Sunday, May 03, 2009

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

And All Over the Place

All day long. Went to church in the rain. Went to lunch in the rain. Bought alfalfa cubes in the rain. Bought groceries in the rain. Went to Staples for some postcard paper in the rain and finally fed the Boys in the rain.

Did I tell you it rained all day?

It always amuses me how people think that just because you own horses you are an expert on things like the Kentucky Derby. Before the race, I knew almost nothing about the horses running this year. Time was, I might have followed horse racing a bit more, but after all the tragedies, I lost a lot of my enthusiasm. All I wanted this year was a clean race with all the horses finishing without any injuries. From all I know, my wish was fulfilled.

I do, however, love it when a longshot wins, coming out of nowhere. And I did like to see Mine That Bird win in such convincing fashion. He ran a powerful finish, clearly outrunning all the other contenders, but that does not a Triple Crown horse make. He'll need two more good trips and a lot of stamina to win the coveted title. I'd love to see it, but for now, I enjoyed the race.

I was also glad to know the owner/trainer of I Want Revenge decided to scratch him from the race due to some filling and inflammation in his ankle. Good choice and the best one for the horse. Not easy with the biggest race of his career on the line, but good one.

I keep thinking that both Tucker and Toby could have been race horses had their lives taken a different turn. Toby was in the hands of a track trainer when I bought him, but the trainer and partner decided to get out of the game and so they sold him to me instead. Tucker's club foot and subsequent surgery may have taken him out of the track "track" at a young age, but he too was bred from racing stock. My PJ had raced and it told on his body. He had bowed tendons and a problem with the bone in his front foot. It didn't keep him from being a super, wonderful horse for me, but how much happier and more sound (without regular acupuncture) he would have been if he'd never set foot on a race track.

Every time I watch the Derby or another important horse race on television, I go out afterward and hug my Boys. It makes me realize how lucky we all are to have each other.

4 comments:

  1. I suspect your Boys get their share of hugs even on days without races.

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  2. Anonymous8:54 PM

    Our mare Dawn is a TB who raced at 2 (despite a June birthday - who knows how young she must have been when she was started), and who was discarded after she bled from the lungs in a race (knowing her because she was trying so hard). She probably would have gone to slaughter. We've had her for 8 years. She's a sprightly girl - all fire and flash. I no longer watch the races - too many damaged horses.

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  3. So nice that you can buy alfalfa cubes on the train! In the old days you had to go to a feed store!

    For some reason I have never been interested at all in horse racing. I think it's a general sport thing as I hardly even know the great names in dressage.

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  4. Our Alydar boy, Alybenbo, apparently started out pretty successful on the track, but at 3yrs old, much like PJ, he bowed a tendon; we found him on a farm in Utah in 2001 at 13 when we were searching for a teaser stallion - by then far removed from the world of the track. We've bred him a few times to one of our mares and on occasion to someone who has an interest in his bloodlines. Alyiah, one of our maiden's this year (FW IV) is one of his get.
    And of course there's the whole "Oops I got our Haffie Chloeana pregnant by him" for an Oct/Nov foal - not only late in the year but a year or two before we had actually planned it. He is a really good boy, is not isolated from the herd (separate fencing yes, but any pregger's run with him) and will live out his life very comfortably - with any luck we'll be in Upstate before the Summer ends and he'll have his pasture.

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