Meet two former race-horses adapting to a new life in North Yorkshire

Both fillies, Poppy, is a Chestnut and Eliza, a Bay and they were purchased from Rebecca Menzies Racing in the North East.

Joanna and Katie, who runs Sproxton Grange Equestrian near Helmsley, had only intended buying one horse but ended up with both and the two horses have helped each other along their new journey.

Joanna said: “Eliza was so incredibly slow she never got to a racecourse, they tried her and put her in a field.

“Poppy ran eight times, she was a sprinter. She ran over five furlongs, she was really fast for four and ran out of steam for the fifth. They gave her a good go but she wasn’t fast enough.

“We only went to get Poppy but they said we have got another racehorse - and we ended up with two.”

That was in August last year and for the remainder of 2022 they were left to be themselves away from a working or racing environment

Joanna said: “It is harder to retrain a horse than get one that has done nothing because they have learned to run as fast as they can. It doesn’t matter what they look like, they just have to run fast in a straight line. These are flat and don’t know how to jump.

“What you need to do is leave them be and let them be horses again. We gave them summer in a field and they just had fun being girls in a field together. This morning they were charging around squealing, it was so wonderful.”

The next step was three to four months being handled every day, having their feet picked up, being spoken to, having a bridle and tack put on, starting to walk on a line, having a saddle fitted and then being ridden again - hopefully without thinking they need to race.

They have both been walked on long reigns through the village getting them used to vehicles, people,dogs and bikes.

Poppy has progressed to ridden work in the arena including starting trotting. Eliza has done ridden work in her turnout pen and the yard, then will progress to the arena next week.

Katie and Joanna will keep building this ridden work up to start hacking in the saddle and then jumping in the arena.

Pauliina Swindells, a local 5* event rider, has also been helping out on the training side and is a regular at Sproxton Grange doing training clinics.

Joanna said: “We are getting them used to not being in a high pressure environment and that they have time. They are not just a number in a race yard with a hundred horses, it is a lot more focused. It is about giving them confidence and teaching them to have a different style.

“How long it takes depends what they have done, what experience they have had before. Every horse is different, there is no one size fits all.

“We want them to be well rounded horses and can do a job with someone else. That is the plan, to give them a chance and sell them on. I am not a big fan of having ‘pet’ horses. I hope they will go to compete. Poppy could be quite competitive, Eliza could be a riding club horse and all rounder and will do a bit of everything - she has a real jump on her. She could so dressage, show-jumping, cross country, leisure riding, hunting.

The retraining of race-horses to have a quality life after retirement or injury has become more focussed in the last 10 to 15 years with some being used as therapy horses, hunting horses and some go on to compete in more technical disciplines such as dressage and showjumping.

It is a welcome practice, added Joanna.

“In the past, before people really started to re-train there was a big problem. Maybe the owners are not racing or horse people, they don’t have land or stables, don’t want a horse at home and sell the horse. Lots of people quite fancy having a horse but didn’t have the money and say we will have it. Get something full of race fuel and wonder what they have brought home and send it back. That’s why we want to give these two the best grounding and make sure they go to a good home.”

Katie owns her own livery and yards so has the space for the horses while Joanna has the expertise as she has a long career in riding, competing and training herself.

If the retraining and rehoming of Poppy and Eliza goes well they will consider taking on more horses.

She said: “We will see how it goes and make a nice future for two really sweet horses. They are work in progress and hopefully will be a fantastic horse for somebody to take and have fun with.”