I have always, always loved racehorses. As a young horse crazy kid, I read books about horses set at the track. When I finally got a pony from my Grandfather for Christmas one year, I was already picking out colors for our racing silks and wanting a sign with a farm name on it. (Never mind that there weren't enough secure boards on the old barn/run in shed to nail a farm sign onto, I was still planning, dreaming and scheming!)
I was lucky enough to inherit a horse from a cousin who went off to college. She was no racehorse, but put up with me hopping on and hacking around the fields. She had to be retired completely when I was about 17, though I still loved going out and just inhaling the scent of sun warmed horse on an afternoon after school.
The summer before I started law school, I treated myself to a subscription to the Blood Horse, and my big treat near the end of the summer was a trip to Ocala to tour a couple of Thoroughbred farms. I was in heaven! I was the only one in the group that would actually pet the horses, and the highlight of the trip for me was getting to snuffle a foal. He was too cute, and very cuddly.
Once law school was over (perhaps survived is a better term!) and I was practicing law and discovering that I didn't like it much, I began to dream once again of having a horse. I ended up with a fabulous, sturdy QH that is still with me today. But, I learned he would rather chase a cow than a fox, and since my goal by then was to learn to ride well enough to fox hunt, I began to look around for another horse that would be more interested in running and jumping things.
Enter my first exposure to a horse bred to race. He was a QH, and not a TB, but I was thrilled. He and I had an incredible journey together, eventing at the lower levels, and he is now retired with my cow pony. My next addition was finally a retired racing TB -- although this one had run only on the local "bush tracks" racing against quarter horses. It didn't matter to me -- I was hooked!
Several years later, I finally had an Official Off the Track TB -- Sammy, aka Southern Shuffle, a son of Dixieland Band, raced until he was 10. His last stop was out west, where he ran in 1k claimers in Arizona and New Mexico. After my friend found him there, he limped in to her farm in KY with ankles the size of grapefruits, and she intended to retire him.
Well, he wasn't interested in retirement, and so, she began to look for him a new home. I was the lucky winner of the contest to have Sammy come and live with me, and he is now retired in the pasture with Ben and Bubba and they have a grand time.
Since then my herd has expanded, mostly because horses usually find me, rather than the other way around. Currently we have two TBs (one from NZ!), two warmbloods (one Selle Francais, and one Hungarian) and the two QHs, but tomorrow, we will have a very Special Addition.
Our first TB right off the track! I'm so excited and so nervous. It has been a dream of mine for years to be able to take an OTTB, and do some letting down and restarting work, and then find the horse a fantastic home. And, now, that time is finally here!
Her name is Rare Hyde and she has run at Calder and Gulfstream. She is a Florida-bred, and was bred and owned by her trainer. She is sound, but slow. She's a smallish bright chestnut, white stripe blaze, and three white socks. We pick her up tomorrow afternoon and bring her home to the farm, where she'll go in the paddock and will hopefully eventually make friends with my guys.
There will be lots of pictures to follow tomorrow, and a full report of how it goes. Here's hoping! :)
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