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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 365
 
| I have been looking at prospects and have seen many off the track I like. I don't have any experience with track horses. Any Pros? Cons? I'm mostly worried about soundness. |
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  Whack and Roll
Posts: 6342
 
Location: NE Texas | I know where there are 4 really nice namw brand ott horses that have been turned out for a couple years. All sound, all sane, and all been handled correctly. One has been used as a pony horse but others have not been ridden otherwise. Priced VERY affordably. |
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| I have a gelding that is off the track. He's so calm and gentle. But they can be a tad pushy. Some are harder in the mouth. This particular horse tries so hard on the pattern and is very ratey, I can ride him in a 3 piece ring snaffle with a German martingale all day long, ( prefer it on trail rides and exercise off the pattern) as long as I am not galloping ;) (he's more difficult to pull up) I work him in a roping bit and run him in a Neil Merrill, works great. He's won a ton at rodeos, and is older and still works nice and clocks. Soundest horse I have. Has only had his stifles injected once, has a tiny chip in one ankle (has never bothered him) and no other issues. I do give adequan every month-every week depending on how hard we are running. And I have given osphos just because he is older and I want to make sure we keep him sound. |
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 Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | I put mine down at 25, got him as a 3 year old. He was HOT when in first got him soon started him on Hunter & Western Pleasure and did that for a long time before I started him on barrels. Unfortunately he started having soundness issues before I could start really running him.
Biggest challenges I had to overcome were teaching him to tie -- they don't teach them to tie a lot of times on the track; being pushy - they let them walk ahead so they're confident & want to go; balancing on the bit, and being stronger on the left lead from running on it all the time. He had very little Qh So he was very reactive and hot but he was very trainable.
I've got a student with 2 OTTB that I work with and she has the same challenges.
I'll be picking up a OTTB as a prospect to retrain in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately he's 17.1 hands so no barrels here! I guess I'll be pulling my breeches out from retirement..
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Expert
Posts: 1956
Location: Ky | Lucky86 - 2015-09-18 11:29 PM I have been looking at prospects and have seen many off the track I like. I don't have any experience with track horses. Any Pros? Cons? I'm mostly worried about soundness.
I always loved to get horses off the track. They know how to run, they have been around crowds, they have been hauled and there's really only way to break horses, ride them. Track horses have been ridden daily.
Big difference is that they are taught to run into the bit at the track. We want them to give to the bit. So that's the major work when you get one.
But well worth the trade off. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1032
Location: IL | I got my first OTTB to retrain for barrels at the end of 2012. Spent 2013 just riding her and putting a foundation on her. 2014 I spent patterning her and this year I had planned on seasoning her but life got in the way. So next year I will start hauling her. I don't know if I'll ever buy anything again that is not off the track. Like others have said: they've seen so much, been around crowds, they are broke to ride (just don't know anything specific, and they know how to run. I'd rather have to teach one how to turn than beg one to run |
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 Namesless in BHW
Posts: 10368
Location: At the race track with Ah Dee Ohs | Herbie - 2015-09-18 11:33 PM I know where there are 4 really nice namw brand ott horses that have been turned out for a couple years. All sound, all sane, and all been handled correctly. One has been used as a pony horse but others have not been ridden otherwise. Priced VERY affordably.
I know the horses of which Herbie speaks. All very nice, great minds, and they have manners! All winners on the track also. |
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 Saint Stacey
| I did this my entire life growing up. But things have changed. The track of the 80's and 90's is not the track of today. I'd be very careful of who I bought from and what kind of trainer they had. Especially if the had Mexican connections. All the OTT horses I have ever had did develop knee issues in their late teens. All were a lot harder to get the track out of that I realized (until I got the really race breeds that never went to the track). We currently have 3 here that should have gone to the track but didn't. They have been a lot easier to get going than the OT ones. The argument that they already know how to run doesn't hold up. All ours are bred to run. They WANT to run and never had to be taught. It's natural to them. Just like a cutter has a natural desire to work a cow. I have a 19 year old OTT horse that I got when he was 4. I never did get the track out of him. Certain sounds and situations sent him right back to the track. Now I buy weanlings or yearlings that are race bred and just wait. Much easier that way. Yes, waiting on them to grow up sucks. But I am miles ahead in the long run.
Edited by SKM 2015-09-19 10:55 AM
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 Veteran
Posts: 288
| Just a little tip that has worked for me, regarding them pushing into the bridle. Ride them in a little S hackamore or an o-ring combo with a nose band. Of course I always start off in a round pen too. But it seems a lot easier FOR ME to work off their nose. They seem to get how to come back off that pressure easier than retraining in a snaffle. And I've retrained quite a few. |
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