How Racehorses Make the Transition to Stallions

The millions and millions of dollars on the table for successful stallions make it imperative that the training they receive for their second careers be exact, coordinated to give the young stallion the right environment and encouragement to ply his new trade.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Many of us outgrow our entry-level jobs after a few years and undergo training for career changes. Our earning potential, however, pales in comparison to the new occupation enjoyed by Thoroughbreds who are fast enough or pedigreed enough to become stud horses. The millions and millions of dollars on the table for successful stallions make it imperative that the training they receive for their second careers be exact, coordinated to give the young stallion the right environment and encouragement to ply his new trade.  Attention to detail and patience are the key factors cited by the farm and stallion managers whose responsibility it is to make sure young stallions get off on the right foot. While they stress each horse is an individual whose routine can be tweaked to accommodate traits, there is a general regimen to transitioning a horse from racetrack to stallion barn, or, in horse parlance, "letting him down."

Barring injury, most new stallions are retired to their new homes in autumn, sometime after the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships. With breeding season not commencing until the middle of February, the intervening months provide plenty of time for handlers to get their charges educated and ready for their new vocation.

The first order of business is acclimating the equine arrivals to their new surroundings. That entails knowing about, and treating, any injuries horses have brought with them off the racetrack. If they have retired healthy, most farms will pull their hind shoes off immediately, and either put flat plates on the front or let them go barefoot there.

Farms differ in how quickly they introduce a new stallion to his paddock. Some favor getting him in there within a day or two, while others like keeping him in a stall and hand-walking him for a period of time. A number of farms employ a round pen at first to acclimate the horse to having a bit of room to roam, something he hasn't enjoyed while stabled at the racetrack. Almost everyone we talked to said they administer a light tranquilizer when turning the horse out on his own for the first time, as it discourages him from running the fences and starting a chain reaction among his new neighbors

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Lenny Shulman is features editor of The Blood-Horse magazine and author of Ride of Their Lives.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
309 votes · 309 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!