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Young Racehorse?

2K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  amightytarzan5 
#1 ·
I have taken on a summer project. I am training a young (3) ex-racehorse. He needs to calm down more though before I ride him a whole lot. How can I get him to calm down and concentrate? He is getting a lot better since I've been working with him, but his concentration level still isn't to the point where I can work with him effectively. Do y'all have any pointers?
 
#2 ·
Hi tarzan, I am in the process of retraining an ex racer myself. Is he an OTTB or another breed? I started with lots and lots of groundwork. The round pen is your friend, if you have access to one. You really need to bond with him and get him to trust you and to establish that you are alpha. Dean and I did lots of hanging out, then work in the leadline, then learned to lunge and voice commands. I do hop on him for a little turn around the round pen but not for full rides yet.

Also you want to make sure he is pain free, think about having a chiropractor out. Make sure he doesnt have any ulcers.

Most of all keep in mind that he is only 3, and still a kid. Work on trust and do tons of ground work before you try to ride him, he needs to know you will take care of him and you need to know he will take care of you.

If he is an OTTB, look for the book Beyond the Track on amazon. Good insight in there. :)
 
#3 ·
He's not a TB; he's a QH. Yeah, I will have access to a round pen in a little bit, so I'm really going to work with him on that. My trainer told me to take things REALLY slow, so I'll probably just be working on the ground for a while. I've been working with him to lunge him but I don't have a round pen yet so it's kinda confusing for him, but he's doing great!
 
#4 ·
Do LOTS of work with him from the ground. Lunging, hand walking, and just spending time with him will all help him settle down and relax. Make sure he's comfortable in the places you'll be riding him. When you start to ride him, you aren't going to want to be worrying about him spooking at scary shadows in the ring that he's never seen before.
 
#5 ·
Tomorrow when I go see him, I'm going to walk him around the ENTIRE pasture at a nice slow walk. I think it'll be a good time for us to bond and him to chill :) Then I'm going to do some lunging him.

What do y'all think about teaching him tricks? Not like rearing or anything stupid, but just something simple like nodding or shaking his head?
 
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