Things have been trying here. Well, they’ve been frustrating to be honest with you. Dulce’s weight gain stopped two weeks after he got here, which some of you know. There are so many reasons for this. He has so much healing and recuperation to do from the mouth and hindgut ulcers he had. He also had three hoof abscesses before I got him. Two old ones on his right front and one newer one on his left front. The main thing was the food change. I will maintain this until the day I die; the change in hay made an uphill struggle become a battle.
What I haven’t been saying is the struggle with his poop became much worse. I mentioned it in one blog, but it never smoothed out. He would swing from almost normal to abysmal within fifteen minutes and then bounce over to decent and plummet back to several piles of diarrhea. One morning when I fed him, I noticed he no longer wanted to eat his flax/beet pulp mix that the day before he gobbled down within a few minutes. When a horse goes off his feed, it’s time to worry. He still ate hay as if it was going out of style, but that blue bucket filled with his version of grain ended up all over the ground several times that day.
I called my vet in desperation. Was it time to bring him in even though there was no fever, he was staying hydrated, and he ate hay? He went through things I needed to do. I had already done all of them but one; he wanted me to put him on Sand Clear. Sand and dirt can build up in a horse’s digestive tract over time causing all sorts of problems including colic and diarrhea. Sand Clear has psyllium in it, which is a high fiber laxative. It binds on to the sand and dirt and flushes it out of their system to sum it up in a few words. I put Shandoka on Sand Clear every month, and my other two boys get it. I think I was so focused on the fact that he had ulcers I forgot about this simple yet dangerous possibility. I ran into town, bought a bucket, and pondered how in the world I’d get him to eat it since he was only eating hay.
I made a mash of it with a little bit of honey, rolling small balls of it over crumbled dry hay cubes. It took me an hour to get him to eat his first dose. The next day it took me thirty minutes. The third day he was back to gobbling everything up on his own without a spec ending on the ground. His poop started to get more solid. Only once in awhile there was a pile of moosh, but for the most part there was improvement. On the fifth day he suddenly had several piles of diarrhea again within two hours. My only thought was that something was being cleansed out with the sand clear. After two hours, his movements became normal again. My wonderful, incredible vet was right; he needed to clear out his gut of dirt and sand. A couple of days after his last dose, his poop worsened slightly, but it wasn’t wildly swinging all over the place anymore. I measured him for weight, and he lost ten pounds. He went from 890 down to 880; not the direction I was looking for.
I did more research on horses that were underweight and how to bring them back. I was doing everything right and everything that could be done. The one thing that I couldn’t avoid was rapid change in diet. I had to transition him to Colorado hay a lot faster than I wanted. This rapid change disrupted his digestive tract and all of that wonderful bacteria in there. Even though I had him on a really good pre and probiotic, I put him on ProbioticWise by Wise Concepts. It is specifically for horses with the problems he is having, and it is helping smooth things out.
I also read how the organs of underweight horses shrink. Who knows how much healing has been going on within him this past month that he hasn’t gained weight. I’m thinking this organs were regaining their strength and size.
However, last Sunday, which was three and a half days off of the Sand Clear the poop hit the fan. I went into his barn when I saw this massive pile of poop. It was almost as tall as my knee and weighed several pounds. I knew what was coming, and I my stomach clenched; colic. Colic is what killed my horse Shandoka, and I felt like a deer standing in oncoming headlights; completely frozen until he exploded. A few seconds after the thought hit me, he went into stress. He began running and pacing nearly running me over twice. I tried to catch him only to get bumped hard until he gave in to me constantly following him. As this was going on, pile after pile of the worst diarrhea he ever had flew out of him. I tried to get his vein to inject some banamine, but it was impossible by myself. I couldn’t hold him while putting a needle into his vein, so I shot it into his mouth. We then walked and walked until he calmed down while piles of diarrhea kept coming abeit at a slower rate. Finally, the banamine won out, and he relaxed. I got out my stethoscope and listened for gut sounds. He had good ones in all four quadrants. I thought about calling my vet and tubing him, but I decided to watch for a little bit.
He went back to normal within fifteen minutes. He munched on some hay while coming up to me every now and then as if to reassure me that all was well. All of the diarrhea stopped, and the gut sounds got more and more normal. Did we go through another cleansing? I think so. I think something broke loose, and his body wanted it out.
An hour later, he had a pretty normal poop. Ever since that day, they remained around 80% of normal. I’ve changed his diet from hay pellets to hay cubes, which seems to suit him better, and he still gets his flax seed with a lot of beet pulp. We may not be perfect, but we’re pretty good.
Today showed me that we’re really doing okay. I went to measure his weight expecting no changes to find that he gained 25 pounds this week. He now weighs 905 pounds, and he has gained a total of 75 since I brought him home on April 2nd. We are finally out of the 800’s. We only have 150 to 200 more pounds to go!
He has a beautiful shine to his coat, which for me means we’re on the right path. His coat was so dull when he got here, and now it shines in the sunlight. He probably will plateau for a week or two after such a big gain, but that is okay. It is important to stay true to what is working and take it day by day.
He came out of the turn for home heading down the stretch when the unthinkable happened. The crowd gasped in sheer horror.
* * * * * *
When Afleet Alex was born, his mother didn’t produce any milk, and she rejected him despite all of the attempts by the breeder to get her to accept him. Desperation ensued as they tried to find a nurse mare for the foal. While the adults searched, the breeder’s nine-year-old daughter fed him from a sterilized Coors Light bottle faithfully until her father found a mare for the foal. Because of this, Afleet Alex always had a special place in his heart for children, and because of being bottle fed, he loved human comfort never becoming a typical stallion in demeanor.
The breeder, John Silvertand, was terminally ill at the time of his birth in 2003. Silvertand died in 2007 from cancer, but Afleet Alex helped him deal with all the difficult times ahead he said. This became a theme in this horse’s life.
A little girl named Alex had cancer, and she started a lemonade stand to raise money for other children suffering from the disease. It made national news, and then Alex died. Her parents started a foundation called Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to honor their daughter and raise money to fight childhood cancer. That is when her parents got a phone call:
“I can remember when the phone call came in, my wife Liz took the call, and the person on the other line said simply:
“We own a horse that is pretty good, and we have been donating anonymously to Alex’s cause whenever the horse wins. Would it be okay if we kept donating, but go public with it?”
Because of that phone call, Afleet Alex and his owners helped publicize and raise money for their foundation. https://www.alexslemonade.org/afleet-alex-10-years-later. This is what horse racing is about; never forgetting your roots.
* * * * * *
Afleet Alex was bought at auction by a group of people called Cash Is King Stables. None of them owned a racehorse before they bought Afleet Alex, and the only reason why they got into horse racing was because of the Smarty Jones fever sweeping the nation at the time. There were ten near winners of the Triple Crown since Affirmed, but they all fell short in the Belmont. After winning the Derby and the Preakness, Triple Crown and Smarty Jones fever infected thousands of people around the nation. Unfortunately, he lost the Belmont like the others. His pedigree was more of a sprinter, but that wasn’t even really it. He couldn’t relax like he did in the Derby and the Preakness setting the Big Sandy on fire with blistering speed that he couldn’t keep up. For the first time in his career, he was undefeated at that point, he was passed up by another horse called Birdstone, and for the first time he lost. Smarty Jones was retired after this race due to repeated bruising of his ankles. People were in love, and they wanted to be part of horse racing; thus, Cash Is King Stables came to be.
Afleet Alex got his name through his sire and the founding owner
of the partnership, Chuck Zackney, had a child named Alex as well as two other
owners. He was bought as a two-year-old for the group by a top, local trainer
named Tim Ritchey for $75,000. Within five weeks, he made his debut at Delaware
Park where he won easily by 11 ¼ lengths. As you watch this race, his talent
was evident from the beginning. He sat off the pace, and when asked, there was
nothing or no one that could stop him. His turn of foot was amazing in this
race and the races yet to come.
He won his next race at Delaware Park by 12 lengths. After this, they headed to Saratoga with their eye on the Sanford Stakes but their main goal was the Hopeful Stakes. They won the Sanford by 5 ¾ lengths, but how would he handle the less than ideal conditions for the Hopeful? The slop wasn’t what made this race interesting, but this race shows how green horses can go astray. Who knows why he did this in this race; maybe he saw something, maybe he got spooked a little, maybe he tired a smidgen, or maybe his attention span fluttered a bit, but Afleet Alex veers towards the outside rail as they headed down the stretch. The boisterous crowd became silent. The jockey Jeremy Rose quickly gathered him up bringing him back into the race, and somehow they won by a neck.
Afleet Alex finished second in his next two races and ended his two-year-old season as one of the leading candidates for the Kentucky Derby. To get there, they went through Oaklawn Park where he won his first race. He was the favorite in his next race, the Rebel Stakes, but he came in last, which shocked everyone. People wondered if he hit his peak and was beginning a downhill slide. However, the trainer discovered Afleet Alex had a lung infection when he returned from the race. Nobody believed him stating he was just making excuses for the obvious. This is how it is in racing; people purposely spread rumors and when it comes to the truth, everyone doubts it. Afleet Alex recovered quickly, so Ritchey sent him off in the Arkansas Derby where he showed his amazing burst of speed subduing the competition and winning by eight lengths. All of those critics and doubters were silenced.
He came in third in the Kentucky Derby after a challenging
trip and probably being a bit tired from the Arkansas Derby. The race that
caused the gasp around the world was the Preakness.
It started off like most races where Afleet Alex tucked in behind the other runners in tenth place waiting for his moment to strike while the winner of the Kentucky Derby was right behind him. The pace in this race wasn’t as fast as it was in the Derby, but it was fast with the half mile clocked at :46 seconds flat. As they entered the turn for home, Alex found himself bottled up on the rail with no place to go. However, a hole opened, and before you knew it, Afleet Alex moved with such speed that it seemed as if all of the horses he picked off were simply walking through the turn. As the leader, Scrappy T was coming out of the turn into the stretch, Afleet Alex was about to pass him on the outside, when Scrappy T’s jockey went to the whip with the left hand driving his horse into the path of Afleet Alex. Afleet Alex clipped heels with Scrappy T going down to his knees spread eagle, his nose hitting the ground while the world gasped in horror as to what they thought they were about to see; a horse falling in a roll getting stomped by who knows how many horses. Rose about to come off could only grasp on to his mane as he slid out of the saddle, and this is when the miracle happened. Afleet Alex pulled himself up, and in so doing his neck knocked Rose back into the saddle. He gathered himself in four strides changing to his right lead, and with fury, pure heart, determination, and pure athleticism won the race by five lengths.
When Rose was asked about the near catastrophe immediately
after the race, he said, “He’s just that athletic, and I was just that scared.”
I want to add that none of this was intentional. I don’t think Ramon Dominguez thought Afleet Alex was coming as fast as he was if he even saw him. I also don’t think he expected his horse to move off the crop like that. Also, you can tell it wasn’t intentional, because he was looking backwards, scared about what may happen. If it were intentional, he never would have looked back, and everyone knows how Dominguez loves horses. He was one of the best.
When Afleet Alex and Rose returned to the grandstand the roar from the roar from the standing ovation became louder and louder each time Rose waved to the crowd. People loved these two, and that day they inspired everyone that saw the race.
This horse and so many others are why people love and admire thoroughbreds so much; their courage and their athleticism. However, it is so much more than that. Horses, all horses, teach us by example that we can be better than we are. Maybe someone will get in our way and knock us down, but we can get back up and persevere until we cross that finish line. Maybe we are rejected by the one that we need the most in life, but we can still be kind and loving to others. This is why people love horse racing. It’s not the betting…it’s watching these amazing athletes do amazing things reminding us that we can do them too. It is time we solve the problems within the industry to give back to the horses what they have given us. This is horse racing, and this was the most amazing Preakness.
When she was born in New Jersey on the Whitney Farm, no one had any idea how Regret would help Matt Winn make the Kentucky Derby what it is today. It is impossible to talk about this amazing filly without talking about Winn, because their legacies are forever entwined.
Fillies often stand in the shadow of colts and stallions as to their abilities and worth. However, 2016 demands a different look, because it is the Year of the Filly/Mare with horses like Beholder, Songbird, Tepin, Lady Eli and Stellar Wind. While the Queen Beholder retires, one can’t help but think of another Queen who raced brilliantly into history over a hundred years ago as events and dreams swirled around her.
When she was born in New Jersey on the Whitney Farm, no one had any idea how Regret would help Matt Winn make the Kentucky Derby what it is today. It is impossible to talk about this amazing filly without talking about Winn, because their legacies are forever entwined.
It all began with Colonel Meriwether Clark, Jr., aka Lutie, when he traveled to Europe in 1873 visiting prestigious racetracks. Horse racing changed dramatically in that they no longer ran heat races, which they still did in the U.S. Heat races are when horses run 3 four mile races in one day to determine the winner. In England, they ran shorter races, and horses were only raced once on a certain day. He also discovered pari-mutuel betting in Paris, which unbeknownst to him, would help save the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs, and horse racing many years later.
When he returned to Kentucky, he built a track outside of Louisville and based races upon the European versions he saw. He created three races for opening day which were the Clark Handicap based upon the St. Leger, Kentucky Oaks based upon the Epsom Oaks, and the Kentucky Derby based upon the Epsom Derby.
Matt Winn, who was 13 years old in 1875, went with his father to the inaugural races. His father hitched their horse to the wagon, and they rode through the biggest traffic jam in Louisville ever saw to the infield of the track.
“It was a thrill for me, the first Derby, with crowds swirling around in the infield, the grandstand a riot of color, and tenseness in some places, unrestrained enthusiasm elsewhere, as the time neared for the horses to parade to the starting line….,” commented Matt Winn. When Aristides won the race, beating the favorite Chesapeake, the bug bit. Winn was hooked, and he went to every single Kentucky Derby until his death.
Lutie had a great dream, but creating a profit eluded him. When he built the track, he put the grandstand on the opposite side of where the stands are now, so the sun blinded racing fans. He built a house on the grounds and entertained those that came to the track turning the race meets into a very successful social scene, which is where he flourished. However, he was known for being touchy, and his ill temper resulted in him pulling a gun on those he disagreed with more than once.
Troubles began for the track when James. B. Haggin, brought his horse Ben Ali to race in the 1886 Derby from New York. Bookmakers were not allowed to take bets Derby day due to a problem with the bid-and-asked for license fee. This upset Haggin, and he stated that if the problem wasn’t resolved, he would ship all of his horses back to New York. When officials heard these comments, one of the officials wondered aloud who Haggin thought he was, and if he wasn’t happy, he should ship them all back.
Ben Ali won the race, and during the celebration, someone told Haggin what the official said. He exploded and the next morning all of his horses were gone. Very well known in New York, he spread the news about his treatment, which caused east coasters to boycott the Kentucky Derby for more than 25 years. Only Mike Dwyer brought a horse from the east in 1896. This lack of participation by high class three-year-old horses, turned the Kentucky Derby into more of a local novelty.
Churchill Downs, as it became known, never made a profit, and eventually, the operators of the track voted to close it unless they found a buyer. In 1902, Charlie Price, who represented the owners that bought the track in 1894 and built the new grandstand with the twin spires, approached Winn about buying the track for $40,000. After trying to get out of it, Winn gathered some friends together, and they decided to buy it. Winn couldn’t let his beloved Kentucky Derby die.
Before Regret was even a thought, Winn began working his magic. First, he created a Jockey Club, and with the funds raised from membership, he built a new clubhouse. When they opened for its Spring meeting in 1903, the track made its first profit. In 1904 Winn became General Manager of Churchill Downs, and his public relation skills were put into play. He always followed advice from his landlord. Winn once asked him how to be a successful businessman, and his landlord replied, “I can give you the answer in just three words—always be polite.”
With his polite and jovial personality and a cigar, he took on several battles. His first task was to obtain better racing dates and more days, however the Western Turf Association refused to give any dates. Winn responded by forming the American Turf Association with nine other tracks in opposition to the WTA, and after two “bitter” years, Winn and his group surpassed the WTA with bigger purses and crowds. WTA conceded to the terms of the ATA, and the Turf War came to an end.
In 1908 a reform movement spread through the United States aimed at shutting down bookmakers. Laws passed in several states closing several racetracks including Belmont Park from 1911-1912. The reform movement moved into Kentucky after a nasty political battle for office.
The political group that came into office in January 1908 decided to exact revenge upon Charles Grainger, President of Churchill Downs, who avidly lobbied against them. They decided to shut Churchill down and end the Kentucky Derby by declaring bookmaking illegal, which the anti-Grainger County Sheriff promised to enforce with gusto. After extensive searching, the Churchill board discovered an amendment to the law prohibiting bookmaking stating that pari-mutuel betting and auction pools were allowed. When Lutie tried to use the pari-mutuel machines, he must have had this amendment added to the law prohibiting bookmaking. Even though Meriweather had the machines in 1875, he didn’t use them until 1878.
A furious search by the community and friends began for any and all pari-mutuel machines. They found one in the storeroom of the racetrack, one at a pawn shop, another found in pieces, two were shipped from New York and a souvenir hunter brought in another. All were in a state of disrepair, but luckily mechanics were able to fix them.
Despite having the law on their side, the government threatened to arrest anyone involved with any aspect of gambling in auction pools or the pari-mutuel machines. The Churchill board requested an injunction preventing action by government officials until the Court of Appeals could rule on the validity of the amendment. The injunction was granted, and the Kentucky Derby continued.
Winn believed bookmaking would be legal the following year, and they could once again put the machines into storage. However, anti-bookmaking laws stayed, and pari-mutuel machines grew in popularity. Soon other tracks facing the reformist laws began installing the machines keeping or reopening tracks across the United States.
Winn’s next challenge was to convince the owners of high quality Eastern horses to come to the Derby. He had some help from a couple of Kentucky bred horses.
In 1911, Churchill reduced the cost of pari-mutuel betting from $5 a bet to $2 making it easier for everyone to take part. The Daily Racing Form commented on pari-mutuel betting Derby Day in 1913 writing, “Down in the pari-mutuel department under the broad and long shed, which covers nearly an acre of historic ground, a great mass of men swirled and turned in a constant effort to make their way to and from the machines and the cashiers.”
On May 10th, 1913, a Kentucky bred horse named Donerail stepped onto the track at 91-1 odds, and he beat the favorite with ease setting a new Derby and track record of 2:04 4/5. A two-dollar bet reaped huge rewards for his few followers. Winn told Frank Menke in their book Down the Stretch, “The story about Donerail, which in some of the far away papers might have been good for only a paragraph, was built into one that warranted headlines. The functions of the pari-mutuel machines, not very well known outside of Kentucky and Maryland, and the fact that $2 invested in Donerail’s ability would have rewarded with a net profit of $182.90 was something for the folks to talk about for many weeks.”
Donerail helped Winn get the Derby into the national spotlight, but more was needed. Another Kentucky bred horse caught the public eye.
Old Rosebud touched the track with his beautiful hooves and won the Derby by eight lengths setting a new track and Derby record of 2:03 2/5. The DRF wrote, “It was Old Rosebud first and the rest of the seven starters nowhere.” His time would stand for sixteen years, and three other horses have tied the 8-length victory in the Derby, but no other horse has broken it.
The New York Times noted more than just Kentuckians attended the Derby in 1913, “The running of the Derby…., was witnessed by one of the largest crowds that ever attended the event, including many society folk from neighboring cities, and leaders in turf circles from all over the country.”
The road to the Derby begins outside of Kentucky. Horses and their people find their way to Saratoga each summer where strawberries and cream is served under beautiful, green trees and lures avid followers from all over. Harry Payne Whitney and James Rowe brought a horse they knew was special. A beautiful chestnut filly with a strong white blaze painting her face. Sired by Broomstick and out of the dam Jersey Lightning, she prepared to make her debut. They were so confident in her abilities they put her up against the boys in her first race; the Saratoga Special.
Even though she led the race from start to finish winning by a length, most chalked it up to luck. Pebbles, the star two-year-old colt, could not be beaten by a filly, so it had to be a fluke. “…hers was a lucky score, for had not James Butler’s Pebbles been practically left at the post he surely would have been returned the winner.” Surely the next time they met, Pebbles would dominate.
A week later she went up against boys in the Sanford Memorial at Saratoga. She was an added starter making the other entries a bit nervous considering her domination in the Special a week ago. Like the Special, she maintained the lead from start to finish never being tested. This is when “queen” was first applied to her. “In the running Regret was the same queenly lady that she was in the Saratoga Special,” wrote the New York Times.
The rematch between Regret and Pebbles came on August 22nd in the Hopeful at Saratoga. Regret carried 127 pounds on a heavy track from recent rains. This time she couldn’t go to the front, dropping back to sixth place. Everyone maintained their positions throughout the race until the stretch when Trojan moved to the lead. Joe Notter, Regret’s jockey, maneuvered Regret to the outside away from the heaviest part of the track, and with each driving stride she wore Trojan down seemingly breaking away from the others only to be caught by Andrew M. Ridden hard to the end she won by a head. Andrew M carried 114 pounds, while Pebbles carried 113 into third place. There was no doubt after this race that Regret was anything but a fluke. Three times she beat the boys easily and hard fought in two weeks. Whitney and Rowe let her rest after this race for 259 days.
Regret caught Winn’s eye, and he knew she needed to be in the 1914 Kentucky Derby to entice top east coast racehorses back to the Derby. Through contacts made at Empire City, another track in New York that Winn opened and managed, he put the invitation to Whitney. He dangled a winner’s purse of $11,450 and a gold cup, which was far more than any track on the east coast paid out for prestigious races such as the Belmont and Preakness Stakes. Whitney agreed, and Winn got high quality horses from New York blue bloods back into the Derby.
Many believed they raced the Derby too early in the year for three-year-olds, especially since there were no prep races due to winter. Weather didn’t stop Rowe or Whitney from training Regret for the Derby. A storm blew six to eight foot drifts onto Whitney’s training track, so Whitney hired everyone he could to shovel it away to continue Regret’s training.
No one is sure why she didn’t race for 259 days. Was she hurt, or were they just giving her time to rest and grow into a more mature horse? What is certain is when she shipped to Kentucky, she didn’t fare well. She went off her feed, and her works were lackluster. Some say she was in heat, but others seem to think something else occurred. It is possible she suffered from a shipping illness similar to Beholder.
Notter explained, “Trainer Rowe and I slept in the stables all week. I won’t forget that experience. The roof leaked and when it rained during the six days we spent there I got soaked. Regret went off her feed down in Louisville. She worked well enough in New Jersey, but the train ride upset her. At Churchill Downs, she worked the Derby distance first in 2:14⅗, and then three days before the race repeated her work going the distance in 2:08⅗. Mr. Rowe wondered if he should run Regret…. I told him not to worry. The mare will be alright. We will be in front before the others can get on stride,”
When Rowe decided to race her, another situation arose. The Lusitania was attacked by a German U-boat on May 7, 1915 a year after World War I began. The British ocean liner sailed from New York to England, and one of the passengers on the ship was Alfred Vanderbilt who happened to be the brother-in-law of Whitney. After giving his life vest to another woman despite not being able to swim, Vanderbilt stood on the deck with friends as the ship sank.
Whitney, out of respect for his wife’s family, nearly pulled Regret out of the race, but Vanderbilt’s fate was unknown. Everyone held hope he might be alive, so Whitney kept Regret in the Derby.
When the gates opened, people filled the stands. “It was a gay crowd of well-attired people who made a veritable picnic of their outing under sunny skies,” wrote the DRF. Despite raining for several days prior to the Derby, the track dried out.
Little String was the first of sixteen entries to appear on the track for his warm up canter. The additional fifteen appeared one by one for their sprints before returning to the paddock. After watching the horses in the paddock and canter in front of the stands, thousands of people made their way to the pari-mutuels to place their bets. The horses headed to the post, and after a four-minute delay, they were off.
Regret went immediately to the front of the pack and never relinquished her lead. Her rival Pebbles followed her the entire way never finding that gear to overtake her; no one could. “It turned out to be one of the easiest victories of my entire riding career. It was so easy in fact, that I can’t count it among my greatest racing thrills,” stated Notter after he retired.
“When Regret jogged back to the stand, the crowd broke forth in another great roar of applause, for they recognized in the filly a marvel of her breed and sex. She has done something that no other filly had accomplished,” wrote T.B. Cromwell for the DRF.
“Someone said before the race, ‘It’s Jimmy Rowe that makes this filly the favorite.’ It was partially true, but not in the sense that he meant it. Rowe, wonderfully cleaver trainer that he is, could not have made Regret win had she not possessed the qualities of a winner such as she proved herself to be. Neither could the marvelous skill of Joe Notter as a rider have brought her to the winning post in front had she not been swift and game with an abundance of stamina,” wrote Cromwell.
When Whitney greeted his filly, he looked upon her with a face painted with awe and sadness. Awe for his horse, and sadness for the Lusitania tragedy. He smiled at her and said, “I do not care if she never wins another race, nor if she never starts in another race, she has won the greatest race in America and I am satisfied,” wrote Cromwell.
“The triumph of Regret, a filly and a Whitney filly as well, was perfect. It fired imaginations everywhere,” wrote Arthur Daley years later.
The top three finishers in the 1915 Kentucky Derby were from New York putting the Derby back on the map as a high-quality race. Even with the sinking of the Lusitania, Regret’s win appeared in papers around the country. Winn had his win, but he never rested on his laurels.
Winn wrote in his book, “It needed only a victory by Regret to create for us some coast-to-coast publicity, and Regret did not fail us. The Derby thus was ‘made’ as an American institution…”
Even though Winn managed other tracks, Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby were his loves. He tirelessly worked to promote the race and the track for the rest of his life. William H.P. Robertson, in “The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America,” called Winn “a Moses who led the sport through trying times.” Regret and Winn turned it the Derby into the American Classic race it is today. They couldn’t do it without one another.
Because of Winn’s constant work, fight, and promotion, the Kentucky Derby is the longest running race in the United States. When the U.S. government wanted to shut the Derby down during World War II, instead of fighting, he asked the government how he could satisfy their concerns. The Derby became known as the Streetcar Derby, because everyone took public transportation to attend. Due to his resolve to keep the race going that year, Count Fleet became the sixth Triple Crown winner that year.
Whitney entered horses in every single Kentucky Derby after Regret’s win without luck until 1927 when he won with Whiskery. After the race, there was a big party, which Whitney’s son, Sonny, became bored with. He wandered outside and heard singing down by the stables. He walked over and found grooms and stable hands singing spirituals to a horse standing in silhouette by a bonfire. When asked what was going on, he was told, “Why, Mister Sonny, that’s Regret. She was the first one ever carried home the blue in the Derby race, and we been waiting twelve years now to have another celebration.” Sonny Whitney elaborated, “I always think of racing in terms of that singing, that bonfire, and that dark mare against the flames.”
The Louisville Courier Journal wrote, “… never shall we forget her gorgeous appearance on that memorable afternoon in May at Churchill Downs as she was led around the paddock before the race and later, when, with colors up, she stepped out on the course looking every inch a queen … receiving an ovation of which even royalty might well have been proud. Peerless Regret she was hailed and peerless she undoubtedly was, and from this day, she must be thought of with this descriptive adjective affixed.”
From time to time I’ll post a few of my favorite things that I like to use, that I’ve learned from, and people that help me out a long the way. In no way am I being paid to recommend these products, and I won’t be making any money if you use these products. I posted a lot of links to Valley Vet only because they sell everything that I love!
From time to time I’ll post a few of my favorite things that I like to use, that I’ve learned from, and people that help me out a long the way. In no way am I being paid to recommend these products, and I won’t be making any money if you use these products. I posted a lot of links to Valley Vet only because they sell everything that I love!
Since hooves are on my mind, let’s talk about hoof stuff.
Pete Ramey
Pete Ramey is one of the leading figures in barefoot trimming. He is also the nicest guy, and he goes out of his way to help people struggling with hoof problems. Because of him, I took the plunge into barefoot trimming realizing that I could do this. I was leaning more and more towards it due to Harley and his hooves. One night in a fit of desperation, I ordered several of his dvd’s, ordered his book, and then I finally posted on his list asking for help. If you are interested in learning more about what barefoot trimming is, better ways to treat thrush, order his dvd’s or his book, go to: http://www.hoofrehab.com/
Pete has a much older book on Amazon that he wishes he could get rid of. Out of respect for Pete, I’m not going to tell you the name of that. Pete has learned and changed his ideas quite a bit since that book. The thing I love about Pete is that he is willing to change, willing to answer questions, and willing to share. The book on his website, Care and Rehabilitation of the Equine Foot, which is close to $100, is the book to buy. It has so much information in it with amazing contributions by other veterinarians, etc. It has excellent pictures in it to help you visualize what all of the different authors are contributing. If you decide to get any of the DVD’s, you need to start with the DVD called Under the Horse. This DVD contains 16 hours of instruction, and it is something I watch A LOT! I’m always getting something new out of it. Please read the articles, that he recently updated and are free to read, on his website. They are so informative, and they could help you out a lot. http://www.hoofrehab.com/Articles.html
Heather
My friend Heather is a blessing. I love her dearly, and I finally met her in person when we went to get Dulce. I met her through Pete Ramey’s site. When I asked for help about Harley, she took the time to draw me all of these drawings, so I knew how to trim him. I was absolutely terrified, because so much needed to come off. She guided Derek and I through his first trim, and has been there for me as I’ve learned how to trim all of my horses. She created a video on how to wrap a horse’s hoof with diapers and to treat with sugar and betadine. She does such a great job at demonstrating that I hope she will create more videos soon. If you have a horse that develops an abscess that blows and needs to be treated and protected, watch this video.
Soaks
Good solutions to soak hooves in are a 50/50 mix of apple cider vinegar with water, CleanTrax (see below), or two tablespoons of Lysol in a gallon of water. These solutions are great for fighting off infections, and they don’t destroy any hoof tissue.
Thrush
I’m not even going to bother explaining this. I just refer you to Pete’s article. It is full of information and home remedies that are fantastic for treating thrush. Again nothing he suggests destroys tissue. http://www.hoofrehab.com/Thrush_treatment.htmC
Heather recommended this to me after a client recommended it to her. I love this thing! You can order them through Amazon or buy them at your local grocery store. I fill the reservoir either with Cleantrax, straight apple cider vinegar, or some lysol that I diluted with water. This brush is easy to clean, and you can push the button to aim the stream into the areas that you really need to focus on. I love this for cleaning hooves!!!!!
This is another Heather idea. If you need some padding for your horses hoof, buy some flip flops. I like to buy men’s size 13 or 14, because they are big enough to size for a horse’s hoof. They provide excellent padding, and they are only $1
That is when I saw the bootless hoof, and what I knew was going to happen eventually, and I dreaded happening, but here it was; a quarter crack.
Racing thoroughbreds are often trimmed with long toes and no heels or underrun heels. It is because they think that this increases or lengthens their stride. If they have a long stride, they cover more ground, and maybe just maybe they will win more often.
Unfortunately, a lot of horses of all breeds are shod this way, and it can lead to so many problems such as navicular, lamitnitis, and all sorts of lameness issues. Chaco had long toes and underrun heels, and with a lot of vigilant trimming, I got his heels to open up and brought his toe and heels back. We still have a lot of improvement to be made, but his hooves are so much healthier.
Dulce was trimmed this way if not more severely. My guess is he had ridiculously thin soles when he left the track, which made him prone to getting an abscess. On top of that he had two ulcers in his mouth and the one in his hindgut. Thin soles and the inability to digest his food and absorb nutrition to strengthen those hooves led to the current state of Dulce’s hooves.
I vacillate between what I worry most about: his weight or his hooves. Since he gained nine pounds this week and is at 890 instead of 881 (he started out at 830 pounds), I’m worried more about his hooves today especially after yesterday.
A horse’s hooves tell stories; lots of stories. They are similar to trees in that you can read the rings on a horse’s hooves. What you shoot for is a hoof without rings. Dulce has a lot of rings. The poor guy has gone through so much, and his hooves reveal his story to me. His diet has changed several times. I can see the stress on his hooves that happened from how he was trimmed and shod on the track. I can see when the ulceration happened and the stress he experienced. Soon, I will see the rings that I created by bringing him here and changing his diet again. Hopefully, after those rings drop down, we will see the hoof of my dreams; one without rings, a strong hoof wall, healthy sole and frogs. That is going to take awhile to grow out and create.
The circled area is a major weak spot on his right front hoof. It was worse on the medial side of the hoof. This area is completely disconnected from the structures beneath.
How do you create a healthy hoof? All sorts of ways, but for me and many it starts with how you feed the hoof. Think about how you are what you eat. The same goes for a horse. If you feed yourself a bunch of sugar, you’ll see rings in your fingernails and your teeth will go bad. Guess what sugar does to a horse? It’s not good for their teeth, and it can cause rings in a hoof wall. What’s so bad about those rings? Well, those areas are weakly connected to the structures behind the hoof wall if at all. When that happens, all sorts of problems can start up. As a barefoot trimmer, I feed my horses a low sugar, low starch diet. That means no oats, no corn, and no molasses. They are on a forage based diet that consists of timothy hay pellets, molasses free beet pulp, and ground up flax seed.
Also, overloading your horse on iron can cause severe weakness in the hoof as well. Studies are showing that high amounts of iron can block out the other essential minerals that create a strong, healthy hoof. Well water can play a horrible role in this. Without knowing it at the time, Shandoka proved it to me. When I lived in Norwood, Shandoka was on our well water, which was high in iron. His hooves cracked all the time on the smallest rocks. When we moved to Montrose, he went onto filtered water. His hooves never chipped or cracked again.
It’s amazing how much this simple diet has changed Harley’s and Chaco’s hooves for the better. Their hooves never chip, they stayed solid in all of the mud this winter, and I ride Harley barefoot on the trails. Chaco, because of his leg, is ridden with boots.
Each morning I turn Dulce out on the pasture in his boots. In the afternoon, we take the boots off, and I let him go barefoot for about five to six hours. Yesterday morning he and Chaco decided to play, and one of his boots came off. Dulce was so full of himself. He held his head so beautifully, his nostrils flared from excitement, and he ran up to me so proud that he and Chaco were finally hitting it off. That is when I saw the bootless hoof, and what I knew was going to happen eventually, and I dreaded happening, but here it was; a quarter crack.
I hoped this area would grow closer to the ground before it blew out. Oh well, I guess it is time for me to get even more experience with barefoot trimming.
Looking down from above at the quarter crack. This is right after it happened before I cleaned it all out.
He had a bad spot on his hoof where I think another abscess from long ago blew threw. It is one of the weakest spots on his right hoof (see the picture above). In all disciplines this causes a total freak out when a quarter crack occurs. It can lead to lameness, infections, months of lay off as it grows out, etc. I did freak out. I’ve never had a horse develop a quarter crack somehow, and yesterday I felt like a failure even though this had nothing to do with me or anyone in particular. It happened, because he has experienced a lot of changes.
Luckily, my dear friend Heather calmed me down, although I drove as fast as I could into town to get a different boot. She reminded me that this is a bad part of the hoof that needed to go. She’s right. This area was probably putting pressure on the growth that is about to drop down, so it let go. It is time to let nature take its course as Heather said.
How am I taking care of it? I filed off the sharp edges, I soaked the hoof in a 50/50 mix of apple cider vinegar and water, scrubbed the heck out of it, made a nice pad out of a flip flop for the boot, and then I squirted a bunch of Gold Bond medicated powder into his boot. The boot stayed on even in all of the mud created by a prolonged downpour last night. Today I went out and removed the boot without pulling the quarter crack off. Woohoo! I scrubbed it with cleantrax, and I rebooted him. He is as sound as can be, and I keep praying for the best.
My grandpa would have sat me down at his table after I poured him a cup of coffee to tell me all sorts of stories of famous racehorses that had a similar problem. He isn’t here anymore, but this morning my mom reminded me that Omaha Beach has a quarter crack. He has won two races with it, and he will be running in the Kentucky Derby this Saturday.
I’m unfortunately learning how to take care of this on Dulce, but we’ll get through this. We’ll grow out better hooves, and he will have the hooves in my dreams for him. His coat is nice and shiny right now, which means I will get a healthy hoof to drop down one day. I can’t wait!
It is amazing how different hay is from state to state or region to region. For instance, the hay in Kentucky is the complete opposite of Colorado hay. The small bales weigh hardly anything compared to the bales here. When I lifted up one of the bales from Kentucky, I almost fell over backwards because I over lifted expecting it to be heavy. Colorado small bales here weigh on average sixty pounds, and the Kentucky bales weigh maybe thirty pounds. This doesn’t mean there is less hay in the Kentucky bales at all, but there is nothing similar about the grasses at all.
When we left Kentucky, I had two Kentucky bales. It made me nervous, because I didn’t think it would be enough. Racehorses have to adjust to all sorts of changes, but he had never been out west. He roamed from Indiana to Louisiana, so I wondered how his gut could handle our hay. When we got back to Colorado on Monday night, I had one bale and two flakes left. By that Friday with his voracious appetite, we were out of Kentucky and dove into Colorado hay. The next day his poop started getting a little mushy.
I waited and waited and waited for his body to adjust praying he would find his balance. His poop slowly got worse and worse, so a few days ago I put him on Bio-Sponge. He has gone through so many changes….different hay, different feed, different water, and he climbed five thousand feet in elevation. That climb into our mountains also increases metabolism to boot, which worked against his body finding balance. I didn’t want to give him a full dose for fear of causing an impaction, so he gets one quarter of the dose recommended for an adult horse. So far, we’re seeing normal poop again, and he went back to eating the same amount my other two horses eat in twenty four hours. Before the Bio-Sponge, he was eating like a normal horse eats.
Yes, us horse people pay a lot of attention to horse poop, because of colic and other issues. Their poop can tell you when problems are coming on or when those problems are working their way out. Lack of poop is a dangerous thing, and nice, perfect pellets are what we want to see. I can tell you which pile of poop belongs to which horse. How crazy/wierd/sad is that?
The mushy poop is one of the reasons he hasn’t gained weight, but there are others.
His hooves are healing! I finally stopped diapering his hooves, applied hoof armor, and decided it was time for some change. He is walking around barefoot outside right now as we speak. Yesterday we went for two hours, and today we’re going for four hours. We still need to be careful so when he goes barefoot, I make sure there are no rocks and he can move around safely. He is growing in new sole, and that is a beautiful sight. Seeing him barefoot for these few hours is thrilling even though I also see all of the problems we need to overcome.
Look! No boots!
Also, when a horse is underweight, they usually have a dull coat, and when it comes time to lose their winter coat, it doesn’t come off evenly like on a healthy horse. It comes off in patches and clumps, and lots of bald spots emerged on Dulce. I thought I was going to be the first person with a hairless horse! I imagined news crews in the pasture talking about the Colorado hairless horse. Luckily, his summer coat is growing in quickly, and surprisingly it is coming in with a nice shine to it. I didn’t expect to see that at all, and that tells me we’re on the right track.
Growing in hair takes a lot of energy, growing in new sole takes a lot of energy, and having mushy poop drains his energy; thus this can be the reason for a stall in his weight gain. I’m hoping to see a change in the coming week though.
The coats of horses always remind me of different aspects of the earth. Chestnuts like Harley and Chaco’s remind me of Moab and Sedona. Paints remind me of the mountains with those patches of snow that refuse to melt and reshape the mountains over time. Buckskins remind me of the Badlands of South Dakota or the tall grass swaying in the winds on the Plains. Grays remind me of storms on the ocean. Their dapples remind me of the foam swirling in circles on the sea water as the storm rages.
Then there are the Bays. For some reason they are referred to as plain, brown wrappers if they have no chrome, or major white marks anywhere on their body; Dulce falls into this category. However, bays are anything but plain. There are so many colors moving through their coats; they are the colors of the deep earth…. umber, mahogany, black, deep earthen venetian reds….Bays are anything but plain. As they walk, the colors move and change into deeper or lighter shades. Nothing stays the same.
Tonight Dulce walked to the fence gazing at a far away mare grazing on some pasture in the glowing, western light. His coat lit up, it had a vibrant shine to it, and yes, I could count every single rib of his cage, but I saw how beautiful he is and will be. He literally took my breath away. I couldn’t move, and I dropped my hay bucket while watching him. I saw him. I saw his health, I saw his beauty, I saw his inner strength, and I saw his desire to be. His eyes glowed and were filled with calm power. Yes, we will get there. He showed me tonight that we will get there.
(No I didn’t get a picture. My phone was on the charger. Sorry about that.)
Since Dulce came to Reenchanted Horse Ranchita, he has gained 50 pounds. He is still 20 pounds shy of 900, and we have 120 to 130 more pounds to go to get to our goal. He eats constantly, and he cleans his bucket quickly each day four times a day.
I do think he is going to level out here this week and start gaining weight more slowly mainly because he is more active now. I’ve started turning him out in the dirt paddock to let him run and move around more, which will help his hooves heal faster. It also is good to get those muscles to move and release any tension in his body.
I may not be able to do regular groundwork with Dulce yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work together. We’ve started basic calisthenics using poles, because I want to bring his muscles along with his weight gain. This way when we get to a better weight, his muscles will be ready for more strenuous work.
We’ve also started doing some basic suppling and desensitizing work. Racehorses are notorious for having locked polls. If you watch a horse going through a turn from above during a race, you’ll see how a racehorse’s body is basically straight. The turns are so wide that their bodies don’t need to bend. Most, during training, are never introduced to suppling exercises. Chaco was as stiff as could be, and Dulce isn’t any different. I started doing gentle work on his poll, and he loved it relaxing deeply and releasing a couple of times. When you unlock the poll, you unlock the entire body.
He was funny the first time I asked him to yield his hindquarters for me. What you do is look at the hindquarters with the intention that the horse will move those hindquarters away from you. If you have a stick, you lightly tap on the side of the hindquarter increasing in strength until they move away from the pressure crossing their hindleg over their other hindleg. As soon as they move away, you stop the pressure and reward them. I didn’t have a stick, so I used the end of the lead rope. He moved off the pressure immediately from the lightest of tapping while looking at me as if saying, “Why the heck are you doing that?” I immediately loved on him to answer him, and after that he loved yielding those hindquarters for me.
Love is the answer for him. Whoever his groom was, he did an amazing job with him. It is obvious to me every day that his groom really loved and respected him. I think this is why Dulce is so trusting of me. I feel like we’re weaving a beautiful piece of art with beautiful yarns and threads.
What I’ve found out from Dulce so far is this: He is ridiculously smart. When I introduce him to new things, he thinks it through and gives it his all. He leads really well never trying to get in front of me. He has two gears: walking and running. So far not much in between, and before he takes off at a run, he makes a sound that goes, “Weeeeeeee!” If I hear him make that sound in the saddle, I will be grabbing onto some mane, because it will be rodeo time. He loves to be loved on, and he is patient with me as I doctor his hooves. Even though I wish we could do more, I’m relishing this right now. We are building a strong foundation slowly.
There are times I wonder if I’m in over my head with Dulce and Chaco. I worry about Chaco’s leg all the time, and everyone seems to doubt that I will get weight on Dulce. For some reason I never worried about putting weight on him until I heard everyone’s doubts. I’m worried about his hooves; especially his right hoof because the hoof wall is so disconnected from the laminae behind it. If I whispered into the area between the two, I know I’d hear an echo. Right now a huge bulge is dropping down from his coronet that reminds me of a beer belly hanging over way too tight jeans. It will grow out I keep reminding myself, Heather keeps reminding me, but the challenge is keeping everything together until it does.
Then I go outside, and Chaco walks up to me giving me his kisses and rubbing his neck on my hip for a hug. I go over to see Dulce, and he lets me hold his head in my arms, and I find my strength again. That’s about when Harley comes up for me to scratch his butt once again. I wouldn’t have any of this any other way. I love them so much, and I will do whatever I can to keep them healthy and happy.
Around 1am I woke up to the sound of Darth Vader breathing in my ear. It was a text message from my friend Jessica. She thought her mare was about to deliver her foal. I jumped out of bed, through on my shoes since I was sleeping in my clothes to be ready for this, and was about to race to the truck when she wrote back saying it was a false alarm. Disappointed I climbed back into bed.
When she and I went to Kentucky to get Dulce, we thought we were racing against the clock. Her mare Lassie was very pregnant and showed signs of imminent labor a few times before we left. I often told her to stay here while I went to Kentucky, but we decided to go together. I told her when it was Lassie’s turn, I’d be there.
Well, that race against the clock turned out to be the tortoise versus the hare; we were the hare and Lassie was the tortoise. Almost two weeks to the day from when we left, and Lassie kept teasing us all with hope and frustration. She is a maiden broodmare, which means she has never been pregnant before, and that means nothing makes sense. All the normal signs aren’t normal with a maiden mare.
This morning after she let me know it was a false alarm, I’d start to fall asleep to wake up with a start every fifteen to twenty minutes for fear of sleeping through Darth Vader’s long, drawn out breath. I got out of bed at 4:45am to feed everyone. I wrote asking how things were, and she told me nothing was happening. I went out to feed the horses their hay when I realized I left my phone in the house. I ran back in to find a message saying Lassie was going to deliver. I got the dogs in, ran to the truck, and off I went.
Problem was it snowed last night, and I had ice all over my window! Did that stop me? No way! I drove with my head out the window while I blasted the defroster. Yes, it was a bit cold at twenty eight degrees, but I needed to get there. For some reason my window wasn’t defrosting as I drove down the highway at 90mph. Don’t tell anyone that especially my husband. When I got to the first frontage road, I hit those brakes and pulled off driving down the windy road in the dark with my icy window. This is when I realized my defrost temperature was on cold. I quickly turned it to high, and within 30 seconds I could see! Even though I could see, I pulled into the wrong driveway! Backed up quickly and went down to the next, correct driveway, parked and ran to the horse.
What I saw was a total conundrum. Lassie lied down with her tush by the wall, nose and front hooves poking out, and there was no way for us to pull the foal out due to lack of room. We were on a deadline. Her water broke, so we want to get the foal out in 20 minutes, 30 minutes tops. There was no way we could get the foal out in this spot, and luckily Lassie read our minds. She got up, which in a way was scary but good. Jessica’s Mom and I became flippers from a pinball machine. We stood with our arms outstretched, and each time she came to the wall, we would shush her away from it with one of our arms. Finally, she plopped down perfectly. I know Jessica wanted to pull, but it became important for her to stay at Lassie’s head. Lassie was scared, and Jessica brings her comfort. If Jess would have come back to help pull, I know Lassie would have gotten up to follow her.
Jessica’s Mom and I grabbed on to those tiny legs and began to pull with the contractions. This beautiful filly came out easily. Michelle (Jessica’s Mom) quickly got the bag off of his nose, and within a few seconds she moved and took a breath, and we were so relieved with glee. Jessica cried, and I fell in love with the beauty of it all. I pulled the bag down her body some more as we let the foal rest with her momma before we pulled her out the rest of the way and moved the bag off of her completely.
Whiskey is simply beautiful. There is nothing more that can be said. She began talking five minutes after she was born. I couldn’t believe how much she loves to nicker! I can’t wait to see what she looks like in a couple of days, and what a sweetheart she is. Jessica was the first person she saw so she imprinted on her. You should see how this little filly walks up to her the moment Jessica kneels down in front of her. Congratulations Jessica on surviving these 21 days of Lassie being overdue, for sticking it out, and on this beautiful filly.
At the very bottom are a couple of videos for you to enjoy of her first steps and the first time she nursed.
Chaco is thrilled about Dulce and irritated. Whenever I’m giving Dulce attention, if he can reach over the fence to nip at Dulce, he will. If I’m nowhere around, they play and eat together. Before I turn them out together, we have some work to do to bring those two together as pals.
I took Chaco out for a couple of rides since Dulce came to remind him that we are still partners in crime, and that won’t change. He came out of the first ride so well after doing a lot of long trotting on the trail that I decided it was time to add hills to his workout.
If you don’t know, Chaco had surgery on his stifle back in November to remove three chips the size of adult teeth. I’ve been bringing him back slowly working on creating balanced strength in both legs. Hills are a fantastic challeng, because to climb a hill at the walk, the horse really needs to use his hind legs to step under his body and power himself up the hill. I knew the perfect spot to go.
There is this five mile loop in Shavano Valley with all sorts of hills. They actually start off easy and get more challenging as the ride progresses. Off we went on a nice, sunny, warm day. I add that, because it is cold, snowy and windy right now. Here is a video of Chacohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORdlkgRrO8E
Chaco and I took off with Chewy and Bella not knowing what would happen. Have I ever mentioned how wonderful it is to ride Chaco? He is a dream to ride, and he has such a good mind. He has yet to spook at anything with me on him. Instead, when he gets nervous about an area, he slows down, takes time to think about what he is seeing, and listens to me telling him he is okay. He move so nicely over the ground that you barely feel his hooves hitting the earth. His back now has such a nice sway when he walks that my back gets a good massage as we move down the trail. When I first started riding him, his back was stiff with little swing from side to side as he moved along. After a lot of bodywork and suppling exercises, that has all changed.
Chaco had no problems with the hills, and I could tell he stepped under nicely. Each hill he took on with good energy and with balanced movement. He didn’t go down the hills sideways as horses with stifle injuries do, and he paced himself well. We had fun, which is the great thing. I could tell he wasn’t hurting as we moved from hill to hill, and we both enjoyed ourselves together. When we got back to the horse trailer, he barely had worked up a sweat.
The thing that matters the most is he came out of it so well. When we got home, there was no fill or heat. He moved around nicely, and he never dragged his toe. I went out to check on him later, and he was resting standing on his right hind leg resting his non-surgical leg. He wasn’t sore at all!
Today I found another loop with some great hills for him to work that leg on. Now that he passed this test, we will keep working on it getting the leg as strong as his left hind leg. Another fantastic thing is that his summer coat is coming in, and pretty soon that shaved leg from the surgery will be gone. I can’t wait to not see that anymore.
Harley
Harley needs to lose some weight, so since Dulce came to live with us, I’ve been riding him solo. The first time we went out, he worked himself into such a sweat that he lathered up a bit on his chest. I jokingly told my friend that he lost some weight that day.
Well, he did! When we went out for our second solo ride, I had to go up a notch on the latigo, because I couldn’t get the cinch tight enough. Woohoo! Progress was made!
When we started out on the ride, he got some jumping cactus got him! It jumped on to and dove into his front left fetlock. He can spin so fast. He can out do any reining horse out there, and I was a bit woozy when I finally got him stopped. I hopped off, found a bone, and got the cactus out. He was so relieved he gave me a kiss. I hopped back on and off we went. We did a lot of long trotting again, and this time he didn’t work up nearly as much of a sweat. He is ready to go on to the next level of trails; hills. Here is a short video of Harley.https://youtu.be/-8w4D8T-PkY
He is also nice to ride as long as you don’t put any leg on him. He probably was kicked so many times by kids at the dude ranch that he is over responsive if you use your leg. All you have to do is cluck, and off he goes. If you stiffen up your back, he immediately drops to a walk. Harley is such a good horse with a good heart, and he always gives me an honest ride.
As soon as this weather clears up, we’ll hit the trail.
I feel like I’m Goldilocks but with three horses. I have one horse that is too thin (Dulce), one horse that is a bit overweight (Harley), and one horse that is just right (Chaco).
Dulce has been here officially one week, and he seems to be settling in fine. He eats like crazy, and he could sleep through an earthquake. Harley seems to love him, and Chaco is figuring out he isn’t at the bottom of the barrel anymore.
Dulce, as you know is a bit thin; okay really thin. What happened is it appears while on the track his teeth were never floated. Horses can develop sharp points on their teeth, which can make it hard for them to eat since they can’t break the food down properly. Because of this, they can’t extract the nutrition they need, and it leads to weight loss. Bad teeth can lead to ulcers. Horses are constantly producing stomach acid as compared to humans who only produce it when they eat. If a horse can’t masticate their food properly, that stomach acid isn’t appeased, and it can create ulcers throughout their digestive tract.
Dulce had one hindgut ulcer and two on his tongue. When I brought Chaco home from the track, he kept biting his tongue. I took him to the dentist, and he had one sharp point. If I would have ignored that, he probably would have developed an ulcer on his tongue like Dulce did. While he was at NTWO, they took care of the ulcers in his mouth and the hindgut. However, he still hasn’t put weight on. If you hear anyone tell you that you don’t need to get your horse’s teeth floated until he is much older, don’t believe it. Get them done every year; you can look at Dulce to see how much bad teeth has affected him. He just turned five.
His coat is dull, and you can see each rib easily. His hindquarters are thin, and all of his spinous processes protrude along his spine to his hips. Think good thoughts that he will gain some weight.
This is worrisome to me obviously. I’m a barefoot trimmer, and I believe what we feed our horses can cause all sorts of problems like bad hooves. My horses are on low sugar and low starch diets, which means they don’t get any oats, corn, sweet feed, or anything with molasses on it. Dulce now gets two medium meals and two small meals a day to slowly add calories throughout the day and to keep his digestive tract happy. He is on flaxseed, beet pulp (molasses free), and timothy hay pellets that he gets as a mash. He also gets Copra, which is a low sugar, low starch feed made from coconuts. It is filled with good fats and protein. I am also waiting on GastroMend to come, and in the meantime he is on aloe vera gel and marshmallow root to heal up ulcers. I’m hoping this will help him gain weight. He also wears a blanket at night, because I don’t want him to waste any calories trying to stay warm. Hoping this all works!
He has gained weight, 16 pounds since he got here, however it is all probably water weight that he gained back from his long trip here. He drank a lot of water on the trip, but I’m sure he lost more water than I was able to get into him along all of those miles.
He also has two bad front hooves. He developed solar abscesses probably because he couldn’t absorb any nutrition from his feed. Also, he was on well water, which often is high in iron. Iron in high amounts can block the essential minerals that a hoof needs to maintain its health. He is off well water here, and I put him on California Trace, which is meant to balance those high levels of iron in water, feed, etc;, and it creates a good, strong hoof. Chaco’s and Harley’s hooves are so healthy and strong now because of this.
This is his left front before the trim. In the circle, you can see where the abscess blew out of. The farrier removed all of the sole around it, so this is why I have him in EZ boots. The pads fill in the area that was cut out to prevent his coffin bone from sinking down and poking through.
This is what his hoof looked like after I trimmed him. Since his hoof wall is a bit compromised, it is important to keep the hoof wall short to prevent further separation of the hoof wall.You can see in this picture how it is closing up now that the draining has stopped. This was taken yesterday, and I saw even more improvement today.
Dulce is in the process of shedding the old sole on the right front hoof as the new one develops, and I just got his left front hoof to stop draining. It is already closing up and starting to develop new tissue. Each day I go out and clean it, put sugar/betadine on it, cover it with a diaper, and then boot him with EZ Boot Clouds.
Wearing his Clouds. He is comfortable in them, and he hasn’t tried to take them off yet.
He sure has some moves. He can corner on a dime, and he has some good speed to him. He loves to play with Harley and Chaco over the fence. I can’t introduce them together until I get the sole grown in on both front hooves first, so the fence remains until his hooves have some support. He walks up to me each time I go into his run. He loves to sniff me up and down, and while I work on his hooves, he loves to lick my lower back. It tickles. He is the sweetest horse with a good mind. I’ve yet to see him spook at anything, and he ponders everything he sees around him; he’s definitely a thinker. All he wants is a relationship with those around them, and he’s getting that. Yesterday while soaking his hooves, I did some Masterson work on him, and he loved it. He totally relaxed into it, and we got a few releases. I spend a lot of time with him, and after this storm moves through and since he seems to have adjusted to the altitude well, I’m going to start walking him 20 minutes a day. This will help those muscles develop and hopefully help release some of those muscles and put some weight on him.
Dulce is a happy boy, and we have a long journey ahead of us. It could be several months before I even think about putting a saddle on him. It all depends upon his weight and muscle gain. In the meantime, there are a lot of things we can do together, and I look forward to each minute of it.
Reenchanted Thoroughbreds 