Training Racehorses on the Trails - Beyond The Rail
Updated: Sep 3, 2019
Ashley Massengale had been retraining OTTBs for six-years when she came across a horse that had no desire to be a riding horse. He had an injury that deemed him unable to race, but his heart wanted nothing else but to run. Ashley rehabbed him and then got to training him in the hills and trails. By the time she was finished with him, he could gallop thirteen miles and not be tired.
She knew she couldn’t keep him away from the racetrack so she raced him herself. He won again on his fourth start. It was a success story that changed the way Ashley Massengale thought about rehabbing racehorses.
“We [saw] the positive side of building stamina to build a stronger race horse. Balancing a horse to correctly use himself so he doesn’t break down,” Ashley explained. “When the body utilizes every inch properly they don’t wear out because everything is working efficiently”.
That success has led Ashley to train, balance, and condition racehorses for about four years now.
Ashley’s knowledge of horses runs deep. Her father and his partner owned a band of roughly 30 broodmares and 2 stallions. She grew up training Cutting horses and has a heavy background in breaking and training young horses. In addition to that, Ashley is from a family of chiropractors and massage therapists and is a trained massage therapist herself!
Her daily routine is rigorous, but helps many racehorses to improve their health and fitness levels.
“In the mornings I’ll go through and typically cold laser everyone’s backs so they’re loose and feeling good. Sometimes I load up a couple horses and we check out new places but I also have nice trails here at my house. My normal day is 7.5 miles and we can do that in about 40 minutes,” Ashely explained. “Then they cool down and hot