Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has read my blog. Your awesome.
Update about Sandy. We made it thru OK. Just no electric and all horses are fine. Just lost some tin and siding and a tree thru the fence. Hope everyone else is doing OK.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Monday, October 29, 2012
Update on Sandy
I'm sitting here in the dark writing this post on my phone so please forgive me if auto correct does something wonky...
Hurricane Sandy has just made landfall off the shore of New Jersey. I'm located in northern Harford county about five miles from the Conowingo dam. Its been raining steady since early this morning. The wind has picked up pretty bad. We haven't had any trees come down yet but we also haven't gotten the most severe wind yet either.
So we have decided its better for the horses to be turned out for the storm. The barn is an old bank dairy barn and I'm not sure how well it will withstand the wind. Plus a lot of the stalls have flooded. One stall even had a piece of plywood blow into the stall. Its good that that horse was not in cause he would of probably ended up getting a nail in his hoof. All the fields except for two have run in sheds and the mares have been making use of them. The geldings would rather graze.
So I will try to update in the morning to see what effects of the storm have done to the farm. Everyone on the east coast stay safe.
Also saw a link on Eventing nation that had a bunch of listings for if you need to evacuate your horses.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
From Furlongs to Fences
On Saturday October 27th, my mother, a friend and I loaded into the car for a quick drive up to Fair Hill, Maryland. A group of dedicated people arranged a packed full day of education for FREE for people who wanted to see what our OTTB's learned at the track before they came into our lives. It was presented in cooperation with the Retired Racehorse Training Project that was made popular by Steuart Pittman's Trainer Challenge that was done at the MD and PA Horse World Expo's.
At 8:30 we met at the Clocker's Tower at the Fair Hill Training Center with Training Center Manager Sally Goswell and Alex Brown who wrote the book Greatness and Goodness: Barbaro and his Legacy. They gave us an inside view on the track that they train on and the facilities. They explained the different between galloping and breezing. We got to watch Mike Trombetta's horse Next Question breeze. His horse should be flying out of New York on Monday to head to the Breeder's Cup. I wish him luck as he tries to out run the Hurricane Sandy! I was excited to see Michael Matz' group come out on the track to train. Also got to see him ponying a horse that morning. I grew up when he was at the top of his show jumping career and I loved him.
I was dumb and forgot to take my camera so all I have is some cell phone pics. Grrr.
Next our group went to tour Bruce Jackson's Therapy Center which is located at the Training Center. He has a beautiful facility with a variety of ways to get the horses back healthy and to also keep them at the top of their game. He has a AquaPacer that is a treadmill that you can fill with any level of water depending on the horse. We next saw the Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber where Next Question was receiving his treatment after his breeze. Then is was on to the Cold Saltwater Spa. He also has a stall set up with the vibration plates and an area set up with infrared heat. If you go to Planet Fitness gym, they have the same thing on a much smaller scale for people. I think he also has about 50 stalls at his barn also.
Then it was on to tour Mike Trombetta's brand new barn. He did a wonderful job and everything is well thought out and practical. He was informative and didn't seem to mind answering questions which I found very nice and down to earth.
Next we walked through the Herringswell Stables that Graham Motion trains out of. He is also headed to the Breeders Cup with the horse Animal Kingdom. Office Manager Sue Kenny was very nice and told us a little about all the horses.
At the same time of the barn tours, if you had planned on it, you could take your OTTB on a trail ride of the park led by Alex Brown and exercise rider Jennifer Paxson. I do believe they even took them to the training track to have a go around.
We then congregated back at the Fairgrounds where they presented OTTB's for adoption or sale by different organizations. They did have a little clinic that Steuart Pittman did on some of the training of OTTB's. Exercise rider and author Alex Brown, trainer Tim Woolley and Jennifer Paxson showed what tack is used on them in training and why things are done the way they are. They rode two of the horses that were in their second career and it was amazing to see them remember what they were taught to do. Some of the clinic riders also tried to ride like a jockey too. Its much harder than it looks!
After what was a very long day, the group met at the Fair Hill Vet Clinic where three vets from New Bolton went over the common injuries and problems that a lot of OTTB's face when leaving their career as a race horse.
I was more than impressed with all the things that were done for people that wanted to see behind the scenes. Now granted it wasn't the track life but at the Training Center all you saw was happy horses! All were healthy, shining and relaxed. It helps to keep their minds fresh that all barns had turnout for their horses and plus their is plenty of trails to keep them always doing something different. I almost guarantee that if you compared the number of horses with ulcers at the track compared to the number at the Training Center, it would be a huge decrease.
Today they held an All Thoroughbred Show at the Fairgrounds. Luckily it sounds like the weather held out and I do know that they had filled the maximum number of entries in every hunter class. They had some amazing sponsors that stepped up to the plate to donate prize money and any donations left over where going to support various TB charities.
I hope that they will hold this again next year and I am very thankful for the dedicated individuals that donated their time and knowledge and connections to share all their years of racehorse experience.
At 8:30 we met at the Clocker's Tower at the Fair Hill Training Center with Training Center Manager Sally Goswell and Alex Brown who wrote the book Greatness and Goodness: Barbaro and his Legacy. They gave us an inside view on the track that they train on and the facilities. They explained the different between galloping and breezing. We got to watch Mike Trombetta's horse Next Question breeze. His horse should be flying out of New York on Monday to head to the Breeder's Cup. I wish him luck as he tries to out run the Hurricane Sandy! I was excited to see Michael Matz' group come out on the track to train. Also got to see him ponying a horse that morning. I grew up when he was at the top of his show jumping career and I loved him.
I was dumb and forgot to take my camera so all I have is some cell phone pics. Grrr.
 |
| Michael Matz set |
 |
| Michael Matz |
Next our group went to tour Bruce Jackson's Therapy Center which is located at the Training Center. He has a beautiful facility with a variety of ways to get the horses back healthy and to also keep them at the top of their game. He has a AquaPacer that is a treadmill that you can fill with any level of water depending on the horse. We next saw the Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber where Next Question was receiving his treatment after his breeze. Then is was on to the Cold Saltwater Spa. He also has a stall set up with the vibration plates and an area set up with infrared heat. If you go to Planet Fitness gym, they have the same thing on a much smaller scale for people. I think he also has about 50 stalls at his barn also.
 |
| AquaPacer |
 |
| Hyperbaric Chamber |
 |
| Vibration Plate Stall |
Then it was on to tour Mike Trombetta's brand new barn. He did a wonderful job and everything is well thought out and practical. He was informative and didn't seem to mind answering questions which I found very nice and down to earth.
Next we walked through the Herringswell Stables that Graham Motion trains out of. He is also headed to the Breeders Cup with the horse Animal Kingdom. Office Manager Sue Kenny was very nice and told us a little about all the horses.
At the same time of the barn tours, if you had planned on it, you could take your OTTB on a trail ride of the park led by Alex Brown and exercise rider Jennifer Paxson. I do believe they even took them to the training track to have a go around.
We then congregated back at the Fairgrounds where they presented OTTB's for adoption or sale by different organizations. They did have a little clinic that Steuart Pittman did on some of the training of OTTB's. Exercise rider and author Alex Brown, trainer Tim Woolley and Jennifer Paxson showed what tack is used on them in training and why things are done the way they are. They rode two of the horses that were in their second career and it was amazing to see them remember what they were taught to do. Some of the clinic riders also tried to ride like a jockey too. Its much harder than it looks!
After what was a very long day, the group met at the Fair Hill Vet Clinic where three vets from New Bolton went over the common injuries and problems that a lot of OTTB's face when leaving their career as a race horse.
I was more than impressed with all the things that were done for people that wanted to see behind the scenes. Now granted it wasn't the track life but at the Training Center all you saw was happy horses! All were healthy, shining and relaxed. It helps to keep their minds fresh that all barns had turnout for their horses and plus their is plenty of trails to keep them always doing something different. I almost guarantee that if you compared the number of horses with ulcers at the track compared to the number at the Training Center, it would be a huge decrease.
Today they held an All Thoroughbred Show at the Fairgrounds. Luckily it sounds like the weather held out and I do know that they had filled the maximum number of entries in every hunter class. They had some amazing sponsors that stepped up to the plate to donate prize money and any donations left over where going to support various TB charities.
I hope that they will hold this again next year and I am very thankful for the dedicated individuals that donated their time and knowledge and connections to share all their years of racehorse experience.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Mt. Carmel Hunter Trials
On Sunday October 14, the girls and I from the barn left to go to the hunter trials. Now mind you I have not competed at one since 1999 or 2000. Since Squeaky has been off I was planning on riding the one OTTB at our Barn Indy. Well he was really being a turd schooling so I decided against taking him. I didn't want everyone to see me parting ways with the bucking bronc. Here is a picture of the boy sporting my birthday gift saddle pad. I love it- I hunt so the Max 4 Camo pattern was perfect!
So Saturday night I decided to take one of the sales horses. His name is Mickey. First on Saturday we had to do pony rides at the local police station kids day. He did pretty good and it was a great bomb proofing session. We had one medivac and one news helicopter land to do demonstrations. The horses and ponies were scared when the first one landed but by the second one they were old pros. So Saturday evening was the first time I got to ride him. I jumped him a couple of jumps and decided we were ready.
At the hunter trials I was signed up for Pairs and Hunt Teams at 2'6". I rode the pairs class with a nice man who led because I had no clue of the course. Mickey did wonderful not looking at anything and happily jumping everything. I on the other hand thought I was going to die. I haven't galloped around a course in more than a decade!!! We did well but not good enough to pin which I was not expecting to get any ribbons at all. I was supposed to do the open class but I knew I wouldn't have enough energy or muscle strength left to compete in Hunt Teams so I scratched that class.
So when our last class came around, Mandy, Caitlin and I went out on course. We put in a nice course. I was constantly trying to play catch up with the other two since my horse liked to take his good old time. We came to the last fence to jump abreast and Caitlin's horse did not like the fact that Mandy was on one side and I was catching up on the other. He was trying to take off with her and at the last moment I saw the long spot and kicked on for it. We all jumped it abreast. We didn't stay around to see if we pinned but we had fun so that was all that mattered. Hopefully in a couple of weeks if Mickey is still around I hope to take him to Elkridge Harford and the Pony Club's hunter trials.
I also got the deal of the century at Maryland Saddlery on Saturday. I picked up a nice Pytchley Melton Coat for 165 dollars and fits me like a glove. Also picked up a sidesaddle and I am getting ready to post soon on that after I get some more facts about it.
So Saturday night I decided to take one of the sales horses. His name is Mickey. First on Saturday we had to do pony rides at the local police station kids day. He did pretty good and it was a great bomb proofing session. We had one medivac and one news helicopter land to do demonstrations. The horses and ponies were scared when the first one landed but by the second one they were old pros. So Saturday evening was the first time I got to ride him. I jumped him a couple of jumps and decided we were ready.
At the hunter trials I was signed up for Pairs and Hunt Teams at 2'6". I rode the pairs class with a nice man who led because I had no clue of the course. Mickey did wonderful not looking at anything and happily jumping everything. I on the other hand thought I was going to die. I haven't galloped around a course in more than a decade!!! We did well but not good enough to pin which I was not expecting to get any ribbons at all. I was supposed to do the open class but I knew I wouldn't have enough energy or muscle strength left to compete in Hunt Teams so I scratched that class.
So when our last class came around, Mandy, Caitlin and I went out on course. We put in a nice course. I was constantly trying to play catch up with the other two since my horse liked to take his good old time. We came to the last fence to jump abreast and Caitlin's horse did not like the fact that Mandy was on one side and I was catching up on the other. He was trying to take off with her and at the last moment I saw the long spot and kicked on for it. We all jumped it abreast. We didn't stay around to see if we pinned but we had fun so that was all that mattered. Hopefully in a couple of weeks if Mickey is still around I hope to take him to Elkridge Harford and the Pony Club's hunter trials.
I also got the deal of the century at Maryland Saddlery on Saturday. I picked up a nice Pytchley Melton Coat for 165 dollars and fits me like a glove. Also picked up a sidesaddle and I am getting ready to post soon on that after I get some more facts about it.
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