Retraining racehorses – 5 golden nuggets of recommendation from Tina Prepare dinner

Retraining former racehorses might be difficult, but additionally extraordinarily rewarding for those who can kind a bond with an clever thoroughbred and re-educate him for a profitable second profession.

British Olympic eventing medallist Tina Prepare dinner has a robust household background in racing and has taken on the duty of retraining racehorses many occasions, turning them into profitable occasion horses. In a masterclass at Wellington Driving in February 2023, she talked about a number of the secrets and techniques of success when working with these horses.

Prime ideas for retraining racehorses

1. Don’t overlook you’re coping with a previous historical past

Ex-racehorses who haven’t been profitable of their first careers could have been to the races and never had a really good time as a result of they had been being requested to do one thing they weren’t superb at and didn’t perceive, says Tina.

“If that was you, would you belief people and what they’re asking you to do?” she asks. “Ex-racehorses might be misinterpreted as being nappy or silly, however folks need to be reasonable about what they’ve carried out earlier than. Give them perception that they will do it.”

2. Don’t make an enormous deal out of small issues

If a horse whips spherical, they’ll in all probability whip spherical sooner or maybe rear up for those who make an enormous deal out of it, says Tina. It’s higher to remain quiet in your driving and the correction you give the horse.

3. Re-start the leaping training

“I don’t care if a horse has run in a bumper or within the Grand Nationwide, we begin their leaping training by strolling over one pole,” says Tina, including that horses who’ve raced over fences study to leap trying up, not down on the obstacles, so they should study to look, assess the jumps and deal with them otherwise to be an occasion horse.

4. Take the outings slowly

Once more, keep in mind that the horse could not have good recollections of going out in a lorry if he didn’t get pleasure from his racecourse experiences.

“Don’t simply take him straight to a present and surprise why he’s coming off the lorry wild and shaking, with sweat pouring off him,” says Tina, explaining she would begin off by taking a horse out for quiet education outings relatively than going straight to a contest.

5. An older horse can nonetheless be retrained and achieve success

Tina cites the instance of Harbinger, a horse she took on as an eight-year-old and she or he retrained to win the British intermediate championships at Gatcombe Horse Trials two years later and compete at Burghley.

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H&H journal editor and eventing editor

Pippa is a real eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand expertise of competing as much as British Eventing intermediate and worldwide CCI2*-L degree, and has labored within the trade on a high occasion yard. Pippa enjoys nothing greater than immersing herself within the sport on the highest degree, reporting from the five-stars and worldwide championships, together with the Olympics.