Why not an ottb

I don’t know where you are, but I am on the West Coast. Absolutely zero of the large Hunter barns in my area Encourage anyone to get thoroughbreds of any kind. The last Hunter Jumper bar that I worked out of I had a trainer who could not say the word thoroughbred without rolling her eyes.

  • edited to add that I noticed the typo, but left it in, because it actually was appropriate. :astonished: :flushed: :pleading_face: :anguished:
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Your typing error has me roaring. It is great.

I am in the part of the country that is near a race track and people like a nice piece of horse flesh no matter the breed.

I also never said people were “encouraged” to buy anything. I simply said that that lots of people do not have a problem with an OTTB.

I am sorry that your trainers roll their eyes just hearing a breed.

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I think the right thoroughbred can still be plenty succesful in most rings for most people.

That being said, I have been casually shopping and I am really not looking to get another thoroughbred despite my own success with them. The biggest problem for me is finding a competent trainer who is not dismissive (or oftentimes, downright rude) about the breed. What I have come to realize is that many, if not most, professionals under the age of 40 have not really ridden or had much success with thoroughbreds. I suppose we can’t blame them for the ignorance because that is the way the industry has turned. Maybe it’s a nice niche for a younger pro starting out, because I think the budget can be right for more potential clients. Just please, I really do not need to hear “that’s just thoroughbreds” from another person who has very little actual experience with them :upside_down_face:

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Minor pet peeve: it’s capital-T Thoroughbred, since unlike “warmblood” it is actually a breed with a closed registry.

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A trainer I rode w for a brief stint used to say that…as my very nice TB beat her warmblood. Always.

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Would love to hear that! In my experience it’s been more like horse spooks at an umbrella opening ringside “that’s thoroughbreds!” That’s just…horses :laughing:

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I admit that, as someone whose first horse sport love is racing, I have definite breed bias.

But I will always prefer the daisy-cutting, ground-skimming, flat-kneed, efficient movement that used to be the benchmark in the US, to the flashy dressage-y movers who win nowadays. However, I am not a judge.

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True OTTB from Turf Paradise. Raced as a 2 year-old, bought when he was 3 (now 10). Why even try to compete against the WBs.

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I would have loved to have found a TB (OTTB or not) when I was shopping last year. Locally anything I found was either obviously unsound, or had been poorly restarted but being sold for $$$.

I ended up with an unstarted WB with a high percentage of TB in him…

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What’s his breeding?

Whats his breeding? Nothing good. :grin: Just a west Texas TB.

His sire is now in Uruguay.

By Discretely Mine out of Painted Smile.

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I used to live in Uruguay. My parents even took us to the TB race track.

Lots and lots of rolling pampas.

I hope his sire is having fun there in the land with no snow or freezing in the winter (at least when I was there. BAD wind storms occasionally though.)

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Give those race fit TBs 6-12 months of letdown time and correct work and many of them will look like a hunter.

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OTTB lover here. I got on my mare a week after her last race when she was four. These photos are from when she was 21, and it is just now at 23 that we are slowing things down - which means dabbling in some baby dressage shows for the first time, going swimming at the beach together, the occasional hand gallop out in the fields, or finding new adventures together, etc.

Any soundness issues have always been self inflicted on her part, though I do admit she could now use hock injections, which she last had a few weeks after these photos. But dont tell her that, she will try to sneak over a jump if she thinks she can get away with it.

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Yep.

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@victoriakent, she is lovely!

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I love love love a good Thoroughbred. But I do think that track breeding is selecting for something pretty different than hunter breeding these days, and the pool that is well suited to a high level second career as a hunter or jumper is small. I very rarely see TBs that have great jumping style the way they used to. When I do, I get stars in my eyes.

I think there is some unfair bias against the breed that causes people to overlook outstanding animals. But I also do often see people marketing TBs that don’t have the scope and style to be competitive against purpose-bred warmbloods at big horse shows and then complaining that breed bias explains the lack of interest.

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100% In my casual shopping - how many times I have seen “warmblood looks” and “warmblood movement” and it’s just not. It is often a very nice horse who moves just fine and will probably make someone a fabulous pre-children’s horse at local shows. That is a great market to be in, just not what I am looking for myself.

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Weeellll, those names are listed for a few horses but, if yours is Mineshaft on top and Blushing Groom on the bottom, that’s a good horse.

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I can never find what I want when I am looking. I keep trying to buy APHA/AQHA. If I can’t find that, then a TB would be nice. So of course the last 4 horses I’ve bought have been warmbloods. You can only buy what people are making up and selling, unfortunately.

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