For whats its worth, my gelding raced 69 times at low level claimers and was rideable and sound until 27 yo. My mare raced 9 times and has been a sound riding horse for 10 years with minimal issues. My ottb before that raced and bowed his tendon and did up to 3 foot hunters for years.
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I certainly don’t know how you start your racing babies, but when I worked breaking babies, it was very “easy” work compared to how someone might start a sport horse.
We basically backed them in the stall or shedrow. Then put some very basic steering and brakes on them in short sessions in a small area. Then after that it was basically follow the leader hacking around grassy fields. Once they were fit enough we started short gallops on the track. Everything was always done in company, groups of 4+ horses at a time. Whether hacking out or on
Compare that to how I’ve started sport babies my entire life, with so much more lunging, circles, arena work, bending, etc. All of that is a lot harder on the body IMO.
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Totally agree that traditional sport-started youngsters are thrown into the deep end and pushed harder than a baby racehorse. 30 minutes of lunging or round pen work is much more physically demanding than 10 minutes of jogging in the field.
My sport horses are started like the racehorses. Weeks of hand walking and long lining to build a base of condition. Lightly backed in a round pen or stall, no more than 5 minutes on the lunge. By ride two or three they are out of the round pen and in the paddock. 45 days of jogging and a canter lead each way. At this point the racehorses start to gallop, and the sport horses get time off with occasional light hacking.
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The ironic thing is the study that has been nicknamed the Maryland shin study was supposed to prove once and for all that starting TBs young was detrimental to their future. It was supposed to revolutionize the way we trained race horses forever. And it did in a lot of ways, just not the way they expected. We found out that not only was it necessary to start them young, it was necessary to push them harder than we thought as well.
I remember when I was starting out the mantra was miles and miles of miles and miles. We called it “putting a bottom on them.” Basically laying a foundation. The Maryland shin study showed definitively that miles and miles only prepared them for more miles and miles. It didn’t get them ready to withstand speed.
I trained for two decades and had one case of bucked shins in my career. One breakdown but that was a horse I bought as an older horse so no idea how he was prepared as a young horse. Could have just been a really long string of good luck but I am thankful I had the knowledge to at least attempt to prepare the horses for their best chance of staying safe throughout their careers.
I also jumped on the toe grabs are bad bandwagon once that research became available as well so I am sure that helped.
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