A Harness Horses Daily life at The Track

This is a brief diary of one day in the life of a harness horse at the track. I thought it would be interesting for people who now own a retired racer to see what their new friends life was like before joining them. It can be a busy life with many interruptions during the day. There is much activity for these horses. They do not just sit in a stall all day with nothing to do. They like to see and participate in activity.

7:00 am - Lights come on in the barn and the first crew is there to start feeding the horses their morning breakfast. They get approximately 4 pounds of grain, their water buckets are cleaned with a stiff brush and fresh water added.

8:30 am - It is time for their daily exercise. Out of the stall they come. Onto cross ties in the middle of the aisle. Brushed, feet picked, harnessed and wait for the next available jogger to take them out on the track for their morning workout or jog.

8:30 am – 12:30 pm – All horses are taken out on the track and jogged from 3 miles to 6 miles. Some are trained if more conditioning is needed. Training means that they will be “turned” and asked to go a fast mile. “Turned” means going the “right” (or race way) on the track.

(Their stalls and grain buckets are cleaned. Water filled again and a large flake of hay is added to the stall to await their return).

When horses return to the barn after their exercise, they are untacked, and put into the wash stall on cross-ties. They are then given a light rinse with warm water. They then get a hot bubble bath with fungus or medicated shampoo. Rinsed with warm water, scarped and toweled dry. They are checked over briefly for any scapes, hits, cuts from their jog and it is attended to. Some have liniments applied then, ice bandages or cold water therapy on sore legs. If the horse is hot (maybe was trained a fast mile), he is walked in the stable area to cool down, otherwise a cooler is put on and back to their stalls they go.

1:00 pm – All horses are back in their stalls munching hay. They are given their lunch of an additional 3 pounds of grain and another flake of hay.

1:00 to 3:00 – All horses are taken out of their stalls individually and checked over. All are brushed, liniments are applied, hooves cleaned and greased, some horses get bandages, wraps, poltices, etc. depending on their needs. This is called being “Put Away”. The horses are returned to their stalls to finish munching hay and take a nap after the exercise and regiment of the day.

7:00 pm – Dinner is served. 6-7 pounds more of grain, supplements, medications, etc. Water buckets are filled, blankets are put on if necessary, Stalls are picked again, and 2-3 flakes of hay are thrown in for nightly munching. They are tucked in for bed.

Horses are raced generally once a week, they then get 2 days off from jogging or racing and are walked around the barn area for ½ hour by a groom on those days to stretch their legs. They still get “Put Away” like above. They jog 3 to 6 miles on every other day of the week. On race day, they are not jogged in the morning. They are walked to warm up the muscles for 15 minutes in the morning while their stalls are being cleaned. They also do not get as much hay or any lunch on race day.

This is a general way that training a racehorse is done. All trainers have a little different routine. Some different options that many owners/trainers do is the “days off” are done off track in a pasture. The horses are usually “fresher” upon return to the track. Some “Home Trained” horses are kept in a pasture during the day everyday except race-day. Some racers do well with this and some do not. Depends on the individual horse. A trotter (higher energy level) will seem to be better with time off every week in a pasture or “turn-out”. The older a horse gets, the more they like “turn-out” as well. A younger horse will usually not do as well with “turn-out”.

In conclusion, these horses are pretty busy most days and upon retirement may tend to get a little bored if not kept busy. Once they settle in, they will adjust to the new routine. These are just general training methods. I have seen many exceptions. I have seen horses that need 10 miles of jogging a day and have seen some that require less than 3 miles. These are only a general rule of thumb. I hope this helps answer any questions that new owners might have about the life their standardbred used to lead.