Standardbred Racing Lines question

[equinelaundry]

Hello,

I’ve never posted about racing before so please forgive me if I’m in the wrong forum. I just adopted my new mare from New Vocations and was wondering if there were any posters who could give me an idea on temperament, retrainability, etc. with regards to her bloodlines.

I’ll be glad to post her pedigree but thought before I wasted too much time/space I’d ask if it were as easy to do as it seems with TB’s!

Thanks so much,
Kristie & Arm’s Reach

[2ndyrgal]

I wouldn’t worry too much about her bloodlines

I’ll tell you that Standardbreds are possibly the most easy “re-training” projects ever, because they get exposed to so much at an early age. Most of them will stand still for tacking up almost from day one, most of them will stand quietly in crossties for hours. They already know left, right and whoa.

Standardbreds tend to be very “honest” horses, as in, what you see personality wise, is usually what you get.

I’ve only ever met two who didn’t/wouldn’t trot and I’ve never met one who wouldn’t canter.

Your success will largely depend on what you want her next job to be and your training skills. Most of them are very nice to work around, though to be fair, there are exceptions. Likely those exceptions would not have made it thru the rescue/rehome process.

Good on you for taking a former racehorse on, and good luck and let us know how it goes.

[Texarkana]

I don’t know much about Standardbred bloodlines, but I do know the majority of them have rock solid temperaments. I have never noticed a trend in the few anomalous “difficult” ones I’ve met and any certain bloodline.

I got to care for the stallion Artsplace for the last months of his life. He is still one of my favorite horses I’ve ever known. Great, great stallion for sure!

[Big_Tag]

I looked your mare up real quick. I don’t know nearly as much about pacing bloodlines as trotting, but Western Hanover (your mare’s dam-sire) somewhat reinvented the pacing look; he was a very smart-headed, athletic-looking horse and he passed that on to his sons/daughters. Your mare’s sire, Allamerican Native, was a really nice racehorse and stood stud at Hanover Shoe Farms (the biggest name in Harness Racing) for several years with some success…he has some really nice racemares, less so on the male side.
As far as sporthorse aptitude, I don’t know that there’s much consistent data to support “so-and-so’s line is good at ____.” Temperament-wise, there are some pedigree extrapolations you can make, but again, I don’t know all that much about the pacing lines
I see your mare picked up a bit more chrome than one might expect on a STB. I am sure she is lovely!

[mommy_peanut]

Just curious as to which STB you adopted, if you don’t mind sharing. I’ve been looking at a couple, but man they sure don’t stay available long…not a bad thing

I’ve always been under the impression(maybe falsely) that once a pacer, always a pacer. That it’s rather hard to get them to trot consistently under saddle. How much truth is there to that?
I’ve liked a few, but they have been pacers so I haven’t checked into them any further, as I need a horse that will WTC under saddle… not pace/rack.

[Laurierace]

I admit to knowing absolutely zero about standardbreds and their bloodlines but there might be people here who could help you if you told them her name.

[Texarkana]

The horse’s name is Arm’s Reach, it’s in the OP’s initial post.

[mommy_peanut]

[QUOTE=Texarkana;7055321]
The horse’s name is Arm’s Reach, it’s in the OP’s initial post. :)[/QUOTE]

LOL… oops

[Gestalt]

I love STB’s, but my current horses temperament is completely opposite of the other standies I handled. She is a bit of a hot head and is also spooky. I have gone through ulcer meds, feed changes and various vet checks to come to the same conclusions as the cowboy thats been riding her, she is a horse with a tougher mentality.

There is a poster here that is very informed on STB’s. Through pm’s she told me about this horses breeding and that the stallion had a difficult temper.

“This horse” means mine, not the op’s.

[equinelaundry]

Thanks so much for the information! I told myself my next horse would be strictly trail. I received my application approval from New Vocations and thought I’d have a looksie at Hennessy Hanover. After inquiring about him Jennifer suggested a possible match with another who hadn’t been listed yet due to pics & videos. I took my trailer with me “just in case” and immediately fell for Arm’s Reach; didn’t look at another. She hadn’t been listed yet and was reclaimed by New Vocations. The TN man had adopted her out about a year ago and requested NV take her back because he didn’t feel she was being cared for properly. She arrived back in OH on 5/31 (my birthday and I took it as one of many signs!) hind end covered in rain rot (still not quite healed), hooves that had 2" trimmed off a couple weeks after arrival and still need another inch or so that hopefully will come off tomorrow; her back hooves were the same and they have these funky spoon-like indentations in the middle of both rear hooves. I can’t figure out how she was hitting herself to get those. She was also really skinny, and failed as a racking horse. She also came back w/numbers branded on both hips in addition to her own freeze brand. She has no pace in the pasture so far.

On a good note she’s supposedly got miles & miles of trails on her and her above issues were being taken care of and continue. She’s gaining weight but I’d been giving her ~1.5# of Safe Choice 3-4x day to help her along but at 14% I think it was too much. She was wired. I’m going to find a 10% to go with her unlimited hay. I’ll have to have her on something since it wouldn’t be feasible to feed BP and soaked cubes should we go camping.

She’s been here a week yesterday and I just love her! She’s settled in but it was a few days before that happened. If you opened her stall door she’d spin a few times and then park out. The first 4 days she’d eat a bite of food and look behind her, grab another bite, look behind her, leave grain to see if anyone was going to sneak up on her, go back to eating and start it all over again. I think she’s getting it she’s safe from someone stealing her food. She walks quietly on a lead, is learning to trailer in my straight load w/ramp. Kicked like crazy on the ride to my friend’s indoor 3 miles away but quit 1/2 way there, unloaded straight with lots of praise, and loaded & came home like a champ.

I hope to take her to a groundwork/obstacle clinic at the end of the month. I’ve got 2 Shriner’s who regularly ride in parades putting me in the middle of them for trail rides in the near future and hopefully will live the dream of going through water & over bridges! At a walk mostly!

Gestalt-I’d love to have that COTH member’s name if you remember. I’d love to know if her few quirks are inherited or man-made.