Retraining a racehorse part 2

sit very relaxed yourself on a relatively light contact. He will read your body language and a short rein or tightening of the contact will indicate to him that you are about to canter or gallop!
Schooling
Some racehorses may have been schooled a bit especially National Hunt horses but in general they are likely to lack flat work training. A key difference is the jockey rides with a much shorter stirrup than the leisure rider and as such your racehorse may not be familiar with the leg aids. As a racehorse he will not have needed to work over his back and engage his hindquarters so allow time to develop this. Use plenty of slow work. Keep things simple but interesting using things such as large circles figures of eight and serpentines. Concentrate on riding from your leg to a soft contact encouraging him to relax and seek your contact. Accepting the contact is a new lesson for the racehorse and will take time.
TIP Surprisingly canter can seem difficult initially as the racehorse will be used to his rider being in a light seat as opposed to sitting deeply on him. Dont worry if you need to adopt the light seat initially until he becomes stronger in his back and has better balance.
Further progression
Depending on your chosen discipline polework and possibly jumping are great ways to help him develop as he progresses and your partnership grows. Always start slowly introduce each new element gradually and place emphasis on developing rhythm and relaxation. Interestingly it can often be easier to teach the flat racehorse to jump as opposed to one that has hurdled or jumped as the latter have been trained to jump faster and flatter and so just like the flatwork take time to establish new patterns and way of going.
Clinics and lessons or arena hire are a great way to start introducing your exracehorse to the idea of competitions. It may take a few outings for him to develop confidence as he can anticipate race day.
Tip Allow some extra time to let him arrive and walk around in hand so that he realises he is not going racing.
Look up your local ROR retraining of racehorses group. They may offer clinics in your area and the coach will be experienced in helping with exracers.
Looking Ahead
There are many opportunities out there for you and your exracer including showing dressage eventing and showjumping. Many disciplines have classes specifically for exracers. Contact your local society for more information but dont be in too much of a rush to start competing. Time taken to develop a strong partnership early on will reap rewards later on.