Thoroughbred Race horse stance?

Question

Ok so i am training my ex-race horse for inhand. Showmanship etc. She needs to stand square.

I am training her just fine except:

She seems to always want to stand with her front feet square and the and one back foot her right back foot forward. Like and arabian.

: * . kinda like that lol when she needs to be like this : :

I was wondering if there is a specific ways race horses are trained to stand, or is this just my horse?

Just wondering, never really thought about it until i had a race horse.

Thanks!

Answer 1

When horses are prepped for the sales they are tought to stand.  When somebody is looking from the front or back you want then to stand square.  But when they look from the side they are tought to stand offset.  If you were looking at the right side of the horse, the right front and hind are positioned the widest and the two left legs are inside of the right legs.  You change them when the person goes to look at the ohter side.  This way you can see the angles with the horse standing balanced from each side.  I find it much easier to look at the horse and imagine the plum line going down from each joint.  Being someone who has only been around racing thoroughbreds and been to many sales I find it looks odd when a horse is made to stand square from the side, they always look akward and off balance.   It's kind of like in football when you are in your 3 point stance and the coach kicks your arm out you should maintain your stance if you are balanced properly, I feel like some of these horses if they were pushed would loose balance when they are made to stand square or stretched out.  Where the ones who stand like they are tought at the sales wouldn't budge.

Answer 2

Well something could be wrong with her hind.  Or it could just be a habit.

Answer 3

Yes, all Thoroughbreds are trained to stand like that for conformation shots.  If you look at any of the stallion photos, you will see that they are always squared in front, with one back leg a bit in front of the other, though the back leg that is back, would be squared if they were together.  Model hunters are also shown that way.  Mostly it is the stock breeds and showmanship classes that want all four feet squared up.

You can break her of it, but it will take some time.  You definitely need to work on training her to set up off of shank pressure, as it is much easier to make adjustments from the head.  Once you have her set up TB style, then use your shank to make your adjustments.  For example if her left hind is the one forward, you will want to turn her head slightly to the right, and put some backward pressure on the shank to make her move that leg.  If it were her right hind, you would want to turn her head slightly to the left.  Just for the record, I alwasy use an up and back pressure to move front legs, and a down and back pressure to move back legs, that way the horse knows what I want moved.

Good luck!