by Natalie Hollis & Suzannah Cornue (first published in the May 2025 Equiery)

Thoroughbreds are bred to be athletic, which typically makes them great sport horses in their post racing careers. Selecting the right one for your needs can be difficult at times. Advanced level event rider Natalie Hollis and Intermediate level event rider Suzannah Cornue of Destination Farm in Dickerson specialize in selecting and training off-the-track-Thoroughbreds (OTTBs) for eventing. Although they both have ridden and competed a variety of horse breeds, they say Thoroughbreds are their favorite breed to work with. Both ladies are also graduates of the USEA’s Eventing Coaches Program and Hollis is a USEF licensed “R” Event Judge, and a Young Event Horse Judge. These to two experts share their tips on selecting the right OTTB as a potential sport horse below.

Develop Connections
Over the years, we have developed our system on what we look for when we are horse shopping. First thing, you are going to need some connections at the track to be able to go see horses. We have developed many great relationships with trainers and they will always give us a call when they have something they think we would like. With people with whom we have a great relationship, we will even buy off just a picture as we know it will be a lovely horse. If you don’t know anyone at the track, it’s a great idea to use local Thoroughbred charity and rescue organizations to be able to set up appointments for particular horses.

Create Guidelines for Shopping
Generally we try to buy horses that are age three to five and usually are more interested in geldings than mares because of resale being easier. Having said that, we do also buy many mares too! We have also bought anything from two- to seven-year-olds!

When it comes to their build, we want them to be short coupled, uphill, and have the right conformation for their new job. We like them to be at least 15.2h.

Ideally we like to find horses with less than 25 starts as it’s less wear and tear on them, but we won’t turn down a nice horse if he’s done more. Some of the “war horses” coming off the track are the soundest horses out there!

We will always look up their 5-generation pedigree and see what their bloodlines are. There are some bloodlines that usually have a reputation for becoming nice sport horses, but we would also never turn down a nice horse no matter what his breeding is.

When you look at them you aren’t going to see them do much. You will usually see them in a stall and we try to have someone take them outside and jog for us. A lot of times these horses are very high strung, so getting the jogging done can be a little difficult to see much of their movement. We never worry about how “up” they seem as a few weeks of turn out will fix all that.

If it is safe to do so, you want to try to run your hands down all four legs, looking for any lumps and bumps, rounded ankles or old scars. Something like a splint or small osselets won’t bother us, but we do not want to buy anything with chips, signs of arthritis, or a visible old bow as it could be a problem in the future for our intended use of eventing.

You also want to avoid super flat feet and low heels, this is very typical in Thoroughbreds and will be a life long battle. Having a good farrier can help fix a lot of issues, but we want to start with a decent baseline for having good hooves!

Schedule a PPE
Whether we go see the horse or are buying off a picture, we always set up a Pre-Purchase Exam (PPE). You definitely want to make sure your horse is sound for its intended job. We like to get a good baseline with a physical exam, flexions, and front fetlock x-rays. We only do other x-rays if the vet thinks it’s necessary. We are going to be picky about some findings as we are intended to event and resell the OTTBs we buy, but a lot of findings won’t be a big deal for a less stressful second career.

Make sure you are upfront with the vet doing the PPE about your goals with the horse so they can help advise you if any findings are actually a concern or not.

Once home, we pull their hind shoes and give them some turn out to get settled in. Some horses might need several weeks or months to relax before we start them and others we get going in a few days. The horses tell us when they are ready to start working on their new careers.


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Cover photo: Thirdtimesacharm (MD) at the CCI2* at Loch Moy Farm. Credit: Erin Gilmore Photography.

You spoke and we listened! Based on feedback from the 2024 Maryland Horse Forum requesting more content geared towards training tips for various equestrian sports Maryland has to offer, we bring to you The Equiery’s newest column “Training Tips.”