OTTB is perfect, except

[ThreeBarPocoGal]

My new OTTB is awesome. He is about a week off the track, and I bought him directly from the track two days ago. He’s beautiful, he’s so smart, super easy to work with, and he just makes my heart full. We are just doing basic groundwork for the moment, of course, and he’s doing great.

BUT… he does not understand turnout. Today he was put back in his stall because he would not stop running like a lunatic. Texas summers just aren’t the time to do that. He was lathered in sweat so the BO had him brought in, hosed off and stalled. I headed to the barn as soon as she texted. By the time I got there (I’m all of 5 minutes away) he was as calm as can be, munching hay in his stall like nothing ever happened.

The obvious… he feels safe in his stall. He’s been stalled for years.

How do I get him to understand turnout? If he understood what turnout was, he’d certainly like it.

[halla]

I ride at a place that restarts a ton of OTTBs and for turnout they start in the roundpen until they’re fine there (a day or two maybe? Varies by horse) then go out in a small paddock nearby and repeat, then a medium paddock with a friend or two. They’re all close together so can always see other horses. They catch on pretty quickly. Obviously not everyone has that kind of setup though.

[Demerara_Stables]

Time. Also smaller spaces to start out with, and near friends and/or near the barn so they can see the activity. Eventually most can go out in large fields with friends, but like you said, they just don’t get it. I had one that took a few weeks to learn how to eat grass. When she finally went out when other horses it took her a week of watching them to figure it out.

[RhythmNCruise]

Is he out alone or with other horses? If he could have a calm friend or two that won’t join in on the shenanigans, he might catch on quicker to what turn-out is supposed to be. Or at least some direct next-door neighbors.

If he’s already out with others, that’s a tougher situation. Maybe a calming paste or something to help him chill a bit while out?

[cedarlake]

Turnout can be incredibly overwhelming if they aren’t accustomed to it. Imagine it this way:

In your young childhood years you are allowed to hangout with friends, explore the world around you, and only have a few stressful times in your life. Then, life really changes. You are taken from your friends and your home and locked in a small room. Sure, you get to communicate with another species that doesn’t speak your language, and you can see other people, but you can’t touch them or have any sort of relationship with them. You are allowed to be outside for maybe 1 hour but that consists of being around this different species and occasionally being with other people. But it’s now so sporadic that you aren’t really sure how to talk to them. So you don’t. This goes on from 2 years to upwards of 5 or 6. All this happening during your teenage years.

Now you go somewhere else where the vibe is much more laid back. You are turned out in this HUGE space, maybe with fellows, maybe alone. But for years your life had 4 walls and seeing everything all at once is quite overwhelming. You also have new neighbors who assume you know how to talk to them so you don’t. Running is what you were taught to do so you run and run until a different species comes and gets you and puts you back in your 4 walls. No stimuli, and this is what you’re used to.

With all that said, I hope it can shed light on these OTTB’s. We want to do right by them but many people rush this process and completely overwhelm them. Allow the horse to start small. Meet horses outside a fence where they can walk away. Find a buddy they really connect with and let them be with them for a minute. This will help get the horse used to having the freedoms you want him to have, and allow him to explore how to be a horse again.

[beowulf]

Just want to debunk the myth that TBs aren’t used to turnout and/or don’t get “any for years”. Most TB foals have better access to fields and turnout than the average horse could ever hope for. Some don’t even see stalls. The first few years of a TB’s life is typically in herd situations, foal/mare bands, and out 24/7. Once backed and racing, many go back to private farms in the off season and are chucked out 24/7. Many of the yearlings prepped for the yearling sales are literally pulled from fields.

Put him out with another horse. He knows what turnout is - what he doesn’t know is what his new routine is.

[Mcl1]

I agree with everyone else about putting him out with another horse. My TB (who was not fresh off the track) ran like an absolute idiot until I put him out with another (calm) horse and he settled down almost immediately. Also, I found that hand walking around the pasture first helped as well.

[endlessclimb]

@beowulf

Most TB foals have better access to fields and turnout than the average horse could ever hope for.

Amen to this. “Didn’t know what grass was,” my ass. Too stressed to eat, maybe.

[BrownDerby]

Perhaps start slow and build a routine. You could hand walk and graze in the paddock after working or even do your groundwork in the paddock. Eventually turn him out after work for maybe five minutes and bring him in before he becomes upset. Expand on this once he understands that the routine is that he will be returning to his castle and is not being marooned forever. They are used to routines run with military precision and he just needs the reassurance of a new one.

[Demerara_Stables]

@endlessclimb

@beowulf

Most TB foals have better access to fields and turnout than the average horse could ever hope for.

Amen to this. “Didn’t know what grass was,” my ass. Too stressed to eat, maybe.

This horse was born and raised in Southern CA. I doubt she saw grass her entire 5 years.

And lest you think that’s BS, I personally met a warmblood breeder in Southern CA that looked horrified when I asked if her mares and foals were on fields. She said “no, they never get grass, only hay.” It’s a different world out here.

[cedarlake]

I do have to disagree. I did TB’s for 10 years. Yes mares and foals are out, and are yearlings. But many yearlings are stalled at least 8 hours a day to prepare them for the new life on the track. Many horses that raced also didn’t get a real off season unless they were injured. And if this was the case, the had limited turnout time.

I’m sure there are places that do this, but I’ve worked quite a few farms in my years and once they hit the track they were stalled. Spring/summer was here in KY and then many were moved to where racing was a bit warmer. But that was my experience.

[mmeqcenter]

To be fair, that would far more likely be a by-product of being in a desert without grass since birth, not a result of being an OTTB.

[treebeard]

Many trainers at the track near me have down time for their horses off season instead of sending them to another track to race all year. These horses are then turned out for the winter.

[Demerara_Stables]

Agreed.

Who knows where the OP’s horse came from, just sharing my experience with one who acted similarly in turnout.

[rogueknits]

Do you have a small medical/quarantine paddock? My barn has had a few of these cases of “doesn’t know how to turnout”–typically stepping down from big show careers. We generally put them in a small med paddock (about 20x20–bigger than a stall but too small to really run around in) for a few weeks to get them used to the idea. This gets them out of the barn, they can see horses in the surrounding paddocks, and they can learn that outside is just another place to chill. Then, they graduate to our “safest” paddock that has the fewest rocks, is fairly level, and is closest to the barn so we can keep a close eye in case they start to be silly.

[Amberley]

Yeah this makes no sense. TBs grow up on grass, they get turned out while racing and in the off season all the time. Plenty of them are in stalls where they can interact with other horses and they ride out together daily.

Your experience is not the norm and sounds suspiciously like the misinformation spread on tiktok and Facebook.

[cedarlake]

I mean, I worked farms for 10 years. It really is normally for them to not be turned out once on the track. Most places do not have the space nor are they going to risk injury. I have multiple friends that are outriders, jockies and trainers. Across the board this is the conversation we have.

Riding out together and interacting in the stalls are far different than being able to share a paddock together. It changes the conversation completely.

[NaturallyHappy]

We have had a few from the track who took a bit of time to settle. As someone said upthread, their routine was turned upside down. We used a bit of ace or trazodone to help those horses.

We had a western pleasure trained QH who was the worst. He came from a barn w the indoor attached. They did not turn out nor did they ride outside. He is now a very nice horse but it was sad to see how confused he was initially. He didn’t run- he just stood frozen in place.

[RAyers]

Not knowing the situation @ThreeBarPocoGal, I am on the side of putting horses out with buddies or at least in pens where they can actually touch another horse when first being turned out. I am with others here that OTTBs get a ton of turnout and live out in their first years as well as in the off seasons. They understand turnout in the context of being/seeing other horses.

My OTTB at 2 1/2 went and lived with a herd of 40-50 running QH foals before he came home. He has lived out so much now that he is horrible in a stall unless other horses are in the vicinity.

Good luck with your new buddy!

[Amberley]

Again, that’s not the norm where I grew up. Nor is racing year round. Don’t assume everyone does it the same.