Friday, January 30, 2009

How Racehorses Are Trained

By David ONeil

Race horses, on the whole, tend to be thoroughbreds and they compete at speed on the flat. There are no jumps or obstacles in their way.

The majority of racehorses are bred and trained in large thoroughbred farms. Most farms will not just breed horses but will be involved in their training to. When the horse is a certain age it will move from the breeding section into a fully fledged training programme.

The training of racehorses will usually start when they are approximately 18 months old. There are a few trainers that will train yearlings on the flat but not very often as the horses legs don't fuse until they are nearly four years old. Its also interesting to bear in mind that many race horses are worth a small fortune before they have really even done anything.

Training and racing horses is a very organised and competitive business and therefore the horses are trained with an almost military precision. The owners investment will be high and there is no room for error. The young horses will be introduced to the lunge line first. This encourages them to respond to verbal commands and also learn to trust and respect their trainer.

A racehorses mission is to run and they don't need to know how to trot, canter or halt. In fact the first ex-racehorse I ever owned was a classic example of this. He really did only know walk and gallop. Stopping was not even in his mind! During the first part of training the trainer will quantify whether or not the horse is suitable for sprinting or distance running.

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