Bulletin E-Edition:
more photosBELOW: Chance, a former racehorse who has since competed in dressage, eventing and trail race competitions, frolics in a field at owner Mickey Pool’s Bend ranch. Experts say an off-track Thoroughbred can make an excellent mount for an experienced, patient and open-minded owner.
Beyond the finish line
With a little time and patience, some racehorses can be retrained for a new career
By Lily Raff / The Bulletin
Published: April 13. 2009 4:00AM PSTOne of the worst-kept secrets in the horse world is a steady supply of big, beautiful, well-bred Thoroughbreds for cheap: the racetrack.
In fact, many racehorses are retrained for successful second careers in dressage, jumping, eventing and even trail riding. American Jill Henneberg, for example, won a silver medal in the 1996 Olympics atop a mare named Nirvana II, whom she bought from a racetrack for $600.
But experts warn that any off-track horse is a gamble, and buyers should approach these horses with experience, patience and an open mind.
Nancy Borneman, a Prineville attorney who has bought several off-track Thoroughbreds, thinks racehorses are misunderstood.
“They start racing when ... they’re still babies,” she says. “I tell people, ‘Hey, take your 3-year-old, feed him nothing but sugar, keep him in a very small room 23 hours a day so all he can do is turn around in a circle. Then, when you let him out one hour a day, what do you think he’s going to do?’”
Still, Thoroughbreds have a wild-eyed, jittery reputation for a reason: They’re a high-strung breed. And Thoroughbreds, particularly those that come off the track, are not for everyone.
“Some people think they can get a big, beautiful horse off the track for very little money and turn it into a great jumper in six months,” says Nicole Cobb, a hunter-jumper trainer who owns Mountain View Stables, between Bend and Redmond. “The truth is, it takes a long, long time to rehabilitate them. A 3-year-old Thoroughbred that has never raced is going to come along much faster than if I have to change what they learned at the track.”
Many horses are retired from racing because they suffer an injury. Such injuries can hamper a horse for the rest of its life. So while any horse should be thoroughly examined by a veterinarian before it is purchased, a careful exam is even more critical for a racehorse.
“If you get them off the track and they’re sound and they’re sane, they’re wonderful horses,” Borneman says. “They have such a great lung-heart base. They’re never going to be out of shape.”
Most experts recommend giving a racehorse several months to a year off before retraining it.
“They need to be mentally and physically ready for training,” says Karin Wagner, who runs a nonprofit in California called Neigh Savers. The organization is one of a handful on the West Coast that seeks new homes for Thoroughbreds that can no longer race.
Even an experienced horse owner should seek help when rehabilitating an off-track horse, according to Wagner.
“You should really get a lot of different people involved if you want your Thoroughbred to flourish off the track,” she says. “Have a farrier come and look at their feet. Most horses race in lightweight aluminum shoes. They’re fast but the horse has to absorb a lot of pressure on its legs.”
Wagner urges owners to have a veterinarian check the horse’s teeth and review its feed type and feeding schedule. Most racehorses need to gain weight before they can be used for other disciplines.
“It’s true that racehorses are fed a high-fat, high-calorie feed. And one mistake that people make is to think, ‘Well, they’re off the track, so I’ll reduce their feedings,’” Wagner says.
Off the track, a racehorse is likely to lose muscle mass. And many racehorses are fed steroids and other supplements at the track.
“Some horses come off the track and actually lose a lot of weight, very fast,” Wagner adds.
One of Borneman’s off-track horses was a gelding she named Gilbert. She bought him at age 7, and he died about two years ago — at age 30.
“I’ve been looking for another Gilbert ever since,” she says.
Gilbert had a knack for jumping and competed for years in three-day eventing. But like any horse, he wasn’t perfect. Borneman and her friends still joke about a particular dressage test she once rode on Gilbert, which remains her “baseline for a bad score.”
“Judges always try to say something nice. And on this particular test, we did so badly that the judge’s card said ‘nice dapples,’” Borneman laughs, referring to the white spots that appear on healthy horses’ coats. “That was the only nice thing she (the judge) could think to say.”
Mickey Pool, of Bend, bought her first off-track horse in the early 1990s. The mare had a slew of health problems and behaved erratically until her death, Pool says.
“Sometimes you get them, and their problems are not fixable,” she says. “And then sometimes they are.”
When Pool bought Chance, an off-track Thoroughbred who is now 22, the 8-year-old gelding could only canter on the left lead, or in the direction he ran at the racetrack.
After months of frustration, Pool’s trainer called a chiropractor to adjust the horse’s spine. After his first treatment, Chance cantered willingly in both directions. Pool started working on Chance and eventually showed him in three-day eventing, dressage and trail challenge competitions. He also became her favorite trail horse.
“I don’t have real set demands for the horses I own,” she says. “If he only had his left leads and he could only have been a trail horse, I would have dealt with that and enjoyed him for what he was. All the other stuff was just bonus.”
Lily Raff can be reached at 541-617-7836 or at lraff@bendbulletin.com.
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