• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

What makes racehorses good?

Interesting.. I wonder how we do if he was around today.. I also wonderin some ways how his bone density/mass compares to the modern race TB's but that is just my strange thinking everytime I see a horse break a leg during a race how hard it must be to run on 4 fingernails basically...
 
I know diddle about race horses but a vet @ Penn State once told me that the main problem with all the broken legs was that some lines have been sooooo intensely over/in bred and back that it's weaken them.
 
I think we have done alot of things wrong for racehorses.

They want em big 16.2 - 17 (hence my band of titanium mares that average only 15 to 15.2)

They want em to run young ( the main reason I picked my stallion, he does NOT produce two year olds that run, they MUST wait until they are three)

We shortened the courses for more sprint speed ( Again I specifically chose a turf bred stally who's kids excell at anything over a mile) Speed kills and breaks them down.

While I am doing absolutely everything against the grain,(and let me tell you EVERYONE and there dog said I was doing it wrong) I learned to smile pretty and say thank you for the advice! I produce racehorses, that can pick up paychecks and move on to another useful sport when they retire. Proof is in the pudding Testimonial is up to 275,000 in progeny earnings with only 9 runners this season. Breeding with the intent soley to produce soundness and temperment is paying off!
 
My Grandfather used to do race horses back in the 70's and that sounds similiar to what e has said but that doesn't necesarily mean that he is right... He has a lot of opinions that I don't agree with :shock: :lol: :lol: That is why I would be interested in actually seeing if bone structure has changed and how much it has and also I wonder how many broke down back in the 1800's or so..
 
Yeah, Ialways found it kind of sad watching those young horses run and just blow up... Gotta be hard work for those little guys to go through all that so young.. I still think of the pictures of Cigar racing at, what 8 years old or whatever he was against some of the Derby horses and the difference in the critters.. IT was like two differnt species of equine.. No, not breeds, species.. Lot of growing up to do when the horse is still two.
 
in a word for unsoundness "Phalaris" We all have it , can't shake it but the problem is in spades there. I did a ton of research and every finger points there. Soundness does come from our Canadian son "Northern Dancer" No one wanted him, he was tiny but look at the legacy he has left behind him!
 
I had an uncle who dabbled in race horses when I was a kid. Some of the things they put those young horses thru seemed just plain cruel to young horse.

I remember his horses just seemed plumb out of control and uncomfortable in their own hide and didn't know what to do with themselves unless they were going 90 mph.

I stayed away from them , the barn and the whole mess.
 
i think they are getting to big,seems to me some of the good ones have been on the smaller side,i know when i was young i had a welsh pony and he could outrun anything around here, he could get them lil legs a moving,trouble was once he got them going was hard to get him stopped, :lol: :lol:
 
I barely remember the horses at grandfathers farm.. I think he only had a couple mares left that he kept for a few years because they had done good for him and so on.. But grandfather was/is not a sentimental guy and I am sre he eventually got tried of taking care of them. He never got into it real big, was more of a hobby for him than anything. Still loved that farm he had, was a little slice of heaven really.. They sold it about 15 years ago, Probably a housing development.
 
kola, I totally agree with you! But think about the whole "TB raising" deal


OK we have yearling sale prep

Yearlings are what we call "hot boxed" They spend 23 hours a day in a stall, they are fattened like pigs on straight oats and steriods and groomed to perfection. After the sale they are put into training immediately ( keeping in mind that every tb turns one in jan, thus complicating the situation even further) At 18 months of age they are now shipped to the track, breezed and put up.

The judith or anti-tb technique, toss em on grass till they are two. Make sure there is lots of uneven ground so they learn to use there legs....Worm them halter break em toss em back out. Late int he two year old year hop on for a quick 30 days and turn em out again for the winter. Man I'm a mean ole fart. BUT my horses are sound mentally and know what to do with their feet.

The tb industry is way screwed up. the almighty buck is way more important than the horse. :mad:
 
I agree with your style 100%.

About 3 yrs ago a "move- in" lady here decided she MUST have a horse since she had now moved into the ' country'. She knew my Mom and so she asked me to go with her to look at a horse she wanted. She had only looked at this one and decided 'he' was the one.

I went with her and it was a TB, the seller said he was 7 yrs old with no papers. He looked much younger but was so freaky you could not catch his head to look in his mouth. He was beautiful to look at no doubt but he had that spooked ' look' in his eye. I tried to get her to shop around for just a grade, broke down horse to enjoy. Nope...she paid $3K for this guy w/o even riding him. I hauled him home for her and he kicked the trailer the whole way home.

FastForward to this year...Feb I think it was, she just went for her last ck-up with the ortho Dr and he said that her hip has healed nicely but that the pins will stay in her leg forever.

Some people don't listen.
:? :?
TB aren't for everyone and every purpose, esp. ones like him.
 
The truth of the industry is ugly. I'm part of it I know....

Every time I purchase a mare the following has to happen. Trailer pulls up. mare is unloaded and immediately tranquilized. Mare put into round pen or small paddock. Usually this is the first taste of freedom since the track. Fast forward a week, grandually weaning off her track steriods and the tranq. Put into a pasture situation. Mare runs like a tool for a while sees everyone grazing settles in. Now thinking she is a stallion she mounts everyone and everything in site, gets beat up like crazy. Life begins to start shaping up. Mare now losses 300-400 pounds due to the horrific detox of the steriods. Some fun huh Bambi!

Fast forward one year, now mare is a normal critter, but keep in mind it's one year down the road......
 
JB it is not uncommon for an off the track horse to see another horse. Panic and run through a fence and kill themselves. :cry: I have seen it over and over and over. That is why I give em a shot, let em out into a small space and slowly introduce them into a pasture situation. They have never been in a herd and have no clue what is expected.
 
I think its interesting that the author states that to be "good" a race horse..
Using portraits of Eclipse and contemporary accounts of the horse running the researchers reconstructed one of its legs and have discovered that its legendary speed may have been due to its 'averageness'. In short, a great racehorse needs to be more than just quick footed - it must also be rather average.
Click to expand...

That would be true for Legendary horses such as John Henry, but doesn't explain small horses like Northern Dancer and the exceptionally large and lengthy Secrtariat.

Scientists have tried to apply science to predicting a great horse but fail to come to any real defintive answers. The phrase breed the best to the best and hope for the best still rings true. Using science they have analysed twitch muscle, muscularity, heart size, conformation, overall dimentions, stride length, Dosage ( which is kind of an score of propensity to distance running ability using ancestors) , breeding, genes, etc ad nauseum..........

The true answer to a great race horse is to find one thats fast and has a tremendous amounts of guts... ( guts being bravery and the desire to win)
 
I remember a 3 or 4 page article in the Western Horseman magazine years ago, about Secretariat. The scientists were measuring him for different things, cannon bone, stride length etc. compared to other racehorses. Also heart and lung capacity. I don't remember all the details, but they basically figured that he was a freak of nature.

Judith, When I was working with Standardbreds, my boss/trainer would sometimes send a horse back to the farm. Sometimes for only 2 weeks, but usually longer. It sure made a difference in their attitude. I think that once in a while they just need a break from their boxstall , the track, and their whole routine just to be a horse again.
 
Rainie, I agree that racehorses need a break! Standardbred owners seem to be much better owners than the TB crowd. But I do understand with the day rates of 50-100 owners want results. I prefer to train and trailer in for the race but that's just me.

Secretariat had what is known as the "X" factor, he had an unusually large heart. It is a trait that some breeders bred for. Defects like that worry me. It worked for Secretariat but home many other "X" factor critters have premature heart attachs. I just think that breeders should stick with nature and stop messing with things. Sound limb, good temperments and good food should do it.
 
Well I don't have as much time to read this board as I would like and I don't post here very much, but after reading both pages I just wanted post my two cents.

As someone who has been riding races for 23 years all over the US and in other countries overseas. I feel the number one thing that a good race horse must have is "heart" and want to run! A great race horse will have that and as Judith calls it an "X" factor of some kind.
But even with those things the horse needs to have training and care to help the horse be the best it can be.

As for broken legs the main problem is "drugs", thats right drugs. So much pressure from the owners and media to win, the trainers are pumping the horse full of crap. Way too many times when a horse snaps it off, it's because he had problems before and started not running as well because he was hurting. Then the trainer or vet blocks and taps the bad leg so the horse no longer feels the pain and runs until he snaps it off or breaks down. It seems as we don't have very many horsemen any more as most of the super trainers are just chemists.

Don't get me wrong some drugs are needed to help horses, but that performance enhancing crap needs to be done away with, in the race horses and the sale horses. It really disturbs me that the sale barns don't test all the horse in their sale. I am no vet, but I do know that there is no need for a yearling or two year old in training to be given steriods or other performance enhancements.

Judith it's not just the TB industry that's screwed up. The QH guys hop & block too and you're right about the almighty buck, the difference being how much of it is being pumped into the industry and years ago no one paid $16,000,000 for a two year old in training. When that kind of money is involved people do funny things!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top