Now go out and learn everything you can, from the best in your chosen sport. Go straight to the top and watch and learn. I mean watch, a lot of kids aren’t interested unless they’re ‘doing it.’ If someone is teaching ask to stand in with them. Find a coach who explains what they see and why it’s happening and how to fix things right, how to build a program and develop a good horse. Not just how to passenger and win.
And stay humble it is an admirable trait. Recognize and thank the people who help you along the way. Treat all of horses right and partner with them. The goal is not the ribbons or the wins - it’s the day that that true horseman steps up and recognizes you and comes to tell you that they saw you and that you did right.
[QUOTE=TripleCrownHopeful;8055130]
Ok I’ll make it clear, I have a 100k budget for the first year of the mares cares, it’ll increase when she’s in foal, which as I stated will NOT be for a long LONG time. I’ve also just found out that they sold the mare I wanted and my friend convinced me to put off buying one for a few years. Instead I will be getting an 11 year old quarter horse who is an excellent barrel and pole horse that I just need to retrain a bit seeing as he hasn’t been ridden much lately except for shows. I’ll be taking the budget I had for the mare and I’ll use it for his care in case any of you are thinking I’m financially unable to provide for the horse.[/QUOTE]
Take 50k to the sales and BUY a yearling or two year old with pedigree and performance then. Use the other 50k to get that horse to the races. Glad you listened to your friend, hope your 50k sale purchase makes it all the way for you honestly.
[QUOTE=TripleCrownHopeful;8055130]
Ok I’ll make it clear, I have a 100k budget for the first year of the mares cares, it’ll increase when she’s in foal, which as I stated will NOT be for a long LONG time. I’ve also just found out that they sold the mare I wanted and my friend convinced me to put off buying one for a few years. Instead I will be getting an 11 year old quarter horse who is an excellent barrel and pole horse that I just need to retrain a bit seeing as he hasn’t been ridden much lately except for shows. I’ll be taking the budget I had for the mare and I’ll use it for his care in case any of you are thinking I’m financially unable to provide for the horse.[/QUOTE]
Okay. So you are one of the 1%. Big Whup. Racing really doesn’t care.
What are you going to do, and how are you going to feel, when little IWantRoses shinbucks on opening day? (been there, done that, got the tee shirt! You know what they told us? “Welcome to racing luck!”)
If mom has issues, they could be inherited. Even if you breed to the most expensive, sound stallion on earth, there can still be inherited weaknesses.
OR, little IWantRoses could turn out to be a filly. How many fillies have won the Derby? Please go look at those numbers.
You can get your back up all you want at people here who are giving you very good info. Racing doesn’t care. At some point, someone will say to you, “Welcome to racing luck!” :lol: Edit: This is what happens when I haven’t had enough coffee and don’t read things all the way through. :lol:[I]
Glad a[/I]bout the quarter horse. Sounds like a better fit.
OP, I’m so glad you listened to the advice given. It seems we lose a lot of posters when they don’t get the answers or advice they want and the thread quickly becomes a train wreck.
What I’ve learned from being a COTH member…
Lurking is an excellent skill. You get to learn from others mistakes without embarrassing yourself. Yes, the answers can be harsh sometimes, but they very often carry a lot of truth and sage advice.
There are a ton of really knowledgeable posters on here. People who are willing to share their time and experience with complete strangers. I cannot even tell you how invaluable that is. I am so grateful to this community for all that I have learned over the years.
Graciously accept advice, even if it isn’t what you want to hear. Keeping your mind open to differing advice allows you to continually learn throughout life. A pleasant side effect of this is that open minded people tend to be much more fun to be around and seem (at least to me) to be happier people overall.
As a middle aged lady, here is my take on life dreams…
Don’t let these dreams dictate your life or be all consuming. Feel free to change your dreams. Sometimes they require more sacrifice than they are worth.
I think just about everyone on this board wanted to be at the top of his/her sport, whether it be an Olympic level rider, or trainer, or whatever. Just because you didn’t attain those dreams doesn’t make you any lesser of a person.
To be an excellent horse person who constantly strives to improve is a skill that is sometimes lacking, even in the best riders.
My mature conclusion in life is when I came to the realization that you don’t end up getting everything in life, you end up getting some things that you never even knew you wanted.
Just in 2 days here your plans changed. You’re young, the best part about that is that your life lies in front of you. My advice to teens is to learn to open doors for themselves in life. Put one foot in front of the other, work hard, be honest with everyone, learn who you are so you can be genuine.
Glad to read that you found a horse that you can ride now in the sport that you enjoy.
Owning racehorses is not for the faint hearted. What’s the best way to win a small fortune in racing? Start with a large one!
I have fostered several retired racehorses for CANTER as well as owning three of my own. Some of them were extremely well bred (think stud fees of $50K and more), some showed early speed and then were injured, others were just not fast enough, ever. All of them were lucky to find second careers as riding horses. None of them cost me more than a few thousand dollars and several were free.
My own OTTB was sired by a horse favored to win the Kentucky Derby (he didn’t), but he was the 1990 Champion 2-year old colt. My horse won about 70K before he was retired, due to an injury. He was 6 and never going to win the $2-million plus that his sire earned. Still, he earned more than many of the horses I see coming off the track so maybe he didn’t cost his connections too much money. I paid $300 for him and he came with a winter blanket.
There is still the odd super horse that comes out of an unexpected breeding but they are rare as unicorns. And they likely still come out of well-bred stock.
Enjoy your horse and don’t be afraid to dream, but make sure that your dreams are grounded in reality.
OP, I am so glad to hear you decided to go with a quarter horse to do your poles and barrels with. It seems like a better fit for you right now.
If you want to get into TB breeding, that’s great! Some of us don’t like what racing does to the horses, and all of us hate what backyard breeding does, but the industry does need knowledgeable, skilled, and responsible breeders. If you want to do THAT, I think you’ll find people being much more supportive.
Step 1: Get comfortable with TBs. Not racehorses, not babies, not green beans, but skilled and schooled sport horses. Unfortunately, this will mean finding a different trainer. You don’t have to leave yours since he/she may be a skilled western rider/trainer, but they don’t have the skills necessary to help you with this breed. Here is how I know that:
[QUOTE=TripleCrownHopeful;8054474]
…he wouldn’t stop so my riding instructor said to pull back on the reigns and I did and he started going so fast everything looked like a blur… Finally everyone yelled for me to just jump off and I did…[/QUOTE]
That’s not good because,
TBs, especially OTTBs, are different. Just like an amazing reiner, they have different buttons. A very basic button is pull = go. Trainers who are experienced with TBs will know this and help you learn how to work with the horse and their training.
Step 2: Once you’re comfortable again with the breed and understand some of their basic quirks, start learning more about racing/breeding. Shadow people, volunteer, observe. Listen, don’t speak. Read everything that has ever been written on the topics. Then begin to ask questions.
Step 3: When you have the basic skills (not just knowledge) you need, apply for internships and entry level jobs with experienced racing breeders. Learn how to pick great broodmares and match them with ideal sires. Learn how to care for the pregnant mares and how to handle the foals. But don’t just learn how to do it when everything goes right, learn what happens when everything goes wrong. Experience the loss of a mare or foal. Feed the mare who can’t keep weight on. Work with the yearling who does not understand personal space.
Step 4: Work your way up from an apprentice. Stay with the experts, but take a bigger role in the operation. Be the one who is (or is helping to) make the real decisions.
Step 5: Once you’ve been making the decisions for a couple of years, start keeping your eye out for a mare of your own. Be patient. Wait for the great one. Wait for the one that checks off every box on your (hopefully long) list and then some. When you find her, sleep on it overnight. If she still checks the boxes in the morning, buy her.
Step 6: Spend the next year or two or three researching stallions for her. Use the knowledge and connections you gained over the last decade or two of experience.
Step 7: Then breed her. Breed her with your eyes wide open that even if this foal is healthy, he will probably never win a race. And even if he wins a race, he will likely never win a big one. And even if he wins a big one, his chances of succumbing to a serious injury are great. But breed because you’ve put together the very best match to increase your odds of getting the very best offspring you can.
All of this will take time. If you can devote your life to it, it may be achievable in 10 years. If not, if you need a job, or have a family, or want friends, it could take you 30-40 years to learn what you need to. But it’s a journey you need to take and time you need to invest.
The reason why everyone is “crushing your dreams” is because of this:
No 18 year other know “just about everything” about anything. Period the end. Most 50 year old professionals don’t. This is going to sound harsh, but you need a slice of humble pie. The fact that you think you know so much makes you VERY dangerous to our industry. THAT is why everyone is jumping on you. Step back, realize you don’t know ANYTHING, and begin to learn. That’s the only way to make it in this industry, and that’s the only way to survive on COTH. :lol:
Late to the thread, as usual. But as a many, many decades loving
TBs owner, I always wanted to own and train a filly to win the triple crown. A guy who worked for my father bred TBs here in GA and raced them in Florida when I was a kid. I got to skip school to visit with the mares and foals down by the FL line and with the stud who was kept up here.
I’ve owned 3 ottb mares, which I did not breed. I love ottb mares because they as so hot that they bounce of the stall walls. And because they are smarter than 99% of the people. I did not breed any of my 3, 2 of whom had had foals before I bought them, because I would not have produced a horse that would win.
TB mares are someone that you have to really love to be able to handle them and have them trust you. I was lucky to have had my 3. I’d love to have another someday, but I board my horse (1/2 KY TB german Hessen) and his own mare (an ATA trakehner) so I cannot afford one now.
I would not suggest that anyone who has not taken english lessons, wasn’t in a western drill team, and hadn’t ridden since she was 6 months old, as I grew up, get a TB mare. I love them. They love me. But if you don’t win their respect, watch out! And don’t breed just any TB mare. Even the ones with good bloodlines and conformation as mine were. Too many unwanted TBs at auctions.
Take the advice, OP, that people here have offered you. I once called a guy about buying a stallion when I was a teenager. He politely told me why I did not need a stallion to ride. (And I’ve had 2 stallion wannabes, including Cloudy, so I know what that nice guy meant when he said studs are difficult to handle!)
[QUOTE=phoebetrainer;8054695]
I am a huge fan of TBs - Off the track, breeding, racing, whatever - BUT - this really doesn’t sound like a good plan. If you want to breed a triple crown winner, you need to get to know TBs - not quarter horses, barrel racers and western riding. You would serve yourself better by getting a job in a racing stables or even spending a week with a trainer - so that you really know what TBs are all about. As others have said, there are novice friendly TBs and other TBs. The winners of the Triple Crown tend to fall into the other category. They will be highly strung, quick to react, want to move fast all the time. You need to get used to handling and working with this sort of horse, rather than handling horses who will tolerate novice behaviour.
And - DO NOT BREED THIS MARE!!! If she came off the track at 3 and hasn’t been bred then she is not a TB brood mare prospect. If you want to “have a go” at breeding, you would be more sensible to breed a breed which tends to the more placid. Mare and foal will both be easier to handle for a novice.[/QUOTE]
People who know what they’re doing, from one end of the budget scale to the other, have tried to breed a Triple Crown winner. So far, even figuring out what makes a Derby winner is a gamble. If a mare has any value at all, she’s not getting sold off as a riding horse.
Plus breeding, foaling out, raising, breaking, training…I got a first-hand taste now of what that costs with grown, at the track, horses. And I’m in a completely bizarre position where the horses are both paying their own way at the moment (covering training costs and entry fees with wins.) It’s bizarre because that almost never happens. And before that the majority owners coughed up a LOT of money to train them, feed them, start them. And that was before either was even on the graded-stakes radar. That was just the cost of average horses. So unless you have tens of thousands of dollars socked away, don’t breed to race, and unless you’ve got a mare with salable bloodlines and thousands socked away for stud fees and foaling board and a prep company, don’t breed to sell. You cannot do it in the back yard. Period. Sorry, you can’t. You’ll end up with garbage that runs at cheap tracks for a $5k tag if you’re lucky.
As for riding TBs, my first was an OTTB and my current horse is. It would have gone a lot better for me as a kid if they were somehow swapped. You could have sold my current horse as a pony-ride animal the day he left the track. Dead quiet, push-button whether he’s walking or galloping, extremely laid-back. Old horse I had as a kid? Four, recently gelded, and washed out probably because he didn’t have any good sense and wasted far too much energy being a baby brain. You need to have a good sense of the horse you’re buying. I’d have no problem with a first-time owner buying a horse like Lucky: a gelding who ran until at least five or six, that the trainer likes having in the barn, that gallopers like riding (because they know they’re not getting a horse who’s going to try to kill them when they work him), who mentally stands up to the racing routine. The ones who make it that long are generally smart, good at preserving themselves, and don’t make trouble. They aren’t likely to be world-beating show horses or the flashiest, fanciest animals, but that’s a small trade-off to have your first horse not be a fire-breathing dragon.
I also would have been a lot better off if someone had explained to me what the buttons on a racehorse are (ie, they generally are kind of vague about leg commands, steady pulls on the reins don’t mean what you think they mean, and how they’re used to transitioning between gaits.) Riding Lucky was a lot easier because by the time I got him, I knew racing people, I knew how the horses were trained, I knew what ‘language’ he was used to hearing. Getting on him was a lot less terrifying than the cutting horse my BO was thinking of buying (who was dangerously herd-bound and hadn’t been ridden in forever), or even some of her ‘backyard’ horses that were allegedly kid-safe, but had training gaps and were used to trying to get away with things. Lucky was used to having a job and a work ethic. But it was a long time into my riding before I knew what I needed to know to pick an OTTB like that.
Not that this was the OP plan via her post but there are more and more ottb and otqh who are turned into barrel horses.
Assuming that a western trainer can’t work with a ottb is not true.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;8054774]
Those numbers are so so so so so low.[/QUOTE]
I was going to say, maybe if you’re racing in Indiana, or Ohio, or New Mexico. Not to mention you CAN get good stallions in the $10k range, but you have to know what you’re looking for and they have to let you on the books…
I’m in the weird position of investing in horses who’re paying their own ways right now. We’re fully aware that could change tomorrow if one gets hurt or runs a bad race. And that’s “covering costs.” They haven’t remotely made enough to pay back the majority owner for the costs of buying and training them, which I’ve never asked about because I really don’t want to know. You never, ever, go into this with the idea of getting rich. If I had the money to be a solo owner, I’d have enough to hire a bloodstock agent and go in to buy what I want, not gamble on breeding it from a mare no one in racing wanted to keep to breed. If I picked up an OTTB mare from CANTER or FLF to breed, it would be because I wanted a Connemara crossbred. (Which I do want to do someday when I have a few years. My dream riding horse is a Connemara/TB.) I would never, ever breed in my own backyard if I were aiming to race the horse. There’s a reason to pay experts-enough can go wrong with them running the show.
[QUOTE=roseymare;8055372]
Not that this was the OP plan via her post but there are more and more ottb and otqh who are turned into barrel horses.
Assuming that a western trainer can’t work with a ottb is not true.[/QUOTE]
Lucky’s favorite thing that we’ve tried playing around is barrels. His turning radius isn’t great, but he figured out sprinting for the timers the second or third time we tried. Loves it far more than jumping or dressage. He’ll never match my friend’s old Poco Bueno mare I got to play on when I was a kid (she had catlike turns) but he clearly understands it and likes it as a job.
[QUOTE=TripleCrownHopeful;8055345]
I’ve asked for this to be deleted, thanks to everyone for all the harsh advice :)[/QUOTE]
:sigh: Why do I even try?
[QUOTE=roseymare;8055372]Not that this was the OP plan via her post but there are more and more ottb and otqh who are turned into barrel horses.
Assuming that a western trainer can’t work with a ottb is not true.[/QUOTE]
This is great! I don’t think most of us are assuming the trainer can’t work with an ottb because he/she is western, but rather because he/she wasn’t able to coach the student through stopping a horse and instead instructed her to bail.
Harsh, but much needed advice. I promise, I really am thankful for all of the advice. I understand all of you are older and much more experienced Than me and I thank u for all of the much needed advice. You guys have really opened up my eyes. Thank you
I’ve never lunged while sitting on a horse, is that something most people learn in their lessons? I’m not sure why I haven’t done that hm. Great article though I loved reading it, thank you for posting it
