horse growing older - bad habits

Question
hello sir. do horses start learning bad habits as they are growing older. i mean, lugging in and lugging out in races, bumping onto other runners. actually, a senior jockey told me this. is he correct?

Answer
This may be true as these problems are not addressed and corrected when first noticed by rider or trainer. Many learned habits that may be good, as well as bad. These problem should be checked out to make sure they are not more serious lameness problems. If they are found to be just habitual, then everything should be done to retrain a horse to act more desirably if it will enhance their performance and saftey.

Christopher Crocker

http://CrockerRacingStable.com