Melody, when you get a horse "off the track" you need to give it a few months of down-time. Meaning, just lots of turn-out during the day, handling, teaching new things to. They often come off the track pretty high ("hot"). You need to have someone experienced in horses to help you if you go to look at any and/or buy one and re-train it.
You have to be careful, because often times they will have injuries that, if you don't know what you're looking for, you will not notice it.
We always have the horses at least trotted on a lead-rope and then we can look for any lameness and then check their legs for bumps, swellings, heat (sign of injury) etc.
I have gotten about 10 horses in this manner in the past few years and have loved it. We had one with a spiral fracture of her cannon bone and was on stall-rest and hand walking for 6 months before she could be ridden or turned out. And another that we finally discovered had an old fractured pelvis that had healed, but she always had a little "gimp" at the trot. They often fracture the pelvis in the starting gates or when babies banging around.
