CT: As one of the most successful breaking and training businesses in the United States, when do people begin sending their horses to Webb Carroll Training Centre?
WC: We start getting horses in September and it can go all the way through to January sometimes. It depends on whether the owners do their own breaking of the yearlings or they send them to me to do it.
CT: How important are the facilities when training young horses?
WC: We want to provide a good, level surface for every horse to train on. The track has very wide, sweeping turns to allow plenty of horses. We work the main track every two to three sets. That helps prevent injuries to the horses while training. We offer a 7/8 mile irrigated dirt track, a _ mile turf gallop and a _ mile wooded track (on the secondary farm) so that the young horses are acclimated to all different situations.
CT: You believe in sending out the two-year-olds to train in large groups, from 10 to 16 horses in a set. Why?
WC: We call it ‘close companion drills’. They all learn so much from being around each other. We try to give each horse as much of a race track atmosphere as possible. They are constantly moving around, interacting with each other so they learn to handle different situations and learn to relax. When they start out their training walking and jogging, we will often send one half of the group one direction, the other half in the other direction so that they are passing each other several times during training.