OTTB to dressage

Hi There

I am working on a project and need some stories of TB’s off the track, in training but never made it to the track because of injury, too slow (you get the picture) that have made a successsful transition to the dressage ring.

Would love photos too of before and after if poss.
It may be a couple months before I have the whole thing together but I will contact you if I use your story.
You may send info to cottagefarmdressage@yahoo.com

Thanks

I have 2 ottb’s right now, both successfully doing dressage, and both raced. My gelding ran successfully through the end of his 8 year old year, including a fetlock fracture as a 6 year old. He’s 14 now and I showed him training level this past summer. He’s very close to moving up to first, except the lengthenings are giving us a hard time. My filly is 6, she only ran 3 times and was just too slow, but she is going to be an AWESOME dressage horse. I also have a few other tb’s that belong to clients that I’ve been working with. The link for my blog is in my signature, there’s lots of pictures/stories there about the horses and the progress they are making.

Thanks I’ll check it out

I have one! He raced up through the end of his 4 year-old year - he wasn’t a very consistant runner - sometimes he won, sometimes he was on the board, and alot of the time he wasn’t close. I got him when he was 6, pretty much out of the field. He’s now 9, showing 1st, schooling 2nd and some 3rd. We’ll be moving up to 2nd next year oncethe simple changes are a bit steadier.
My goal with him is to earn my bronze, and then keep going for as much as he’s comfortable/capable of handling. He’s turning out to be a pretty good dressage horse, and most people don’t think that he is a tb when they see him go - I get asked quite a bit what kind of wbx he is. I do have pictures of both him when he was racing and from him most recent show, but I need to get them scanned.

Mine ran at the track and won about 60K…not great for that industry. We’ll be showing First level this fall, schooling some Second–I too am hoping to earn my Bronze between him and my WB schoolmaster.

I got him in June from Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation! Feel free to PM me if you want more info, but perhaps you only want ones that didn’t race?

He’s very big boned and beautifully built for dressage…uphill, etc. In fact, his dam was named Dressage (I considered that an omen) (his sire was Sadlers Wells…hence the bone)

He’s, hands down, the most laid back guy in a barn full of dressage horse warmbloods! A wonderful trail horse, baby sitter, dressage horse, I think a beginner could ride him… and just a good guy to be around.

Sea Accounts is an OTTB by the 1993 Kentucky Derby winner, Sea Hero. He raced 12 times at 2 and 3 before slab fracturing his right knee.

He was given to my husband and me as a wedding present as a 3 y.o. colt.

At 4, he was the #3 stallion approved for RPSI in NA (and the youngest TB ever approved by any WB registry in NA).

At 5, he successfully completed the 100-day stallion test earning his lifetime license with RPSI. His was the second highest score ever by a TB.

He then did some jumpers and then competed through Preliminary eventing.

At the end of February this year, he started full dressage training with Emilee Reed. This spring they competed at 2nd and 3rd, qualifying for Southwest Dressage Championships and narrowly missing (63.337) qualifying for GAIG Championships.

After a break for breeding season, they’ll be back at it next week and will hopefully get qualified for both the 2nd and 3rd level Championships.

Plans for next year are 4th and PSG and then we’ll see how high he can go.

Oh, he makes nice babies, too! LOL

Not mine, but my very good friend had an OTTB Jockey Club name Copper Falcon, shown in dressage as Masterpiece. She went to NAYRC twice with him, I believe winning the team gold both times and the individual silver (maybe bronze?) the second time (1996ish?). He went on to do GP. Very cool horse, but definitely challenging. He has since passed. PM me if you want my friend’s contact info. I know she has many pics of him.

What about Keen?! The Europeans offered a lot of money for him.

I have a picture of mine on my user profile. Argentine Thoroughbred, trained to race but never did. He’s by Gem Master. He’s doing great, he’s just 5 and doing training level but we got some scores in the 70’s and qualified for Region 6 finals!

Off topic…

But yowza – Horseymama! Your TB is gorgeous!
(And your boots aren’t too shabby either ;))

Thank you, Somantu! He’s a sweety, I’ve always been partial to TB’s!

Thank you all.

You have certainly given me some great info.
COTH 'ers are the best.

Bloodlines info is great as I would like to see if there is a common bond within each of the disciplines.

Well, I better start working on this. It’s going to be a big project by the looks of things LOL!

I have a 7 year old TB out of a Mr. Prospector line that was never raced, or registered, that I plucked out of someones backyard 2 years ago. He had never been ridden when I got him, and his feet were a disaster, but he was a beautiful mover, and I fell in love with his personality. I spent a significant amount of time just dealing with his feet before we could work under saddle, and finally, 2 years later, he is ready to come out at training/first this fall.

These pics are of my trainer riding him this morning:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=60282442&l=a8a90d75d8&id=2026278

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=60282898&l=59fff1d354&id=2026278

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=60282908&l=3fd71aec43&id=2026278

check out http://www.hellohorse.com/ (The North American Thoroughbred Society (NATBS), Inc. ), especially the year-end awards page, for more names and contact info of successful sport-horse TBs!