What to look for in the paddock???

[whyhorseofcourse]

I live in Ohio, so the only chances I have to get to a track are Northfield and Thisteldown. Since Northfield is harness and Thistledown runs during the day I do not get to go look at the paddock all that often.
Tonight I am going to either Mountaineer or Presque Isle.
What is a couple things you look for when your decision is swayed by the the paddock???

[Imriledup]

I believe that the paddock is less important than the post parade. In the paddock, horses are in tight(er) spaces, with no riders on their backs being handled by, sometimes, inexperienced handlers. There is a lot of hustle and bustle going on, so sometimes a horse might 'appear' nervous or edgy when in reality, he is not.


Personally, i don't watch paddock at all. I'm more of a warmup guy who watches the horses warm up on the track with jocks in tow. I like to see how each individual horse 'moves' and how they hit the ground while moving.

You want to look for a shiny coat if you are in the paddock. Look carefully at the horses hair and how he's groomed. Sometimes you might see a 'crusty' formation on the underbelly of a horse. Stay away from crusty underbellies, make sure all the flesh and skin is full. View each horse as you would view a bodybuilder in the Mr Olympia competition. Look for large, full muscles and defined 'cuts' in the shoulders and hip area. You don't want to be able to see the horse's ribs showing either. Just look for an overall 'healthy' look.

When dealing with young horses and first time starters, hold them to a higher standard as far as their mental state goes. If a young horse is acting up, its a bigger strike against him than if the bad actor is a 7 yo gelding with 70 lifetime starts.

The key to paddock inspection is to be really observant and to just use your judgment as a human being. 'sense' things and have a steel trap memory.

One last thing. If i told you that i have 2 friends who are meeting us for drinks after the races today and then told you one of the friends is just getting over the flu that they've had for the past 2 or 3 days and the other friend was healthy as an ox, would you be able to pick out the friend who was sick right off the bat just by looking at both their faces? There's a good chance you'd know which guy had been under the weather and which guy had not. Same thing with horses...view them the same way. Just look for overall health and horses who feel good. not every horse in that paddock is going to be 100 pct healthy. Look in their eyes, watch their ears, look at their coats, how they walk, etc and just get a 'vibe' if they are 'bursing' with energy or if they look listless.

its all observation and trial and error. The more times you can go to the races live and make paddock inspections, the better you'll get at it.

gl and have fun at the mountain or the Isle!

[whyhorseofcourse]

Great post!
Thanks for the info!

[john del riccio]

Originally Posted by Imriledup

I believe that the paddock is less important than the post parade. In the paddock, horses are in tight(er) spaces, with no riders on their backs being handled by, sometimes, inexperienced handlers. There is a lot of hustle and bustle going on, so sometimes a horse might 'appear' nervous or edgy when in reality, he is not.


Personally, i don't watch paddock at all. I'm more of a warmup guy who watches the horses warm up on the track with jocks in tow. I like to see how each individual horse 'moves' and how they hit the ground while moving.

You want to look for a shiny coat if you are in the paddock. Look carefully at the horses hair and how he's groomed. Sometimes you might see a 'crusty' formation on the underbelly of a horse. Stay away from crusty underbellies, make sure all the flesh and skin is full. View each horse as you would view a bodybuilder in the Mr Olympia competition. Look for large, full muscles and defined 'cuts' in the shoulders and hip area. You don't want to be able to see the horse's ribs showing either. Just look for an overall 'healthy' look.

When dealing with young horses and first time starters, hold them to a higher standard as far as their mental state goes. If a young horse is acting up, its a bigger strike against him than if the bad actor is a 7 yo gelding with 70 lifetime starts.

The key to paddock inspection is to be really observant and to just use your judgment as a human being. 'sense' things and have a steel trap memory.

One last thing. If i told you that i have 2 friends who are meeting us for drinks after the races today and then told you one of the friends is just getting over the flu that they've had for the past 2 or 3 days and the other friend was healthy as an ox, would you be able to pick out the friend who was sick right off the bat just by looking at both their faces? There's a good chance you'd know which guy had been under the weather and which guy had not. Same thing with horses...view them the same way. Just look for overall health and horses who feel good. not every horse in that paddock is going to be 100 pct healthy. Look in their eyes, watch their ears, look at their coats, how they walk, etc and just get a 'vibe' if they are 'bursing' with energy or if they look listless.

its all observation and trial and error. The more times you can go to the races live and make paddock inspections, the better you'll get at it.

gl and have fun at the mountain or the Isle!

I agree that the past parade and warmup give more clues as to how the horse fells today but there are several things that you can pickup in the paddock.

If the horse were to have a bowel movment (I'm not kidding), make sure it isn't diareah. Laugh at me if you want, just don't bet them. If the horses handler is pulling on the shank and getting into a power struggle with the horse, you may want to keep an eye on this becuse if the horse becomes agitated, he is not going to be focused on whats about to happen. If when getting saddled, the horse is cow-kickin and strikes the wall, be advised, this isn't a good sign. Look at the horses tail and if its buring between its hind quarters, there is a pretty good chance he isn't interested. When he is getting escorted into the paddock from the stabling area, if the handler is picking his head up, this isn't a good sign at all. However, if the horse is dragging the handler to the paddock without getting hot, he wants to get this show on the roAD AND THATS A GOOD SIGN. Lastly, its hard to do this for all the horses simultaneously because when the paddock judge yells "riders up", they all get a leg up within a few seconds typically. Watch intently what the horse does when the jock initially gets aboard. Does he appear to try & sit down (not literally), if so he coould be sore behind. If he lunges forward, he is in a good frame of mind and knows whats about to happen & he is willing.
As they horse walk by, smell what you can. If you smell linament, pay particucular attention to how OR IF, this horse warms up. They are body sore and the linament acts as a numbing agent. ts not just 5k claimers that have this stuff. I ran a filly at MTH in an allowance race this summer & a horse walked by and almost knocked me over. She was favored in the race and was OTB.

Hope this helps.

John

[ernie simons]

I've been in the paddock area many times when a horse would get fractious. More than once we thought they were gonna come over the fence. Or watch a horse bounce off the walls and ceiling in the tunnel at FL. You can't see that out on the track. We always managed to make it from the paddock out to the track with plenty of time to spare to catch the warmups. Or lack of.
Lot of info to be gleaned from the paddock area even if you don't know what to look for.

[Greyfox]

The "guru" of writers on physicality is Joe Takach.
If you want to know what to watch for in the paddock, he has a series of articles on his site at:
http://www.joe-takach.com/_Recent_Ar..._articles.html

[Overlay]

The Body Language of Horses by Bonnie Ledbetter and Tom Ainslie is another possible reference.

[Marlin]

Originally Posted by Overlay

The Body Language of Horses by Bonnie Ledbetter and Tom Ainslie is another possible reference.

Very nice.
I always have found that more information can be gathered in the paddock. It is your only chance to get up close to the animal. Because of the closer quarters you can often see bad behavior (flipping or acting up) that would go unnoticed once the horse is in motion. (in the parade)

I am starting a study of temperature and body language versus performance. It has been said that horses prefer cooler weather and I'm testing to see if that statement can be linked to results.

[Kelso]

Originally Posted by john del riccio

I ran a filly at MTH in an allowance race this summer & a horse walked by and almost knocked me over. She was favored in the race and was OTB.

John,
Early in the '07 MTH meet I tried my hand at judging physicality. Really basic stuff, but it did win me a few bucks early on ... particularly with babies. Got to the point where ... of two horses I would pick based on looks ... half would win or place.

It seemed, early on, that most horses were just moseying along in the Post Parade and also as they approached the gate. But a few runners in most races stood out by almost prancing ... a real light step. These horses often ran ITM.

But then, from about mid-July on ... ALMOST EVERY HORSE LOOKED GOOD!! Almost all looked like they wanted to get into the gate and around the track. Few of them looked disinterested ... or even misbehaved. In other words, they stopped talkin' to me!

By any chance did you notice anything similar? I understand many MTH runners get the winter off at local farms. Wondering if it takes these runners a month or two to get back into the groove each summer. Any insights ... or am I just way off base here?

Thank you.

(Marlin ... just noticed that my recent experience seems to run contrary to your weather theory. Interesting.)

[sammy the sage]

bump

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by Imriledup

I believe that the paddock is less important than the post parade. In the paddock, horses are in tight(er) spaces, with no riders on their backs being handled by, sometimes, inexperienced handlers. There is a lot of hustle and bustle going on, so sometimes a horse might 'appear' nervous or edgy when in reality, he is not.


Personally, i don't watch paddock at all. I'm more of a warmup guy who watches the horses warm up on the track with jocks in tow. I like to see how each individual horse 'moves' and how they hit the ground while moving.

You want to look for a shiny coat if you are in the paddock. Look carefully at the horses hair and how he's groomed. Sometimes you might see a 'crusty' formation on the underbelly of a horse. Stay away from crusty underbellies, make sure all the flesh and skin is full. View each horse as you would view a bodybuilder in the Mr Olympia competition. Look for large, full muscles and defined 'cuts' in the shoulders and hip area. You don't want to be able to see the horse's ribs showing either. Just look for an overall 'healthy' look.

When dealing with young horses and first time starters, hold them to a higher standard as far as their mental state goes. If a young horse is acting up, its a bigger strike against him than if the bad actor is a 7 yo gelding with 70 lifetime starts.

The key to paddock inspection is to be really observant and to just use your judgment as a human being. 'sense' things and have a steel trap memory.

One last thing. If i told you that i have 2 friends who are meeting us for drinks after the races today and then told you one of the friends is just getting over the flu that they've had for the past 2 or 3 days and the other friend was healthy as an ox, would you be able to pick out the friend who was sick right off the bat just by looking at both their faces? There's a good chance you'd know which guy had been under the weather and which guy had not. Same thing with horses...view them the same way. Just look for overall health and horses who feel good. not every horse in that paddock is going to be 100 pct healthy. Look in their eyes, watch their ears, look at their coats, how they walk, etc and just get a 'vibe' if they are 'bursing' with energy or if they look listless.

its all observation and trial and error. The more times you can go to the races live and make paddock inspections, the better you'll get at it.

gl and have fun at the mountain or the Isle!

This.

Still rings true today.

[Edward DeVere]

This is one of the best threads I've ever read on this topic, and I've read far more than my share.

[Valuist]

I look first at the coat; is it shiny and reflecting sunlight or absorbing it? Then the tail.....separated from the butt or laying flat? Then the stride. Do they appear to be walking short? Are they laboring at all? If its a real old horse I may forgive that if they appear better as the race draws closer. A bowed neck also a positive sign, and lastly, the general attitude. Do they look like they are ready for business or is their body language indicate the last thing they want to do is run? It seems that usually if the first one or two areas are strong, they are all strong. One other thing: I look for early betting action. It seems that horses who look great that are alive on the toteboard usually run to it. I'm not talking about overbet favorites but a horse who you expected to be 10-1 but is 6-1 on the board.

[Spiderman]

See if horse's connections brought children, especially on a school day.

[PhantomOnTour]

Every time I attend the races live I tell myself that this is the place to be.
99% of the folks playing a particular track will not get up close and personal with the horses. Someone who takes notes and can attend regularly has an edge over those playing from home or OTB (see: retirees).
The track feed cam can only show a horse for so long and then must move on. In the paddock you can spend a few minutes observing each horse.

I have implored my father (a retiree and box seat holder at FG for 10yrs now) to take paddock notes to no avail.
He's an old timer who does all his studying at the track. Taking notes and going over them later just ain't something he's gonna do. Too bad; he would do better if he did.