Riding race horses in their stalls

[mht]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by The Fjord Jockey:
Actually, you can cooshy the environment your horses are in all you want, but that doesn’t mean you are going to avoid injury or mishap.

Where in my post did I say that injury or mishap would be avoided by sending them to private facilities? Yes, they are horses, and they have been know to do some pretty stupid things.

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And by the way: Yep, I’ve been banged up (as my mom mentioned in one of the “stories above”) but our babies learn pretty much everything before they go to the track, INCLUDING working from the gate. Sometimes, manure just happens.

In our area, there are VERY few training centres. My trainer does not have one, or work out of one. The more work I can get on a horse before it gets to the track makes for less work for her. And, an added benefit is the reduced cost. Let’s see-$20/day as compared to $45/day-what would you do, knowing that the person who is breaking your horse for you is excellent?

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They’re horses, for crying out loud, and no matter how much you baby them, they are still unpredictable animals. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I also don’t see anything in my original post about babying. I was raised in a farm environment with cattle and the occasional horse. Yes, they are animals, they’re not pets.

[mht]

Having now taken about all the abuse I care to for “my” point of view, I suppose 25 years of having done it this way counts for nothing because it doesn’t concur with your points of view.

It is my opinion, I am entitled to it, as you are to yours. What works for you may not work for me. And yes, my trainer is very happy with the quality of work put on the horses before they arrive at the track, and no, they don’t have a reputation that keeps the exercise riders away from them. In fact, the morning riders and the jockeys, for that matter, quite like them.

[Rapid_Run]

Got into this topic at a late date! Hey Racetb - I think most of those colts we “broke” were actually already being ridden with a halter and lead in from the pasture!!

After leaving Rokeby and moving to Florida I was lucky enough to go to work for Tartan Farm. My husband still breaks 50+ yearlings every year the way they started them at Tartan. Before any riders get on them he has lunged and ground driven every single one of them himself. Then they are worked with in the stall for a few days and then out to the round pen. All our yearlings learn how to handle themselves alone, in a group, in a big field and they also learn lead changes and mounting from the ground (helps for those unexpected dismounts on the far side of the track!)
I don’t think that a stall is the ideal place to start babies but they do feel safe and are in familiar surroundings and I have yet to come up with an alternate choice.

[radio_talk_Aefvue_Fa]

Why yes you can Race. Hmmm, wheres the icon for BITE ME?

[Linny]

White Camry, the NY Handicap TC was disbanded years ago. The Brooklyn was run in December for a while and this year was run on the Belmont S undercard. The Met and Suburban are still prominent but the Brooklyn is a G2 now. I think that even the Suburban was downgraded for a few years in the 90’s.

[CuriosoJorge]

“(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?”

1. Because it’s a confinsed area in which the yearling feels safe.

2. Someone at the head, buckets removed. Obviously the yearling has been saddled, leaned on, etc. in preparation; this is not a rodeo ideally.

3. Yes. Well, it’s as “perfectly safe” as anything else you do around a horse if it’s done properly.

4. Normal size, 12x12 or so.

I hope that one day you have the opportunity to tour a true Thoroughbred facility. Mixing yearlings in with racing and breeding stock as you described on the other thread is not SOP for most facilities. The yearlings have their own section of the farm (or their own farm!) and a manager just for them.

[foundationmare]

Wow! Haven’t been on the board much because I’m so freaking busy minding my darlings on the track. Came to this thread late but am scratching my head over it. I’ve had a fair amount of experience in the process of breaking babies and have done so in the presence of some pros. They have all…all!..initiated the process in the stall, from initial familiarity with tack to bellying up and then planting butt on the back. It involves circling in the stall, lots of touching and smacking (at a loss for a different word) in a way that accustoms the horse to this new form of human contact. I have 100% respect for the people I’ve been working with and they produce well-broke horses that are sensible and ready to move forward in their training.

Whether or not “riding” a horse in it’s stall is safe is irrelevant. I have never felt that it was any more dangerous than sending their goosy butts out to an arena or a round pen. There’s no human/horse contact that is safe. To believe otherwise is naive. We just lost an assistant starter who had a lifetime of experience as a horseman and a pissy filly kicked him while she was being loaded into the gate.

The racing world isn’t perfect and there are too many times when we are confronted with its cruel underbelly. Let’s not dismiss the many, many people who love their racers and take good care of them. Let’s also not turn a blind eye to the sad lives of horses in other sanctioned disciplines and the poor, neglected fixtures of benign existence.

[badaboom]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”> took lessons at one of the top Jumper barns in the Midwest

I have boarded horses for about a million years at top dressage barns
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My lord TS, have you NEVER just been at a regular barn? It is quite an experience, horses, people, hay, poop…you know, the regular stuff.

I grow weary.

[The_Fjord_Jockey]

Well I don’t know what you call a pet, but pretty much all of mine are animals. Just because I work with racehorses doesn’t mean I’m into that whole “treat them like numbers” thing.

You said you send your horses to private facilities, and you said it in a tone that would suggest these facilities are better than the ones mentioned above. You also said, “All the stories above are the reason I send all of my babies to private facilities”. Sorry but that sounds to me like you think somehow the injuries that were mentioned wouldn’t happen because your horses are trained like “riding horses”.

Otherwise, I can’t really respond to your post, because the thread is about the horse’s environment, not the human’s…no matter how many cows are involved.

[Jleegriffith]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Well, I worked for a trainer that had racing Thoroughbreds and Quarter horses. All the babies were handled daily from birth, sacked, ground driven and then “ridden” in their stalls. They learned to load, clip, have manes pulled, pick up their feet. The ones who did not make it on the track were excellent candidates for riding horses. Maybe I just worked for a responsible breeder/ trainer.

Anyway, it wasn’t actually “riding”. It was technically “sitting” and “leading”. The babies got comfortable with the idea of a person putting all their weight on them and moving forward a step or two. After only about 2-3 days of this, we went to the smaller ring. Honestly, after all the ground work the babies were really wonderful. I can’t remember any ever flipping or freaking out. They all just stood there. We got a few snorts.

With in weeks we were on the track. I don’t do race horses anymore, but I wouldn’t dream of breaking a horse any other way.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My stepfather is a trainer and we have always broke all of our horses in the stalls and at one point in time we were breaking about 30 2-3yrs. You start out slow by getting them used to the tack and sacking them out. Getting used to everything flapping on them and banging around. Then lay over them for a few days while a handler walks the horse. Progressing until you are sitting astride and riding them around the stall. Then you start around the shedrow and then onto the track out in groups. It’s a step by step process.

I totally agree that the most dangerous times are when they are in open space. Boy oh boy they just don’t know how to behave. I still use this method on all my show horses and I have never had a bad one. As everyone else said the key person is your groundperson who knows what to do and how to help if you get into trouble.

[sycee]

I in no way claim to be an expert of any discipline… However, I have worked at a few fairly well-known hunter barns that have horses in the young futurities, etc. and they are all started in the stalls, as were all the young TBs that my family bred and raised. I find it much easier to deal with a young horse in a stall,with a trustworthy groundperson than any other way. After learning to stop, walk, turn, then we took them out to a round pen or ring. But it is just so much easier to have them confined where they also feel safe. Again, I’m not claiming to know any more than anyone else, just passing along what worked for quite a few professionals and myself.