[QUOTE=BeverlyAStrauss;4895661]
MY question is how many 4H clubs and therapeutic organizations take horses directly off the track? If you poll 4Hers and therapeutic centers, the answer will be drastically different than if you poll these trainers. Heck most are afraid to adopt them after they have had time and reschooling. .[/QUOTE]
Actually, at least in my part of PA, I don’t know of any 4-H Clubs that take horses. The horses are privately owned by the kids in the clubs. Some leaders will loan their own horses, typically older QHs and paints & grade geldings, to horseless kids but the club leaders already have got plenty of mouths to feed & can already loan a horse with 4-H experience to a newbie (and have a horse they already know is pretty kid-safe, which isn’t the definition of a horse who is right off the track).
With regard to therapeutic riding programs, if the TBs are being donated there, it isn’t for use as riding horses.
I had a horse successfully pass the test to carry a therapeutic rider. Not many show or pleasure riding horses would pass the test because the horse has to calmly accept bad riding and still want to keep the rider on its back despite the rider’s bad balance. We had advertised the horse for sale, not donation, but the program director apparently thought we might donate, if they showed up & liked the horse. The showed up & liked, but, well, the horse is still here because he is for sale, not donation.
But here’s some of what he needed to do. Tell me how many recently raced TBs would pass:
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Must be sound with a smooth, even gait, to make it easier for kids & adults who do not have good balance.
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The horse must remain smooth & calm as the rider bounces & slides around on his back (this horse was one you could put into gear & he stayed in the zone - that was one of his selling points to them).
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The horse must allow humans to walk on each side of him (to help the rider remain balanced) I’m thinking of horses who’ve raced with blinkers or whose trainers cover their eyes when the saddle goes on or other work is being done right where the side-walkers would be . . . I’ve never seen blinkers on therapeutic horses.
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The horse must calmly accept the rider jerking on the reins to maintain balance. The horse may not throw its head up, by way of response.
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The horse cannot spook at sudden movements - like toys being tossed over his head.
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The horse needs to be voice trained to stop when a person on the ground says, “Whoa!”. The stop must be smooth and balanced and from any gait.
I don’t know if these are standard tests but I do know that size, soundness & temperament are all basic requirements.
The folks who run programs get calls all the time from people with horses who are too big, too small, too young, too old, too green, too sour, too lame, to freakin’ crazy . . . all turned down. The programs have a need for a very specific horse profile. Most retiring TBs don’t fit the profile when they retire & some never will. And the programs don’t have the funds or usually, the expertise to take a horse from track to therapeutic, even if given one of the ones who could eventually do the job.
