It is kind of like walking into an expensive store and asking how much something is—If you have to ask . . . .
Why not get one that is already doing what you want it to to?
Buying ready made is not an option for many. Its not that bad a question from a young person trying to increase their knowledge.
It takes as long as it takes. And sometimes you’ve put it a lot of time a find that temperamentally pr physically your horse really isnt suited for your discipline.
A few years ago, I got a green 6yo mare that had raced and then hung around not doing anything. My goal for her was to be my old lady horse as my current horse was getting older(20yo at that time). I did all of her ground work and manners training, lots of quiet hacking out at walk and trot. I had some health issues so decided I needed a trainer to help me get her farther along. I chose someone who was close location wise and had some dressage and jumping experience. They were so not a good match. It became obvious within about four training rides that she did not understand working with OTTBs. It took me months to undo what had been caused in just a few rides. Luckily, last year I found an awesome trainer who is experienced in working with OTTBs( has owned several herself and shown them). My mare is learning some dressage and has been to a few schooling shows where she placed 1st,2nd, 3rds in First Level tests. Will I go on to compete her further? Probably not, just want her to have a good basic knowledge. Trainer is also working on some over fences stuff and mare seems to love it. My part in all this is to do goofy stuff with her. She has gone camping several times, and to her horror attended a cow clinic. I guess what I am trying to say in my long post is to not have any expectations, let the horse tell you what they like and can handle. The most important part is to find and work with a trainer that has experience with OTTBs. Good luck!
There is a ton of great advice already posted here, but I didn’t see anything about the age of the OTTB mentioned.
I bought a 3yo OTTB in January, so he had just BARELY turned 3. He had run his last race on the weekend after Thanksgiving so had barely a full month off the track when I tried him. He was around 16.1hh then and is closer to 16.2 now. He passed his vet inspection, but the trainer who had him told me that he had some issues with one of his knees. I bought this horse to use as my future fox hunting mount and am in no hurry to push him to perform. I didn’t need him for last hunt season and I won’t need him for this season so he is basically getting an entire year’s rest to grow and mature.
The age of the horse coming off the track is important. If you are getting a 2yo that breezed a few times or only ran a few races it would definitely benefit from quite a bit more time to be let down from track training AND grow. I would treat a 4yo horse much differently and let the older horse tell me how much let-down time it needs. I’ve had more off the track Quarter Horses than TBs, but every horse has a different story.
You have to untrain a racehorse before you can start training it. So the benefit of a younger OTTB is less time on the track, but you make a trade by it needing more time to grow up. At the end of the day you need at least a year to know what you have.
