Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

BlueHen — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:53:13 GMT

My daughter's riding teacher keeps all her horses outdoors all winter, incl. her beautiful TB/QH cross. They all wear 2 blankets (northern Upstate NY) and the "elderly" come in at night so they don't lose condition trying to keep warm.

The TB/QH on Sat. was out in the field when we arrived, south-facing with his rear to the back wall of the turnout shed, dozing with a back hoof tipped up in the only warm(ish), out-of-the-wind place in the whole pasture (and he was the only one to find that spot). He's got a TB head with gorgeous big eyes and a sturdy QH body, which is more of a TB size (16.2). I love him!

Their owner battles dehydration all winter with heated water-buckets and a little veg. oil in the water to "grease the skids." Nobody's had colic or thrush in yrs.; and nobody cribs, weaves, or slings heads.

At 1st I was shocked by her method of horse-keeping, having ridden at places with trimmed, regularly bathed, perfectly groomed animals as a kid -- but I have to say there is definitely something to say for her methods, and a horse's winter coat is really endearing.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Stars End — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:33:27 GMT

This winter has been particularly hard on the horses and me. First rain (lots of mud), then snow, then thaw and overnight freezes so the paddocks are ice skating rinks, then snow and rain again.

The horses do fine in the snow and mud but ice is a hazzard, particular if you have heavily pregnant mares. Fortunately a layer of straw put down during a thaw has now frozen into a ground with more traction in it!

We've had to minus 5 this winter, and I always blanket the older mares and the chestnuts if it gets below 30 degrees.(We've typically been 15-25 degrees overnight). What is it about chestnuts that they don't grow as much hair in the winter?

The foals, weanling and yearlings have such a long fur on them I don't worry. Always monitor for runny noses, etc., but so far they've been healthy and alert, rolling in the snow and mud contently.

I have a huge Secretariat granddaughter (Risen Star) who is like a walking Bigfoot in the winter. Two inch long fur with mudcicles hanging off of her. Just try and catch her to groom! She see blankets coming out for the others and she's off and away!

The Stallion (Seattle Slew) lets me know when he wants to be blanketed on the colder nights. Stands there quietly means yes, bolts off means no. Don't tell me horses can't teach their staff!

I agree: wet horses and wind are killers. More run ins to build this summer for us!

In the summer try the fly wasp predators that are available. They really work. Rarely do I have to use spray on the herd. Neighbors appreciate it all well.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Whatever — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:37:56 GMT

I have an appendix-bred. My horse's great grand sire is BOLD RULER, his dam was a western pleasure AQHA champion. He looks like a thoroughbred, but has the temperment of a quarter horse. If I had a scanner I'd attach a picture because he has his great grand sire's noble looking head and eyes. He's 20 years old, has a light winter coat (Florida), wears NO SHOES and loves to live like a wild animal on the 10 acres of swampland and scrub brush here in Fla. I got him from Andrea Mooreman of Venice, Florida about 9 years ago. Andrea is well known in the quarter horse industry in the United States and abroad. Pick up a copy of the quarter horse journel, she's in there. She's an excellent trainer.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Mike — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:51:13 GMT

We were selling two retired geldings as hunter jumper dressage prospects one year. It was june, and our tree lined lane was shady and cool, so we tied them to the rail fence while waiting for the possible purchaser. She drove in, looked at the horses briefly, and said, "Oh, no, I came to look at Thoroughbreds". She could not believe that two calm, muscular, and relaxed geldings could be Thoroughbreds. Aren't they all nervous and excited, all the time?

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Catsvx — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:47:03 GMT

I have a picture that I took of the great John Henry. He saw me with the camera and raised his head to give me the "look at me" pose. This was in the summertime when he was sleek and shiny. To me, he was just as beautiful and regal looking in the pictures of him as a wooly boy in the winter. Who can forget the pictures of him at KHP standing outside the barn in his blanket with his furry legs peeking out the bottom. He wasn't mistreated, by any means. He was allowed to be a horse. Miss you John John.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Abbie Knowles — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:08:12 GMT

Great article and lovely to hear of so many well loved horses being allowed to live in a natural way. But do agree that they should have some form of shelter. Not just in winter but so they can avoid the pesky flies in summer!

Have no problem with horses looking muddy or hairy as long as they are checked regularly as those mentioned here are. Mud fever is nasty and no one wants their horses to get tetanus through a missed cut etc.

But on the racetrack itself it is lovely to see them looking sleek and shiny!

All racehorses, horses, animals are beautiful aren't they? They are all individuals too and generally respond best when treated as such!!

This is a heart warming blog site. Many thanks!

God Bless

Best wishes

Abbie

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

OTTBecky — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:21:07 GMT

O this is wonderful!! My off track racehorses are 18 and 22 yrs old and in the winter time they are big old furballs and I wouldn't have it any other way. They look beautiful to me!!

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Dreamer's Mom — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:50:15 GMT

I love this blog! Our racers, even though they are back in training, are still outside. Fat, fuzzy and still a little lazy!

I also loved the comments about their behavior. I bring people to the barn to meet our racers and they are amazed at how friendly and QUIET they are! No knuckleheads in our barn, thank you very much! So hard to undo all the misconceptions, but I will continue to try!

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Beautiful X Ride — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:23:42 GMT

I completly agree our horses we have ( 6 paints, 1 leopard appy and 1 quarter horse) are all lawn ornaments( for some of you who have seen Clinton Anderson training dvd's)

and have little hay bellies, we have a few mares that are like TANKS! the only problem I have with the paints is, keepin the darn white spots clean, especially since my yearling paint has a bald face, but I just give up and say let him have fun! Eventhough they live here in Florida they still get dirty and furry! but I love it, its like a horse size teddy bear!

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Carolyn in ND — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:07:32 GMT

My horses(quarter & appaloosa) like going through some snow - even belly deep. Go figure!! Right now they have a hugh pile in the middle of the barn paddock & climb it a little as the hoof prints tell. My black mare gets more dirty in the sloppy spring than my app. gelding. My guess is he sees his dirt more than she. Horses need down time like us be it rolling in mud or playing in snow.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

PilotMal — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:00:08 GMT

All of mine are rather fuzzy. Fat, happy, hay-bellied fuzzy broodies.

Good old winter. Snow, water, and MUD :)

Sometimes, people are silly. xD

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Elaine — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:50:13 GMT

I worked for a large farm in KY with a number of older, pensioned stallions. They remained in a back pasture, allowed to go "au natural" since few visitors requested to see them. One day, I overheard a group of tourists. They were complaining about the condition of the pensioned stallions, how the farm was mistreating them and how they were going to report the farm. They were the last tourists to see the pensioned stallions!

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Beth — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:49:12 GMT

The best way to keep a horse, any horse, including TB's, is to let them stay outside and provide them a shelter they can go in and out of at will. The opening to the shelter should face south.

Horses adapt well to the cold. As long as they have a place to get out of a biting wind and they don't get too soaking wet on both their back and belly, they do fine.

Treating them like "hot house flowers" does not help them stay healthier. It just makes them "woozies". So they get a little hairy, so what?

Only drawback to keeping a horse outside in winter is the battle to keep their drinking water unfrozen. A lot of horses get colicky in the winter for this reason-not enough hydration.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

SamNotSpam — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:39:11 GMT

I remember seeing a photo once of the British sire, Bustino. In the winter he resembled an overgrown shetland pony more than a racehorse, I don't think I've ever seen a woolier thoroughbred!

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Kayte — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:09:11 GMT

My hubby's grandparents owned 2 off-track Standardbreds and they were allowed to be just that-- horses. They loved it, getting nice and sleek in the summer and nice, fat and furry in the winter time. And I'm sure these are horses that came from a world where everything was done for them. Let them be, don't take what nature gave them to protect their bodies.

And besides-- who can say that they don't think a fuzzy pony in the winter is cute?????

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

geegees — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:13:28 GMT

Above all else a thoroughbred is still and formost just a horse and if we let them be one more often we could enjoy them longer.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Gail — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:29:46 GMT

I forget which trainer told me this years ago, but he said "If mud killed them, they would have been extinct a long time ago". I let my horses enjoy themselves out there.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Wanda — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:44:55 GMT

Great feel good story! Up in the Great White North we call them " fur balls".

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

some sheila — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:10:36 GMT

My off-the-track Thoroughbred has been at a large boarding barn, and despite his refined looks and glossy coat, people are always surprised to find out he is a Thoroughbred.

Their responses are always in the form of "He's too ______ to be a Thoroughbred!" And they fill in the blank with such words as calm, laid back, sane, sweet, smart, etc. etc. As if all Thoroughbreds are hyperactive, crazy, and mean.

I am secretly amused when another person's quarter horse, arab, or whatever is having an episode and is being unmanageable, while my "crazy" TB just stands there at the end of a long lead and watches.

He never bites me or the barn staff, he steps carefully around children, and he has nice manners. When people treat him like he's a maniac despite his behavior, I know to watch out for those people. If they are too stupid to recognize that a horse isn't mean, I keep away from them and don't let them near my horse.

When my guy comes in from the pasture caked in mud, I just laugh and say, "Did you have a good time?" I brush him so that the drying mud won't itch him, but I don't worry if he doesn't look like he's show ready. I just want him to be a horse and have a good time.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

JAJ — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:43:17 GMT

I still can't get over that my once beautiful race mare lives out in a field in Ontario, 24/7. Yes, she has a run-in shed, but it PAINS me to see her in belly-deep snow.

Furry with a long unkempt mane and tail--she looks more like a cart horse than the winning racehorse she was.

She is happy, healthy and has a wonderful life. I wish all retired racehorses could have as good a life as she has.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Kateinabox — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 07:06:59 GMT

A few of the horses racing right now in Japan have been allowed to get all woolly. It is pretty funny to see them race against the other glossy horses. But they run just as well! Nothing wrong with going au natural!

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Qatmom — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:56:41 GMT

I had Arabians with several generations of winning racehorses in Egypt behind them. TB people thought they were TB yearlings. [I was flattered.] Pat Day galloped one of them and thought she was cute.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Victor8 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:41:04 GMT

while I was a groom for many years i fell in love with the handsomest gelding i had ever met. the years we spent racing he looked like the equine equivalent of an Aston Martin, powerful, sleek, with a coat of liquid copper and black points all around....many years have passed and my love for him has only grown; this afternoon when i brought him in from pasture he could have easily been mistaken as something awful that you would clean out from under the woodstove in your basement, caked in dirt, with sticks in his hair, every inch of him filthy, lol. i think he feels that we spent so many years looking imaculate that he has the rest of his life to make up for all the rolls in mudpuddles that he missed. funny thing is though, the dirtier he gets, the bigger the smile on his face is when he sees me coming. and a racehorses eyes forever dance, race ready or woolymammoth, lol.

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

Christine — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:54:01 GMT

My mare is a hairy beast, and she is proud of it!

re: Oh No... THOSE Can't Be Thoroughbreds

thoroughbrednut — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:40:27 GMT

lol Scot, that was funny, thanks :)