Life of a Racehorse: Retraining after Retirement

If the racehorse has survived a racing career....

To train a racehorse is a complicated process.  Horses cannot experience a sudden change of diet and exercise without risk of potentially lethal colic.  Therefore, Thoroughbreds destined for retirement and a new life outside of the racetrack need their diets and exercise levels gradually tapered off before they can go into retraining.

Thoroughbreds live an average of 30 years but usually are retired from flat racing when they are just five and from jumps racing when they are teenagers.  Only champion mares and stallions head for a new life in the breeding shed.  But the majority of racehorses are geldings or neutered males.  Although they cannot breed, their calmer temperaments make them excellent candidates for retraining for pleasure riding or driving in harness.

Challenges Ahead

It is a popular misconception that all racehorses are retired due to untreatable injuries.  Although injuries may occur to prompt a racehorse trainer’s decision to retire a horse, not all retired racehorses are lame or sick.  Some are retired just because the horses are too slow for competitive racing.  Some have treatable illnesses.  Within a year, they can be sound and ready for their new careers.

It is also a popular misconception thatThoroughbreds are crazy.  The high-energy diets that racers need leads to high-energy horses.  This is why a retired Thoroughbred needs to gradually have his grain rations reduced so he is not so full of excess energy.  Thoroughbreds are intelligent creatures that are curious about their surroundings and love food.  They are willing to learn new things if given a small food reward like a chunk of carrot.

What Retired Racehorses Can Do

Racehorses need to unlearn some habits that the track taught them.  Training a racehorse to be a calm pleasure mount means training the horse as if he never has been ridden before.  Many racehorses equate the weight of a rider with running as fast as possible.  But gradually the horse will learn to wait for a rider’s cues before walking, trotting or running.

Once a retired racehorse learns the basics of responding to bridle commands on a lunge line and walking under a rider without breaking out into a gallop, then he is ready for just about anything his new career demands.  Ex-racehorses can be found doing tricks for the movies, carrying police officers for crowd control and given riding lessons to the physically and mentally challenged.  But the majority will go on to be pleasure mounts and compete in sporting events like hunting and dressage.

Conclusion

The end of a racing career does not mean the end of a racehorse’s life.  Retired racehorses are suitable for a wide variety of future careers.  Training a racehorse for a new life is first started by a racehorse trainer and then to trainers and volunteers in horse rescue organizations.  There are many sound and sensible ex-racehorses ready for adoption.

Recommended Reading

• ·         Beyond the Track: Retraining the Thoroughbred from Racehorse to Riding Horse. Anna Ford and Amber Heintzberger.  Trafalger Square Books; 2008.
• ·         HorseChannel. “Starting with Off-the-Track Thoroughbreds.”  Cindy Hale.  September 2007. 
• ·         Steuart Pitman.  “Retraining Thoroughbreds for Dressage.”  Dressage Today. January, 2013.