What's Been Up

Warning: photo dump

Winn falls into the "up" category. I knew bragging in him in that last post would come back to bite me in the ass.

Indy is being good!

Hirsch won again....

Which is a good thing because he went off at 1/5 and not much sucks worse than having a heavy favorite get beat. He ran a 1:03.9 for 5 1/2 furlongs, which is really fast for as slow as this track has been.

He's kind of my version of a "teacher's pet".

He gets what he wants.

Monty working out of the gates.

I'm trying to help find a new home for this handsome guy. 

He's a sweetheart.

I hope he ends up at a wonderful home.

J, my trainer in Phoenix, was in town and we met up for dinner.

That's about it for now. I'm going to haul a couple of horses to Boise to run this week. The drive is a pain in the ass, but I'm excited to go home for the first time in almost two years and to see my family and friends.

Pinto Power

With the rain gone, I've actually been able to ride! It's a good thing too, because I was going crazy without my saddle time and, I'm assuming, wasn't the most pleasant person to be around.

A racehorse's first time doing dressage. Hopefully, it helps strengthen her long topline.

 

Anyway, I'll just get to the point. WINN IS SOUND! As in, he feels fantastic! And guys, he's SO amazing to ride!

Blurry screenshots work, right? Also, it probably looks like I'm asking him to lengthen a little here, I'm not. I wouldn't ask him for that when he isn't fit.

I'd forgotten how nice it is to get on a horse and be able to focus on myself, to not constantly have to help the horse. It's not like I can just sit and do nothing, but I don't have to spend the entire ride micromanaging the basics.

What I am most excited about with Winn is how good he is in the hind end. I've ridden him since he was three and he's always been weak in that area. He moved more like a hunter (not saying there's anything wrong with hunter movement) and no matter what me or anyone else did, he never seemed to get enough strength to be able to handle the collection at anything above second level. Now he feels and moves like a dressage horse! I feel like he can get strong enough to go further.

He's not even fit right now and he has twice as much power in the hind end as he ever has.

I think that gelding him helped a lot. He really filled out in the back half of his body since I did and he's gotten lighter in the front. *Bonus- I no longer have to deal with a 17.1 stallion that goes straight up in the air on his weak hind end when he hears a horse a mile away whinny. I'm sad that he won't have more foals, but his ability to reproduce wasn't worth risking both of our lives over. Plus, he's so much happier now.

Feed me, human!

The other thing that helped was L, the lady that does the adjustments and laser in all of our horses, working on him. She adjusted him last Fall and his hind end has been phenomenal since. I can only imagine where he would be if we hadn't had to deal with his feet problems. I know there are quite a few people out there that don't believe in chiropractic for horses. Honestly, even I think that only about 10% out there get effective results that last, but if you had seen the before and after of Winn, it might change your mind. I wish that I'd known her when he was three.

So, I am finally able to completely enjoy my lovely horse! While Winn is at the track, we are taking advantage of the hill and working on getting him even stronger. He seems to really enjoy not being confined to the arena. He's been really well behaved with the exception of the one day he was a little too fresh. I'm not going to hold that against him.

Sandy thinks that doing some dressage work is actually kind of fun even if she is still a racehorse. Talk about a horse that will have no difficulty moving on to a second career.

I still want to find a place to board at, but I'm a little worried about how I'm going to have time to work at the track, ride a couple of horses after the track closes, spend an hour+ of my day driving, ride Winn and Indy, and then do evening chores. I'm already tired and I don't want it to end up that they only get ridden three days a week because I don't have the time and energy to drive out to ride them. I'm still trying to figure that one out, so we'll see. In the mean time, I'm going to enjoy having them here.

Fire and Ice

This past weekend was the first of racing for the Arapahoe Park meet, and even with the awful weather, the show must go on.

Indy enjoying some rare sunshine.

We had two in on Sunday. Honestly, it wasn't looking good when it came to the weather. A big and nasty black cloud came through and delivered some very much NOT needed rain about an hour before our first horse ran. Then a miracle happened and it went away!

The first horse we had running was Script  (by Whatsthescript out of a Lemon Drop Kid mare) in a Maiden Special Weight. He has tactical speed, so we figured that he would be close. I was really happy with where he was placed, and then the rider dropped him down on the rail behind horses. At the time I couldn't see it, but I guess he said he had to. I about had a heart attack and was really worried that we wouldn't get through. The rider swung him back out in the lane and Script won by a length. 

The track was sloppy and slow, so he didn't exactly set a track record.I think that my biggest accomplishment of the day was that I got the mud knot in his tail to stay in. No, I didn't tape it. I'm not in the win picture because our groom wasn't back and I had to stay at the barn to get Hirsch ready.

After Script ran, I flew to the test barn to take care of Script and the fiancé went back to the barn to finish getting Hirsch(by Street Sense out of a Stormy Atlantic mare) ready to go. I spent the next half hour rotating between being drug and having to drag Script around the test barn. He's lucky he's so lovable most days because he was a real pain in the ass while I was waiting for him to cool out enough that they could take the urine and blood samples.

I was just getting back to the barn with Script when the fiancé was leaving to head up for Hirsch's race. Script needed to cool out a little more, so I had to stay at the barn for Hirsch's race too. The SO seriously owes me....

Right as Hirsch was about to run, I was finishing putting Script away and then the vet showed up to medicate a horse. By the time I got the live feed up, the horses were already loading. The live feed is always about thirty seconds behind and I heard the announcer say something about Bourbon Sense pulling away to win, so it kind of took the fun out of watching the race.

Hirsch and another horse were out on the lead and then he drew off to win by six lengths. He actually ended up running a faster time than they did in the stake, that we had nominated to and opted out of running in, the same day. No, that doesn't mean that we should have run him in the stake, that he would have won it, because time isn't everything. Unless both races played out exactly the same, which they didn't, you never know what would have happened. What the time and the quality of the race that he ran did tell us is that he can probably be competitive in stakes company here. He's earned a shot at them at least. I am glad that we put him in the allowance, a win like that should be a good confidence boost for him.

I call him Hirsch because he deserves to be nicknamed after a higher class of bourbon. I couldn't call him Bourbon because we already have a horse with that barn name.

A couple of days before the race I had told Dennis, the jockey, that we put him on my favorite horse. I also told him that he would fit and get along well with Hirsch. When Dennis came by later that night, I asked him what he thought of Hirsch. His response was, "You told me and you were RIGHT!" That's my favorite thing about Dennis. I can tell him when he'll fit a horse well or that he'll like one and he won't just blow it off as me being some naive, dumb chick. A lot of riders will. You know, because obviously if you don't have testicles, you don't have brains.

Anyway, Sunday was a good day.

Bourbon looking gorgeous.

Monday was not.

We had Sandhill Lady, a Colorado bred mare, in a state bred stake. Everything that could go wrong did. She was the one that we were most confident about running in the slop because she gets over that kind of surface very well. This is getting to be a long post, so here is a list of everything that went wrong or screwed us on Monday.

1. We drew the #2 hole in an eleven horse field. That's okay if your horse has speed. Sandy does not.

2. Sandy stomped the living shit out of my foot while I was getting her ready.

I'll go get it X-rayed if it isn't feeling/looking better by tomorrow.

3. The one day that we needed it to rain, the sun came out and completely changed the track surface, drying it out too much. Of course it pissed rain after the races were over.

4. She broke slow out of the gates causing the rider having to take a bit of a hold of her so she didn't run up right into the hole that was quickly closing between the #1 and #3. Basically, we were screwed from the first jump out of the gates. Horses weren't able to make up much ground with the way that the track was yesterday.

5. The riders on the horses on the lead were just quietly sitting there. We needed a stupid fast speed duel in the front end to give Sandy any type of shot in the race and it didn't happen.

I'm not saying that we would have won or anything, she finished 7th and got beat a REALLY long ways. It's just that it was pretty much a shitty day for luck. It happens.

Don't turn around, but there is a huge beast getting ready to lick you to death. Also, this was before I pulled her mane, so that shaggy look adds even more to the threat of danger.

I still really like the mare, it wasn't her fault (though I'm still a bit pissed about my foot considering she tried it once more with me and also almost got the fiancé too). She came out of the race all in one piece and that's all that really matters. There will be other races.

Inspiration

After my last post, I feel that I probably need to be more grateful for the horses and opportunities in my life. I am very lucky to own two talented warmbloods and a couple of thoroughbreds that have a good chance of success at the track and also in their second careers. The opportunity to ride is available 95% of the time. I believe that makes me very fortunate and I definitely need to remember that.

I wrote about jockey Anne Von Rosen and her accident over a year ago. If you weren't following me at the time, you can read about it here. Fourteen months later, she is back on a horse for the first time. A horse that she had won races on in the past too. Here's the story:

She was an inspiration before she got hurt, now even more so. No one has ever doubted that she would defy the odds. There is still a long road ahead of her, but Anne's hard work and positive attitude has already brought her an incredibly long ways. She is a truly unique and amazing person.

It's easy to get caught up in how our horses are going, worrying about the next show, or how to keep up with the latest equestrian trends. With horses, there are a million and one things that can cause us stress and anxiety.

The fact is that none of us has ever gone through what Anne has (and I pray that none reading this ever do). Most of us haven't even had to work as hard as she did before she was injured, much less have to work like she did to be on a horse's back again.

I'm not saying that the average rider's problems aren't problems. I do think that those problems might not seem as bad if we can just sit back and look at the larger picture because there is someone out there that is giving their all every single day to just have the opportunity to sit on a horse.

If you want to support Anne you can buy a Team Anne Von Rosen t-shirt at 

http://teespring.com/annevonrosen

Not Complaining

Please remind me that I love being in Denver.....

                            Shit.

So I've made it a goal to not complain in this post. I like it here, I really do. So what if it has rained a bunch since I've been here? A hail storm isn't a big deal either. It only snowed once. It never hurts for most of the horses to have a few days, or a week, off because the mornings that it isn't raining the track surface is shit. That's no big deal right?

    This cutie always brightens my day!

I don't mind that our groom is still soaking up the sun in Mexico (I really don't mind because he is probably the best employee we've ever had) and that I have to spend about 70% of my day cleaning stalls (that part I really do mind). It's okay that I haven't had time to go look at barns and meet with trainers for Winn and Indy. I can always ride them here. Oh wait...I can't because I'm stuck in a cold and muddy shithole cleaning horse shit all damn freaking day long.

Sandy enjoying one of the few good days.

Okay. I'm done bitching now.

As soon as the weather improves, I'm sure that I'll be back to being happy here.  After all it's clean, mostly quiet, and laid back. We have some really awesome owners to hang out with (I'm not kissing ass, they really are THAT cool). 

There is also a super nice barn with a very good trainer that I'm going to go check out. If I can be 100% sure that I will have the time to take full advantage of such a perfect situation, it would be more than worth the investment. If not, there is the less expensive one that also looks nice, from what I've seen online.

Lucky, the two year old that is now my project. If it ever dries out here.

Indy is perfectly happy sitting in her stall eating all day. However, I've decided that she is now going to be called Fatness Evergreen until some of that food gets worked off instead of ending up on the ground for her to lay in.

Winn is happy too, other than he's pissed off that he can't have a whole bunch of luscious green grass that is growing all over the place. He thinks his new special diet is a really stupid idea. On a good note, he is sound again. 

So, all I need is for the weather to get better and our groom to return and I might actually be able to get something accomplished with my horses. Maybe.