Wins

It was hectic with having three horses running yesterday. The fiancé and I do almost all of the work ourselves to get them ready to run, so having one in the fourth, fifth, and seventh race makes it a little tough. Our groom, her brother, and her dad helped us with getting the horses up to the paddock and cooling them out or we would have been in a world of hurt.  We were literally going non stop from early in the morning until early evening.

Princess was in the fourth race, a non-winners of three lifetime going seven furlongs. She drew the outside post, #7 of 7 horses, which was perfect. After breaking on top, the rider took a hold of her and set her just off of the pace. She started to really pick it up coming out of the turn and the horse inside of her started getting out, pushing Princess wide. She kept digging in down the lane and ended up winning by two lengths. She got a perfect ride, I couldn't have asked for a better one. So proud of my girl!

My pretty filly!

She could have posed a little better.....

We had Volage, aka Nelson, in the fifth race. He won a maiden special weight here last week. The race didn't knock him out at all, he was bucking and kicking on the walker the next day, so we ran him again this weekend. After he won, there were people mouthing off to his owner about how the horses that he beat weren't much, which we already knew and is the truth (that's why he was in a non-two $5,000 instead of an allowance this race). However, a win is a win and it matters to someone. I don't see why people have to be assholes to the owner about it, let the guy enjoy his win. Anyway, I was hoping he would run well enough yesterday to at least shut some of them up.

Nelson's win picture from last week.

Nelson is a big old plodder and will just lope behind the rest of the field if the rider doesn't be really aggressive. The rider did a good job of keeping him close to where he needed to be and Nelson ran a pretty good third, which was fine. No excuses, he just got outrun. This is the first time he actually came back a little tired, so at least he finally put some effort into a race.

By the time I got back from Nelson's race they had already called to get ready for the seventh. I only had about ten minutes to get Harley bridled, wrapped, and stretched before we went up. I hate doing race day wraps because wrapping anything with Vetwrap without some form of padding freaks me out. Having to do it in a huge hurry REALLY made me nervous, but they actually turned out well and didn't budge during the race. Phew. 

Harley drew the #2, which sucked because she tends to run better on the outside. I really got nervous when she didn't break well.

She's in the white. This was right after they broke.

Harley was 9 1/2 lengths behind at the quarter pole. Dennis is a smart rider and didn't panic when she broke bad. He just sat there and let her gradually get closer instead of freaking out and shipping her to catch up. At the half mile pole she had made up a little ground, now only 5 1/4 lengths behind the leader. At the quarter pole she was third of six horses by 2 1/2 lengths. Dennis swung her to the outside and she came flying to win it by a length and a half!

Zinging down the lane. Dennis said she was just really starting to run and had a lot left, that he had a hard time getting her pulled up.

Apparently he was right, because she came flying back to the winner's circle too.

Harley and Dennis are now three for three. This was Harley's first time against open company and even one of our owner's said he didn't know if she would be able to win it due to the competition now being tougher. She showed so much heart and try! It was impressive that she won, but even more so that she overcame a bad break to do so. 

Thank you Dennis!

So, we had a pretty good day yesterday. Winning all three races would have been even better, but I'm not going to complain.

Foot inserted

I guess I have to put my foot in my mouth about complaining over not being able to get a horse into the right race here. Princess ended up winning even with having to run her at a higher level than I wanted to. Like the jockey's agent said, it's a good thing the $5,000 didn't go.

This is a video of Arapahoe Park announcer, Jonathan Horowitz calling Princess's race. It was taken by Denver Post photographer, Karl Gehring.

I'm so proud of my girl! She's improved so much in the last sixty days. I think she's pretty proud of herself too. Adrian Ramos, the jockey, rode her perfectly!

I'm glad I bought her. Her previous owner was going to sell her for a recipient mare. She is too nice for that!

Also, Bit by Bit is doing a bridle giveaway. Check it out! http://www.talesofanewbiehorsebackrider.com/2014/06/contest-two-horse-tack-bridle-giveaway.html?m=1

We're rolling now...never mind

Two days ago: It's hot, sunny, and then it's pouring rain, then the hail comes. Along with extreme wind. Oh yeah, don't forget the tornado watches. Yesterday, same thing. Today, it's already windy. You know, so the wind can dry things out before the weather pisses rain, pelts us with hail, and then brings a tornado along to carry us all away to Oz.

Needless to say this weather is not conducive to the horses' training schedules (both racehorses and dressage). I did manage to get Beefs ridden yesterday before the weather got bad. However, it was too slick to do anything other than walk. I'd thought it'd be good for Beefs to just go for a walk and relax. Bahaha! He didn't do anything bad, but he was all like "This walking crap sucks!". Then he was bored. Then he saw the guy using his four wheeler to exercise a horse up on the hill (I'm kind of surprised the horse didn't bif it) and decided that he must not move or turn his back to them until until they were gone, lest they fly off of the hill and attack the moment he wasn't paying attention. After that he decided that his mane and forelock were attacking his ears and shaking his head was the only possible defense to the horror. Finally, he was just flat out pissed off over all of the injustices served to him that day. So much for my bright ideas.

*BTW- I'm ordering Beefs a bonnet. I was thinking about the KL Select ones. Any thoughts on the quality and fit of these? He is closer to a cob size than a full in bridles, so I'm not sure which size to go with. Also, what color do you guys like for him?

Mud/Ecru/Ice Blue

Not sure I love this one.. 

I wanted to ride Indy, but not particularly in the mud. She's the type that will go to hogging it if she slips. Thanks crappy weather! Indy is starting to look so good, like a real dressage horse, but the mental development doesn't seem to be coming along as well as the physical. Whatever, we'll get there eventually. Maybe.

Now I know how my family must have felt when I was about sixteen. "She's grown out of that awkward stage and is starting to look prettier and more fit. She has a ton of potential, but she is damn hard headed and a little wild..."

Other than that, the Princess runs tomorrow. We've entered her twice for $5,000, but the races didn't fill. So the only other non-two that came up was an allowance. Another joy of Denver A) If the perfect race is coming up, they will write an extra that kills it (like having a F&M $5,000 N2L in the book going six furlongs and then writing a F&M $5,000 N2L going five furlongs as an extra for the same day) B) if you can get into a race even close to the condition and distance you want, you damn well better enter because who knows when you'll get another chance to run. Therefore, she's in a little tougher than I want, but she is training like a monster and doesn't look terrible in the race. I guess it's a good time to take a shot. Hopefully.

She so knows she's a princess