Thoroughbred endurance?
 

I am completely new to endurance racing. Generally speaking how would a thoroughbred do? I would love to get into it, but I have not heard great things about their endurance. If they had a lot of conditioning would they do well? My new horse has had a lot of time off and he is in pretty bad shape, so I cannot guess how his endurance would be in the future.

Depends on how competitive you want to be. If you want to win as many as you can, a TB is not the best choice. If you want to compete more against yourself and your times then with proper training he may be able to do just fine.

I say may because its amazing how many issues come up for endurance riders that don't come up for shorter rides.
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I am not a very competitive person by nature, but if I was doing terrible every single time that would certainly ruin it for me. I guess the only thing to do is get him back to working shape and see how he turns out.

If only you had posted this a few weeks ago... My old TB (Gent) was a MASTER of endurance (but im a jumper) we never ever saw him tired, he was as fit and muscular as a body builder, with the stamina to outlast the sun. And i was looking for a new home for him. Free. Darn. But! If you train up your TB, he could run for.ev.er.
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That gives me a lot of hope for him :). Either way, getting him in shape will only be beneficial even if he ends up having bad endurance.

You know...last place is actually a competitive position. It has it's own prize - the turtle.

Thats the right outlook to have! Lunging in ropes was Gents most powerful alli when it came to his super strength (if you look on my page theres a picture of him in my barn). Just keep working with him :) TB's have the heart to do anything you request of them :)

With his lazy attitude I would proud to hold that position.. I can just see me luring the jiggly boy to the finish with a hunk of grass hours after everyone else has gone home ;)

LOL.
It's all in your approach really. To finish is to win! I think you will do just fine with the right conditioning. Just try to beat your own times and compete against yourself.

What does "doing terrible" mean to you? Does it mean not being first to finish? Does it mean not being in the year-end points standings? Does it mean not finishing the ride at all? Does it mean not having any fun?

There are lots of people who ride endurance to have fun and enjoy their horse and see new trails, so to them "terrible" would be not finishing or not having fun. While the really competitive people are racing, so doing "terrible" would be placing out of the top ten, etc.

A friend has done some endurance with her lovely TB gelding Kent. She is of the ride-and-have-fun variety, so never cared about placings but just having a fun ride. So def get your guy back in shape and see what you have!