Hello Ed & Martha,
First, I’d like to say thank you for publishing a VERY helpful book with a lot of “meat” rather than just the same old stuff. I’m almost finished with it and it has helped a lot! Also thank you for answering my previous question.

Second, I am going to a very large racing bred sale in January, and am considering whether or not I should attempt to buy a horse that has been raced for a barrel prospect. You do touch on the aspects of training an x-race horse in your book. The training after purchasing is not a problem. However, I am concerned with what I should look for as far as clues to the soundness of an x-race horse.

I am considering steering clear of most horses that were raced as two year olds unless they had very few starts. What are some clues I should look for to determine soundness, besides obvious swellings and lumps. Are there clues to bone chips and joint problems?

What are the most common soundness problems in x-race horses? Also should I steer clear of the bleeders? How will that affect a barrel horse? Will they always bleed? What special guidelines do you use when buying a horse that has been raced. As I will be purchasing at the auction and probably won’t be able to have a complete vet exam prior to bidding, any tips you can share would be much appreciated. Thank you again, and have a GREAT NEW YEAR!
Dawn

Dawn,
We won’t buy at a sale for just the reason you mentioned – you don’t know if you’re getting a sound (mentally or physically) horse or not. If you’re sure that this is the only way for you to go, then be sure and ask lots of questions (but understand that sometimes you don’t get straight answers) about soundness, mental attitude, disposition, willingness, ability, etc. Steer clear of bleeders (sometimes their papers will have a notation on them that they are a confirmed bleeder), any swelling, heat or fullness of the joints (any joint), shape of the foot and how they are shod (usually poorly if they are coming from the track as most track shoers want to cut the heel off and lengthen the toe in the mistaken assumption that that will increase the stride).

Be sure they are not a cribber, stall walker, etc. Check their mouth for lost teeth (wrecks in the starting gates), cut tongues, damage to the mouth of any kind, underbites, overbites, etc. Look for something that could run short (the first 50-100 yds.- it doesn’t matter if they had a big kick on the end of the race because that’s not where you’re going to want a horse to run anyway). One of the fastest horses I ever rode in the arena only ran a 62 SI at the track but he got the first call out of the gates every time which meant he was extremely quick and could run for only a short distance. About the longest barrel race ( talking about a standard WPRA pattern) would not be more than 150 yds total, so you don’t need something that runs good at 440 or 870 yds. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about though.
Good luck in your search.
Martha Wright

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