Paula Turner Training Stables
817 Emerson Cook Road
Pittsboro, NC 27312
919.542.0571
Racehorse training by the
only person in the world to train both a Triple crown winner
and a US Olympic Team 3-Day Event horse.
The trainer of Seattle
Slew-
the only horse in history
of racing to win the Triple Crown undefeated
"You can't build a house starting with
the second story; a horse has to have a proper training foundation
if he's going to last over the long haul, and if the mental/psychological
conditioning is not as exacting and thorough as the physical,
you're leaving vital blocks out of that foundation."
Click here to download the full text of two of Paula's important
booklets:
"I've been sent horses who
already raced, yet had been taught nothing about how to use their
body properly, resulting in the appearance of two horses put
together in the middle. From riders I've heard stories of horses
with serious potential ruined by being pushed too fast. While
there are "iron horses" who can survive hard training
as youngsters, they are rare.
"We let the individual horse
dictate how much and what kind of training he will undergo. At
the first sign of trouble, detected in the early a.m. leg check,
we back off accordingly. (These animals stay up nights thinking
up new ways to get hurt.) Just like children in school, some
horses require longer than others to fully understand their lessons.
They tell you when they're ready for the next level. Failure
to recognize their special needs would be asking for trouble
further down the road.
"We inform owners if a horse
is not up to snuff, as well as diagnosing those who require more
time. Seattle Slew was a big, sloppy, mentally slow colt,.
His crooked front leg under that massive body was the doomed-to-break-down
combination that stopped his bidding at $17,500. In his first
training session, I decided he needed three times longer than
average to learn what I would teach him. For eight months I only
allowed him to jog, gradually asking for a higher degree of collection
than I'd heretofore demanded of a racehorse. I knew he could
not stay sound otherwise. He was ready to run less than three
months after I sent him to Belmont.
"We ride our horses over three
hundred acres of hills, woods, streams, and open fields, and use a track and starting gate to ride our horses. Because of our
in-depth training, we do not accept horses for less than five
months, and a maximum of when the horse is fit enough to breeze.
Each horse is made as physically and mentally fit as possible
during his stay.
"Horses are turned out as
much as possible in grass paddocks. We also have indoor
turnout paddocks for inclement weather and lay-ups."
Paula Turner Training Stables
817 Emerson Cook Road
Pittsboro, NC 27312
919.542.0571