Thoroughbreds! <3

[BobwhiteQuailLover]

Changed my mind about the horse racing, and now jumpers!

 

[Kelsey2017]

Here are my gentlemen! Darby is the dark bay OTTB, he was bonkers when I got him, skinny and neurotic! We almost killed each other on the trial ride, the owner was terrified, but after I got off he just walked up behind me and rested his big head on my shoulder and blew out a big sigh like he was disappointed that it was such a tough ride, I totally melted! He had been passed around the country for 10 years after getting off the track and hadn't had a steady home for more than a year year and a half tops anywhere. I bought him not even counting on riding but just because I thought he needed someone to promise to keep him until he died and feel secure for once in his life. We got to ride and I tried teaching him dressage, which made him nervous and he tried teaching me jumping which made me nervous. Well he won, I learned how to jump and we even got to do some 2'11" schooling horse trails and clinics. He is 20 now and still has nice clean legs, super sound, and we don't jump hard anymore but if I don't let him rip down the trails at full speed he just isn't happy. I just got him a buddy Appendix QH that is off the track also and he is a big sweetie too. I have never had anything with QH in it and it is SO nice that when you say whoa, stand there- he does! No hopping on your right foot while hanging on to a swirling TB until you get a hank of mane, straighten them out, pull your self up and finally get settled in the saddle on the second canter stride! My Darby and me are seriously made for each other (AKA we're both nuts!), I can ride him like no other and I think he knows my body movements just as well as I know his. He always has a little buck/head toss when he hasn't gotten to run for awhile, but it is completely happy and he is not trying to get you off him even when we are ripping around the pasture bareback in the snow, it's just his way of saying YEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I haven't ever bonded with a horse like that until I got him, Go Thoroughbreds!

 

[halo]

Well, Id like to add some information from the "dark side of racing". Ive raised, trained, and raced horses for over 30 years, and being involved in the sport, and knowing hundreds of people, I will say that MOST all owners and trainers I know love the sport and love their horses, and want the best for them. As in any horse sport or discipline, there are people who think nothing but the guts and glory, but most people are in it for all the right reasons. People at the track love their horses, and are heartbroken when something happens to their horses. Their are bad eggs (sorry for the pun) in racing as in any sport, but the good stories far outweigh the bad.

Now, that being said, heres a few of my kids:

 

[Kansaseq]

I got my first horse when I was 15. He was a TB, and I was in love. He could be a real handful, though, and rather hot in some situations. I had him until I was 23, and gave him to a woman when I could no longer afford to board him. I miss him

 

[scbatz33]

I second what Halo said! (btw, your foal is so cute!)

Been in the "industry" on and off for 20+ years. Seen good owners/trainers/help and I've seen bad. I love my girls. I have always wanted to have horses and I wouldn't have any other breed than Thoroughbreds. They are amazing animals. But there are many things that need to be changed. For one, breeding for stamina instead of precosity is a start. Unfortunately the high sales prices dont' go to a yearling that looks like a yearling. They go to yearlings that look like 3 year olds. That and another peeve of mine is running a horse in a big purse race or two then retiring them to the shed at 3 or 4 as a "champion" before there is any proof they can last and stay sound. Those two things would be a start.

Also, I recomend folks read the book that Secretariat was based on. It's no where near as "romanticized" or "disney-fied" as the movie. It actually gives a better acount of how things went with the folks involved than the movie. But then who would want to see a movie about a woman who was a royal heifer and couldn't stand that her one horse was better than her other horse and never had faith that he would win one race much less the triple crown?

Lastly, folks have to understand that thoroughbreds that win the big races like the derby or the breeder's cup are on par with high school athletes that go pro. It is a very small percentage. There are horses out there that have the talent but never get the opportunity to show what they can do. So they end up at low end tracks running crappy claiming races for someone who barely can pay the stall rent. Likewise there are horse who can't outrun a fat man who just happen to have an amazing liniage and be born into the right barn. It's luck of the draw in a lot of cases......there are very few Sea Biscuits out there. It's just a fact of life.

Anywho, my girls........
Pumpkin Roll

In foal to this guy....Wiseman's Ferry

MMSBUFFANDSTUFF

In foal to this guy....Capitano

Songs and Suds (Buffy X Show Tune)

Go On Zen

Zen's Final Voyage (also by Wiseman's Ferry)

 

[halo]

Ive rescued Tennessee walkers with sores so deep the bone was showing; Ive rescued ponies that were so foundered that I just took them home and had them euthanized. But I dont think all Tennessee walker owners or ponies are cruel. Theres such a vast array of thoroughbred owners; some paying hundreds of thousands for their horses, and some paying $900. I have mixed emotions calling it a business, because 95% of people racing their horses dont make a profit, and they still do it. I dont know of any other business that would still be in business with those numbers. I know dozens and dozens of people raising their own, racing them, bringing them home when they are done racing and finding second careers for them. Not a one has deep pockets, not a one is making money. They do it because they love the sport. They love raising the babies, training them, taking them to the track and enjoying them performing. There are so many trainers out there, people no one has ever heard of, that has 3 or 4 horses that they race themselves. Its what gets them up in the morning, going to the track, training their horses, interacting with people. They run their horses, and they mostly lose, but its okay, because its what they want to do. Its their life, their horses are their kids, and they wouldnt have it any other way.

And trust me when I tell you, the horses are far better taken care of and fed than we are. The feed bill comes first every week. Theres been more than one week that Ive been so greatful for my feathered girls, since quiche is often on the menu here. Im so greatful that I can wear jeans and tea shirts to work, because I cant afford new clothes.

In my 30 years of racing, Ive shown a profit 3 of those years. None of those profits would have been enough to take a small vacation with, but they were profits nontheless. The other 27 I didnt. It hasnt stopped me from enjoying my horses and running them; the pride in seeing one of my own babies win a race is just indescribable.

Ive gone on enough. I guess its like hearing the news every night, and thinking everyone in the world is a child molester, or a murderer, or a drug dealer. I known enough people in my lifetime to know that most people are good hearted, kind, thoughtful people. If I watch the news too much, Id think the world was full of badness, and Id never leave the house. But I know differently.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Also, I recomend folks read the book that Secretariat was based on. It's no where near as "romanticized" or "disney-fied" as the movie. It actually gives a better acount of how things went with the folks involved than the movie. But then who would want to see a movie about a woman who was a royal heifer and couldn't stand that her one horse was better than her other horse and never had faith that he would win one race much less the triple crown?

Funny you should mention this. I've been dreaming about Big Red ever since I saw the movie a week or so ago. Except my dreams are not pleasant ones. In them there is a man who is discussing how the stallion has never measured up in the shed to his promise on the track. He's losing them money. He is, in fact, worth more dead than alive, so they deliberately founder him. In this dream I am frantically trying to stop them and save him, but of course he still founders and they still put him down and collect the insurance. It is a lousy, lousy dream and I hate having it.

Personally I believe that horses as a species are much kinder than people have ever been.

Rusty​

 

[scbatz33]

Quote:
Funny you should mention this. I've been dreaming about Big Red ever since I saw the movie a week or so ago. Except my dreams are not pleasant ones. In them there is a man who is discussing how the stallion has never measured up in the shed to his promise on the track. He's losing them money. He is, in fact, worth more dead than alive, so they deliberately founder him. In this dream I am frantically trying to stop them and save him, but of course he still founders and they still put him down and collect the insurance. It is a lousy, lousy dream and I hate having it.

Personally I believe that horses as a species are much kinder than people have ever been.

Rusty

He wasn't a good performer in the shed that is true. I don't know about the rest. Although I do know of a horse that was killed for insurance money because the people in charge of him took out loans they couldn't repay. He "broke his leg" in a stall door that was conveniently left ajar. As if.......

Long a short there are crappy people everywhere. Horses are amazing. More honest than any person and more sincere....

 

[halo]

Its not true that he wasnt a good performer in the shed. He produced 2 Horses of the Year in Lady's Secret and Risen Star, and his daughters produced 3 of the most influential stallions of modern times in A.P. Indy, Storm Cat, and Gone West.

What is generally meant by that is that he never reproduced a horse as good as himself.

Arent you sorry you started this topic? Ive got an answer for everything

 

[scbatz33]

Quote:
Sorry, I wasn't clear. You know that's what I meant! LOL! But then, we've talked racing before.....Guess I should be clearer.