I am starting to look for an OTTB to trail ride and event to novice level. I currently have my eye on a 6 year old with 50 races under his belt. He moves well in his race video and in ridden video off track. He is still at the track now. He has nice conformation and no visible joint enlargement in his pics. If I were to purchase him I would get a PPE which would include xrays. My question is for you war horse owners out there: what has been your experience with soundness over the long term in their new career? Did your horse have a long career off the track?
Hail Caesar had six starts, so hardly a war horse --he was retrained for two years (age 5-7) then did three horse trials (age 7-9) where his rider discovered he was more horse than she could handle --he came to us at 9 and did horse trials up to and including intermediate for the next 11-12 years --he did as many as 10 a year some years --never stopped at a fence. At 22 or so Hail Caesar had 4 bowed tendons and came to me (his show mom) for retirement --it was a deal we made --if he never stopped or lost his rider there, I told him he could live with me forever. And he does. He is 30 now and has arthritis.
Dazzling Dan on the other hand hunts out with another member of my hunt club weekly. His background, breeding, and age are exactly what Caesar’s are. Dan, however, has no arthritis and as I said, continues to follow the hounds twice a week at age 29.
My point is, with horses – the future is never predictable. Have the best most complete PPE you can, and remember John Lyon’s statement: “The horse you buy is the horse you own.” If the vet says it “might” have problems later --well, you know what you are buying. But ten years from now, no one can predict. The only thing you can do is enjoy your horse every day and do the best you can to keep him healthy and safe. No one can do more.
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My first event horse raced 90 times, all over North America, from Woodbine, Keenland, to New Mexico, Florida and Alabama, retired at 9, did showjumping and dressage before eventing. He went up to the Prelim level, and was eventing until his early 20s. Was never lame other than a bone chip that floated into his hock joint when he was 18. He had some time off but then returned to eventing! He was the best horse ever, gave me so much as a teenager.
I had another war horse with 70 starts, retired at 7, went on to event very successfully up to Novice level before he was euthanized due to a pasture accident. Never had soundness issues at all.
Love me a war horse.
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Honestly, I love a good OTTB that has had more than 5 starts. They tend to have a great brain and work ethic. Most of the horses that have 5+ starts tend to be quite sound and able to stay in their second carrier. My current horse had 14 starts as a coming 5 yo (quite lightly raced for his age imo), had cold clean legs 24 hours after a race and the only lameness I have had from him was due to abscesses. He has a great brain, travels well and settles very quickly into new environments.
For my next OTTB (because lets be honest, I love them) I will be looking at war horses or at least horses with 10+ starts.
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My old OTTB had 70 starts, bought as an 8 year old, pinfired on two legs but no other known soundness-related issues on purchase. Incredible work ethic, super easy in the barn - just a straight up gentleman. Evented through Novice with me then sold to a hunter/jumper where he did the Florida circuit for several years at the 3’-3’3 levels I believe? Then ended up in a lesson program where he taught the intermediate/advanced riders the ropes to jumping and eventing for several years. He’s 22 now and was recently bought by a young girl (previous lesson kid) and she’s been evening him BN this past season. He does have mild kissing spine and comes out in the mornings a bit stiff but I think he has a couple more years in him before retirement!
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If leaving the track after 32 starts at the end of his 6 year old year makes my old guy a war horse, I’d say thumbs up. We were getting ready to move up to P when his tying up got unmanageable - only at events, only at T - so he stepped down to BN at age 12 or so. Last year he stepped down once more to hacking and light flatwork - at age 24. He’s still crazy sound and a class act. Kindest, most bombproof horse I’ve ever ridden.
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It’s nice that everyone has such positive stories, but the reality is you never know. I don’t have one myself, but of the ones I’ve known, I’ve seen it go both ways: sound as can be for a long time, or chronic small issues that always seem to need attention.
The endless niggling stuff was my experience. Mine is n=1, but it makes me hesitant to do it again in the future.
Claimer track sound =/= performance horse sound.
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I think I’d be best to define “warhorse” first, as despite the number of starts per horse having declined in recent decades, I doubt anyone would call a horse with less than 15-20 (?) starts a “warhorse”?
And define sound? A horse with a painful career limiting genetic issue like tying up, or kissing spines (which probably caused some pain related issues to be diagnosed, and could have been caused by racing?) is sound? Or are we only talking track related lower limb issues?
(no intentions of speaking ill of the horses with those issues - it’s just that I’ve never seen a definition of “warhorse” and as we know “sound” at the track and “sound” elsewhere mean different things)
My gelding ran 90 times before I bought him. We made it about 2 years before I had to retire him from riding due to niggling little issues that added up to a lot of unsoundness. He is living the life in the field now.
Not sure if this qualifies as a war horse, but I had a mare with 32 starts, retired sound from the track at 5. I didn’t get her until she was 14 - she’d been passed around to a few jumper barns and then was a pasture ornament for a few years before I stumbled on her. Rode her 3+ times/week for 4 years until I left for college and the only time she went lame was a brief stint when we tried putting shoes all around on her. Went back to leaving her barefoot in the back and she was fine.
If your goals are just trail riding and beginner novice eventing, and assuming the PPE is good, I’d say it’s reasonable to expect that a war horse will hold up for you. Of course, you can never know 100%, but it doesn’t sound like you’re going to put him through the ringer for the next 10-15 years.
My sister had an OTTB who raced until he was 7. I do not know how many races. In his early teens he had some serious problems with navicular, such that there was doubt he would ever be sound. With help from Paul Goodness’s shoeing and careful management he became sound. He moved up to Prelim at 23, and competed at that level for several more years (including the deBroke championship).
I’ve only known one that I’d consider a war house 40 something starts over several years. Retired at 6. He was sound-ish. If you let him go as he pleased, he was a very safe useful local level 2’ hunter. He had a range of minor issues that bothered him when he was asked to use his body properly, travel straight, and engage. Owner stopped trying to event him (thereby having to do dressage). He was still doing the local hunters with a girl at 14 last I heard of him.
I think people who have had a ton of luck with having sound OTTBs (no matter how many starts they had) fall into a few categories:
- Genuinely lucky - they got an OTTB who was sound in all ways - not just track sound, and they are knowledgeable enough people to know sound from “sound”. The horse is sound at all gaits on any reasonable footing with plain shoes, has no SI or other spinal issues, and would pass a normal PPE with rads, including flexions on hard ground and trotting a small circle on firm footing. Physical issues of any kind aren’t what stops them doing things.
- People who have a different definition of sound to me, whose vets are optimistic, or who are not very knowledgeable.
- People who have enough money, land and/or turnover to support gambling with a dozen TBs a year to find the one who is sound enough to do the thing they want to do.
- People who are selling OTTBs - often people who pick out the sound ones from the above group and sell the rest for dressage or 2’ hunters, for which they are “sound enough.”
I think the warhorse OTTB is a horse who has run a lot because they are either carefully manged or they have huge mental toughness that keeps them running despite small injuries. How sound is a horse full of adrenaline? VERY sound (feeling). I myself had a nasty collarbone break and thanks to the wonder of adrenaline didn’t feel it at all for an hour. And remember horses in the US can train on bute and even take it up to 24h before a race.
So while horses don’t usually race many times, race training is very hard on your 18-24 month old body and horses stop racing for 2 main reasons: because they are injured or slow. Word to the wise: sore horses don’t run fast - I would guess a lot of “slow” horses are really actually sore in some way.
Have a read here too: https://thehorsesback.com/ex-racehorse-problems/
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As long as the horse’s race record is consistent (no gaps of 6 -12 months) and you do a reasonable PPE, and have reasonable expectations of what you want in the future and what will happen if you end up having to sell the horse, go for it.
I’ve known lots of horses who came off the track to be productive members of society, including a few who have gone on to be upper level eventers with 20+ races on their records.
That said, do get the horse gone over by a chiropractor, dentist, and be prepared to work on his feet. Feet at the track can get incredibly long toed and low heeled and a lot of those horses haven’t been without shoes since they were yearlings. Getting the horse adjusted and it’s teeth checked before you really start retraining is just good practice for a horse you won’t really know the history of.
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My first horse raced (IIRC) 42 times until age 7 and won $140,000. We did hunters for a few years, then evented BN and Novice for around 10 years. SO Sound. Sucked that he died at 22 years old, just after our 15 year anniversary. He had an xray at age 21 that looked really good for his age.
Perhaps ironically, he was on stall rest/ beginning hand walking when I met him at the track. His trainers (owned 50%) were very fond of him, so maybe having them look out for his health was part of his soundness. The other 50% owners wanted to bring him back to race at age 8, then a quick decision was made to let me have him.
I’ve started down this road as well. 8 year old mare. Around 15.1, ran 59 times and won about 100k but did it the hard way with lots of placing 3rd and such. She seemed to be smart about not running all out and took care of herself. Legs look and feel clean. For the price no xrays done. She’s transitioning to barefoot and having downtime. Retired sound and the guy who sold her to me has kept tabs on her racing career and is friends with the owner and kept bugging him that when he’s ready to retire her he wanted to find her a good home.
Thanks everyone. I’m moving forward with a PPE and we’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed!
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Any updates? Photos will be required.
Unfortunately I was not able to get a vet appointment to do a PPE before the trainer left the track 
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