Like everyone here, I want to welcome you and encourage you with your plans. Good info here already for you. On the OTTB question, I also ride TBs, pretty much exclusively. Some raced, some unraced. They suit me, and my riding style, whether I am doing hunters or jumpers. If you have not been riding over jumps before, even being an intermediate rider, one directly off the track may be more than you need as a first project. But one that has already had the change over training may well be fine for you. One that is already started jumping, has some experience and training already. So don’t count them out.
It is always best to start out in the hunter and eq divisions, because that is where you learn finesse and attention to detail. That is where you learn what you will need to know later. Winning prizes is never the goal, or shouldn’t be, especially when you are new to the sport. Those who skip learning the basics, the finesse of riding a course correctly and jump right into the jumper ring without this, tend to be limited in the long run. Because they tend to never learn. These days, the shows are offering very low jumper classes, encouraging entries from people and horses who probably should not be in the division IMO. Don’t be sucked in, this is just the show making money, encouraging horses and riders to run for time to win before then actually SHOULD be doing so. When you are comfortable doing a 3 foot hunter course, and 3 foot equitation course, and perhaps finding good placings regularly from skilled judges, move on into the 3 foot jumpers, and give it a try at that point.
When you have had experience with many shows, and lots of courses of jumps in each of any of the divisions, then it is time to go looking for a fresh OTTB, and do the changeover of careers training for him/her. When you have the jumping experience to share with the horse.
