From the Race Track to the Show Ring: Bringing your new horse home

Issue 1: Racehorses are creatures of habit. Remember that life at the track runs like a well-oiled machine, and racehorses expect every day to be nearly the same. Obviously, the life of a sporthorse is not such a routine experience, and this can be one of the most difficult things for ex-racers to adapt to. In their life at the track, they are handled in a specific way, at a specific time, for a specific job, day in and day out, so when changes are introduced, it can be confusing or traumatic. You need to have a lot of patience and understanding, and plan on giving your horse a lot of time to get comfortable with his new life.

If you are keeping your horse at home, try to visit him several times a day, take him out of his stall, pet him, brush him, etc. Keep a very calm and confident attitude, and if your horse is stall walking a trough in his stall, or jumping out of his skin, don't lose your temper. Be kind and quiet, and spend a few minutes getting him to pay attention to you. When he's calmed down, leave him again.

If you board your horse, be sure to explain to anyone who will be dealing with your horse the importance of them being patient with him as he figures out his new place in the world. Explain to them that it's the equivalent of waking up one morning in a foreign country, with no familiar faces or places, and you don't seem to speak the language. Yelling or being angry won't suddenly allow you to speak French, nor will it allow your horse to understand the life change he's experiencing.

When we picked up "Lion," as he is now called, he loaded on to the trailer like an old hand. He trailered the two hours from Penn National without difficulty, and unloaded just as easily. He looked rather startled to find himself in barnyard that was clearly not part of the track, and he let out an experimental whinny to see if he was alone in this strange new world.

Almost immediately, he was answered by our other horses-my husband's 7-year-old foxhunter/eventer, our homebred 3-year-old, and our mini, who were very excited to have a new friend. There was much calling back and forth as we led him into his stall. I should at this point add that due to the financial decisions of his previous owner, Lion was quite thin, and his eyes visibly widened as he saw the hay pile in the corner of his stall. He dove right in, and his stomach would actually prove to be a great tool for acclimating him-his desire to eat constantly prevented him from ever getting really worked up over his new life.

Issue 2: Racehorses have forgotten how to be horses. Generally, racehorses haven't been turned out since they were weanling or yearlings, and the only time they interact with other horses is when they're working or racing. Therefore, while it is vitally important to get your horse turned out as much and as often as possible, this will be a totally new experience for them. In addition, since they have been denied natural interaction with their own kind for so long, they may also be somewhat socially retarded, so you will need to pick pasturemates carefully.

Be sure the area where you are planning to turn your new horse out has solid, strong, highly visible fencing. Remember, these horses instinctively run in response to stimulus, so you want your fencing to be able to withstand the weight of a horse potentially galloping into it, and (even better) is visible enough to a galloping horse that they avoid it all together. When you get ready to turn your ex-racer out, lead them around the entire perimeter of the field, so they can see and absorb its dimensions. It is generally advisable that you don't throw them out in a huge area, until you know they are comfortable and calm outside. You may want to leave a halter on them the first time out (all or partially leather for break-away properties) so that if they do begin to run laps to the point where they are endangering themselves, they are a little easier to catch.

If you don't have a reliable, calm, friendly, quiet and non-aggressive pasture buddy for your ex-racer, you may be better off turning them out alone until they are acclimated to being outside, then slowly introducing friends. Ex-racers have often forgotten or can no longer grasp the subtle cues of horsie body language, and a pasture buddy may be sending the horsie signal for "You are too close to me, get away" and your ex-racer may continue sniffing and running up to them, resulting in one of those big equine incidents that end with a vet visit.

In our case, we knew we didn't want him to go out with my husband's horse, because he had a history of being rather aggressive with newcomers, and we didn't want him with the youngster, because he was too playful and likely to run. For us, the clear choice for pasture buddy was our paint mini horse, Munchkin. Too small to be a danger to Lion, too interested in eating to want to run around. He is truly a calming influence, though if you have horse, you know what happened next-the first time Lion got an eyeful of that black and white dog-sized THING, his eyes bugged out of his head, and he stood frozen, snorting, and staring. It smelled like another horse, but certainly didn't look like one! After he sniffed him all over, and eyed him suspiciously, Lion cautiously decided it was a horse.

I led Lion, and my husband led Munchkin, and we checked out the fence line, trees, and water trough. Then we unsnapped the lead ropes, and let them go. Munchkin immediately began to eat. Lion trotted back and forth, unsure of what to do. Then he flung himself down and had a long, luxurious roll in the damp grass. He then leapt to his feet, cantered around the perimeter of the fence once, and then fell to eating grass beside his new friend Munchkin.

Issue 3: There are a lot of things racehorses are used to, and a lot of things they aren't. Dealing with an ex-racer can sometimes feel like having a schizophrenic relative. They have seen every manner of mechanical vehicle, crowd, veterinary device, and commotion you can possibly imagine. Things like a Harley gang roaring by, which would normally completely unhinge a horse, may be only worthy of a glance from an ex-racer. However, the first time you attempt to introduce them to face clippers, they will react as though your are attempting to electrocute them.

The key here is, again, patience and understanding. The little things that most sporthorse owners take for granted are totally new concepts to the ex-racer. Often they don't tie or crosstie, in fact they may not be used to being handled in any substantive way outside of the stall. For the first few days they are home, you may want to do everything in their stall, until you are both used to each other, and the horse trusts you enough to try something new. They won't know how to eat treats-either what they are or how to accept food from the hand. They won't know how to lunge. Clippers and mane pulling are often something they will never fully adapt to. Finally, it's important to note that many ex-racers will have life-long issues about their ears. Ears are often grabbed, twisted or pulled in an "ear twitch" by gate personnel to speed along the loading process for races. As you can imagine, this leads to a major distrust of the ears being handled or touched.

On the other hand, they are normally dead broke to being tacked up and mounted. They have had every manner of bandage, boot, or wrap on just about every part of their body. They are used to loud noises, strange things, and small spaces. They should load and ship well (the exception to this can be horses who are trained on a private farm, who are shipped in for all their races at the track-to them the trailer means a race, and they can work themselves into a lather anticipating a race).

Remember that a Thoroughbred, especially one who is racing fit, has a stronger "flight" mechanism than many other horses. Force is rarely the way to deal with them, and the best way to avoid a big fight over something is not to paint them into a corner. Simple loops of bailing twine can be attached to the sides of halters while getting them used to being cross-tied-these loops will break quickly and easily if the horse pulls back, preventing the horse from having a protracted, and frightening, fight. If you want your horse to accept treats, slip small pieces of the treat(s) into their breakfast or dinner for a few days to get them used to the smell and taste, then begin to offer the pieces by hand-usually they will be interested after a few days.

In many ways, we lucked out with Lion in that he had been handled by more than just track folk. He did know how to cross tie, and was not dependant on his stall to feel comfortable or confident. He initially wouldn't eat from my hand, but after a few days of carrot pieces in the grain, he gave it a try (and has since become quite the beggar). He was definitely hinky about his ears, and clippers, and mane pulling, but all are getting slowly better.

Conclusion: Don't be in a hurry-for anything. Before you start making plans for their competitive future, you need to give your ex-racer the time to get comfortable in their new surroundings. If your horse has raced within a month of you bringing them home, I would strongly recommend giving them at least two to three months of no work. Turn them out at least 12 hours a day, spend a lot of time grooming them, leading them around, doing ground work, and just generally becoming their friend. This time off will allow them to "come down" in body and mind, and also give them the opportunity to leach unpleasant things (steroids, lasix, etc.) out of their systems. If they haven't raced in a while, then stepping them up to work should be done at your discretion, based on how they seem to be adapting.

In addition, it is likely that their feet will need some addressing. At best, they will be wearing aluminum racing plates, which won't stand up to the rigors of turnout and work on a non-prepared surface. However, the unfortunate truth is often that when a horse stops winning money, the owners or trainers stop putting money into him-and as a result his feet may be very overdue for shoeing and he may be missing shoes (this way of thinking can also mean that horses have their food intake severely slashed, which can lead to very skinny horses). Finally, there is a train of thought that racehorses should have very long toes, as it is theorized that somehow this gives them a longer reach. Without debating the issue, this is not an acceptable foot shape for a sport horse, and if your horse has these long toes that will need to addressed immediately and over several trimming/shoeings. If their feet are very bad, you may want to pull the shoes altogether, and let them grow naturally while they are on their lay-off. Discuss all the options with your vet and farrier.

Also, keep in mind that horses are individuals, and that you and/or your trainer/mentor is responsible for your horse's well being. Don't feel pressured into rushing things with your ex-racer just because somebody you know had their ex-racer showing six months after they came home. Your horse may progress that quickly, but they may not, and if you want a good sporthorse for the future, you should practice patience now. Besides, skipped steps in training tend to catch up with you later-when they are a lot harder to fix.

Lion hadn't raced in six months when we brought him home, however he was severely underweight to the point where we didn't want to put any substantive work on him until we'd turned his weight around. He had the very long toes, so my farrier began carefully trimming and reshaping the foot-it took about 3 shoeing cycles to get his feet looking normal. After several weeks of grooming and playing, I started introducing him to round pen work and prepared for the first ride.

Next time: Your first ride!