What do you do with 6 retired thoroughbreds?
 

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Jason Glass’s son is my boy’s buddy. They have over 30 of these impressive horses and spend the summer traveling all over Alberta for these races. He’s a 4th generation chuckwagon racer…

A typical event has 10 heats like this. If you stand at the rail, you can feel the ground move at they thunder past.

Awesome! That looks like a lot of fun. :D

(Lots of cowboy hats in the video ;))

I'm assuming a bunch of land and let them chill and do whatever they want.

Very few get that option. The lucky ones get to become chuckwagon horses, the not so lucky ones get a 1 way trip…

Even a "free" horse is very expensive to let them "retire". Few owners are willing to send large vet bills and feed bills to keep a horse around for no purpose.

Old cats and dogs are expensive, but horses are really expensive.

One of my former co-workers had a horse from when he was a boy, and it lived to be over 30. He had watched the foal be born, and cared for it all of it's life. He was just a really big dog in the way it acted towards him. He lived on a ranch, so no storage fees, but the vet bills and food bills were a lot of money. He did not care what the cost was.

Right, no animals are cheap, and the bigger they are the more expensive.

But, if you've got the space and money...

My sister has horse property, had a retired police horse for a while. Smartest animal I have ever seen. Made my friends border collie look like it was brain damaged, and I swear if that dog could hold a pencil he could write poetry.

She was letting people board their horses at her place for free, until the county put a stop to that. You would not believe the money she would have had to spend to let people keep their horses in her barn for free.

Weird. I guess the co assumed she was charging a bundle and wanted their cut.

I've not spent much time around horses, but what little I have spent around them, they seemed very intelligent.

Like dogs, there are some horses that are very smart. The majority are dumber than dumb dogs.

These thoroughbreds are bred and trained to do one thing… run. These are not saddle horses and most can’t really be ridden.

Another friend of ours has a very winning thoroughbred race horse that was a chuckwagon horse for a few years before it was retired. It’s an expensive ornament. She has never ridden it, and never will. It was a free horse that was ‘saved’ from slaughter.

No, they were going to have to put a handicapped accessible restroom and fire sprinklers in the metal barn if I recall correctly

you can keep 3 llamas for the same cost of 1 horse. They Don't tear up your pastures and are mellow and hum.

How hard is it to put a saddle on a llama?

Sad, but reality.
Do they still make glue from them?

If you ever have ‘meat’ and it’s not described as ‘beef’, good chance it’s horse meat. Otherwise dog food, etc.

Likely.

There is a rendering plant here in Oklahoma City. There is an entire industry to deal with "used cows" and dead horses, or just unwanted horses. They are expensive to own, so many are left neglected and suffer due to human indifference. Even a loved horse is a real challenge to deal with when they die. Most counties don't allow you to dig a hole and bury them to prevent ground water contamination.

Disagree. There is a whole rescue industry for retired thoroughbreds here, and folks show them in hunter classes, fox hunt and trail ride them. They don't all make the transition well, but those that do can be great horses. There are a couple downsides-they tend to have crappy hooves that are abscess prone, and lots are retired off the track with orthopedic stuff that while healed might require some maintenance care with supplements or meds.
That said, I had one for a while that was well bred-bloodline included Secretariat and Mr Prospector, along with AP Indy, but he was a bit of a bolter when he smelled home. Given that I am at best an intermediate rider, he ended up sold. Last I heard he was in the stable of Tad Coffin, who won a gold in 74 at the Olympics and now makes saddles.

There is.

On our small ranch in the late 60's and early 70's we would get a former track Thoroughbred every year.

My mom was the head of the SoCal Pony Club and both my sisters were "A" rated Pony Clubbers.

They were very good at transitioning one horse a year into Three Day Event horses, etc. and then sell them.

You really have to be patient and know what to look for prior to bring the horse home for training.

I also worked as a "swing groom" with race horses for one winter and then every holiday in Aiken. We knew all the trainers and they used me to give the regular grooms a day off.

Meh, that's racing? only 6 horsepower............grins.