Nugget and Royal are both retired race horses, that have not been ridden for about a year, and used to be barebacked. Recently, these two have been becoming very lazy, and not listening very well, so I thought I'd start working with them again. Any ideas on how to start them back up?
Royal is between 7-9yrs and Nugget is between 16-18yrs old.

Oh my god, I have re-trained at least 6 quality/proven winning TB"S off the track. I love TB...My Jack was a major crack-pot abused case off the track 5 years...he was left at a barn to be sold as back board the owner left him at teh place cause he was such a jerk and would throw her constantly....she did not know what to do so the loser left him abandoned....I was boarding close by and the owner of the barn asked me if I could maybe get him to trust me and train him for re-sale...In return I could keep my two lesson horses there for free, his place [it was cheaper] and I would get 20% of this horses sale price..Well 1 year later and at least 4 days a week 3-7 hrs some days of consistensy, no one wanted Jack...He was only going to apparently trust me...and when someone tried him, he would go around the ring looking at me and neighing to me..Needless to say the owner said I dont want to be a mean person, but I would rather put this horse down then bring him to an auction....he said "Do you want him" that was6 years ago and a bunch of Low level events /Hunter Paces/Parades/camping/endurance trail riding/ and picnic table jumping years later...and My Boy Jack turned out o be the BEST horse I ever had, the most trusted horse I ever had, and he was FREE! So to answer your question, YES, tell me what you are doing or would like himts on trying to improve and I will only give you the best advice I have used and Know works...I grew up on a TB farm when I was three and thirty years later I still own one!

Well, my horses are very sweet, away from the pack, atleast. I just need to know how to work them, to get them back to being my riders, bareback and english saddle is what they are used to, and I am in the process of getting new tack (Katie, the previous owner used to let us use hers, but she doesn't come out anymore, and took her stuff with her)

Any help on restarting them would help!

Just a quickie, because Jackohearts is going to give better advice than I can. I agree with her TBs are the BEST. They have to be retrained if they were raced because all they know is GO and pulling back on the reins just means go faster! But once they are taught that Whoa! doesn't mean a half mile, they are the kindest, smartest, most loyal, and on, and on, and on! They DO tend to be one person horses and they do have a GO button (one of the things I like) no crop needed. And there are some breeding lines that are a "little" wacko, like the Impressive line in Qtrhorses. OK maybe not so short... I LOVE THOROUGHBREDS!

Royal (who I am so proud of since she is a decendant of Secretariat yay!) has already been retrained, but Nugget I am unsure of. I have sat on Royal recently, but haven't attempted to go anywhere, incase a problem should occur. Nugget, is like a gentle giant, but I am afraid to try him, because the previous owners said he can get a bit hyper and crazy (but at that time they were still the half owners, and I have a feeling they didn't want anyone except themselves to ride him >.< )
The story gets funny though, because at a local petshop, last year there was a picture of a horse on the wall. I mentioned to the cashier that the horse looked like the stallion, Tiger, my horse Royal was bred to.
She asked me if the horses full name was Royal Ice Dancer, and I said yes. She had heard about her being bred to Tiger, and told me that Royal was originally her horse, before she sold her to Katie. Royal and Nugget have always lived together, she told me, and both of them were very sweet. She said the only reason she sold Royal is because their personalities clashed, and Roayal simply wasn't the horse for her, so when the man who owned and sold Nugget told her they would like to buy Royal too, she let them.
So after hearing this from her, I wondered if Nugget is how Katie said she was, or how the original owner of Royal, who knew Nugget better and longer, was right......

What you said is so true!!!! Ex-Racehorses need to be re-trained..in a positive way so they dont get frustrated at the same time. From the time they had tack on they were taught a whole other set of {cues} if you will, then we get on them and say NO slowwwwww...and easy..it is time consuming and at times very frustrating, but I found that consistency and patients usually pays off. Then the outcome is so rewarding!

I guess Retired Race Horses will retrain very very easily.

Sounds like they have been off the track for a while, so you probably won't have the issues of dealing with hyper racehorses that are super fit and used to a certain routine to their day.

You should be able to start them back like any other horse. Set up a regular schedule of work, starting out with lots of walking, on both reins and with lots of changes of direction to get them suppled up. Introduce trotting in small increments and gradually build up, increasing their fitness level.

There are several books about fitness in performance horses. As long as you take things slowly and don't overdo it, they should come on fine.

Thanks everyone, this really helped. Royal is now my bareback horse, but Nugget, I am still unsure of. When I go back out there I am going to try him out (with my grandpas help of course, since thats who he trusts the most) and see how he does. Katie used to have no problem riding him, so I don't think she was telling the truth about him before.

I have an OTTB, my FIRST horse mind you. He was really bad when I started riding him, bucked me off about everytime I got on him. That was last year. Now this year he is 5, and he's doing GREAT. I had to switch the bits though, I couldn't control him in the snaffle no matter what I did. After switching to a kimberwick we've started working on dressage and he just placed 2nd & 3rd in his first show on sat. I really do love him, we've grown together so much. His ground manners have improved SO much. He's in the pasture 24/7. No need for a stall. Hope everything goes well, and don't apply direct pressure to the bit, that means speed up for a race horse. Instead wiggle with your fingers or do plenty of half-halts. Good luck!