Any horse people here? Have some questions

[Briosafarm]

As littledog said, OTTBs can be amazing...if you're not familiar with how well they can do barrel racing check some of the horse forums. Not sure if many of them have been as competitive in sorting events (or how serious you are about sorting, or competing vs having fun with your horse.) You may know this or it might just be instinctive since you have good experience, but for western events you look for an OTTB with a short back, shorter, stockier build, especially good pasterns and feet, etc. I greatly admire my neighbors' OTTBs but I'm a QH gal myself. Back to whether to get a foal or not...I can't tell you how much I respect the care and research you are putting into this decision! Looking at your situation pretty far across the other side (i.e. I'm a lot older) it's hard to describe or for you to imagine right now how much different and how incredibly busy and exhausting your life will be in the last year of college, vet school, and first year or two of being in practice. You probably won't have summers free later in college and during vet school since working/interning at vet clinics will help you in your job search.) I would hate to see you lose the next 2-4 years of sports and of actually being able to DO what you want to do with a horse. It seems like training and bringing on a young one would be a great project once you're in practice and relocated and settled. But if you start it now, you not only won't be able to participate as much in working with that youngster, you'll lose whatever enjoyment you get from sports (doing sports can also help applications for college and vet school?) and you'll lose being able to do the things you want to do with a horse NOW while you have time to do them. Just my opinion and sorry this is so long! The way you're being careful to research this and think about what's best for Doc just got me interesting and "thinky."

 

[Silly Indie]

As littledog said, OTTBs can be amazing...if you're not familiar with how well they can do barrel racing check some of the horse forums. Not sure if many of them have been as competitive in sorting events (or how serious you are about sorting, or competing vs having fun with your horse.) You may know this or it might just be instinctive since you have good experience, but for western events you look for an OTTB with a short back, shorter, stockier build, especially good pasterns and feet, etc. I greatly admire my neighbors' OTTBs but I'm a QH gal myself. Back to whether to get a foal or not...I can't tell you how much I respect the care and research you are putting into this decision! Looking at your situation pretty far across the other side (i.e. I'm a lot older) it's hard to describe or for you to imagine right now how much different and how incredibly busy and exhausting your life will be in the last year of college, vet school, and first year or two of being in practice. You probably won't have summers free later in college and during vet school since working/interning at vet clinics will help you in your job search.) I would hate to see you lose the next 2-4 years of sports and of actually being able to DO what you want to do with a horse. It seems like training and bringing on a young one would be a great project once you're in practice and relocated and settled. But if you start it now, you not only won't be able to participate as much in working with that youngster, you'll lose whatever enjoyment you get from sports (doing sports can also help applications for college and vet school?) and you'll lose being able to do the things you want to do with a horse NOW while you have time to do them. Just my opinion and sorry this is so long! The way you're being careful to research this and think about what's best for Doc just got me interesting and "thinky."

Wow! Loads of good information there, thank you! I think I’m going to pass on getting the colt and look more into OTTB’s and other ‘finished’ horses and hopefully I’ll find what I’m looking for.

 

[littledog]

An OTTB won't be "finished" but it will be "started" ie. track-broke, WTC.
Looking at the time you have to put into training (2 years or so) the difference in value between a weanling and a 2-y-old isn't that much - desensitizing, pick up feet, longe or maybe ground-drive, trailer, wear a saddle. At that stage, the value to potential buyers is still more about the breeding and future potential.
But putting 2 years of training on a well-chosen (good mind, athletic, sound) 3 or 4-y-old can make a bigger difference in its value - the right trained 5 or 6 y-old could be suitable for more of a market - experienced kids moving up from ponies, adult amateurs, etc.

 

[Folly's place]

I agree that a OTTB, the right one, may be the best choice for you. BUT, given your college and career plans, having time to train or even ride will be in very short supply for years to come! Better to focus on getting good grades at school, work part time, and especially getting accepted (who knows where?) to veterinary school. You aren't going to have time to ride!!!
Is chemistry easy for you? Love memorizing dozens of new terms daily? Taking a year or two of Latin (boring!) is really helpful for anatomy, BTW.
And costs! College, room and board, all that, plus horse ownership? Student loans? I'd leave out the horse, there's a lifetime after school to get back to having horses, regardless of parental support.
Nobody I knew in vet school had time to ride...
Mary

 

[Silly Indie]

I agree that a OTTB, the right one, may be the best choice for you. BUT, given your college and career plans, having time to train or even ride will be in very short supply for years to come! Better to focus on getting good grades at school, work part time, and especially getting accepted (who knows where?) to veterinary school. You aren't going to have time to ride!!!
Is chemistry easy for you? Love memorizing dozens of new terms daily? Taking a year or two of Latin (boring!) is really helpful for anatomy, BTW.
And costs! College, room and board, all that, plus horse ownership? Student loans? I'd leave out the horse, there's a lifetime after school to get back to having horses, regardless of parental support.
Nobody I knew in vet school had time to ride...
Mary

Very good points, also quite thought provoking. I will take all these into consideration.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I think it's really a loaded question considering there are soooo many factors that will decide whether this is a good or bad decision for you at this point in your life. I do know people who were at a similar situation that you're in and still have their horses and I know people who ended up selling them. I would sit down and talk with your mom about how much time she can help put in when you're gone because my concern would be the lack of consistent training. I've found over the years that a horse that was given a good consistent foundation when they were younger are the most trustworthy and often are perfectly fine being left for periods of time only needing a quick tune up from time to time. Then there are the horses that had inconsistent training only when there was time and again just from my personal experience, but those types LOVE to be testy/unpredictable. They have the potential to become good horses, but that usually only happens when someone actually finds the time to go back to the basics and give them that strong consistency in their training that they didn't originally have.