The Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred:
The Original Sport Horse
Our guide to finding an off-the-track TB for dressage
By AmBer HeintzBerger
38 July/August 2012 • USDF ConneCtion
t
he natural athleticism and refined beauty of the
Toroughbred horse have been valued for centuries in horse sports. Warmbloods may dominate
in today’s dressage world, but check the pedigrees
of many successful modern sport horses and there tends to
be a great deal of Toroughbred blood running through their
veins. over the years, some full-blood Toroughbreds have
excelled in the dressage arena, even after successful racing careers. And prior to the development of the warmblood sport
horse, Toroughbreds were the sport-horse breed—and they
continue to dominate in certain disciplines, such as eventing.
Toroughbred enthusiasts prize the breed’s stamina and
“heart.” Although Toroughbreds fell out of favor for dressage for many years, some dressage riders are beginning to
realize that the modern, refined warmblood is not necessarily so different from a nicely built Toroughbred—and that
Toroughbreds often can be had for less money.
Toroughbreds come from all walks of life: small independent breeders, large-scale racing breeders, and successful and failed racehorses alike that are retired and ready for
new careers. Some tBs come to dressage from other disciplines. Te hunter ranks may reject a good-moving horse
that’s not a great jumper, for instance; or a prospective event
horse may lack the bravery needed to go cross-country.
in this article, we’ll explore the Toroughbred’s history
in dressage, and we’ll offer some expert pointers on finding
a suitable tB for the sport.
POST PARADE: Te off-the-track Toroughbred Sea
Lord’s freestyle with rider Silva Martin at the 2011 PVDA
Ride for Life featured (fittingly) a racing costume and a
bugle call to the post
CHRISTINA DALE/PHYXIUSPHOTOS.COM
Success Stories
Toroughbreds that make it to the grand Prix level in dressage tend to get a lot of attention these days. one of the most
famous Toroughbred dressage horses of all time is the legendary Keen (money Broker – mabel Victory), a 17.2-hand
chestnut gelding who, deemed too big to race, found his career niche with Californian Hilda gurney. Te pair earned
a team bronze medal at the 1976 olympic games and made
their final olympic appearance in 1984, when Keen was
eighteen. in 1997, Keen became one of the first two horses
inducted into the roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame.
(Te other was Carol Lavell’s partner gifted.)
Fast-forward to 2011, when a 2001 off-the-track Toroughbred (ottB), Sea Lord (Sea Salute – graceful glory),
brought down the house with a grand Prix Freestyle to the
Digital Edition Bonus Content
Read the Roemer Foundation/USDF
Hall of Fame tribute to Keen.
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music from Secretariat at the Potomac Valley Dressage Association’s ride for Life show in maryland. rider and trainer Silva martin, West grove, PA, donned jockey silks; and
the seventeen-hand gelding, owned by Charish Campbell,
easton, mD, sported blinkers and a racing saddle blanket.
“if you get a Toroughbred on your side, they’ll do anything for you,” says martin. She should know: Her husband,
Boyd martin, competes the 2012 USeF international Horse
of the year, neville Bardos, also an ex-racehorse, in eventing. Sea Lord himself was an event horse before the martins
discovered his aptitude for dressage.
Another dressage notable with a soft spot for Toroughbreds is Anne gribbons, of Chuluota, FL, an Fei 5* judge
and the US equestrian Federation national dressage technical advisor. of the many horses that gribbons has trained
to the grand Prix level, two were ottBs.
Based on new york’s Long island in the 1970s, gribbons was first paired with tappan zee, a seventeen-hand
chestnut gelding by royal Charger who had raced until he
EARLy PARTnER: Anne Gribbons and her off-the-track Toroughbred,
Tappan Zee, in 1976
40 July/August 2012 • USDF ConneCtion
nOT CLOWning AROUnD: Melissa Creswick and her Grand Prixlevel OTTB, Mi Payaso, in 1983
was seven years old and was gelded at eight.
“He was owned by mrs. Lois Stephens in ossining, new
york, and trained by gordon miller to Prix St. georges, who
sold him to study at Princeton,” gribbons recalls. “i trained
him to grand Prix and earned my [USDF] gold medal,
which was at that time hard to get. We went to the olympic
trials in 1976. He was a phenomenally intelligent horse.”
gribbons’ second dressage tB was a big black gelding
called Ad Astra (“stars” in Latin), who had raced successfully
until he was six. trained to Second Level when gribbons began riding him, Ad Astra went all the way up to grand Prix.
“He was very smart and he learned very fast, and was
almost double-jointed, he was so athletic!” gribbons says.
“once you get a Toroughbred organized, it’s like riding a
Ferrari. you think it and it happens. i love warmbloods who
have a lot of Toroughbred blood; they love to work and
tend to be very athletic.”
melissa Creswick, of Clovis, CA, taught and trained for
30 years and now has a private facility. She is a USeF “S”
dressage judge and an “r” sport-horse-breeding judge, and
she has served as a USDF region 7 director and as a California Dressage Society president. Her first grand Prix horse
was a 16.2-hand chestnut ottB named galway Pub (racing room – Bally Dugan), who had been a teaser stallion.
“He simply fell into my hands because i couldn’t afford
anything better,” says Creswick. “i rode him for eleven years
and took him to grand Prix in the 1980s, before warmbloods were prevalent in this country. He had very sound
conformation, even by today’s standards, though i didn’t
know it at the time. i didn’t really know what i was doing,
but i kept on trying and working at it, and we had a trainer
in the area. it took about eight years to get to grand Prix.”
Creswick rechristened her mount mi Payaso—“my
clown” in Spanish. “At the time, all these horses were coming over from europe with fancy names, so i thought, ‘Well,
hell, i’ll show him under something and they won’t know
what it means!’” she says.
USDF ARCHIvES; COURTESY OF ANNE GRIBBONS; COURTESY OF MELISSA CRESWICK
LEgEnDARy PAiR: Hilda Gurney and Keen at the 1976 Olympics
Where to Look for a Thoroughbred
Suitability and Temperament
Are you interested in purchasing a Toroughbred? you can
go the conventional horse-shopping route and search classified ads—tBs abound in many parts of the country—or
you may be attracted to the idea of rescuing an ex-racehorse. outraged by stories of cast-off ex-racers being sold
for slaughter, tB enthusiasts across the country have established adoption agencies and strive to promote “recycled
racers” as riding horses.
ex-racehorses can be purchased directly off the track or
via a racehorse-adoption program. Te adoption route may
well entail an approval process, and you may have to agree
never to sell the horse and to return him to the program
if you decide you can no longer keep him. However, some
good sport-horse prospects have been found through these
programs, and they may already have a good start in making the transition from racehorse to riding horse.
Before you sign up with an adoption program or head
to the local racetrack to pick up a young dressage prospect,
consider a few key points. if you are inexperienced with
Toroughbreds or with selecting a horse in general, you’ll
likely save time, money, and frustration by asking a dressage professional or an experienced friend to help you with
your search.
one area that your expert can help to assess is the horse’s
suitability for dressage. For starters, to be happy in your
desired discipline, the horse should enjoy the routine of
arena work, says Anna morgan Ford, director of the new
Vocations racehorse Adoption Program in marysville, oH
(horseadoption.com), and author of Beyond the Track: Retraining the Toroughbred from Racehorse to Riding Horse.
“Tis might sound odd, but we have found that some
ottBs do not thrive with arena work and get frustrated,”
Ford says. “Tese horses are a minority, though; most do
like the structured routine that dressage has to offer.”
gribbons loves the Toroughbred’s sensitivity and ambitious nature, but she cautions that “it can be a problem
that they can get so ambitious that their brains begin to
cook! you can’t push them or they will self-destruct.”
Te high-pressure, unnatural racetrack environment
leads some Toroughbreds to develop vices. Some, such as
cribbing, may be difficult to break; other times, perceptive
trainers recognize the reasons for the behavior and are able
to eliminate the causes.
Creswick’s ottB, mi Payaso, “had a biting problem
that i had to stop. i gave him a towel to bite, and he ended
up doing that until he got more secure in his training. Ulti-
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mately he became very confident. you had to be very fair or
he’d freak out. He was very insecure; he loved the ring but
he couldn’t stand to be out in the open.”
Creswick advises against choosing a “neurotically speedoriented” Toroughbred for dressage. “if they can’t focus,
they’re not going to be a good riding horse,” she explains. “At
the sales, if the horse is watching his handler, you’ve got a pretty good idea he’ll be clued in to the alpha horse or whoever is
on top. i want the horse to be accessible, or trainable. An easy
way to test them is to get in their line of sight, then step off
to the side. Do they follow you or ignore you? if they totally
ignore you, your chances of getting them clued in are slim.”
it took Creswick a long time to teach mi Payaso to focus
on his rider. “it’s a long journey,” she says. “if they’ve been
on the track, it’s even harder because they’ve been geared to
run. if you buy a yearling that’s never raced, the job is half
what it would be with an ottB.”
Te typical Toroughbred temperament plays a key role
in determining the best way to school him and to warm him
up at shows. Creswick says that the more she did with mi
Payaso, the hotter he’d get, so she would give him frequent
walk breaks between exercises and would mix things up in
the work.
“Tat’s how i’d warm him up at a show, and he waited
for me,” Creswick says. “i had half-halts, not pulling contests.”
She adds: “i still have a lot of Toroughbred crosses. i like that
little bit of fire, but i’m a quiet, grounded rider, so it works out
well. if i was a nervous rider, we’d go into next week!”
Are You Right
for a Thoroughbred?
I
n considering the purchase of an ex-racehorse,
the suitability issue goes both ways. Not only
does the horse need to be able to handle the
demands of dressage; but the rider also needs to
possess adequate skill, tact, and patience.
“Thoroughbreds can get very tense, and at a
certain point they can’t stand pressure,” explains
top trainer Anne Gribbons. “You have to be careful
how much you push the buttons. If you get one off
the track, expect to take more time with him; they
anticipate a lot.”
Some Thoroughbreds are naturally very quiet,
defying the stereotype of the fire-breathing racehorse; on the whole, however, a horse fresh off the
track is best paired with an experienced rider. Ask a
knowledgeable instructor if you’re a good prospective match for an OTTB.
42 July/August 2012 • USDF ConneCtion
Ford and other experts advise giving any ex-racer plenty
of time to adjust to his new life and career. Doing so also allows any substances that may be in his system to be flushed
out. As an example, a gelding may have been administered
anabolic steroids, whose side effects include stallion-like
behavioral tendencies. in the case of a newly gelded horse,
it can take time for his hormone levels (and corresponding
behavior) to settle down.
Conformation and Gaits
Although there are always exceptions, Toroughbreds bred
for racing tend to be “hot” and sensitive, with thin skins and
lighter builds than the typical warmblood. From there the
similarities end, with ottBs coming in all shapes and sizes.
your job as a buyer is to separate the dressage types from
the individuals whose conformation and movement stamp
them as better suited for another discipline.
most dressage riders who adopt ottBs look for “uphill” conformation (withers higher than croups) and shorter
backs, Ford says: “Horses that are built downhill and/or are
long-backed have a harder time with many of the dressage
movements. Adopters tend to pay more attention to the
hindquarters than the front, in that the horse should not be
naturally weak behind and should have a decent overstep.”
(overstep, also called overstride or overtracking, refers to
the desirable tendency of the hind feet to land in front of the
hoofprints of the forefeet as the horse walks.)
Creswick finds that Toroughbreds tend to be a little bit
leaner and longer in the back than warmbloods. “Sometimes
they are too long in the back, and sometimes they don’t have
a lot of neck,” she says. on the up side, “most have a wonderful canter and a good walk, since walk and canter are
related. Te trot, of course, is the only gait you can improve.”
“if someone wants to train a Toroughbred, he has to
have a better trot than the average warmblood,” says gribbons. “Tey can get tense about the walk, but the canter is
usually good from all the galloping they do at the track.” not
surprisingly, however, “you do have to teach them about
‘brakes’!”
if possible, watch the horse move at liberty, Ford suggests.
you’ll get a sense of how he naturally carries himself—important to remember when you start riding, as newly retired
racehorses tend to shorten or change their movement when
under tack during the first month or two in their new careers.
“it takes time for them to be able to relax and move freely
under tack,” Ford explains. “Seeing them loose will give you
a good idea of how they will eventually move with further
time and training. Tey should naturally engage and drive
from their hind end, and they should have clean movement
with no interference. i see dressage as equine ballet, so most
[dressage] adopters are looking for a horse that is light on
their feet and athletic.”
As in any horse purchase, you’ll want to arrange for a
prepurchase exam before you write a check for an ottB—
preferably by a veterinarian who’s familiar with both typical
racehorse issues and the demands of dressage. Certain types
of injuries, such as bowed tendons, are common in racing.
An experienced veterinarian can help you to determine if an
old injury is likely to cause a problem in the horse’s new career. But if the horse held up under the demands of racing,
his history bodes well for his future soundness.
The Classic Choice
“Unfortunately i haven’t ridden a Toroughbred in a while,
but i’d never say no if someone offered me the ride on a
fabulous-moving Toroughbred,” gribbons says. “Tey are
intelligent, quick-thinking, and beautiful; and i’ve had good
experiences with them.” s
Amber Heintzberger is a freelance writer and photographer and the co-author of Beyond the track: retraining the
Toroughbred from racehorse to riding Horse. She lives in
New York City with her husband and two children.
Anna Ford’s OTTB
Evaluation Checklist
A
nna Ford, director of the New Vocations
horse-adoption program, offers this list of
questions to ask yourself (and the trainer
or the adoption representative) when you try a
Thoroughbred off the track.
✔ Does the horse naturally bend and respond to
leg pressure?
✔ Does the horse like to work? Does he get hotter with work?
✔ Does the horse enjoy working in an arena, or is
he happier outside the arena, hacking around
the farm?
✔ How long has the horse been off the track?
✔ When was his last race?
✔ How much turnout has the horse had?
✔ How much under-saddle training has the horse
had?
✔ Did the horse stay sound while racing? Any old
injuries I should know about?
✔ If the horse is a gelding, how long ago was he
gelded?
S&S Stables
Karen Lewis
Afton, Virginia, U.S.A.
www.usprehorse.com
540-456-8520 or 540-256-1878
SS Stables specializes in breeding
Iberian Sporthorses. Our bloodlines originate from Ejica, Spain,
from the farm of Aquilino Moya
and home of Juan Mañuel Muñoz
Diaz. Our mares are registered in
the Stud Book of Spain and bred
to Stallions of Quality in the United States. We produce movement
for the competitive Dressage arena and the Iberian willingness for
the professional or amateur rider.
Curiosa (2007 bay mare) will
be in Lexington, Virginia, for the
2012 FEI 5-year-old test and 1st
level classes. Spanish registry:
ANCCE inscribed & revised. Call
for more information, video, and
sale price.
Visit us and our horses at Dressage at Lexington, July 12-15
Barn 6, Virginia Horse Center, Lexington, Virginia, for wine,
tapas, and demonstrations of Spanish equestrian skills.
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