Hi

 

I was wondering how each person came to own their stb?

 

deb

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Adopted her from heaven can wait equine rescue.  She has been an angel. My husband and I love her to pieces.

I adopted mine directly from her racing owners. I was a groom in her trainer's stable at the time (now I work with TBs). She's a lovely mare, and I had my eye on her for about a year before she retired from racing. Bold, beautiful mare with a bold, beautiful personality :-)

 

She's become quite a good competitive trail horse. Won a slew of trophies in her first couple of seasons. I have a junior rider competing on her this coming season. She's steady, reliable and very fast on trail.

 

One of her old racing owners comes to visit her occasionally and is very proud of her post-racing career.

Hi

I'm glad you took an interest in her when she was racing and followed her until she retired.  That is awesome.

 

I am suprised that more people don't use them for trail, as in my exprience the are such tough durable horses.  The two I have now are an exception currently due to odd problems... but usually our horses are jogged 10 miles a day, and at speed... after a month of this they can go 15 miles without tiering (we usually just stick to 10 miles, but the odd horse goes farther)... they are indeed fresh after this and can do it day after day and race once a week as well (one mare raced 60 + starts and was sound at the end of the year under this regime).  I would think that this ability to go long miles at speed would be good for competitive trail riding.   

 

I am also happy to hear that her old owners come to see her now and again.  There are actually some decent stb race owners and people... just the other kind outnumber them.

Cheers

Deb McDaid

Tiocfaidh Ar La Stable

 

 

There are a few Standardbreds competing in Ontario in competitive trail (several of them ex-stablemates of my mare that I placed). They do very well typically. However, taking them beyond about 30 miles becomes a bit of a management issue. It requires that you condition very faithfully, and give very large doses of electrolytes at regular intervals along the trail. You have to know the horse very very well, and be extremely aware of heat issues. And you have to manage those heat issues carefully. My mare is a superstar at 25-30 miles. But she will work herself into the ground if you don't keep a careful eye on her. And she overheats badly if I don't sponge religiously at every water stop. My Arab on the other hand, takes excellent care of himself, doesn't overheat, and requires fewer (if any) electrolytes. You can also cheat on the conditioning a little bit, and an Arab will still likely finish anyway. A Standardbred won't. Not because they won't try (they give you everything they have and then a bit more), but because they'll get pulled by the vets for a metabolic issue. My mare gets electrolyte imbalances in hot weather. All that being said, the ones that I know on trail are steady, reliable horses who are very tough. If you can find one of the smaller, somewhat lighter built Standardbreds, they will do better. The big ones are too heavily muscled and they hold heat in their muscles. My mare is tall, but she's kind of a long, lean sort which helps. She's also black, which most certainly does NOT help. Lighter coloured horses do better in heat. That's why you see so many grey Arabs out on trail.

Hi

That is interesting to find out.  The horse I have right now although big, can go (when his feet are right) 10 miles no stopping at an extremely fast pace.  He does not heat, or sweat even on really hot summer days.  So even though he is really big, I would think that he would do well???

Thanks for the info.

 

Deb McDaid

Tiocfaidh Ar La Stable

It's certainly a good start. Sounds like he's a strong tough horse. I do know a couple of big Standardbreds who have done pretty well. Blue Skies is a big grey mare that has done well at Novice level CTR (up to about 25 miles), though she is of course grey, which helps a lot. And HBFS Harmony, who finished a 50 last year at the Canadian Endurance Championships. Harmony is a very bulky horse, and does have problems with heat. Those problems usually start to show up at around 30 miles. Same with my mare. At about 30-35 miles, she starts overheating. At 10 miles both Harmony and Dressy would be fresh as daisies and still trotting strongly - and likely not yet overheating either.The heat builds up slowly, and as electrolytes become depleted, they go out of balance metabolically. So long as they are managed carefully though, they do fine.

 

You'd just have to try it with your horse and see how he did. Things you want in a distance horse are:

Drinks LOTS. And is not fussy about strange water.

Not a fussy eater, will eat at rest stops.

Not anxious

Good on their feet. Not trippy.

Good feet and legs.

VERY sound (they have to pass a strict soundness check every 12 miles or so)

Efficient mover... not a lot of knee action (conserves energy).

No history of tying up.

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