Work begins
Once the horses have settled in and are working well on the lunge, happily hacking out and going gently forwards in the arena, the real work begins.
“A racehorse’s natural head carriage is high, which means that they can’t relax over their back. So anything we can do to help them drop their head and neck and work over the back is the first thing we focus on,” explains Amanda. “Once they begin to drop their head, they feel free and it’s easy to start working them correctly because they are more comfortable.”
Matt and Amanda use the EquiAmi training aid to both lunge and ride in as it helps the horse to engage, work properly and find his comfort zone and balance.
“A lot of them aren’t used to having a consistent rein contact,” explains Amanda. “We work for short periods maintaining a contact and then allow the horse to have a stretch. It’s about give and take and not asking too much too soon. Once they begin to relax, we stop and give them a break before starting again.”
It’s also important to do a lot of transitions and lateral work, Amanda advises.
“They find the upward transitions easier. Downward transitions are much harder for them and they often fall into a heap, so you have to work hard to carry them — it can take years for racehorses to learn to work correctly from behind.”
Once a horse is going well, accepting a contact and has learnt to drop his head and neck, polework and jumping are introduced.
“I introduce poles to give the paces lift and help the horses find their balance and listen to the aids,” says Amanda. “Polework is also a good way to introduce them to jumping.” Variety is very important when it comes to keeping ex-racehorses’ minds busy.
“We vary their routine with a mixture of schooling, hacking, going on the walker and lungeing,” says Amanda. “Once they’re going well and we’re happy with their progress, we take them out to small, local competitions, such as dressage and jumping, depending on what discipline they prefer.
“Some horses just want to be happy hackers and don’t particularly enjoy dressage or jumping, so we respect that and let them do what they prefer.”
“Ex-racehorses find downward transitions much harder. They often fall into a heap”