What a lovely careful jumper!
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Starting a TB over fences is like starting anything over fences.
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Can’t speak to specifics on starting anything over fences, never bought one right off the track. As much more as buying something already over fences cost, it’s not as much as dumping money into board and training for who knows how long with no idea how it will turn out or if it will be suitable for an older career person lucky to get 3 days a week of riding in. That goes for horses of any breed or discipline.
Eons ago did work with greenies because I could’t afford anything else, not over fences and had lots of time.
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Let’s be honest - once we lost the generation of horsemen and moved into the generation of horse show trainers, the majority of people at horse shows don’t know how to ride a horse that might be a little forward because they’re hotblooded. People don’t want to spend time learning to sit quietly with an effective leg and soft following arm. They want to horse show yesterday and not practice in between. Todays’s “trainers” were brought up on warm bloods and don’t know how to train a TB or how to teach off one.
Personally, I love a TB. Athletic ability, guts, willingness to work, brains - everything I want in a horse in one package.
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Here’s the thing: gone are the days of post and rail type fences set on a gallop in grass fields - aka the perfect courses for the TB. Modern hunter and (to some extent) equitation rings want big, slow moving horses that walk down the 16’ stride and make big, slow jumping efforts in small(er) arenas. Can some TBs do this? Yes absolutely. But it is not the “average” TB bred to race.
But what made TBs the old style hunter (daisy cutter movement and a great gallop) do not make a modern hunter in the UL rings. As a major TB and OTTB fan, I still don’t think it’s “people don’t know how to ride anymore” or “no one wants a hot horse” - my TBs have been WAYY less hot than the top hunter bloodline WBs, in general. It is simply that the ring is no longer dominated by TBs because the TB type is not winning at the top. That’s a misunderstanding of what the ring wants, like saying “no one knows how to ride anymore, that’s why they aren’t all suggesting Arabians!”.
All that said, TBs make good lower level H/J horses and some can certainly get to the top. The jumper ring is a great place to take TBs - quick and catty is starting to win on the more technical courses vs the big slow dinosaur. Where breed bias really bothers me is the 3’ and under rider that can’t compete at WEF anyway - they’re paying for a local hack ribbon when IMO they’d do well with a less expensive TB and more lessons.
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It’s actually very easy, there are several re-homing businesses who do just that. And that’s what jacks up the price, sometimes rightly so. IME those also tend to take in the really nice horses, the ones without soundness issues, who are pretty, built well, had been treated well as a racehorse, so are already fairly easy to start in a 2nd career
there’s no “restarting over fences” for them. You re-start them as a normal riding horse, and introduce fences like you would any green bean, whether new to ridden work, or new to jumps
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I just re-read your comment and I clearly mis-read it earlier. No, it’s not that easy to find a cheap OTTB who has started over fences. Sorry!
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In the case of most of the TB flippers in my area, I prefer they don’t restart them over fences. I don’t want to pay more money to “undo” bad training.
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This. I love OTTBs. I think they can be great. But I also think so many people looking for an ‘affordable horse’ bite off more than they can chew. If they invest in a trainer and are willing to spend the money and do the work (and if the horse is a good fit for them), they might wind up with a fantastic horse. But I have definitely seen people buy an OTTB because the price was right and then ruin it with what they don’t know and because they won’t spend money to figure it out. I also volunteer at a TB rescue and I have seen so many horses that were adopted out come back who were lovely and willing when they went out and they came back head shy and nervous or with other issues. We can only speculate about what happened while they were adopted out, but still…
A cheap TB is not a made horse. Well, no cheap horse is made - there’s always some issue, whether it’s training, soundness, temperament or whatever. And I think too many people expect too much of cheap TBs without being willing to invest the time and money necessary to train them.
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My first Horse of My Own was an unraced TB & built so my trainer at the time always wanted me to enter the Non-TB division.
I refused, even though horse had no tattoo.
Back then - late 80s - the WBs were just starting to appear & this division always had few entries.
He was also not the typical lanky OTTB & had more motion is his trot than pinned U/S.
But he had style O/F so we got enough Champion & Reserve ribbons our 1st year showing to end up Reserve AA.
& BNT offered me 10X his purchase price 2yrs later after we rode in a clinic with her.
Here we are, just putzing around in 1992:
(Pls look past my attire 
)
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Zero issues with a TB, I find them fairly easy to manage and deal with.
Reason I haven’t purchased one…. I don’t have many contacts at the track to pull one direct and resellers aren’t my favorite to deal with. I was put off when I reached out to a few looking for a specific type of horse. They prefer to deal with trainers vs folks like me that haul to lessons, more diy style, can only purchase 1-2 a lifetime. I just don’t fit the model, and that’s ok.
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Have you considered looking at some of the adoption places? That’s what I did, my current guy came from After the Races (MD). They were great to deal with.
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I’m old. I grew up riding thoroughbreds and thoroughbred crosses. I love thoroughbreds. But I’m the stereotypical re-rider with a big gap in riding during my childbearing and child rearing years. And did I mention that I’m old? My reflexes are slower than they once were. My balance isn’t what it used to be. The fearlessness of youth is long gone. I don’t think and react as quickly as I once did. And that’s why not an OTTB.
Also, these days, in many places, quarter horses have slipped in there to capture the market of people who can’t afford/don’t want a WB. There are so many nice AQHA-registered horses out there who can do well at the lower levels. I know that because I have one. I think in an increasing number of cases, quarter horses are filling the niche that OTTBs may have occupied.
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My heart will always be with thoroughbreds, but I don’t think I’ll own another. Partially for “real” reasons, but also a small selfish reason. I like to think my “real” reasons are valid - I’ve turned into a timid rider and they are athletes above my skill set. I do not have access to full training, and do not have the tools in my tool box to go at it alone.
My selfish reason…. I lost my first horse, who was a OTTB, this year after 9 years together. I at times will still tear up when I see a chestnut thoroughbred posted for sale, isn’t that silly?
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I don’t think so.
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Silly? Nope, I lost my first horse who was an ottb after more than 20 years together about 2 years ago and I still tear up over him (dark bay).
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I have and will probably go that route if I add another member to the herd. I’m enjoying being at an eventing barn and learning to jump and cross country. TB’s fit that job really well especially at my level, plus we have a bunch of TIP shows within an hours driving range.
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Bingo!! It’s really that simple. People who have the money to splurge on horses and shows at that level will purchase a horse to do that. “Suitability” is the key word in the hunters. Big, slow-legged WB’s are what’s “suitable” for the hunters currently.
Seeing “No TB” ads is discouraging, especially because I am a TB person. But the fact of the matter is the UL hunters have always been trendy and will always be trendy. I do get a chuckle that people may have this ask with an inappropriate budget, but it’s not my ISO and not my money being spent. I won’t deny that it’s frustrating to see people who own expensive WB’s complain about the cost of horses, but at all levels, it’s expensive.
I, for one, cannot afford to be trendy nor compete at the UL (not to mention I lack the talent). I will happily compete on my TB at the schooling level because it’s what I can afford to do with horses. When I miss a ribbon, it’s clearly deserved by some silly pilot error. I think most TB people are very grateful for the opportunities they give us to stay in this sport, and we want to be able to share that with everyone.
I just smile and nod at the “No TB/OTTB” rhetoric - usually it’s because someone has the budget and desire to ride in the upper levels, and more power to them. If someone thinks not having a TB will reduce their chances of vet bills or hot-headedness, I just assume they have little to no experience with horses (since ANY horse is capable of throwing you into the dirt and 3-legged limping away).
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Agree with you and @fivestrideline. The ideal criteria have changed, and IME, it’s not for the better. It’s not TERRIBLE, not like what’s happened to the Halter QH. But it changed to be about what someone wants to see in the ring, vs what would be suitable for a Hunt field. Don’t swish your tail, look like you’re going slowly which means the stride needs to be large
And also, I think many people have bought into the stereotype of what a TB is and won’t even entraining going to look at the horse in front of them 
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The breeding and resulting conformation of today’s TB does not lend itself to the modern hunter course. Racing has a different idea about breeding the modern TB. Look at photos of the top hunters today and compare them to a TB coming off the track. Fred (Gail) up in Canada had an amazing TB stallion (A Fine Romance) that was purpose bred and with the conformation to produce hunters. TBs off the track look nothing like this.
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