I have zero experience with young horses. But plenty of OTTB experience as they have been the majority of the horses I e ridden my entire life. Lost my 12yo fire breathing dragon in August. Swore this time I was going to adopt a 20+ year old quarter horse that lives on air that I could just hop on bareback once in a while ( I pretty much say this every time I start my horse search search but I’m just too in love in OTTB’s for this to actually happen I guess, plus I work at an OTTB rescue so there you go…). Anyway, there is a 3.5 yo that I’ve started to fall for. He seems very calm, sweet, and steady. My question is do their traits tend to change at all as they get older? Like, my former guy apparently was a lot to handle on the track and therefore a handful at the rescue and in the years I owned him, I knew what I was getting into and he was always like that. I’m just curious if anyone has an an experience of buying a young horse ( that is fit and in shape already) and whether his/her personality and demeanor stayed the same as training progressed? Like do they tend to become unruly teens and then settle down again or can I hope that this horse will hopefully stay the same with consistent regular handling, etc…thanks for any advice!
I only have experience with one young OTTB - he was a racing fit, barely 3yo when I got him, with a happy-go-lucky, aim to please type of demeanor. He’ll be 5 in March. Overall, he is extremely similar to the baby horse I brought home, though more personable, relaxed, and easygoing at home. Off-property he is definitely jazzy, and a lot of horse - not naughty or unsafe. Just an excitable baby. He is in a low-key program, I ride about 3 days a week.
I’ve owned OTTB’s since I was old enough to pay for my own mount!. I don’t know if that qualifies me to answer since I’m certainly not a trainer but I can tell you, from my personal experience, the young ones that exhibited a good mind, were relatively vice-free, had decent ground manners and handled new riders with any level of ease or had even a spook or a little skittishness in them, as long as it was an “honest” reaction, I can honestly say that their basic personalities remained the same. And, with the exception of the usual “growing pains” and then becoming more secure in a partnership with me, allowing me to give them a basis to trust me to make the right decisions for them, I personally have never had an OTTB that changed dramatically as they aged, In other words, what I saw in the young ones in the beginning was what I experienced with them as they matured!
I got my now 7 yo OTTB as a 3 year old, and he’s pretty much the same, just (thankfully) maturing. I was lucky to be able to take him on trial, because I learned that while he has a very good brain and is very mellow at home, he also has a cheeky side and a, shall we say, “spark” in certain situations. But what I saw at the beginning is a good reflection of what I have now.
I have a friend who calls the 4-5 year old period the “wonder years”…as in “I wonder why I bought this horse!”. While I’d say my guy has been pretty much the same horse the last 4 years, we definitely did go through a bit of a “wonder year” and I have heard the same from many others. I couldn’t say how to know a horse won’t go through that teenage stage.
That’s kind of head on what I was thinking/concerned about… I guess only time will tell! I’m hoping to turn him out for a bit longer and hope he keeps his low key temperament when I start riding him.
The youngest OTTB I got straight off the rack was 4, and had serious panic issues. It took years but she now trusts people and is easy to work with. My other one was 5, and had a mellow mind. Hasn’t ever lost that pleasant personality and it just plain fun, and able to be a guest horse even if I only ride her once in a blue moon.
But I have raised a dozen homebreds over the years so if your question is really how do horses’ personalities change as they age, I can speak to that. My experience is that, given good handling, the core personality you see in a baby is what you will have: fearful, bold, calm, dramatic, social or an introvert. HOWEVER, they go through phases just as humans do, and are quite brilliant at testing limits. I have a two year old who had to go to boot camp for a bit this summer as he was being a punk and found he could intimidate most of the ladies at my barn. Got that fixed, but he gets reinforcing lessons frequently and has shown himself to be educable.
I would suggest, however, that rather than just chucking your horse out in a field (if that’s what you have planned - not sure) commit to working with him in hand a couple of times a week or more if you can. That allows you to reinforce what he had to learn to be on the track and not have him decide being feral is fun. Best of luck!
What KIND of rescue?
If he is seriously underweight, his behavior may change as he gains weight.
But if he is already in good flesh, I would not expect much change.
Great point. If he’s not healthy and is in poor shape, as he gets to feeling better, his real personality may reveal itself. Also some are fine until you really start schooling seriously and regularly asking them for full focus. Then they decide they dont care to participate in the level you are asking for. You really don’t know until you get into it.
IME with any kind of horse, the kind, sensible ones that have been properly handled tend to stay that way even when asked for more.
Some change…some don’t. Some change if they were unhealthy then get healthy. Some can change because they develop a health or unsoundness issue or are badly handled. Some don’t change. Some get a bit more opinionated at 5-6 then grow up…some don’t or some don’t ever grow up.
In otherwords…there is no way to know…no magic ball to see the future…no true general guidelines. You either love the precess of bringing along a youngster or you might not. I personally love it.
There are all kinds of reasons for horses’ personalities to change, but their fundamental temperment does not usually change. We have had horses come off the track with fire breathing dragon reputations and settle into show work happily - sometimes it was because the boys lost some parts after they came off the track (gelding horses is much less important in the race world as group turn out is rare anyway). I have rarely met a horse come off the track and go from being nice to mean and I have worked with a large number coming off the track.
I have also started quite a few horses. The biggest personality related issue is generally a “work” or “new work” related terrible twos phase. With the horses coming off the track, getting used to carrying themselves differently sometimes generates some grumpiness as new muscles are used and get sore and who want sore muscles? The level of grumpiness relates to the personality - the pleasant ones may do a bit of head tossing or stomping but then settle while the ahem “stronger” personalities may try to take the bit and run, threaten to buck or rear or otherwise throw a bigger tantrum. With starting horses, you get similar results when introducing new things.
In other words, if your horse is nice now, it will likely always be nice, just keep in mind little tantrums are probably due to muscles soreness from getting used to different use coupled with the animal instinct to NOT be sore so they can run from predators. In my head, the conversation from the horse’s end is similar to someone at the gym working on getting in shape with a trainer, “But it hurts…do I HAVE to? I’m never coming back to this gym, that trainer is mean! I don’t want leg day, I’m tired from hiking yesterday…”
Having known many OTTB’s, the fire breathing dragons stay that way or get a wee bit, but not too, mellow, and the peaceable souls stay that way.
I don’t think that’s something that has a black and white answer.
I’ve had some that come off the track are quiet as can be and stay that way, some come off quiet and get hotter as they get older (more confidence in themselves), some that come off hot and get quieter, and some that stay hot.
They get better to deal with as they get older because of discipline and learning their jobs. It really depends on the horse, their history, and their brain.
I find that lots of (but not all!) youngsters will go through 6 months or a year of “adolescence” around age 4 ish, sometimes it happens later at 5 or even 6 just depending on the horse. This little stage of rebelling has a lot of variety, from just a little attitude or mareish-ness on the ground, to the odd head flip and crow hop under saddle, to full on bolting and bucking every ride for a spell.
I find that TB’s are more prone to huge displays of attitude, super sensitive to sounds, basically looking for an excuse to be dramatic while they are in that “mood”, being super strong under saddle, and bolting and bucking super forward in a straight line. Other breeds I find have different general responses.
It’s really one of those things where your mileage may vary. I sort of laugh when someone buys a super baby 3 yo OTTB and is like OMG this is the quietest and sweetest horse ever!!! And I’m just thinking oh sweet jesus wait until it’s 4 1/2 or 5 when you start asking it for some REAL work. Lol.
I laughed so hard at this last paragraph, it’s so true!!
I agree with a lot of the above post. It’s been my experience that most will hit the Terrible 4’s for a short spell, and just on the other side of that is your solid citizen waiting to emerge. The ones that had a big break at 5 will have that spell too, just a little older.
Really, it seems like a predictable pattern of behavior during the maturing process and learning to be pushed past their “convenience zone” as their training progresses. I’ve found that the baseline personality is still who they are, but with juvenile outbursts or resistances. The ones that are hotter, flighty, or ill tempered can be downright naughty.
It’s up to you how much you’re willing to ride through during the growing pains. I think the truly rogue ones are few and far between. Most of the outbursts are kind of cute, in an “I can’t wait until you grow out of this” kind of way :lol:
Lol! That last paragraph…yeah, that was me. When I bought my first 3 year old TB, I was in love. So sweet. So willing. Bragged about him to everyone.
Then he turned 5. SO dramatic. Everything is a big deal. Doesn’t even want to step over poles without making a scene. It’s been maybe about 8 months of that so far, and I’m also in the “wonder” phase. As in, wonder if ill ever get my sweet boy back haha. Trainer says yes, be patient. She’s found that most horses will go back to their 3 yo personality after being a teenager. Here’s hoping!
:o
Obligatory not-a-trainer, but…
The OTTBs I’ve known seemed to retain their basic personality traits as they aged. I met a jockey that had ridden my old guy in several steepchase starts. According to him, the gelding had always been highly intelligent, quiet, and willing. A friend of mine has a gelding that came off the track pure piss and fire. And stayed that way his entire life. His nickname was the Dragon. You gave him a wide berth in his stall if you knew what was good for you. He had tremendous athleticism and scope and was still hunting first flight into his mid-20’s. He was like some equine Benjamin Button.
IME, it’s draft horses that undergo a tremdous mellowing out as they age. They’re downright fractious until around 10 or 12. Then they settle down into delightful, solid citizens. Must be how big dogs take longer to grow out and mature than small ones.
Well it depends. Some OTTB sellers in my area keep the horses thin, and fed no fuel like high protein pellets, alfalfa or gasp- grain. I saw one seller at a barn I boarded at that was only allowing a few flakes of a low quality hay a day until he sold… Sad. Those undernourished horses often seem like calm horses for the young riders looking for a bargain. Some of them change drastically when properly fed. Mine actually was given a long term drug to calm him that lasted a little over a month and then bam-shabang craziest horse on earth emerged. 4 years later, a ton of “natural horsemanship”, finding a boarding barn where he actually had enough pasture and one hospital visit for me- and he is almost sane. So get a blood test for drugs. Also, if the horse has ribs showing-he is not racing fit he is underfed and his personality will change when he feels good like he should.
