My ex - racehorse won't trot

D

Darby

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Jan 3, 2008
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Help! I have bought an ex race horse and he will trot on the lunge but is difficult to get into trot when ridden, ears go back etc and when he does go into trot his head is very high and turned on the side. I have had teeth, back and saddle checked... any ideas of where to go next?
Have tried to trot him out hacking and is very reluctant!!
 
how is he with no contact? i know it sounds bizarre but racehorses are used to having a strong contact and that meaning "go". my friend has an ex racehorse and you have to have featherweight contact just to get a walk instead of jog (thats as far as i really got, wasn't going to risk getting a canter that i couldn't stop ;)) is it that he wants to go faster or reluctant to go?
 
He's just reluctant to go! No chance of going fast, even when i hack out he just plods. I have tried him with no contact and he still doesn't seem to get it! He is very dead to the leg and doesn't respond to a tap with the schooling whip. Really don't like using the whip so have been trying a softer approach, getting a horse to trot in front of me but still no joy!
 
is there anyway you can get someone to lunge you on him? that way the idea of trotting on the lunge you know he knows but you are adding the rider? sounds very odd :confused:
 
Do you know the history of this horse?

I know it sounds bizzarre but we have pony who behaves similarly when asked to canter under saddle and again has no physical issues. It turns out her previous owner fell off most of the times she cantered and now she is difficult to get into canter but will respond after the first time if she can be 'run' into it with any rider once she realises they are not going to fall off, bump around on her.
 
race horses are unbalenced in trot, if you really watch the jockey they have very light hands, and only take a slight contact. During day to day exercise you will find most jockeys will stand in their stirrups whilst in trot as the horse is only a youngster and finds it very hard to balence with someone bouncing on he's back, ex race horses may be fast but they have no real stamina so don't worry if they bolt, let them run for a few strides then pull them up slowly. Try standing in your stirrups and slightly tipping forward and see if he responds better in trot.
 
I have recently brought an ex race horse who wont trot aswell :D
The other day we managed to trot around the whole school:eek:

When we got him he was unfit

also i had my stirrups long (even on the shortest hole )as the lady who had him before use to ride really really long

So i had my dad put more holes in them. I now had a better position and he could tell what i wanted him to do now.

I just have to use a lot of leg on him now but he has be come so so much more better now where i dont need to use that much leg:D
He also does not like crops

Sorry this is not much help xxx
 
Thanks for all your help. I have tried to ride him without stirrups but this showed no improvement. He was very thin and weak when i first had him and still has very little muscle, so this could be a reason why he is reluctant to go forward. I am trying to build up his muscle on the lunge and have successfully had him going over trotting poles. Maybe i am expecting too much from him and need to allow him to get stronger before introducing ridden work in trot.
 
i have trouble with trot on my ex racer aswell but mine is because she wants to canter or walk, there is nothing inbetween! and when we are troting its extended, there is no such thing as a steady trot, mind you mine is very fit and has never been otherwise, she loves work so although we're working on it, it is taking ages, i can't lunge as she turns in and grid work means jumping all poles that are there, but mine is ridden in a martingale and a flash for jumping and cavesson for flat, sometimes she will have a flash for falt as well, depending on how she is!:p
 
Also - having a physio check him over may well help; it's the moest likely option, I think. Horses after all don't just hurt in their teeth and back areas!

:)

xx
 
How old is he Derby? and how long has he been out of racing? Was he flat or hurdler? My boy is still only 5 and came out of flat racing after 16 races because of injury in March. Started riding him in September, but its going to be a long haul. He too is very unbalanced on one rein(nothing to do with his injury) just his past schooling and the fact they all go round the track in only ever one direction and with two speeds walk/gallop! Every one I have spoken with has told me to take my time, and half my expections if that makes sense.

Perhaps you could put a light jockey on, and with a lead rein trot him around the school in both directions and see if that works? Otherwise its as posted before get someone to lunge you.

I would say though that reschooling is a very long process especially if your horse is just out of racing and young. I would suggest that you take your time, vary your approach and don't make him resentful = otherwise he might start some more serious napping and then this just becomes a visious cycle to gain control and harder to reverse. O...
 
He is 9, so not a baby but certainly acts like one! It really is like having a youngster! He was a hurdler and came off the tracks 2 years ago (i think), the girl i bought him from said he came off a showjumping yard, but i am a bit sceptical, seeing as he won't even trot!!
 
Darby said:
He is 9, so not a baby but certainly acts like one! It really is like having a youngster! He was a hurdler and came off the tracks 2 years ago (i think), the girl i bought him from said he came off a showjumping yard, but i am a bit sceptical, seeing as he won't even trot!!
Click to expand...

a lot of showjumpers won't trot, they do walk and canter ;)
 
Darby said:
He is 9, so not a baby but certainly acts like one! It really is like having a youngster! He was a hurdler and came off the tracks 2 years ago (i think), the girl i bought him from said he came off a showjumping yard, but i am a bit sceptical, seeing as he won't even trot!!
Click to expand...

YUp, showjumpers do seem to spend a lot of time not trotting! :p but i still see 9 as being a baby! :p King is 7 and still exceptionally babyish. he is also a TB although he was never raced, and he would much rather walk or canter than trot, where as the WelshD i had before would much rather trot than anything else in the whole world!!! I dont know if it is partially to do with their breeding as to what they find easiest?

Have you tried riding him bareback? that would show you if it was the fact that something is blocking his back/shoulders! (TBs arnt that scary to ride bareback, honest at least you can wrap ourself round them!)

good luck!

xXx
:D:D
 
If you take him out for a canter with another reliable, well schooled horse (pref up a slight hill) he will be more willing to go forward, just sit quiet with loose contact. Then get the other horse to slow it right down or to a trot so that your horse will slow down (hopefully trot!) with the other horse just to let him get use to carrying a rider in trot.

Also what bit is he in, he may not like the mouth piece he has. You could also lunge and get him warmed up then ride him in a rope halter (in the school obviously :p) I have ridden my ex racer in a rope halter and he goes alot more forward (still safe though!) as its different to what he was taught on the track. If this works you can use the rope halter in the school until he is going well in all 3 paces and slowly reintroduce the bit.
 
Please watch a race meating, they use all their gaits, they stay in a steady canter from the gate to the stalls, they are walked and trotted whilst waiting to be stalled where most wait patiently to the gates open and yes then they are in flat out gallop from the off. As I have said they are un balanced in trot with a rider unless you are prepared to ride jockey style and in large circles, 20mts is too small for them. Ex race horses are best going back to the beginning and being re broken, please remember they have only been ridden in a snaffle and racing saddle, so even a normal english saddle is a new experiance, let alone all the other gadgets that i have read on here to strap them down, I work in the racing industry in newmarket, please take it slow.
 
My ex-racer

The ex-racer i ride isnt anything like this, either is his sister.
The owner got his sister 3 months off the track, she was 6.
They got the gelding when he was 10, a good 5 or so years off.
He has the most balanced trot although he was a preliminary dressage and show jumping champion. He still could be but owner doesnt ride and they have no transport for him. He is at my house to ride as is his sister.
His sister, when i first rode her (4 months off the track) she had the most beautiful trot and balanced too. It was the first time she had been ridden since she came off the track.
I guess it varies with the horse. The ex racers i have ridden all have balanced trots and very stable canters etc. Most of them have now become dressage, show jumpign and eventing horses now so they would now have brilliant paces.
Doesnt help much :D just a different perspection to see from.
 
Thanks for all the advice, i have decided to take things slowly with him, and almost go back to the beginning. Hopefully when the weather gets a bit better i can get out on him alot more! I'm going to try him in a rope halter but if anyone could give me advice on bitting etc that would be great, at the moment he is ridden in a snaffle.
 
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