12 min
Race-2-Ride Kandoo Kansay
-
- Leisure
Race-2-Ride - Making a good transition
There has been much in the press over the last year about the welfare of horses leaving the racing industry, raising questions about the sustainability and ethicality of the current situation. In this article I am going to discuss how we can all help to protect the welfare of off-the-track horses by easing their transition from racing to sporting and leisure riding homes.
Having grown up surrounded by racing and racehorses, even taking one of my father's 'slow' Thoroughbreds to school with me as a young teenager, retraining off-the-track horses was always likely to be an interest of mine. However, it is not always straight forward, and we need to be mindful of certain aspects of off-the-track horses' past training to optimize the transition process.
What's great about them?
Both Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds retiring from racing will have been extensively handled and often habituated to working with other horses, crowds, and travelling on a truck or float. Of course, not all these experiences will have been positive ones for the horse, and we need to keep that in mind when re-training.
Ask any Thoroughbred or Standardbred owner what they think is the best thing about the breed and eight or more out of ten of them will tell you: their versatility. You will find both breeds in a wide range of disciplines from working on the farm, to dressage, show-jumping, hacking and trail riding, and I have even seen some having a go at reining! There is no doubt that these beautiful horses can turn their hoof to anything but their success and happiness in their new post-racing lives does depend on how we re-educate them.
7 important things to consider:
1) Has the horse been started under saddle? This may seem obvious, and when we look at the Standardbred, the answer is clearly, no. This is good and gives us a place to start that horse. The Thoroughbred is rather different, and it is easy to expect too much from these horses' past training. Thoroughbreds are taught precisely what they need to know to race and often extraordinarily little else. Unfortunately, what they have been taught is rarely useful for their post-racing careers.
2) Unlike the pleasure industry, the racing industry is profit-based and results-focused, which doesn't always allow sufficient time for training simple responses, such as 'head down' for bridling or to 'stand' for mounting. Both examples negate the need to train the response and while twisting the ear to get the bridle on achieves the desired result in that moment, it may also set the new owner up with a behavioural problem that requires addressing. Such problems arise whenever we, as owners or riders, have an agenda that is seen as more important than the horse's mental wellbeing.
3) All off-the-track horses will have been desensitized to pressure cues, particularly bit pressure. Both Thoroughbred and Standardbreds learn to race with meaningless, often unrelenting rein tension, which again, is not a desirable response for the pleasure rider. Physical force, such as pushing horses into barriers or yanking on leads to stop movement, can have taken the place of sensitive, horse-centric training, the shortfalls of which will be evident when rehomed.
4) Racing is a high adrenaline sport. Horses repeatedly practice the flight response - it is this very fear-based response that trainers and jockeys are provoking. We know that the flight response can be difficult to extinguish, as can any response learned using fear as a motivator, which is why, as new off-the-track owners, we need to be mindful of this during re-training.
5) While there are exceptions to every rule, many, or probably most, racehorses will have little or no understanding of combined reinforcement. Often off-the-track horses simply haven't been taught how to learn (mostly as a result of the considerations outlined in points 2) and 3) above).
6)
Race-2-Ride - Making a good transition
There has been much in the press over the last year about the welfare of horses leaving the racing industry, raising questions about the sustainability and ethicality of the current situation. In this article I am going to discuss how we can all help to protect the welfare of off-the-track horses by easing their transition from racing to sporting and leisure riding homes.
Having grown up surrounded by racing and racehorses, even taking one of my father's 'slow' Thoroughbreds to school with me as a young teenager, retraining off-the-track horses was always likely to be an interest of mine. However, it is not always straight forward, and we need to be mindful of certain aspects of off-the-track horses' past training to optimize the transition process.
What's great about them?
Both Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds retiring from racing will have been extensively handled and often habituated to working with other horses, crowds, and travelling on a truck or float. Of course, not all these experiences will have been positive ones for the horse, and we need to keep that in mind when re-training.
Ask any Thoroughbred or Standardbred owner what they think is the best thing about the breed and eight or more out of ten of them will tell you: their versatility. You will find both breeds in a wide range of disciplines from working on the farm, to dressage, show-jumping, hacking and trail riding, and I have even seen some having a go at reining! There is no doubt that these beautiful horses can turn their hoof to anything but their success and happiness in their new post-racing lives does depend on how we re-educate them.
7 important things to consider:
1) Has the horse been started under saddle? This may seem obvious, and when we look at the Standardbred, the answer is clearly, no. This is good and gives us a place to start that horse. The Thoroughbred is rather different, and it is easy to expect too much from these horses' past training. Thoroughbreds are taught precisely what they need to know to race and often extraordinarily little else. Unfortunately, what they have been taught is rarely useful for their post-racing careers.
2) Unlike the pleasure industry, the racing industry is profit-based and results-focused, which doesn't always allow sufficient time for training simple responses, such as 'head down' for bridling or to 'stand' for mounting. Both examples negate the need to train the response and while twisting the ear to get the bridle on achieves the desired result in that moment, it may also set the new owner up with a behavioural problem that requires addressing. Such problems arise whenever we, as owners or riders, have an agenda that is seen as more important than the horse's mental wellbeing.
3) All off-the-track horses will have been desensitized to pressure cues, particularly bit pressure. Both Thoroughbred and Standardbreds learn to race with meaningless, often unrelenting rein tension, which again, is not a desirable response for the pleasure rider. Physical force, such as pushing horses into barriers or yanking on leads to stop movement, can have taken the place of sensitive, horse-centric training, the shortfalls of which will be evident when rehomed.
4) Racing is a high adrenaline sport. Horses repeatedly practice the flight response - it is this very fear-based response that trainers and jockeys are provoking. We know that the flight response can be difficult to extinguish, as can any response learned using fear as a motivator, which is why, as new off-the-track owners, we need to be mindful of this during re-training.
5) While there are exceptions to every rule, many, or probably most, racehorses will have little or no understanding of combined reinforcement. Often off-the-track horses simply haven't been taught how to learn (mostly as a result of the considerations outlined in points 2) and 3) above).
6)
12 min