Training Requirements

Question
Hi Lisa,

I am looking to purchase a horse and found a 5 year TB that I fell in love with.  However, I want to be sure that I have an idea how much professional training will be required so I don't get in over my head.  She was trained at a track to race, however she wasn't fast enough.  She is just 5 now.  She is very sweet and has nice ground manners.  The weather wasn't great when I rode her and was quite muddy so I wasn't able to canter her, however in the walk and trot she seemed to be very soft and responsive in the mouth and seemed like she wanted to please.  I will be going back when things dry out a bit to ride again.  However, she has only been ridden since leaving race training 8 months ago 5-6 times.  I rode all through my teen years bareback on trails.  I am now more "mature" and have just started riding again and have been taking english lessons and would like to begin jumping.  Since this horse is pretty young and not been ridden much I would put her right into professional training, but my question is in general how long you think she would need to be in professional training.  I was going to put her in for a month, but wanted some feed back if I am way underestimating this process.

Thanks!

Karen

Answer
Hi Karen,
         You should consider her a green horse as most of her training has been race riding. There is a good chance that she will not know how to canter and instead will want to run. She most likely will need from 30-60 days, depending on how quickly she picks things up.

Lisa