I got exactly what I needed from this post thank you all!
Do you have a trainer that you’re planning to work with? If so, I would send the post to them for feedback. My extremely non professional eye sees a very green horse who continues moving forward and seems willing to go to work. She needs flatwork, no doubt. But any young OTTB will, especially in that budget.
If you’re thinking of working with this person, maybe reach out and try to get a lesson, or go watch her school clients at a show?
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I’m hoping you will reconsider asking people to critique someone you don’t know who didn’t ask for it. However, in spite of myself I looked, expecting to see a train wreck. I was pleasantly surprised by a green horse jumping quite politely around a baby jumper course, with no running at the jumps or diving around the turns. It also holds itself off nicely and looks quite sweet. I think it was reasonably and tactfully ridden, even in the class where it was fresh and a bit playful. I’m not going to comment on anyone’s “style” unless they ask me.
You might start off your horse search by deciding if you want a hunter or a jumper
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Appreciate this, thank you! Absoutely will be forwarding to my trainer
Thank you this helps me a lot! I am trying to not get overwhelmed with looking for pain signs that could easily be something else. Gives me a lot more to think about so I appreciate that. You’re right lol, it’s more I want to try a few horses and see what fits for us as a team! Have experience and desire for both 
It’s bad form to post someone else’s videos in a way that asks for a critique on that person’s riding.
I don’t see anything that screams “horse in pain.” I see a green horse who is both a little sucked back at times and a little rushy at times and overall a little tense because of a show environment. The horse is being tactfully ridden around a reasonable sized and level of complexity course for a green horse (possibly in the middle of a wildfire?). Rider found pretty good distances actually on a horse whose gaits were not so consistent. Good eye. Rider seems kind and knowledgeable.
Per the ad this horse has been off the track for roughly a year. It’s 5. It’s green. Are you looking for a green OTTB? This is a green OTTB. This is not atypical for what they might look like and go like. I don’t see evidence of lameness. I mean, this horse doesn’t PARTICULARLY float my boat but if this had you concerned maybe you’re not ready to be screening your own sale videos yet?! Because this is just not that shocking that it makes sense to bring it to a public board and ask people to comment on the horse/riding.
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The video won’t load for me, but as far as looking for “pain signs” in fresh OTTBs, it is very common for them to be in need of a little tlc after coming off the track. Most present some degree of tension and soreness, and usually need some different shoeing. This is to say nothing of their growing bodies (which causes aches and pains by itself), lack of muscle in the “right” places and general green-ness issues.
Being able to accurately see past these things is what makes buying an OTTB so challenging. @CBoylen knows her stuff - if what you saw in the video alarmed you but not her, take that as a sign that you really need to find someone who regularly works with/around OTTBs and rely on them to guide you.
ETA: video loaded - nothing alarming, just a silly little green bean and a tactful rider keeping a lid on it at a show. Wouldn’t even blame it on being an OTTB. Given the original question, I imagine OP would benefit from looking for something a bit further along.
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It seems like a green, decent egg that is probably fairly priced. I don’t see pain. I also wouldn’t really put too much stock into what it is winning or not winning at local shows, but the fact that it’s winning at least tells me it’s consistently jumping around (aka not stopping out) and that is worth something.
If I were in the market for a horse, particularly a TB, this is the one I would scoop up to go have fun on like, tomorrow. .
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Were you able to work out the issues with the OTTB you had last year?
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I agree that you shouldn’t post people’s ads on forums but honestly the horse looks really kind and sweet I would love for any of my kids jumping that height to have a round like that 
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This looks to me like a typical green jumper (not hunter) getting a bit hot and rushy and then unbalanced towards the end of the course. But no buck, no stop, no runout. And I would say ridden by a pretty competent rider who keeps the horse on track and focused. That’s not necessarily an easy ride. She’s riding pragmatically and defensively and getting the job done.
High 4s around here would mean under $10,000. That’s not an expensive horse.
What is your own background and exposure and how old are you? What kinds of shows have you spectated at? Where are you learning about “pain signals”?
I live in a metro area with a second tier TB track and so I have seen a great many OTTB being restarted by barnmates, coaches, even by track trainers, and having their first outings at schooling shows. They are wonderful athletic horses but they are a lot of horse, and I made the decision early on not to go in that direction.
This video is exactly what I’d expect to see if a gutsy and competent trainer decided to take a green OTTB around a schooling show for exposure.
I see a certain amount of anxiety and imbalance which is to be expected. I don’t see any unsoundness but it’s hard to judge from a canter; you want to see trot for that.
My guess is this horse is getting show exposure early on because it’s a sales project. Whoever buys it will want to back off and go back to basic training for a year or two.
The anxiety and imbalance might escalate to stopping, running out, or bucking if the buyer is less skilled, or keeps pushing the horse at this level.
As with any horse, I’d vet vet vet of course.
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Yep, very typical going for a green OTTB. I like her breeding.
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Didn’t you get a horse about a year ago? Are you genuinely looking for a second horse or just looking for a way to mud sling a local trainer?
This whole post feels really low brow. For the record, cute horse and I don’t see a trainer who needs to be publicly shamed by any stretch.
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It’s the latest internet woowoo, wherein any flick of the tail is cause for immediate alarm.
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Yes, that was my suspicion but I wanted to see if the OP could articulate what they were seeing, and thought that could lead to an interesting discussion. I was wondering if OP was really trying to start a “pain signals” thread based on stuff they’d learned on FB.
But clearly OP is not interested in having a conversation since they have quite rudely deleted their post. Fortunately it was quoted in the replies. That means all our quite thoughtful comments haven’t been totally wasted.
Although I also wondered if OP was doing this to trash a local trainer, However despite that I also thought it was a useful question and thread. If someone really is so newbie that they have never seen a trainer riding a green horse, or seen a young OTTB, there are useful points about why this horse is not going around like a Equitation Finals horse as seen on Tiktok on one hand, or your dead broke lesson pony.
I’m trying to imagine a situation where anyone over the age of 12 in any kind of riding program hasn’t had a chance to see their coach or someone at the barn schooling a green horse. Also I’m curious where in North America there are no OTTB or indeed green horses at all. And where a “high 4 figures” is expensive for something sane, sound and athletic.
Anyhow all moot because OP has deleted their post and presumably left the room.
Edited to add: I just looked up the OPs posting history to see if I could get a sense of their age and experience and yes, they actually started the “Is Everything Pain?” thread a little while ago. And yes they were watching a lot of FB on this
My suggestion to that would be to turn off FB and go out and watch as much actual IRL riding as you can, including watching your coach train green horses and going to schooling shows to watch horses in development.
Something you will learn is that there are clear tension signs, but the tension doesn’t need to be pain. It can be focus on a job, it can be spoiling, it can be horse/horse interaction, it can be anticipation, anxiety or effort to do a job. It can be about balance at speed. The pain people are always comparing horses basically asleep on their feet in a field to active horses. Apples and oranges.
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darn i would have liked to have seen that video, being as I work with bebe ottbs quite often. Hate it when people delete their posts haha darn it. But I can say riding a greenie doesnt always look nice you ride to help the horse out rather than looking good doing it.
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There was absolutely nothing wrong with the ride in the video. The horse was wringing her tail a bit and trying to rush but did everything right. There was nothing off about the rider, as a competent OTTB restarter getting a green horse around a course. I assume getting miles and exposure on a sales horse which is just fine.
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I intentionally didn’t quote the video portion of the OP as I didn’t want to memorialize the uncalled for swipe at the trainer (who was doing nothing wrong.)
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Op has in the last year said looking for 3D horse and/ or hunter, depending . I dont see a hunter demeanor here, but thought the horse tried. It was green but did try.
Looks like an interesting prospect for an experienced and confident rider. Perhaps a bargain for high 4 figures
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I don’t find this hard to believe at all. There are plenty of programs in the US that don’t train their own horses, especially those that focus on bringing beginners into the sport. I didn’t ride at a barn with greenies around until high school, and they usually weren’t being worked when I was out in the evenings. Even then, watching part of a training ride and actually understanding what you’re seeing are two different things. It takes time and good teaching to develop an eye and feel for green horses. There are also lesson programs that put their riders on “green” horses (either truly green because the instructor doesn’t have anything else/doesn’t care, or just slightly more difficult but called green to make the rider feel like they’re doing something really cool) without giving them the tools or the training to really understand the process.
And there are large portions of the country without much of a sporthorse scene where most of the horses around are ranch/trail types that don’t cost that much, and even the green ones aren’t going to have the same energy levels as an OTTB fresh off the track. $10k could easily be an expensive horse depending on a person’s background.
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