Page 23 - AEF-AlbertaBits_Winter-2025

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ridden by a jockey — whose legs are
positioned much differently than other
riders — to learning how to move off a
rider’s leg.
“You bring a horse home from the
track, put a bit in its mouth and the stock
saddle, and think it’s going to move off
your leg,” Brewster says. “It doesn’t know
what you’re asking.”
One program that helps promote
retraining after racing is called I Love
My Standardbred. It encourages owners
to self-report all shows and events their
horse takes part in and, at the end of the
year, tallies points and offers rewards.
It collects money from every registered
horse and distributes the funds to different
organizations that “make sure horses
coming off the track have a safe landing,”
Brewster says.
The biggest misconception she sees
is people assuming all racehorses are
hotblooded.
“They have a reputation for being
crazy,” she says. “They are not. I’ve got an
off-track thoroughbred that I raised. He
was an adequate race horse. He just didn’t
particularly want to do it. Now, he’s the
most flaccid, docile, in-your-pocket horse
you could ever have around.”
New owners sometimes don’t account for
how racehorses have been living compared
to their new reality once they’re rehomed.
“They come from a busy, structured
environment,” says Smart. Learning to
ride in an arena can take them some time.
“These horses come into an arena and
horses are riding in different directions.
A horse might pass you and that doesn’t
mean you have to hurry up.”
For years, they live in a stall, eat
high-calorie food multiple times a day,
are played with and groomed often. When
they’re turned out to a pasture to eat grass,
they get fewer calories — and they’re out
of their element.
“You need to make sure when you start
your groundwork, they have adequate
playtime or a ball or teddy bear to play with
because they’re used to that,” Brewster
says. “You can’t just bring them home and
turn them out.”
Brewster, who also breeds horses,
says her goal is simple: “I also breed for
temperament, to make a nice saddle horse
at the end. I want them to go on to a really,
really successful after-career and they can
go in any direction.”
albertaequestrian.com
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