Buying a horse from CANTER - Planning, Logistics and Budget?

[GoneAway]

@4LeafCloverFarm

I’m just curios (now that I have leaned that racehorses don’t get started by lunging), how are they they started? Are they simply ponied around an oval at first, then ponied with tack on, then with a rider up, then just graduate to being on their own? I’d assume since they aren’t lunged, it would make sense that they aren’t worked as babies in a round pen either. Is it the same for steeplechasers?

I boarded my pony at a local farm for a time that bred & raised thoroughbreds for the steeplechase. And come to think of it, there was no round pen or arena there. But there was this odd (to me) oval shaped pen, like maybe 100’ long with an oval inside railing as well - like a miniature race track. I often wondered what it was for, but never asked.

And speaking of steeplechasers, are there businesses (like CANTER) out there that find new jobs for them as well, or is it just not big enough of a sport in this country to warrant that? I was fortunate to have grown up in an area that had steeplechasing, as not all areas do. And although public horse race tracks are illegal here, steeplechasing is not - which I always thought was odd.

It’s not that TB racehorses are never lunged ever, it’s that per your original question, expecting to be able to lunge one on the backside is unrealistic and not going to happen.

TB race training can vary greatly depending on the stable and its resources. Some actually have a very “traditional” breaking with groundwork/round penning, lunging and long lining, hacking in the woods, even some very rudimentary dressage. Some don’t get that at all and more or less all they know is riding on the track.

While I was in Virginia, I managed/trained a string of hunt horses and filled in helping at the racing stable that shared the property. We mostly had steeplechasers (one or two that flat raced), and they got a very comprehensive start and training regimen complete with dressage and gymnastic schools. We did the majority of their training/conditioning at home on VA hunt country. What I saw of that area, most steeplechasers had pretty long careers and retired with their owners or found a second career in the hunt field. There wasn’t a need in that area (that I observed) for a CANTER-like program for steeplechasers. Can’t speak for anywhere else and that was 10 years ago.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

@GoneAway

It’s not that TB racehorses are never lunged ever, it’s that per your original question, expecting to be able to lunge one on the backside is unrealistic and not going to happen.

AH! That makes sense. I misunderstood. I’ve only ever been on the backside at one track - that was Keenland. And I’m guessing that the typical tracks where many of these horses are located are not going to be like that! But for me, its my only point of reference.