By KRISTEN KOVATCH BENTLEY
There’s a particular vein of content creators who have found their niche in venting to their social media audiences on a few variations of a theme: no one wants to develop their horsemanship anymore.
This argument has a few flavors: there’s a lack of work ethic in young people coming up through the ranks of equestrian sports. The “barn rat” is facing extinction. No one is teaching or learning fundamentals of riding and horse care, they’re just rushing to the show ring.
It’s not just Facebook horsemen making these arguments, either – even Margie Goldstein-Engle observed that few riders wanted to work to develop young horses, which requires a focus on a strong foundation.
Generally speaking, there are more equestrians that are constantly seeking to learn more and approach their horses from a holistic perspective than many of these personalities might lead you to believe. But there’s a singular community that embraces this whole-horse perspective almost universally.
Let us introduce the “Thoroughbred people”: those who have fallen in love not only with the breed itself, but the process of developing a former racehorse into a sport horse.
Working With Thoroughbreds
As a disclaimer, the Thoroughbred breed contains multitudes: it’s possible to find plenty of slow-legged kick rides that are suitable for all riders almost right off the track. There is a Thoroughbred out there for almost every rider. That doesn’t mean that all riders are equipped with the tools to develop a green-to-sport former racehorse right after its retirement from the track.
Think of a Thoroughbred as a horse, but concentrated: both their slow- and fast-twitch muscles are honed for peak athleticism, selectively bred for centuries to be fast off the line and also to sustain top speeds for a mile or more. Even an unfit Thoroughbred retains a level of athleticism that can be a lot to handle. When shaped and trained for a particular sport, this athleticism makes for an incredible ride, combined with the breed’s drive and heart for work.
As a result of this high-bred athleticism, the Thoroughbred also possesses a great sensitivity, both to its rider and handler as well as to its surroundings. This sensitivity is often labeled as the horse being “spooky,” “hot,” or “wild.” In reality, these stereotypes are often just misunderstood or misdirected energy with no outlet, manifesting through the horse’s sensitivity.
As a so-called “hot blood” breed, Thoroughbreds generally can’t be lunged down; a thoughtful approach to flatwork will get a rider much further when a horse is fresh. That requires the rider to have a thorough foundation of flatwork themselves, and the ability to develop these foundational basics in a green horse with plenty of forward.
Even the developed Thoroughbred can be a bit of a different animal from the conventional show ring breeds. My own horse has been off the track for far longer than he was on it – he’s 17 this year, and raced from age three to seven, and he still comes out each spring after his winter off requiring all of my flatwork skills to keep him relatively horizontal for the first week reintroducing the canter.
In short, the Thoroughbred does not suffer fools: approach the breed with a solid appreciation of foundational flatwork, and a healthy sense of humor.
The Whole-Horse Approach
While every sport horse requires careful management and maintenance for optimal performance, Thoroughbreds in particular offer opportunities for their people to learn a vast array of horsemanship skills, starting from the inside and working out.
Especially for a horse fresh off the track, which has been fed a high-energy diet to maintain racing fitness, a good base of equine nutrition knowledge is critical to transition the animal to a diet more appropriate for the sport horse lifestyle and workload. A one-size-fits-all approach to feeding may not work for every horse, although generally speaking, starting with high-quality forage and lots of it is a great place to start.
It’s this transition point in which the Thoroughbred is most likely to pick up the stereotype of being a hard keeper. The reality is that the individual horse is transitioning from one highly-regimented lifestyle to one where the routine is likely vastly different, from feed to turnout to exercise, and even in details like the amount of activity in the barn itself. Some horses may struggle with this transition and require their people to pay close attention to details as well as think outside the box for how to smooth out the process. Acclimating a Thoroughbred to a new lifestyle asks the equestrian to take a whole-horse approach.
The Trade-Off
If you’ve read this far and thought to yourself “gosh, why would anyone partner with a horse that seems like it asks so much of its people?”, then you may not have ever experienced the heart, trainability, and athleticism of the Thoroughbred. For those who believe that the modern equestrian world is lacking in opportunities for up-and-comers to develop their skills, or worse, lacking in equestrians with the desire to do so, they only need to look to the Thoroughbred community to understand that these horsemen and horsewomen have been here all along.
Yes, working with a Thoroughbred can be a challenge, and it’s one that not every equestrian might be well suited for. If you’re horseman enough, however, the rewards are that much the sweeter for the effort.
Looking for more resources to help you in your process with a Thoroughbred? The RRP Education Library is a free resource with over 250 longform articles and video recordings covering topics from track life and training to care and nutrition.
