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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 700
 
Location: Driving, Grooming, or Saddling for a Kid! | Spinoff of the other thread.....where do you expect your 5/6 yr olds off the track to be after 60 days of riding? |
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Veteran
Posts: 227
Location: Heart of Texas | I spent the first 10 months just working on basic stuff. My mare was so one sided that it was months before she would pick up her right lead. (She also spent 3 years on the track, followed by two years thrown in a pasture not messed with). I spent almost 2 months just working her on a lunge line to build up her right side so she could carry a right lead. I can say proudly she picks up her right lead on cue now. We had horrible soreness issues because she was so bad. Luckily she's super smart and could come back after some rest without skipping a beat but it's been hard. I've become quite the equine message therapist. So basically, it's been a year and we can finally stop with a whoa, side pass, turn on the front and hind end, two track, and lope a decent circle. IMO you cannot compare an OTT horse with a horse who's not OTT. That's like comparing a rich kid from beverly hills to a kid from the streets in the bronx. Whole new mind set and set of issues. |
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 ...Dot Dot Dot...
Posts: 2062
Location: SW New Mexico | Depends on the mind of that particular horse.
I have worked with OTTQH and some are running within 6-8 months, Some take a couple years..
Those who know me, know I like a horse soft and well broke, nose to tail.
Time is a track horse's best friend.
I cannot put a time frame on what they"should" know.
JMO.
Edited by jettster 2014-04-23 1:37 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 700
Location: Driving, Grooming, or Saddling for a Kid! | I meant if you sent an OTT to a trainer to put a handle on, what do you expect hem to be able to do after 60 days? He's pretty quiet and sensible. Been saddled in a western saddle and rode. He just doesnt have a handle on him. He doesnt have a problem picking up his right lead in the round pen. |
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Veteran
Posts: 227
Location: Heart of Texas | If he doesn't have any of the OTT vices that some heavily raced horses have, ie:) one-sided, hot, zero ground manners, run into the bit, etc. Then it's not much different than any other horse. With OTT horses you don't really know what your gunna get till you get into it. Some you can just take off with, others you have to descramble their race set mind before you start training for your discipline. So your question is very particular to the horse your referring to. If you know your horse than you should know what a professional trainer should be able to do with them in x-amount of days. If you have a hot, ill-tempered horse that likes to bite, buck and full of themselves then ovisously 60 days might be all ground work. Long story short, it depends on the horse and how "trained" you want your horse from the ground up. But I agree that time is your best friend. |
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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| I've got a 5 yo mare that has been off the track 60 days. I've probably rode her 20 times. She will move out, stop, back, sidepass, flexes at the poll, and is very relaxed (most of the time). I was joking with my wife the other day about how much easier it is to take one off the track than it is to start a 2 yo. So many advantages that we couldn't remember why we ever did it the other way. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1032
Location: IL | I got my OTTB mare as a 4 year old in November 2012. I spent basically all of 2013 just doing basics with her and putting a handle on her. She was very one sided, to the point, that she didn't want to work on her right lead. She would go about one time around the arena and then decide she was done. It was a lot of work and a lot of wet saddle blankets but now she picks up her right lead right away when cued. She's still stiffer on her right side than her left and it's something we are constantly working on. I honestly wonder if she'll ever be as soft on the right as she is on the left. Towards the very end of 2013, right before we had to quit due to weather, I started taking her through the pattern, walking & trotting. And I slow cantered her through twice just to see if my buttons I wanted to have on the pattern were coming along.
The difference in her between 2013 and so far in 2014 is like night and day. She has really matured and so far everything we worked on last year has stuck and she's doing great. This summer I will really work on patterning & seasoning her.
I agree with what everyone else has said. First, it depends on your particular horse's temperment, work ethic, etc. Second, depends on how broke you want your horse. I want mine broke to the point where I can move any part of her body where I want it, when I want it. But others want the horse to have the bare minimum basics and then just run barrels.
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The Resident Destroyer of Liberal Logic
Location: PNW | My OTTQH is a little different, in that after he raced (30 starts over several years) he was used as a pony-horse on the track. So he went from running, to immediately having a "real job". When I got him (last May right after his 7th birthday) I kicked him out to pasture for pretty much the WHOLE summer with my son's pony and just let him decompress and relax. He has a GREAT mind, albeit he's very timid, but there's not a mean bone in his body.
Around the end of August he went and spent a month with a friend of mine and had a little bit more of a handle put on him. He was handier than most because of being used as a pony-horse, but he still struggled to relax under saddle. So she practiced just getting him to focus and relax at all three gaits, exposed him to having a rope tossed off of him, etc.
When he came home, he got used as a ranch horse. Dragging bulls in, going and moving cows, checking fence, etc. He started out being in a sweat five minutes into our adventures because of his nerves to eventually being able to walk through the entire herd and *gasp* would even let one brush up against him now and then.
In November I sent him to a multi-NFR qualifier to get started on the pattern while I am pregnant. He has been there just about five months, he was worked HARD for about three and a half months, then had a month off while she went to a few rodeos down South. He is back being ridden now and I saw him work last week and OH. MY. GAWD. He has a handle on him like you wouldn't BELIEVE. For being 16.3 he's got a stop like a cow horse and is quick quick quick off his back end. He's getting to the point where she is going to start hauling him out for some time onlies soon and I could not be happier!!
I'm lucky though, in that he will be with her until date I deliver, so she is under NO pressure to push him faster than his brain can handle. I basically just told her to treat him as her own. He gets worked hard and then gets a mental break when he needs it - which I think is the key to any OTT horse. They spend their entire early lives wound tight as springs, being fed up with all sorts of grain and crap, and never just get "to be"
He is my first OTT barrel horse, I've ridden others when I was riding equitation hunters... And this gelding is BY FAR one of the most athletic son-of-a-guns I've ever seen, and talented on the pattern to boot. |
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 Best of the Badlands
Location: You never know where I will show up...... | Depends on the horse and how well it was started before it was run.
I've had some that were exhibitioning 45-60 days post track and others that it took several months.
We ranch on all of ours before they get started on the pattern though, that seems to help them a lot.
Most of what I've run the last several years, has come off the track. |
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The Resident Destroyer of Liberal Logic
Location: PNW | rockinas - 2014-04-23 9:37 PM
Depends on the horse and how well it was started before it was run.
I've had some that were exhibitioning 45-60 days post track and others that it took several months.
We ranch on all of ours before they get started on the pattern though, that seems to help them a lot.
Most of what I've run the last several years, has come off the track.
Ranching is good for the brain and soul - human and horse. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 288
| I really think it has to be based on an individual basis. Not all track horses are started the same. Some are rushed and some have basics instilled before they go fast. The other issue is how they are handled and cared for, which can vary also. The vices (most) race horses have are mostly man made..jmo. I love the one I have right now..so smart and willing. Time will tell, and I am maybe taking more time than what he needs, but I would rather take my time vs turning him into a pickle by rushing him along.
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| DunIt - 2014-04-23 1:03 PM
Spinoff of the other thread.....where do you expect your 5/6 yr olds off the track to be after 60 days of riding?
60 MONTHS=5YEARS .... from actually being broke and learning a new trade .... they spent 4-5 years learning to be race horses so that training is ingrained into their minds and hearts .. |
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