I hope he finds a good home. He is 16 years old and has raced 367 times. They describe him as a war horse and he certainly is one.
True to Mach, born in Canada in 2009.
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OMG - if only I could. He’d be hanging out with my girls. What a nice guy!
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I love a good Standardbred. It’s not unusual to see race records of 100, 200, or 300+ starts which can be shocking if you’re used to TBs 
some of them race almost every week
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Hope he finds his person. I grew up around Standies and owned one. Such nice horses.
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He’s a 10. What a nice looking horse with what sounds like the best temperament. I was telling a friend this morning that of all the things I’ve done in my past, the one thing I’d love to still do now is get a good trail horse and just go wander in the hills. If I inherit or win big money that’s exactly what I’ll do.
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After saying I was going to do it for years, I brought home my first Standardbred from New Vocations in 2022. She “only” had 180 starts because she was retired to be a broodmare. 
I brought home my third standardbred this year.
That escalated quickly. 
They are seriously the best, though. I’m a thoroughbred person through and through and I miss my TBs, but I so appreciate my farm full of easy STBs. I now question why people own any other breed!
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I LOVE him! Glad he is on New Vocations site and not Bowie’s. He looks tired and completely ready to appreciate a life change.
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It’s a sin how many Standardbreds go to slaughter. There are several feed lot flippers masquerading as rescues who pretty much just exploit “the truck is coming” tactics to offload Standardbreds at $900-1000 a pop. And most of those have been driven into the ground by the Amish and deserve a kind euthanasia.
(This is not meant to be Amish-bashing, I grew up in a community where the Amish were my neighbors. But using horses for road transportation is HARD and leaves many of them in a bad way)
But there are also quite a few rehoming organizations working to do right by the Standardbreds. I had a good experience with New Vocations. I got my most recent STB through MMXX Standardbreds and that was a fabulous experience.
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Honestly, if the Amish use them up, they should finish them off instead of trying to squeeze that last buck out of them. It’s not bashing them to speak the truth - it’s all about money for them, when it comes to a used up road horse.
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Get that boy an adult ammie with more money than they know what to do with who gives him treats just for existing.
I’ve known two SBs, both of whom were so fun. One was a child adult jumper, and the other was a machine of a hunter pace horse. There really wasn’t any shortening or lengthening at the trot or canter but he was so consistent and predictable, you really felt like you could go do anything on him. I’ve wondered why there aren’t more SB sport horses out there. They seem to have great brains.
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It unfortunately is a lot of the time. They are livestock, a commodity to many people in the Amish community.
My first standardbred was donated to New Vocations by an Amish man. Because that mare had some, cough cough, “atypical” circumstances (IYKYK), I got to speak to her previous owner quite extensively. He flat out told me “I sent all my mares who weren’t making me money to the knackers, but I couldn’t do it to that mare because she was my favorite.”
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Because there is more money in selling them to the Amish, unfortunately. It’s a constant demand.
MMXX is doing a lot to promote Standardbreds as show horses.
Also, Standardbreds breed shows are growing in popularity. There are a handful around the country, plus Standardbreds Nationals in New Jersey which is very accessible. I hope to compete my new girl there eventually!
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Are there any resources as to which bloodlines etc make for better sport horses? I’ve known a couple handful of STBs in my time with horses, and all of them had decent brains (minus the one that was a horrid stall walker) but weren’t what I would call particularly athletic, and at least the ones that I knew truly did struggle to canter - this was both trotters and a couple of pacers.
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I do too. My last riding horse was one. He was a 17 hand sweetheart.
Some STBs have over 40 starts in a year. They are tough and game!
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Oh boy, does he deserve a great home.
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I don’t know the answer to this. I am a member of several STB social media groups and it comes up in discussion a lot, but I can’t say I’ve seen much pattern in the answers- everyone seems to think their STB is the best, haha. It might be interesting to go through the Nationals show results and look for patterns with the class winner’s pedigrees. Although STB pedigree and performance information isn’t as accessible as TBs. USTA gatekeeps it, and while you can access it, you have to pay. There are a few free websites that can be helpful but aren’t always complete or accurate.
They aren’t TBs; I don’t think you can buy a STB and expect them to excel at traditional English disciplines like you more or less can with TBs. But, for the average pleasure rider who wants a good brain more than anything, most of them are going to be fine for the schooling show level dressage or jumping.
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I’d be looking for something game to do a little of everything - I don’t need a world-beater at anything, I just want to have fun!
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My first STB was FUN. I unfortunately never got to experience much of that fun; she had quite a few medial/health things going on that were no one’s fault. I hate telling people that because it is not representative of her breed or where I got her.
Her 3 yo daughter will be fun if I ever have enough time to actually get her properly going under saddle. She is hella athletic, albeit very “standardbredy” in type. I have a pipe dream of doing serious, competitive combined driving with her. I don’t know if that dream will ever come to fruition, mainly because of my limitations, not hers.
My new girl is 12 and a doll. I just got her in the spring and surprise surprise, haven’t had much time to truly get her going under saddle either. But she has a good mind and is just the sweetest. She’s also a very pretty mover and could easily be mistaken for a TB or appendix or anything other than a STB. If I can develop her canter, I think we will be able to do whatever my heart desires in terms of showing. It’s yet to be seen if she can jump. I did put trot poles on the ground the other day and she seemed to think they were impenetrable walls, haha, but I think we can overcome that.
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They do make nice horses but some are extremely rough to ride. I had one I leased as a child for a couple years. She had a trot from hell but her gaits were like sitting on a cloud. She would canter with the front legs and gait with the back legs. You could collect her and she could gait as slow as a walk, or as fast as a canter. No idea how she learned that gait as I’ve never seen another horse do that…
It wasn’t a rack as she had a lead in the front. It wasn’t a canter pace as I had a pony that did that and it was rough as can be. This was a truly comfortable gait. Like a slow motion canter except not a canter.
Her son was not gaited and he bucked and reared and was not an easy horse to ride. He ended up with someone who rode racehorses and he dumped her off the first time she went to ride him.
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Now I want him dang it. Nice older fella to meander on.
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