This Thursday I am going to go try a 4 year old OTTB. His last race was August 6, and he is currently w/t/c and doing small jumps. The owner describes him as very steady and easy going, light in the hand, and the videos I’ve received show that as well. He isn’t running to jumps, or playing up after.
I have been told that young TB’s go through a “screw you” period at 5 and 6, but in talking with various other people, there experiences have differed. Does this period depend on the horse or will I really end up with a monster in a year or two?
If all goes well and I decide to go on with a PPE, what would a horse of this age require? I don’t plan on showing, or jumping past 3’. Would a basic physical exam and flexions be suffice? blood work?
It’s not just thoroughbreds, they all tend to go through that phase.
While it’s exasperating, and makes a year feel like three, I have not found it to be off putting.
I’d do flexions, and if it’s a really bad response stop there, if it’s minor mayyyyybe do a single xray.
I will say that a 4 year old is very vulnerable to how YOU ride him. If you pull and pick or goose to a jump, that nice quiet ride you have now will go away. So be very mindful of how he’s ridden now. And with that, I say go forth and buy him and have fun.
all of my ppe include a side foot shot of all 4 feet with pasterns and hock xrays. I use these as baselines for future as well as at the time of Pre-purchase
I don’t have a lot of risk tolerance so I x-ray everything. Mostly because once a horse comes to me, I have it for life, so I want to know what I’m getting into. “Everything” means 4 feet, hocks, stifles, neck, and back. Sometimes knees.
Horses are individuals. They don’t all share the same timeline. When I got my first young horse, people told me “three is the most dangerous age” “no, four is so much harder!” “ohhhh, no way. you’ll see now that he’s turning five that this is where it gets REALLY hard!”
I think it is largely a matter of what you, personally, find most difficult. Some people think young puppies are the most exhausting. Some people think adolescent dogs are the most exhausting but that the puppy phase is easy. They do go through phases as they mature.
The more pertinent advice I’d give is that the best practice is for him to have a few months off (just turnout) before coming back into work. You’ll need to spend time getting his feet in shape for a non-racing life, letting his metabolism simmer down from being race fit, etc. They just need time. Then, it’s generally easiest for them to come back lightly for a while -working lightly but consistently. A lot of people do not do that, but it’s much better if you give them downtime after the track. That’s why I stare blankly at people who want OTTBs because they think they’re inexpensive.
Regarding the PPE, you’ll want a vet who is experienced with racehorse exams. You’ll want x-rays of all the joints, legs, all the hooves, and as much of the spine as can be visualized. They’ll do a lameness exam and let you know if other diagnostics are needed based on what they observe.
What is your risk tolerance and how much do you trust the seller? For sellers I really truly know, I don’t need blood work. For anyone else, I would probably pull it. I don’t think flexions are super useful, some horses don’t care about them even though they are lame and some horses hate being flexed (and some vets flex too hard). I want to see them walk and trot in a straight line and in a circle in both directions on hard ground, ideally pavement. I want to see them pass basic neuro tests. I personally don’t xray a lot after that.
Every horse is an individual. I wouldn’t read too much into what he will be like in a year since it will largely be a result of your training. I think many animals enter a, “what would happen if I say no” phase as adolescents, but if you answer that question consistently and appropriately, it doesn’t last forever.
I don’t know the seller personally, but my vet and farrier do, and one friend I used to board with know her, and they all say she has nice horses. In speaking with the seller, she has gotten horses from this racing trainer before and they have ended up being very nice horses as well. I do plan on seeing the horse more then once before making a decision.
“they” aren’t wrong, but they aren’t 100% right either. You can’t know that a lovely, compliant 4yo today, won’t be that rebellious teenager in 1-2 years, so you’d just need to be ready for it. The odds of a nice quiet, 4yo turning into something you’re not remotely capable of riding, it pretty slim, especially if you have any reasonable idea on how to work through some naughty moments on any horse.
I would not characterize this as ottb specific, and I think the behaviors this describes are often misunderstood. At 5, an athletic horse is just starting to understand how to coordinate his body to the point where he can really concentrate his full strength to some physical objective. If he is also mentally alert and curious, sometimes he chooses to exercise this self-confidence through playful antics when you are trying to work. Engage his mind to channel this behavior into a fantastic working relationship for sport disciplines. Jumping is great for this, taking care not to overface him, because it is much easier to understand as a “task” than flatwork.
I bought my 3 year old TB (well technically he was ~2 months shy of actually turning 3) and did an overall physical exam, lameness exam with all the flexions and x-rayed his feet. I asked that if there were any concerning flexions or palpations that the vet let me know and we could image accordingly. If I imaged everything I would’ve spent more on the PPE than the horse was actually being sold for.
Now he’s 3 coming 4. Consistency seems to make a huge difference for him. If he’s had 3-4 days off and I take him out to ride in the ring by himself (the horror!) he may protest more than when I’ve been regularly riding him 4-6 days a week. We mainly work on things like steering and going forward but he’s made tremendous progress and I’ve really enjoyed him.
FWIW it may worth posting in one of the OTTB fb groups to ask about his breeding. Mine is by City of Light (Quality Road) and out of a candy ride mare and is sooo quiet and pretty darn amateur friendly. This seemed to be the general consensus when I posted about his breeding.
I think buying a 4-year-old lightly re-started OTTB was the best thing I did for my riding. He turned 5, and we did go through a period of hardship where I was trying to figure out if some of his antics were pain or behavioral responses. It turns out that he had developed an opinion on how he likes to be ridden. I had a very enlightening lesson (I’m mostly working by myself but will have the occasional lesson) and now he’s going super since I’ve fixed some things with my riding.
As long as you’re working with a professional who will continue to believe in you + your horse and understands you want this horse for the long-term, you’re not crazy for buying a 4-year-old. My guy has a fantastic brain and even through the “nastiness,” he has still maintained the ammy friendly demeanor I bought him with.
There can definitely be an angsty teenager phase with horses. A friend of mine told me early on that 5-9 are the a-hole years. It rang true for the most part in my experience. Not to say that every horse goes through it, just try not to let it back you off if you do hit a rough patch.
I did a basic PPE on my OTTB with flexions and neuro exam (both unremarkable), balance rads of front feet (should’ve just done all 4 while I was at it), imaged hocks too just to make myself feel better. Pulled blood for Lyme just to have a baseline titer going forward since it’s so prevalent where I am.
I bought my guy as a 5yo - 6 and 7 were tough years for us. He had some physical challenges coupled with behavioral issues. It took some time to really unpack what was pain versus gaps in training. We played whack-a-mole for a while - we’d get one thing sorted out and something else would pop up.
He really started to turn the corner at 8 - it was like the lights came on and his mental and physical maturity improved by leaps and bounds. He just turned 9 in May. We’ve still got a couple of boxes I’m hoping to check off, but so far this year he’s done everything I’ve asked and then some. 8 shows so far in his first full season (brought home tri-colors at four in the hunters), some hunter paces, XC schooling, a bunch of trail riding (including a big State Park trip), and even tiptoed around in the leadline with my 4yo niece. Long story short, I’m so glad I stuck it out.
Will you be riding the horse yourself? Is the owner the rider of this horse? Is this horse in an active program (ridden every day?) or is this more of a seller putting a good rider on a baby horse and seeing what they will do.
Don’t confuse the latter (horse flipper) for the former (quality training/sales barn). Young horses will usually take the first few sessions of going over fences very civilly, it does not mean they will be uncomplicated or quiet over fences once in an established program. They are concentrating on balancing themselves while having a human on them, they’re too distracted for any nonsense. Shenanigans come later once they’re stronger in their body.
As you see, already so many questions. It’s not my experience that young TBs go through a screw you phase at all, most have been very honest and want to work with you, provided you are fair and honest yourself. But horses are individuals over breed stereotypes, every horse is different.
For PPEs, make sure you involve a vet not affiliated with this program. Explain to them your goals and risk tolerance. I don’t typically pull a PPE on OTTBs, because if it doesn’t work out I have a paddock they can stay in. Boarders have to be much more scrupulous. See what the vet advises, but my suggestion would be to have back x-rays and flexions, talk to the vet about if you need to x-ray any positive areas.
For an active race horse, the hottest spots will be knees, fetlocks, and back.
My main concern would be your level of experience and the quality of instruction you will receive as you bring along this horse. OTTBs require a special skill-set to produce into quiet, lovely horses. Not because of their breeding, but because you will spend more time untraining their track training than anything else.
Be honest with yourself about how much time you can devote to handling this recently off the track youngster. That trips many well meaning restarters up.
Going from 7 day a week handling and exercise by professionals in busy barns/tracks/training centers to a few days a week of handling/exercise in a quieter boarding barn by semi trained staff and well meaning owners with many committments to other things limiting their barn time? Challenge many don’t think about.
If there are underlying health/soundness that crop up and may require monitoring or special care? it gets complicated in boarding barns.
If destined for a boarding situation, I would do a more involved PPE. If going to OPs home barn where they can be there to supervise one might take on more risk. IMO.
This one may be going wtc but he was on the track 6 weeks ago and no let down time. Little early.
I’m willing to take a bit more risk on a horse and will buy off video and no PPE. I buy inexpensive horses but I’m willing to spend $ on training.
Unless I’m at a place where I can ride 6-7 days a week with a dedicated ring plus trainer support , I won’t buy a baby. It’s so hard to keep them in the consistent work they need to help lessen the 5-7 teenager years. Learned my lesson. I have a 7 y/o in boot camp now and he’s not bad, just very confident in himself.
3 y/o are like little happy sponges then they become that teenager who doesn’t listen to the parent and knows everything. Then they realize the parent might be right and find their listening ears again.
Idk I just think sometimes young horses (age 4& under) are sweet because they kind of lack the coordination and strength not to be, and people misinterpret this as being quiet. I can’t tell you how many ads I see everyday of 3-4yo horses that are “old souls”. But when they finish growing around 5 and have some more experience under saddle and they suddenly have the option not to be so quiet, they’re not lol. But I do feel like if you ride through it well they come out of it normal, at least in my experience.
But this is just a general pattern I’ve observed, it doesn’t apply to every individual. I’ve seen many quiet 4yos remain quiet 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10yos and every possible combination. So who knows. There’s a lot of variables that play into it.
