After Racing: Retraining Thoroughbreds

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I'm excited to announce that Jewel is being featured not once, but TWICE in the next month or so.  Be sure to look for articles and fun pictures telling a few tales about our adventures together.

- Midwest Thoroughbred Magazine
- Off Track Thoroughbreds

Ahhh...if only the Princess knew she was being recognized! She would definitely approve!

Here he is in all his glory...Mr. Wilson!!!

I'm a big believer in turning horses out.  I think 90% of the issues that horses and humans have could be resolved if the horse was just permitted to be more of a horse and less of whatever its human thinks it should be.  I board my horses, which makes it somewhat of a challenge to find someone who feels the same way I do about horse care.  I think that having a stall is nice and should be available during inclement weather, but really...I want my horses outside.

I never realized how important LOTS of turnout time was until I got a Thoroughbred.  What seemed to be the normal turnout of 4-6 hours per day just wasn't cutting it for my horse. At the 4-6 hour turn-out level, there were attitude issues, lots of extra energy and of course, the requisite lunging session before I could even consider riding.  And so, I went on a barn hunt a few years ago to find turnout.  I live on the outskirts of Indianapolis.  There is a very large hunter/jumper population, a moderate dressage-riding population and a whole lot of "anything goes."  To me, this translates into

Option 1: uber-pricey ($600+/mo) boarding barns with 1-2 hours of private paddock turnout

Option 2:  pricy ($350-$500) 4-6 hours of small group turnout on an acre or two

Option 3:  Reasonably priced (under $300), but crap shoot when it comes to care