Praying

Yesterday a rider here at Turf Paradise was badly injured. I don't normally talk about other people or their business on my blog, but this is common knowledge around the track.

Anne Von Rosen suffered a severe spinal injury pulling up after a race. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but the horse collapsed and she was pinned underneath it (the horse walked off of the track uninjured). She has a shattered vertebrae and her spinal cord was severed, among several other serious injuries. They say her chances of walking again aren't good. 3% is what I heard, but sometimes information can get mixed up as it gets passed along.

Anne on our horse, Legal Citizen, in 2013

I don't know Anne on a personal level, though she has ridden horses for us. I do know that she is one of the hardest workers I've ever seen and is about as tough as they come. She has always shown up to the barn and in the paddock with a positive attitude. It's easy to see how much she loves her job and the horses, it shows through her success on the track. Horses like Anne. They run for her.

I've never seen her not try, it doesn't matter if the horse is a long shot or the favorite or if they're trained by one of the leading trainers or a very small barn. There have been numerous times where I've seen her come out and pick up a horse that another rider had been named on and do well (my fiancé and I have actually learned to always bet her when this happens as we've seen her win/hit the board on too many horses with high odds that she has picked up). The horse can be 30-1 and Anne will walk out to the paddock with a smile on her face, more than happy to help someone out.

From the little I do know about Anne, I would say that she is the kind to defy the odds through sheer determination, hard work, and a positive attitude. I don't see her as the type of person to accept being told that she can't do something. She is more the type to make a miracle happen.

On top of all that Anne is, she has the support and love of everyone at the track, people that believe in her. Faith can go a long ways.

Sketch

I had been wanting to do a sketch of one of the racehorses, Aggie, for awhile now. Her owner's birthday was today so I decided that now was as good of a time as any. Her owner said no presents for his birthday, so I called it a "gift for him and his wife" when I gave it to him/them.

So here it is:

I wasn't sure if it was good enough for a gift, but my fiancé approved and he's extremely picky about things like this. Good enough I guess. I put it in a frame with a piece of her tail that I braided and tied with string that matched the color of their silks. I made the piece of the tail the shape of a cancer awareness ribbon since Aggie's namesake had passed away from cancer. (Wish I'd taken a picture of it in the frame.)

Both our owner and his wife genuinely seemed to love it! They're great people and are so wonderful to work for, it made my day to see how happy the sketch made them!

Aggie. I think you can tell it's her in the sketch.  Maybe.   

Oh, the joy!

I haven't had much time for Gunner, our pony-horse at the track, lately and was feeling pretty guilty for not riding him. The fiancé and I have been so busy that we haven't even had time to use him to pony. Here's this super nice horse, just sitting there. Yeah, definite guilt trip.

Quick video from his first show. I tried to upload a better video that shows him when he isn't tired and how well he really moves, but couldn't get it to work. I'll try again today.

So today when a friend asked if I wanted to haul out to Horse Lovers Park to ride, I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to get some saddle time in on The Big Gun. I've missed riding him!

One to remember: Scherzi

I was reminiscing about Scherzi today and decided she more than deserved a write-up in my blog. Anyone who worked with this mare loved her. She was a complete pleasure to have in the barn and will always be an amazing horse!

Scherzi enjoying turnout in El Paso.

Scherzi is by Brahms out of Happy Scene, a Dehere mare. Our owner had claimed her out of Golden Gate for $5,000. Scherzi already had four wins out of seven starts and then also won the day the owner claimed her. I think she had around $30,000 in earnings by the time we got her.

Hell-horse revisited

Big B, the horse from my post Making the best of what you have, has begun to make a liar out of me. He's being so good and I'm beginning to like him. I'm not totally there yet, but it's a start. I definitely have a deep respect for his talent.

This is from a couple of weeks ago. He has filled out a lot since then.

After his previous mishaps Ty, my fiancé, said we really need to make a point of paying extra attention to him. So we try to pet him every time we walk by his stall. We let him graze as often as we can. I make sure to love on him for a few minutes before I start tacking him and really take my time. It seems to be working.

I realize this is just normal routine with saddle horses. Having twelve horses at the track,  Ty and I have to really focus on not just going through the motions. We get really busy. Babying a horse that acts like he wants to kill me or himself doesn't normally land on the top of my priority list. It's worth it though.

Big B now has his head out of the stall most of the time and is actually looking for attention. He hardly did before. He doesn't weave any more. When he is out on the track, he is more forward and seems to enjoy being there. I don't feel like he is going to bite or kick when I go into his stall, though I still don't let my guard completely down.

It's pretty gratifying to watch him progress physically too. Big B is getting stronger fast. Today he went like a champ! He really came under himself and stayed loose over his back, very uphill. His movement has always been really good, but it's getting to the amazing level fast!

All in all, both Ty and I are very happy with how quick he is progressing. Fingers crossed that he keeps improving at this pace.