she looks under weight at all. i used to have a qh off that track and i could usually see a few ribs on him, but that was just the kind of weight he carried.
 
#34 ·
When she was let down when she came off the track, she did gain weight and there were no ribs or pointy hip bones. Then she was put out in a field where she got picked on and lost a lot of weight, so I know she can hold more weight. She is still getting the same amount of food because or vet said to wait until she is out of heat and see if her behavior changes. I have been riding/lunging her every day and when she gets worked up, I just talk to her to calm her down. This usually works, but if it doesn't we go in the indoor arena where there are no distractions and just walk for a while. Some where I read that you shouldn't do small circles with horses off the track because it reminds them of the start of a race and they just get more worked up. Does any one know if this is true?
 
#35 ·
When she gets worked up do not pull back on the reins but guide her into a circle and just let her go around. It might be a bit fast but as you guide onto a smaller circle with your inside rein so she will slow down. Sit heavy making it uncomfortable for her then when she is trotting do the same until she is working at a decent trot on a small circle and then got around the arena.
Racehorses look for a pull on the reins so it is vital you do not do so to get her back to you.
Let her learn that fast is not the way to go - the pull does not happen and so it is no good looking for it.

Sorry but the vet is wrong in saying to keep her on the same feed. Vets know very very little on what to feed a horse. Not many have actually worked with horses to see what effect different a ratio of feed to work makes on them.

Less feed and add a cup of corn oil to help her gain weight. Personally I think she looks fine - just fit.
 
#36 ·
Thanks Foxhunter, your tips about what to do when she gets worked up worked great today. I went on a group trail ride with 3 other horses just to show her around and she hated being in the back. She was antsy and trotting sideways for a while and then she backed a bit. Once she realized we weren't running she was fine :)
 
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