I live in Virginia but work for a Maryland trainer while he is in Virginia an am supposed to get one of his when he retires. I have known Charlene for what seems like forever and asked her about who braided for her as I saw the pictures on FB.
[QUOTE=cripplecreekfrm;8494041]
I live in Virginia but work for a Maryland trainer while he is in Virginia an am supposed to get one of his when he retires. I have known Charlene for what seems like forever and asked her about who braided for her as I saw the pictures on FB.[/QUOTE]
Ahhh okay! We’d love for you to come to the shows! The MD one especially - always need new people! Hopefully this snow misses us like they keep saying (at least down here on the eastern shore), so that maybe one day I can get back out and start one of their’s that they have ready for training.
As soon as they make the decision to retire him I’m going to pick him up and he will start his second life as my pet/riding horse. And I will definitely be showing him at least at the MD State Fair. As I told Charlene I will be trying to hire you to braid for me too as I HATE braiding but I will be pulling my guy’s mane because he will not be racing anymore and his mane is scraggly anyway.
He is racing Sunday at Dover (if they actually race) and is it bad of me that when I stream his race I actually root for him to race badly?
hahah no way, not bad at all, I’d be doing that too!
You should tell the owners that sometimes riding them makes them better racers - that’s what happened with the one I was showing. He’s actively racing and raced better when ridden the day before. I think both years he showed at NJ he won the next race.
Then you can ride it now and they can keep racing it LOL
This guy is 8 and I just don’t think he wants to race anymore. In 2014 they didn’t have 2 flat lines on him and he had been thoroughly vetted, no one could find anything wrong with him. I jokenly said “he can come home with me and be my jumper because he likes to run like a deer anyway” and the thought was born. Over the past 15 years that I have worked with a standardbred I have always had at least one in the field but had to put my last one down in 2013 and have’t had one since. They are the best horses and I wish more people chose them as their riding partners.
Not all of the drivers are ripped and have a 6 pack. I’ve seen a few chubby ones! It would be similar to riding…have a strong core, but still have a layer over it. The angle of the race bike (sulkie) also helps get that laid back position.
Some owners/trainers have preference to what gait they race or train. My Grandparents preferred pacers, but would take on trotters to train from other owners. I would probably carry on that preference, if I ever got into it myself.
Not all owners train their own horses, and not all trainers drive their horses. I needed to have a “Grooms License” to be able to get into the track barns to help, Grandpa had a “Training License” and Grandma was registered as the owner. When they called in to put the horse(s) into race, they would name their preferred driver…and you just hoped someone else hadn’t asked for them in the same race!
The STB are so interesting as I learn more 
How much is a typical race bike?
How much is a harness? I would assume pacer is probably more than trotters although it appears some trotters wear a bit of a “doodad” but not as expensive as the don’t-know-what-to-call it that pacers wear to help them stay in gait.
When I watch them on the 5/8’s tracks I always wonder what the horses think when they roll by the finish line the first time and then have to go around again… man, I did this already
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The STB are so interesting as I learn more
When I watch them on the 5/8’s tracks I always wonder what the horses think when they roll by the finish line the first time and then have to go around again… man, I did this already :)[/QUOTE]
This reminds me of the very first time my now husband, and another couple went with me to Flamboro Downs. The horses are nearing the finish line for the first go round and they are all celebrating because the horse they had bet on was leading. Had to inform them that there was still another lap. And no, the horse did not win.
[QUOTE=Where’sMyWhite;8499587]
The STB are so interesting as I learn more
How much is a typical race bike?
How much is a harness? I would assume pacer is probably more than trotters although it appears some trotters wear a bit of a “doodad” but not as expensive as the don’t-know-what-to-call it that pacers wear to help them stay in gait.
When I watch them on the 5/8’s tracks I always wonder what the horses think when they roll by the finish line the first time and then have to go around again… man, I did this already :)[/QUOTE]
Race bikes can run in the thousands. Bare bones harness wo/bridle starts around 400.00 or so depending on brand. Both kinds of hopples start around 200.00 and hangers are around 80.00 and bridles run upwards of 100.00 and head halter around 30.00. Bridle accessories such as hoods, blinds are extra and bits run from around 20.00 up to lots. Boots run from your common ten dollar bell boot and up depending what kind of protection you need. I am basing my rounded prices on Canadian funds.
the last lap after the wire on a 5/8 track is generally done at a jog and many 5/8 tracks like you to turn around and parade back past the grandstand going jog-way of the track after hitting the 1/4 pole again
And more questions in watching the crawl on race changes for Woodbine tonight.
What are “blinds” vs “blinkers” (i.e., switch from one to the other). I know what blinkers are in a harness horse and to me, they are different than the blinkers a TB would wear.
What is ‘no line TBA’ ??
I like that they even listed as an equipment change how long the hobbles were. What would be the wisdom in making them longer or shorter?
Not surprised that they listed shoe changes to/from steel/aluminum.
And a PS question… what would be a judge scratch vs a vet scratch?
Blinds, according to the equipment guys are attached to the bridle, blinkers are on a hood.
NO LINE - TBA is program speak for the last race line unavailable at printing time. This happens with close starts, usually a qualifying race. It also happens with some US tracks without a bells and whistles recording system that punches the racelines right into the SC data base; yes all US racelines go there as SC hosts the data share. Bet that cleared that up nicely!!!
Hopple length depends on many factors starting with how long the horse is and going through the training down to qualifying time. As stride develops, hopples are taken in or let out accordingly - you watch how the horse fills or fails to fill the hopples keeping in mind they are for balance and nothing more. Hopples adjusted to the wrong length produce burns…generally front for too short, and back for too long. Then one has to take into account how the horse behaves on different length tracks. Some take a shorter hopple on a smaller track, some it makes no difference. Oddly, on some very flat fair tracks, a slightly shorter inside hopple seems to help some horses
Vet scratch - sick, lame, bled last start
Judges scratch - anything from ineligible for the class to transportation to other circumstances.
sk_pacer… thanks! You guys are the best.
And here i thought the people who typed in hopple spelled it incorrectly … blush. Very interesting to learn the whys and wherefores of adjustment. When you say they are for balance, not sure I understand as I was thinking they were to encourage the legs on the same side to be going the same direction - harder to see the trotting hopples to understand how they work (but for balance, then I can understand it - just don’t understand where the ‘balance’ comes in).
Vet scratch I could figure out - it was a ‘judge scratch’ that got me… kinda like a steward’s scratch?
And very cool. Last night at Woodbine there was a grey (no I don’t remember the name) racing. Sure don’t see many grey STBs.
Most pacers are born pacing now and the hopples encourage and then later balance the horse but trotting hopples are another animal entirely. Pacers will lean into the hopples for full extension…and there is also a relationship between hopple length and length of the overcheck - the shorter the check the shorter the stride; more simply, a horse’s front foot will never land farther ahead than its nose so you want that nose out as long as the horse doesn’t hog down. Balance also comes through shoeing - you will rarely see a Standardbred with long toes and underrun heels; long toes and low heels cause interference, breaking and unsoundness.
Not sure about stewards’ criteria for scratching but I would imagine it is similar.
Not a lot of greys now - the Laag line is about gone now as they were a short lived lot and Laag produced a load of greys. Something went wrong genetically with that caused a good many of them to die of cancer before they even got to 20 and that also included the non greys. The average lifespan was 16 for those horses.
sk_pacer, I’ll have to look at the overcheck (that is the piece of the harness along the neck over the head?) relationship to the hopple and reach of the front leg next time I’m watching. Fortunately as many or more pacing races as trotting
It seems the trotting hopples are for the front legs but don’t engage the rear? What is their purpose?
Also makes perfect sense on no long toes to slow breakover, esp with the pacers… I can easily imagine the potential for interference. Also, I suspect why there are so many leg doodads as well for fetlocks, cannons, knees, feet
I forgot to comment on the diversity of bridles and associated headgear wear on these horses
Felt bad last night as in one of the races at Meadowlands, coming off the far turn to start down the stretch, the favorite broke 
(not broke down, just broke the pace I think it was )… must be frustrating for the driver to be pushing your horse until a bit too hard of a push…
It is going to be hard to see the relationship of the respective length of hopples and overcheck just by watching unless you are up close and personal.
I honestly know very little about trotting hopples but at one time, they used pacing hopples crossed under the belly for ill gaited trotters.
A harness horse’s gait requires a bit of a slide upon landing as well so that is enough to keep the toes short, the feet level and at the right angle. Boots are a whole different world. Conformation usually dictates what a horse wears for boots - if a horse toes out, it will need something on the front legs. Horses that are daisy cutters usually just get shin boots, although many people cover them up with shin and knee boots and sometimes, trade knee boots for knee and half arm and some interfere badly enough that they need go-straights. Interference can be worse on smaller tracks. Bell boots are just common place equipment in some stables, regardless of gait since it doesn’t take much of a misstep for a horse to grab a quarter. You never see hind shin boots on pacers but some trotters need them as they will hit their speedy cuts.
Bridles are interesting but it seems, generally speaking, the better the horse, the less they wear on their heads. Most people don’t like to hang loads of stuff on the head but some horses need it. Bits are fascinating.
Breaks happen - sometimes just a misstep, often going faster than the horse can manage and sometimes just because the horse feels like it and the rest is pilot error or interference by another horse. With young horses, it just happens because they get rattled or speed crazy due to lack of experience.
sk_pacer, thanks so much for all your detailed answers to my questions. Fun to learn more about what I am watching… I have to admit, if I had to pick a trot or a pace to watch, I’d take the pace race
The overcheck is that bit of harness that I see running along the upper side of the neck?
Interesting on all the choices for why a horse might break - but they all make sense… I can just imagine the disappointment driving the favorite and having the break as you’re driving to the finish line. I love watching them come around the far turn and really start the drive to the finish and see how those horses (both trot and pace) can get rolling even more than when they were doing during the early part of the race
I’ll have to watch a bit more and see if there are any more questions 
(and if you want to know anything about pro road cycling… keep me in mind )
I will answer any questions I am able to…love promoting harness racing
Will pass on the cycling since riding a bicycle is not in my skill set but thanks for the offer
After all the talk of breaking… at Hawthorne (race 2) last night, the horse that crossed the line first ended up being set back to 3rd by the stewards because of a slight break (that I am not sure I saw ) at the top of the stretch…
It’ called lapped on break - any horse breaking at the wire and is lapped on the horse ahead or behind will be set back as many places as there are horses it is lapped on.
Clear as mud, right?
Horse didn’t break at the wire - horse broke at the head of the stretch for maybe a stride - I could barely see it…
