68 SIDELINES JULY 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Spring Horse Trials to finish 8th in a very competitive field. In each
of those competitions, he jumped clean cross-country. You could
say he’s a superb poster child for OTTBs as sport horses, but
most of all he rates A+ for his mind: he wants to please and he’s
very willing.
The Retired Racehorse Project owes its existence to Steuart’s
love for Thoroughbreds and his involvement in three-day eventing.
He grew up at the Pittman family’s Dodon Farm about 10 miles
west of Annapolis, Maryland, riding ponies in the hunt field. He
discovered eventing during Pony Club and during high school, he
competed his Thoroughbred mare through preliminary.
In 1990, after a horseless hiatus of 10 years, Steuart returned
with renewed enthusiasm and even greater passion for training
off-the-track Thoroughbreds and selling them as prospects for
eventing, jumpers and dressage. Nine years later, Steuart started
competing at horse trials with Salute The Truth (registered as Boy
Done Good) whose stellar temperament allowed them to ride in
mixed company and foxhunt during the late fall and winter. Steuart
stands at stud the only Thoroughbred ex-racehorse evented to the
Advanced level who also has offspring competing at Advanced.
Salute The Truth was ranked third on the United States Equestrian
Federation’s (USEF) 2013 list of leading eventing sires.
Steuart’s own equestrian education includes the likes of Jim
Wofford, Bruce Davidson, Gunnar Ostergaard, Hans Jurgen,
Stuart Black, Becky Langwost, and Linda Zang for dressage, to
name a few. He’s certified to teach through Preliminary Level
by the United States Eventing Association’s (USEA) Instructor
Certification Program and continues his own education with top
trainers in the sport.
“Eventers have loved Thoroughbreds forever, but even
in the hunter/jumper show ring I’m seeing a big increase in
Thoroughbreds there,” said Steuart. “I make my living teaching
and training. I’d much rather teach someone on a horse you don’t
have to kick to get to move forward. For lower-level dressage,
they’re responsive. Lower-level jumpers, they want to do it. The
Thoroughbreds are easier.”
Steuart and RRP intend to change the mindset expressed
by many riders that Thoroughbreds, especially ex-racehorses,
are too hot, too nervous, too whatever for the average rider.
The truth is that racehorses are trained to walk, trot, canter and
gallop in company. They’re exposed to crowds, flags, all sorts of
backstretch and race-day sights, sounds and commotions. During
their racing careers, they’re handled to the nth degree by grooms,
exercise riders, trainers, farriers and vets.
Ex-racehorses go from a predictable daily routine to “private”
life and it’s like someone from very rural origins arriving in New
York City and experiencing major sensory overload. But it’s the
nature of the Thoroughbred to cooperate with humans and they
can and will acclimatize to their new circumstances. Horses kept
at training centers located in open country have less of a transition
to make than the off-the-track Thoroughbred who has only ever
known the traditional racecourse environment. This is where the
Retired Racehorse Project comes in and provides advocacy and
education.
“The interest in off-the-track Thoroughbreds is increasing,”
said Steuart. “We do these horse expos and run the
Thoroughbred Makeover at Pimlico. We have a website (www.
retiredracehorseproject.org) devoted to disciplines taken up by
horses off the track. The survey we did in January tracks horses
off-the-track and what they’re doing now, what they’re doing to
find their forever home.”
The Retired Racehorse Project serves as a liaison and resource
for Thoroughbreds and its mission is “to build the bridges to
second careers and to increase the demand for Thoroughbreds.”
In April they shortened the name from the Retired Racehorse
Training Project to the Retired Racehorse Project, but their scope
has expanded.
“When we named our organization in 2010, our work was
limited to educating riding people about training Thoroughbreds
off-the-track,” said Steuart. “We still believe that effective training
is the key to moving these horses into second careers, but the
popularity of last year’s Thoroughbred Makeover and National
Symposium at Pimlico showed our board that we must do more
to connect the racing side, the riding side and all the good people
who do this work.”
The new website serves the needs of the community of OTTB
owners, non-profit organizations, racetracks, Thoroughbred
trainers and owners, people interested in doing the training after
the horses leave the track, and those who might want to make an
OTTB their new equine partner. RRP is working on a state-by-
state “Retired Racehorse Resource Directory.”
For more information, visit
Rosie Napravnik rescued Sugar, a Thoroughbred racehorse,
when he went from stakes races to cheap claimers.
Photo by Lauren R Giannini
Ken’s Kitten and Nuno Santos, an off-the-track Thoroughbred,
receive an impromptu lesson from Linda Zang.
Photo by Lauren R Giannini
