What kind of person does it take to retrain ex-racehorses?
When my dad bought a package of racers, there would always be a couple who needed to go off track. He never tried to keep these horses racing, but would sell them reasonably. They are favorites in our area of gamers and hunters. An off track racer needs a very, very patient and knowledgeable trainer. That person needs to have a good understanding of race horse mentality and how they are traiined to race. I got one to use for a saddle mount/gamer/trail horse. She was just great, but got hotter and hotter through the day. So we’d show her in halter, then pleasure, then games. We let her be a horse and we knew what would trigger her nerves, so worked to calm them. Pulling on the reins can make them want to go as fast as possible, so you have to learn to ride with a relaxed hand. My friend learned this the hard way…she was riding my mare and made five laps of the arena at speed before she got the entire sentence out “How do you stop?” “LET GO!” She dropped the reins and the mare stopped.
