Johnny now healthy as a horse should be
Johnny Nevits had a tougher start to life than most ex-racehorses in Stable to Stirrup’s care.
But now the young standardbred gelding is thriving at the North Canterbury retraining and re-homing charity, and almost ready to find a new home.
Two harness racing trainers have been handed temporary industry bans for their treatment of the horse. Last week, the Racing Integrity Board banned Canterbury trainer Cameron Jones for 21 months, for injecting the horse with a substance supposed to calm its nerves on race day in December.
Harness Racing NZ rules state horses cannot have any substances injected – either by hypodermic or oral syringe – within a day of racing.
Johnny Nevits had come to Jones’ stable from now-disgraced trainer Jesse Alford.
Alford was banned for seven years in May 2021, after he was caught injecting two horses.
He was also caught trying to tube Johnny Nevits hours before it was due to race – an illegal process that allows a chemical solution to be administered to a horse to improve its stamina.
Stable To Stirrup founder and board member Rebecca Nairn said the horse was adapting ‘‘fantastically’’, to its new job as a riding horse.
When it first arrived, it spent some time at the 70-acre Parnassus property, in Hurunui, where they sent horses to have a bit of recovery time.
‘‘We really couldn’t get near him for the first six months.
‘‘He just decided he would take his time to have a holiday.’’
But about a month ago, the horse forged a special bond with one of the programme’s young trainers – Dara Carney.
‘‘Johnny, since he’s come in, has been starting to saddle, which is normally a one to two-day process depending on each horse’s natural disposition.’’
The horse has since gone for rides up and down the road, out for a trek at Baynon’s Brake, and started learning the basics in the arena. ‘‘It’s really just about getting them confident in lots of different situations,’’ Nairn said.
It was really important horses coming out of the racing industry got the chance to turn their hoof to something new.
‘‘Each horse will decide what they’re going to be capable of. Some like jumping, some are just hackers . . . some have show hack ability. But it’s really about directing the horse to wherever their natural ability is . . .
‘‘Johnny, so far, has proven himself to be quite an all-rounder.’’
Stable to Stirrup planned to start the process of finding Johnny a new home in the next week or two, although it could take a while to find a home that was a perfect match.
The charity also plans to launch a new mental health initiative, where people can work with horses such as Johnny after they finish their racing careers.
‘‘We aim to use standardbreds in the programme, to really be the mirror to the human. There’s a lot of personality traits the standardbreds have that will be really sympathetic to what we’re trying to achieve with the people.’’