Thoroughbred

What is a Thoroughbred?

The horse bred for racing: 157-173cm, light-framed, deep-chested and built for galloping. Every Thoroughbred in the world descends from three imported stallions of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

In Britain most Thoroughbreds available to a private buyer are ex-racehorses, coming out of training between three and eight years old and needing retraining for a second career. That is a different proposition from buying a horse bred for riding, and it is the honest subject of this guide.

History and origins

Founded on the Byerley Turk, the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Arabian, crossed with native running mares in England from about 1690. The General Stud Book was established in 1791 and the breed has been closed ever since.

Around 7,000 foals are registered annually in Britain and Ireland, and roughly the same number leave racing each year.

Appearance and size

157-173cm, 450-600kg. Fine-skinned, long-limbed, with a deep girth, prominent withers and a long sloping shoulder. Bay, chestnut, brown, grey and black.

They carry less body fat than any other type, which shows and which matters for management.

Temperament and personality

Sensitive, intelligent and reactive. A Thoroughbred notices everything and responds quickly, which is what makes them brilliant and what makes them unsuitable for a nervous rider.

They are not hot-headed by nature so much as quick-thinking. Handled well and fed appropriately, most are genuinely kind horses. Handled badly or kept sore, they become difficult very fast.

Ex-racehorses know a great deal - travelling, clipping, farriers, crowds - and very little else. They often do not know how to be turned out, how to hack alone, or how to be ridden on a loose rein.

Intelligence and trainability

Very quick to learn, and equally quick to learn the wrong thing. Retraining is a real project of six months to two years, and it is mostly about teaching a horse to relax.

Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) runs classes, clinics and a competition series, and any buyer of an ex-racehorse should use them.

Children and other pets

Not a children's horse and not a first horse. This is an experienced adult's project.

In a herd they are usually fine, though a horse that has spent years in a stable may need teaching how to be a horse again.

Health problems

Gastric ulcers. Studies find them in the majority of horses in race training - figures above 80 per cent are usual. Signs are girthiness, poor coat, weight loss, and reluctance to work. Diagnosis is by gastroscopy and treatment works. Assume a horse straight out of training has them.

Racing injuries - tendon damage, fractures, joint disease. Ask for the full racing record and the trainer's account, and have the vet look specifically at the legs.

Thin soles and poor feet, from years in shoes on hard surfaces. Many need remedial farriery.

Weight and condition. They are hard keepers, thin-skinned and feel the cold. A Thoroughbred needs rugs, shelter and more feed than a native for the same work.

Tying-up (exertional rhabdomyolysis), more common in this breed, particularly in fillies.

Daily care routine

Feed little and often with constant access to forage - the ulcer risk makes an empty stomach genuinely harmful. Legs felt every day. Rugs changed with the weather.

Turnout as much as possible, which is both the best ulcer prevention and the thing most ex-racehorses have never had.

Grooming and coat care

Fine coat, easily groomed, and thin skin that marks easily - use soft brushes. Clipped in winter and rugged accordingly. Check for rubs from rugs, which this skin gets readily.

Exercise needs

High, and structured. Six days a week for a horse in work, with variety - schooling, hacking, hillwork and hacking out in company. Boredom and stable confinement are what produce the stereotypies this breed is known for.

Feeding and diet

Forage first, always, and as close to constant as possible. Conditioning feed split into several small meals rather than two large ones. Oil and fibre rather than large starch feeds, which make ulcers and behaviour both worse.

This is the type where feeding is a skill, and getting it wrong is visible within a fortnight.

Price

£0-£3,000 for an ex-racehorse direct from a trainer or a rehoming charity, and many are free to the right home. £4,000-£12,000 for one already retrained and competing.

The purchase price is the smallest number on the page. Keeping a Thoroughbred costs £5,000-£12,000 a year: more feed, more rugs, more farriery, more livery, because most cannot live out unrugged through a British winter.

Buying advice

Get the racing record - it is public, through Weatherbys or the racing press - and ask the trainer directly why the horse stopped racing. "Not fast enough" is the answer you want. "Leg" needs investigating.

Have a gastroscopy done, or budget for treatment as a certainty rather than a risk.

Five-stage vetting with radiographs of the legs and feet.

Then be honest about your riding. An ex-racehorse is one of the great value opportunities in British horse ownership and one of the commonest ways for an over-horsed rider to get hurt.