Above: Trainer Listing Tiz Momma’s Boy. What a looker!
Sometimes you have a lot of horses and other times there are very few. What’s the story there?
We definitely have busy weeks, and light weeks. Sometimes it just depends on how long we spend there, and how many trainers we run into. We will often head to the track only knowing of one horse that needs to be listed, or not knowing of any horses, and come away with three or four new listings. Often times a trainer will see us on the backside and say, “Oh I have one for you!”
There are also definitely busy seasons and lighter seasons. I didn’t know this before I started doing the track rounds, but during the summer many of the trainers at Golden Gate Fields (GGF) will send their horses all over California following the big fairs (i.e., county fairs and state fair). This usually corresponds with the end of GGF’s Spring Meet in June, at which point they take a break until about August. So that means at the end of spring, early summer, we can be quite busy when trainers are looking to re-home horses at the end of GGF’s season, and then we are super slow during the summer when the horses are doing the fair circuit. Once fall comes around, and the fairs are over, the trainer’s bring their horses back to GGF and are looking to re-home horses that maybe didn’t do so well before the start of GGF’s fall meet. Overall, the Spring and Fall tend to be our busiest seasons.
When someone sees a horse they like for sale through the trainer listings, how can they get more information?
The best source of information on the horse is going to be the trainer. However, before you call the trainer, you can do some internet research and find out about the horse’s history and potential limitations. Also, know that the trainers often get a ton of calls and are more willing to negotiate with buyers who come with good questions and show they are serious about the horse. In general, trainers are looking for a quick and uncomplicated sale. You’ll get bonus points if you show up with a trailer already hooked up when you come to shop!
We put all of the basic information about the horse on our listings, including the horses age, height, color, and any info the owner tells us that we think is helpful. On most listings we will include a link to the Equibase profile for the horse. Equibase is awesome! You can search by horse, trainer, or owner and find out all sorts of great information. Equibase lists the horses charges (i.e., jockey, trainer, owner, and breeder), shows their breed, color, sex, and foaling date, provides a record of their entire racing career, and even provides a video for each of the races a horse ran in! At the bottom of the page is a link that will generate the horses pedigree that goes back 5 generations. I could spend hours on this site, it’s just the coolest.
When browsing a horse’s Equibase profile, it’s a good idea to take a careful look at their racing record and published work outs. If you notice a large gap between races or works, it can sometimes indicate an injury or some sort of lay up that you might want to ask the trainer about. This is especially important if you are looking for a serious sporthorse prospect for something like eventing, but if you’re just planning on riding trails, pleasure, or lower level stuff it’s not as important. The trainers tend to be very forthcoming with us about each horses soundness and history of injuries, but they have a ton of horses come through their barn and sometimes they forget the details.
There is also a lot of information out there about certain TB stallions, and what characteristics their offspring tend to carry. You can research the sire and dam-sire of your prospective new OTTB and read all about the temperament, racing records, and athletic abilities of their offspring. Of course every horse is unique, but it can be fun to see if they actually carry these traits or if they are their own horse!
The internet is a great resource to help yourself prepare for picking out and re-training your OTTB, so make sure you do plenty of research before diving in!
Describe a typical morning making rounds. What’s it like?
We go every Saturday morning, usually between 8 and 11 or so. This is an exciting time at the track because all of the horses are out being worked. There is a ton of activity on the backside at this time, and there is just this constant stream of gorgeous, super fit racehorses walking to the track, warming up, and galloping around to get their works in. Major TB eye candy here! We’ll often sit by the track and watch them work while we gather our thoughts and get a game plan for the day, then it’s off to follow up with the trainers that currently have horses listed, and to follow up on leads we might have for new listings.
When we get a new listing we’ll have the trainer or groom pull the horse out so we can take photos and some video, and get all of the information we need for the listing. We try to get a feel for the horses personality, and if they’re friendly we’ll spend some time just loving on them. I really love my time at the track, but it’s hard for me since I’m currently horse-less and feel like I am constantly lusting after so many of the horses there. Plus sometimes the trainers try to give me the horses we list and I have to turn them down! It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it! 🙂
What wisdom do you have for someone who is currently looking for an OTTB?
Do as much research as you can and come prepared! Make sure you are committed to the process of re-training your OTTB, and read as many books and articles as you can about how to properly transition them from the track so that it goes as smoothly as possible. Know that some of the horses we list are pulled out of training right after we list them, which means they do little more than walk on a hot walker for days and weeks on end. You may see the horse when he is at his absolute freshest, and they can be a handful those first few days until they settle into a new routine. But if the owner says the horse is mostly easy to work with, then it’s probably the case that once it’s back in some sort of exercise routine that they will mellow out and be much easier to handle. Remember you are dealing with a super fit athlete that wants to go, go, go!
It is really important to know what your goals and expectations are so you can determine if the horse will suit your needs. We see a lot of horses retire after an injury. Read up about the injury and get a full vet check with scans (diagnostic imaging) to get a good baseline. Don’t write a horse off just because it is injured. A horse with a minor bowed tendon or suspensory tear can often go on to be very successful with proper rehabilitation. Same goes for certain conformation flaws. Maybe he doesn’t have the lovely sloping shoulder you’re hoping for, but he could have the heart to make up for it!
Whats the difference between our trainer listings and our CANTER adoption listings?
The trainer listings is a free classified service that we offer to help trainers network their retiring horses. These horses are often still at the track and can still be in race training while they are listed! The CANTER CA adoption listings on the other hand are horses that have been transitioned from the racetrack life and have undergone veterinary assessment and care before starting retraining with our wonderful volunteers. The trainer listings can be a bit of a gamble since you are not allowed to ride the horse on the track, and the trainer is not going to put the horse under saddle so you can watch it go. All you can really do is look at the horse from the ground, trot it in hand, get a vet check and that’s it! With the CANTER listings you know exactly what you’re getting, which is great for someone who maybe doesn’t have any experience working with OTTB’s or doesn’t want to take any chances when they buy a new horse.
Of all the horses you’ve met while doing this, do you have favorites? What kind of horses catch your eye?
I definitely get attached to certain horses, and whenever we have new listings I end up falling in love with one or more of them. I keep telling our other volunteers that we have to “hurry up and re-home that one before I buy it!” I’m a big nerd when it comes to conformation, so I’m always looking for the horse that’s well put together, and I’m constantly assessing their angles and proportions. On the flip side, I’ve met a ton of horses who have a great personality or a really powerful presence and I fall in love with them too! We try to show the horses off the best we can in photos, and really promote them on the Facebook and Instagram page, but photos don’t always do a horse justice so that’s why it’s so important to just go look at them. If you think you like the look of the horse from it’s photo, then just go out and see it! Only then can you really get what the horse is all about and whether it’s right for you 🙂
