As a standardbred professional, one of the most common questions I get asked is: ‘how long does it take to retrain a standardbred?’
To this, my answer is an age-old classic: “how long is a piece of string?”
There are just so many different variables and possible answers.
As discussed in our Retraining the Standardbred: Track to Hack course, rarely will two standardbreds share the exact same life experiences.
There are many factors introduced long before a standardbred retires from racehorse horse, which can impact upon their behaviour.
When I was retraining standardbreds full time, I liked my horses to have been out of race work for a good eight weeks (minimum) prior to starting work.
This time allowed for my standardbreds’ bodies and minds to adjust to retirement.
Some standardbred don’t have major issues with the change from racetrack to riding life.
Others standardbreds can really struggle with this change, which can lead to problems such as:
- gastric distress and ulcers when stopping high grain racing diets
- muscle changes and injuries presenting
- confusion and mental distress learning to adjust to retired life; lack of routine, new living environment etc.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ rule for how long it takes to successfully retrain a standardbred.
Over time, I developed a process that worked for the Raising the Standards program horses.
My retraining system focused on ensuring that each horse enjoyed a little time out in the paddock, before asking them to start the next chapter.
I feel this approach was great for my horses’ mental wellbeing and worked in with how standardbreds learn.
video from the Standardbred Body & Mind Workshop
This approach gave me plenty of time to make thorough assessments.
This allowed me to to keep watch for any niggling injuries or body issues that occur when a standardbred retires from harness racing.
It’s amazing how soundness issues can fail to surface until a standardbred’s body is completely relaxed!
Dr Raquel Butler talks at length about this physical transformation in our Standardbred Body & Mind Workshop. Here’s an intersting snippet from her presentation:
For me, it was also very important to get to know each horse’s personality and quirks before beginning work.
I wanted a nice connection and good communication with each of my standardbreds.
Getting to know your standardbred can take time. I always enjoy watching and interacting with new horses without any pressure to jump into things in a hurry.
My go-to strategy for bonding with a standardbred is to begin with groundwork.
You can also introduce ridden skills to your standardbred from the ground and teach them ridden aids.
Groundwork training helps your standardbred to recondition their body from pulling sulkies at speed, to supporting the weight of a rider.
They can also learn to bend their body in new ways around a riding arena (or up and down hills on a trail ride).
Issues with teaching a standardbred to canter or stopping a standardbred from pacing under saddle are challenges I approach by training from the ground.
If you’re interested in learning some exercises you can do at home with your off the tracker, please check out our Standardbred Groundwork Workshop (click here for more info).
The unique learning style of the horse and the experience of the retrainer will alter how long it takes takes to retrain a standardbred.
An experienced standardbred retrainer will follow a familiar a step-by-step standardbred retraining plan which makes the process much quicker than for someone who’s never retrained a standardbred before.
Figuring out weird standardbred behaviours by yourself can be a really long, frustrating and overwhelming process.
Getting some advice from people who have done this before makes standardbred retraining so much simpler and enjoyable!
That’s why we started our Online Standardbred Club; to ensure no standardbred owner is left to go it alone!
Similarly, a standardbred with a calm temperament who has ‘been there, seen that’ may take to ridden training a lot quicker than a horse who hasn’t been taken to race meets, or one with a spooky or nervous nature.
There are just so, so many different factors which can impact the amount of time it takes to retrain a standardbred!
Rather than worrying about how long the process takes, I suggest you focus your energy on building a strong bond with your standardbred and stopping every now and then to celebrate the ‘little wins’ that make horsemanship such a joy.
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Nic
