Re-training the harness race horse.

re-training the harness race horse. By Ashley   01/8/00 10:15:00 PM

I purchased a lovely 3yr old (now 6 yr) Standardbred gelding from the local race track and have been successful in properly teaching him to walk and trot (speed was always a problem) and am now working on the canter. If he gets too excited or confused he switches back to the pace but only at these times. He bends well to do figure 8's, serpentines even leg yielding at a trot. He has a tendency to speed up on the straight stretches and sometimes takes the bit in his teeth. Would anyone have any suggestions or ever re-trained the harness race horse for English pleasure? 

I've retrained a pacer and he's come a long way, we even got him jumping.. now he is retired, but basically you have to remember that with harness horses, they depend on a lot of contact and they do grab the bit when racing.. the best thing is to find out how he raced, e.g., was he a hanger, etc.. 

But you must remember that once they learn something more often than not, they will remember it regardless of what you are doing, it could be that when he raced he was taught to pick up speed along the straight. 

enjoy!

I don't know much about retraining trotting horses but I have chatted quite a bit with a lady who has 2 that she has retrained. One was a pacer, one was a trotter. Her named is Elsa and she is usually in the chat room at www.HorseCity.com. She lives up in Maine and uses hers for trail riding. 

She is a very nice lady to talk to and is usually there in the evenings. I warn you there are some very obnoxious children that hang out there and if you go just ask if Elsa is there and tell her that "hasty" sent you.

You are doing very well to have him so flexible and bending. The one we have is so stiff its like riding on a rail, he has no flexibility at all. I also find our gelding responds well when I use my voice, as well as regular signals. He keeps an ear back to listen to me. The other thing with our gelding is he is terrible on a trail because he doesn't seem to look where his feet are going. 

He trips over things and refuses to walk off a trail into the woods. I think all his years of going straight ahead on a clear open perfectly flat track looking only straight ahead has taken its toll on him. It sounds like you are doing well so far, but it takes a long time for them to change. Ours rarely canters, sometimes I see him do it in the field when he is playing, but almost never when I am riding. (Ours is pretty much a retired guy anyway so I don't really spend time training with him.) Good luck, and good for you to take the time to try to make a good riding horse out of him. Too many slow trotters meet a terrible end. 

Holly

Thank you to those who responded. I have talked to some other horse people and they all say that by the age of 6 or what not a horse should be well on their way but if you think my horse (Seamus) has only been learning for 3 1/2 years. It's good to know that others feel that the process takes time, the world wasn't built in one day. I wouldn't trade my Standardbred for another in the world it's just needed to be realized that he is an individual and not all training will work I guess.