My first few days working with throughbreds getting trained for the track has been interesting. Being in the horse world as long as I have you hear stories of unjust treatment, crazy methods and the general idea that the horses are a means of income and therefore only worth something while they can race. While I'm sure this is true with some trainers/ owners. I was pleasantly surprised by the ones I'm working for so far. Their trainer who I'm currently working with likes to start the horses right, while thinking of their future long after the track. He trains them to be retrained easily for a new life he gives them the basics to be successful later on. Now starting young horses aside it seems these owners also make sure he puts time back on their broodmares and race retired horses to ensure they find new homes and a new job with the best care possible. They even go so far as to throw up little jumps and take the horse over it to see if it has a future as say a jumping horse. Cool right? The one owner even keeps some of the horses and retires them at her own farm to ensure they have a proper retirement life.
I generally work with horses that have come off the racetrack. My horse pictured above is a 4 year old retired racehorse one of 5 horses I have here at home. He's fantastic. We will do great things together soon. When you work with horses from the track with all the rumors of how that are actually treated you often wonder what really goes on.
Going forward in this current temporary winter job I look forward to learning more while helping ride and train the horses. I get to dig deeper into an industry that has alot of rumors about how things are done. I get to see first hand how the horses are treated and probably even bust some of the rumors that float around. More to come as I explore the truth these next few months. Overall I'm already impressed! !
**Ps, that bridle was his Christmas present we were just trying on the fit & for a picture 💖)
