Why are racehorses backed in their stalls?
I rode at a training track that had 2 barns - the guy I rode for & another. The babies did see quite a lot, although not as much action as you would see at a real track. But they learned to cope with older horses breezing, horses coming towards them, passing them, etc. The long walk from the barn to the track also provided plenty of opportunities for baby idiocy and desensatization. 
It was pretty quiet, but not TOO quiet.
Red Hunter, sorry, i wasn’t meaning to pick fun, but i deal with a group of people who think that thier trainer’s way is the ONLY way, and us h/j, dressage, eventing, race and western pleasure people are all idiots who do nothing other then cripple our horses. so i couldn’t help myself. so it wasn’t directed at you, you just happened to phrase it just right, to make me unable to contain myself. that, and the fact i have nothing else to do with myself right now. LOL
Chanter, I am far too old and too heavy to be breaking horses. The bedroom would be big enough, the ceiling too low, and I don’t think it would hold up to a kick like oak will!
…and don’t forget the most important person, responsible for you and your youngster…THE GROUND PERSON. After weaning, this is the person your yearling looks to for security and behavioral cues. He or she has introduced the colt to every new experience, from grooming to shipping to blacksmith and vet…that blessed human at your colt’s head…in the stall, on the pony or standing in the gate…is a highly under rated, MAJOR part of the breaking equation.
Ditto for everything Hobie Cat posted. I used to gallop racehorses for a living. In the morning, I would gallop with the rest of the riders, on the fit, trained ones, and in the afternoons, I would break all the babies. They were pretty much ridden solely by me, until they were at the point of going around at a w/t/c and trail riding - since the track was a mile walk, on a wooded path.
We - the trainer and I - broke the babies the same as has been mentioned. First day we would saddle them, then bridle, and then ground drive, all in the round pen (though the first step was getting them to “Join Up” with us, loose in the round pen) Next day we would ground drive around the shedrow, which went all the way around the barn. If I had my way, we would stay at that step for quite a while, but owners liked things done at a faster pace, so the next day we normally backed them - and yes, in their stall. First I would lay arose them - with the saddle on - while the trainer held my leg with one hand, and the horse’s head with the other. We would circle both ways, and if the horse was OK about everything, I would swing a leg over, and circle a bit more. I always felt very safe in a stall, mainly because the trainer was an excellent handler. Really, when you start youngsters, the grounds person is the most important one there, IMHO. The day after that we would go either in the round pen, or sometimes straight to the shedrow - with or without the pony horse. Then next was riding in the arena - with a calm horse to follow, and lastly we would go to the track.
What SkyBeauty and Hobie Cat said was spot on. The only babies I ever started that were truly dangerous were the ones that had been “started” for a week or so by a H/J/Dressage trainer. Those babies always scared the heck out of me. One, was terrified of every little sound, because he had been pampered so much, while the other would just keep running backwards when it cam time to gallop.
Now, for those who say that you would never subject your show/pleasure horse to this kind of training, well to each his own I guess, but I would - and have I might add - break every horse I ever sit on this way, no matter what it is going to be when it grows up.
SO, is my way the only way? Of course not, but it works for me and my horses - well, technically ponies at the moment, lol - so, why change?
I have startedthe race horse babies in stalls because that was wthe way th farm manager nag wanted it , did I feel safe?, NO!You ar really t the mercy of whoever ishelping you, and, I have had one peson get stepped on , but,luckily not worse; if all te steps have been taken, i would prefer doing it outside, in a ring if necessary. but, I did in my younger , stupider days backone , a TB show horse to be inan open field with my older gelding there to lend “moral support”, and. also keep the colt inline Having an older horse to “supervise” made the workeasy for the colt, and, me, he, the colt,ent on to win championships in the hildrens’ hunter division at Uppervile as a 4 year old, so,I guess the training “stuck” I did not know much about TTeASM then, but realize now that we went through all te step so that carrying a rider was a"non event"
I was just informed by 2 posters on the H/J board that race horses are commonly “broken” or ridden in their stalls.
I would like for you all to expound on this if you will. (1)Why? (2)What safety precautions are taken to avoid injury to rider? (3)Do you feel this is a perfectly safe practice that poses no more danger to the rider than mounting a horse in an arena? (3)What size are these stalls?
I’ve toured a racing barn and the stalls were standard size. I cannot imagine a person mounting a young, unbroken horse in those standard sized stalls. Also, it was engrained in my head since pony club that you NEVER NEVER NEVER mount a horse in the barn aisle or in its stall for obvious safety reasons. Can you offer your opinions on this? Thanks!
Perhaps they do it because it has been proven safe 2Simple. Not because they think it is. Having grown up doing race horses, pony club (whats your rating, mine’s A), hunted and shown in the “big” shows, taken OTTB and retrained, we learn alot over the years. Keeping an open mind is how you do it. When you had at hand, mentors who no longer are around these days, we sat and listened. You watched, and you absorbed what they did. No one jumped into the show ring. No one got to ride the good stock, you earned it, every step of the way. And, stupidity in any form was not tolerated, it was plain dangerous. So not seeing eye to eye is fine. You constantly point to proper & safe horsemanship, your statement not mine, as being the only way. Without ever trying what we are talking about, how would you know?
THANK YOU RACE GANG!!! You said it all [and without the bite me icon 
]…Who has a favorite runner they broke and are most proud of??? Mine is: Hero’s Honor…a clown to break and an excellent sire…I have a soft spot for the great TURF horses anyway (:
…I’m warnin’ you guys…run away!!! 
i would argue that the reason that so many TBs end up at slaughter, broken down, whatever, is not tied to whether they are started in a stall or in a field. i can’t quite get the correlation there…
that being said, i’ve started babies for the track, in a stall, and have never felt unsafe. if you know what you’re doing, it’s no more dangerous then starting a baby anywhere else. and there’s a reason why kids have been ripped a new one for mounting in the barn aisle: they’re KIDS. minors. who normally DON’T have the best common sense, and who are CLIENTS, not employees who have been hired and paid to accept certain risks.
Ditto ditto ditto…Happy Thanksgiving from all the critters and well broke TBs at Ripton Farm…and one happy pet turkey…for now!!!
attached…“Chief”
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by mht:
All the stories above are the reason I send all of my babies to private facilities to be broken-as if they are going to be riding horses, not race horses. When they go into the track, they already know what is going on and the trainer and the exercise riders are quite grateful. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
To be perfectly fair, it isn’t the breaking process that causes badly broke babies, it is the after the breaking process that results in whether or not a horse is well mannered. A horse that is rushed to the track without being properly ridden around, taught lead changes, stopping, relaxing, etc will be a problem no matter what the initial saddling process was like. Most breaking facilities actually spend a good deal of time out in the field, hacking around and just standing after the initial saddling process. Riders usually do all of that just to insure their own safety, since they’re going to be the ones stuck riding the horse in question.
Your trainer must be an exception, but in reality, most trainers absolutely hate to get horses that have been started like riding horses. They generally won’t tell a client that, because they don’t want to offend them, but they usually don’t ask to send all of their own horses to get broke that way, either.
By and large it takes far more effort to start race-training babies who were started as riding horses, then those started in the traditional manner.
One of the more usual problems with breaking a racehorse like a riding horse is that they usually aren’t taught to gallop on the bit. They are taught to gallop, but usually on a fairly loose rein. Every time you try to gather them up for a proper gallop, they stop,or start shaking and tossing their head, because they aren’t used to being put on the bit. It usually takes weeks to teach them to gallop properly, and until then you have to beg the riders to get on them, since nobody likes to ride them with all of the associated problems, like risking getting your nose broken when the horse throws his head up to avoid the bit.
We start backing them in the stalls, but generally it is just a matter of sitting on them the first few times, and maybe leading them once or twice around, before going on to walk up and down the aisle.
We don’t have a round pen (and neither do most farms around us) but we do have a small paddock–that is the step after the aisle. Then they go out to the track after they are walk/ trot/ cantering in the paddock.
Starting them in the stalls makes them less inclined to panic and take off/ buck, and it keeps them more focused. I think it expedites things–most TBs are broken as yearlings, and don’t have time for the more extensive groundwork sporthorse babies get. They also are more respectful (and often better disciplined), at least in my experience.
Our stalls are on the biggish side, maybe 14x16? It’s not ideal, but with horses, what is?
Thank you for all the responses - it has been very interesting reading! I still stand by my position that riding a horse in its stall is just not safe. I grew up with Pony Club, 4-H, and later took lessons at one of the top Jumper barns in the Midwest. Never at any time EVER would a person even DREAM of mounting a horse in its stall. NEVER. I’ve seen little kids get in trouble for mounting up in the aisles. To do so was punishment of mucking stalls, getting a phone home to the parents, and kicked out of lessons on a “timeout” until the lesson was learned.
I have boarded horses for about a million years at top dressage barns and never once saw a person sitting on a horse in a stall. Never. I worked at a western barn where calf ropers and reiners trained and broke youngsters nearly every day. Never saw a person sitting on a horse in a stall.
So it would seem to me that perhaps people do it because they think it is safe or they are comfortable with it, and that’s fine. It’s your risk - not mine.
I will; however, stick with what I was taught from a wee child and break youngsters in the wide open space of an arena or a field (like I have always done). I only went off a youngster one time during the breaking process, and I would bet I have backed 20 babies or more throughout my lifetime. I was always the skinny one with the lightest seat, so I got the job.
If racing barns ride horses in their stalls, then that’s just fine with me. If its worked for years and never posed a problem, then by all means, carry on! For me, I will stick to what I’ve been taught to be proper and safe horsemanship. Given the number of OTTBs needing rescue from slaughter, and the HIGH number of broken down 10 year old race Thoroughbreds I’ve seen and personally worked with, it would appear that there are a couple of things in the racing world I don’t necessarily agree with. No biggie - I just don’t agree.
So again, thank you very much for the input, and lets just agree that we will never see eye to eye on this one. 
I know I was spoiled,…having Rokeby and its wonderful horsemen as my milieu in the early days…but I’ve found all race barn’s yearling operations to be excellent, and their methods professional and humane. Which is where I take umbrage at Two Simple’s uneducated criticisms in another forum: “Mounting a horse in a stall is one of the cardinal sins of horsemanship. It is extreeeeeemly dangerous. I am so glad everything worked out well, but you might not have been so lucky. Especially considering this horse was WILD.”
"Having toured a TB racing barn, I can say that their stalls were the standard size, maybe 10x12 with normal height ceilings. There were no accomodations to allow for “riding” in a stall.
So if you want to get on a crazy, unbroken horse in it’s stall, then that’s your perogative. But my life is a little too precious for me to take stupid chances like that."
…and MY reply [and many others]
Well, I’ll tell generations of excellent trainers, patient, hard working ground people, and dedicated exercise jocks that you toured a racing stable… and that the yearling industry is filled with unsafe idiots.
Leroy, if you’re still out there, God bless…I’d throw a leg over anything with a horseman like you on the ground.
There’s more…but I’ll let it go at that
Hey SeaOat! How’s it hangin’??
Hey Harry, you could always use your new motor coach as a traveling breaking stall. The bedroom should be big enough. Earn some money with those new wheels! 
llt…ROTFLMAO!!! 
God, I needed that.
HMMMM I think some of the folks who are against breaking babies with using a stall initially to get the young horse used to a rider in a quiet safe environment may have had some bad examples.
I think a lot of folks have experienced the rank or willful horse coming off the track and “maybe assume” that it is from traumatic training and the track…
I train jumpers and eventers and what I can say is that many of the horses I get from certain trainers are amazing because the staff on the farm or where the yearling are sent are amazing. A few of the trainers we get these horses from walk, trot, canter, swap and are broke to the leg better than most horses that have spent time with a english or western trainer. WHY because the people breaking them know that people at the track will be putting their lives in the hands of the people starting these colts.
Sometimes I have been called to pick up these horses at the track and other times it is clear at the farm that these horses are not going to run. I have been able to watch the work with theses babies and there is no drama, there can not be as these horses cost more than most of these so called show pampered horses even dreamed of being worth. The colts at both farms here in california are started in stalls, where many firsts have happened. There first foot handling, first groom, sacking out and first tack up! These babies feel safe there and with the people who do hundreds of babies just like them.
I realize it is not for many of the warm blood youngsters or other breeds who have been left in a field to mature and are now 4 years old. I would not get on one of them in a stall either.
And when we get them off the track that have not had good starts I send a few back to the ranch in the gilroy area and they are RE_STARTED and I know and trust them. some of my jumper friends are shocked that I would send them to a track trainer but the proof is in the pudding an they do a great job!
