Thoroughbred are the most versatile breed in my opinion. From winning on the A-circuit to teaching 8 year old’s how to canter they do it all. A lot of people have the assumption that Off-the-track Thoroughbreds (OTTB’s) are quick, hot headed horses that are hard to train and don’t listen. But that’s not true, even cold -blooded horses like the quarter horses can still be hot and strong. A lot of the horse community have an astigmatism about thoroughbreds just off of one experience. If a warmblood bucks you off that doesn’t mean all warmbloods are bad. Just like if you have one bad experience with an OTTB that doesn’t make all of them act like that.
Boyd Martin a British Olympic-level athlete who had a thoroughbred that competed in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2016 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. This horse used to race and has been restarted as an eventer who competes against the horses who were bred to the event. Another one of Martin´s most famous horses is Neville Bardos who Martin bought for $850 after being deemed a ”terrible jumper” He too, was an OTTB who had not been given the chance to excel.
Going back to Martin´s horse Neville, he showed tremendous intelligence when faced against all odds. At Martin´s in 2011 there was a fire that started in the barn. All the horses were still in their stalls. Neville was one of the five horses that came out alive. He was burned and inhaled a ton of smoke. Just 3 months later Martin and Neville competed in the Burghley Horse Trials. He bounced back in that short amount of time to go on and get 7th in that event.
As well as thoroughbreds being very smart they are also very athletic and can do a lot. Some OTTB’s have been restarted to run barrels and compete against the quarter horses that were bred for it. And a lot of them are also retrained to jump. They win against the warmbloods who were imported from Europe just to jump. They define the odds and prove people wrong. They also made great lesson horses because of their kind demeanor. They are very forgiving horses who can take a lot.
I have a thoroughbred myself and I’ve been told that I’d never be happy with him and that he wasn’t a good mover. People have their bias’s and don’t like to let up on them. Jorns, my horse, is a very kind and forgiving horse who wouldn’t do anything to hurt anyone. But people are still biased towards him in many ways just because of his breed. At shows we get marked down compared to the warmbloods who make greater mistakes. And it all comes back down to people not having the right experiences. This is why so many ex racehorses end up in slaughter pens, it’s because no one believes in them. But with the right type of care and training they can be amazing horses that can compete with the upper level horses.
