Sunday, October 5, 2008

It Was a Cold October Afternoon...

Today was a cold -and rainy!!-October afternoon, and Auntie Mary, Katie, and myself, went to an open house that was put on at one of Mary's patients TB farm. The owner converted part of her covered arena into a restaurant/lounge, and part of it into an auction/show ring, where we all enjoyed a lovely lunch that was catered by the local racetrack, and that included beer, wine, desert, and beautiful horses!
For all of your sakes, I will try to avoid getting all political about racetracks and TB breeders, but let me just say that I am not a fan, and that I wanted to buy all of the weanlings, yearlings, and two and three year olds who were back from the track, and take them home with me...Grrrrrrrr!!!!!

As most of you know, TB's, like other horses, are either breathtakingly beautiful, or dismally homely, and this farm had some great examples of both. Most of the TB breeders that I know have always commented that they do not breed for looks, they breed for speed, and that you get what you get. That is true for any breed really, but I think that TB breeders tend to overpopulate and flood the market, because everyone is hoping that their next foal will be the "one." Again, you can really say that about any type of breeder, but you get my point.That being said, I thought of some of my QH blogging pals, like BEC, Cdn Cowgirl, and AOHCM, who like horses that are built for speed, when the above filly was brought out. Check out her hind quarters! She will be two in February, and just look at her! Of course, she has been being ridden for the past six months-don't even get me started!!!-and she will probably be dead lame in about one year, but if I had $21,000, I would have put a bid in on her(she sold for that price).

Then there was this cute little colt (above), who is a yearling-yes folks, those are shoes on his little hooves!!-and he was quite the little comedian. Most TB's are quite silly, and I have never minded being around them. There are definitely bad apples out there, but for the most part, once they have been of the track for a while-or if they are the lucky ones who never have to go!-they are a pretty friendly lot.

Just look at these little weanlings who were checking Katie out (above). They were debating who was going to be the first one to try and take a nip at her...lol!!!
Then came the stallions. This farm does have some well known stallions, and I overheard several people who were eating and drinking, talking about where they had just flown in from; to check these bad boys out. I loved the neck on this old stallion! He is 20-they have one there who is 30, but he is no longer breeding!- and still looks like quite the stud muffin...kind of reminds me of AOHCM's post on older, male, movie stars...lol!!!
This guy was one of my favorites, and I think that the filly that I like so much above, is his. He is not squared up very well in the picture below, but he also has quite the hind end on him, but he didn't make me think barrels...he made me think of Dressage or jumping!
All in all we had a great afternoon, and thank you, Mary, for inviting us to attend this event with you! Hope all of you had a great weekend!!!
One last picture of another one of my favorite horses. He would never pick his head up, so I could not get a good shot of him, but he was another one of their giant 'almost' two year olds.

14 comments:

allhorsestuff said...

Oh sweetie...I don't think I could have even gone to that! I would have been soo sad or very mad.
Bless your heart

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

You had me when you mentioned you had lunch with beer, wine, desert, and beautiful horses!
Did they feed you anything else, as if that's not enough, eh? lol!

That last stallion was GINORMOUS! He must have been at least 17hh. Gorgeous!

My heart breaks for those yearlings being ridden so young. What a travesty, especially for the horses with such great personalities and looks.
Like you said, they'll end up lame or with major issues before their racing days are over.....and then they won't be useful enough for any kind of riding future.

Sad :(

~Lisa

GNH said...

I can't believe a horse that is *almost* 2 has already been ridden for 6 months. At the rescue ranch you see the end results of that kind of treatment years on down the line. Horses with lameness, knee problems you name it. Of course when the horse doesn't suit whatever it was being used for any longer (racing, jumping etc.) they just dump it at a rescue ranch.

cdncowgirl said...

I love TB's... they have courage and personality. My sweet Cessa is off the track, she's 27 and doesn't have any issues from racing for years (she was retired from the track at 9 I believe :o )
That said, I do have issues with ANY horse being started so young. Which is why racing bothers me as well as all the futurities that are so popular (and rich) in the Western horse world.

Grey Horse Matters said...

I won't get political either about my thoughts on thoroughbred breeders and what they do to their young stock, all because they want to have THE horse that will do it all for them. I feel so bad for all these poor horses who will become lame or throw aways because of breeders greed and stupidity. Glad you had a nice day.

Anonymous said...

my first horse is a TB... she taught me how to ride... 3 years ago... still learning on the arabian.

There's folks at our barn that wouldnt even think about getting on a horse before it's two... and while i'm no horse whisperer.. i am a thinker... let a horse be a horse

gp in montana

Denise- LessIsMore17 said...

OK, I have to admit I thought your "barrel filly" was actually an "excited" colt, lol. But I am drinking wine as usual...

So many nice horses, so many probably not so nice futures.

Andrea said...

That would have been so much fun! My husband used to breeze TB and QHs for two trainers. I don't mind the racing industry.

I have seen yearlings with shoes on used for yearling lunge line. Maybe that colt needed some correcting?? That filly was way cute too. I would have loved to have taken her home.

It looks like you had fun and there were some pretty horses. I like TBs. I have one of my own, and I wouldn't trade her for anything. :)

Melanie said...

Denise-
LOL!!! I totally questioned using that photo, because it does look like an over stimulated colt, but if you look closely, you will see that "it" is the hindleg of the big, bay, gelding who was standing in the paddock behind the filly...you just crack me up!!!

Photo Shop would have helped this picture out a lot...teeheehee!!!

Chelsi said...

LMAO- that is the second time today that I have seen pictures of horses with what first appeared to be a rather large *ehem*s which proved to be a fence post (and then in this case a hind leg). LOL...)

That bay filly is drop dead gorgeous. I would like to see if she gets more of her daddy's neck as she ages because that stud (considering his age) was such a regal looking animal.

Great post!

I cant put a link to that other photo of a horse *ehem* on here so will post it on my blog http://crazyhorsewoman.blogspot.com

Train Wreck said...

LOL!! I too saw the "Fence post" After being on a certain site!he he!!
Those are some big babies! Wow!! Very nice pictures!!

Unknown said...

I love TBs. They have more heart than most other horses. I've owned three, I've ridden more. The very best TB I remember was one I bought at the racetrack when he was 6. He was great. He had old fractures in the front proximal sesamoids of both front legs. It never bothered him.

Another one that was tougher turned out to have an old injury to the sacro-iliac from breaking out of the gate at the start of a race. His breeder had not believed in starting them young, he was not backed until 3.

As a whole, the racing industry has ethical and unethical members, like plumbers, salesmen, Doctors, police officers, teachers, auto workers......

But it's big money, they contribute sifnificant amounts to vet research that helps our own horses as well as theirs. And the lower price on the castoffs allows people to enjoy horses who otherwise could not.

Like most things, it refuses to be black and white.

Pony Girl said...

Sounds like an interesting day. The horses were gorgeous! It is hard to imagine them being ridden so young. I would have to disagree with that, as well! I always feel conflicted because I enjoy watching horse racing, but as a horse lover, have issues with the way things happen in the sport. It's the same way I feel conflicted about eating meat, when I really can't stand the thought of animals being butchered for food.
Enjoy your study break and come back soon!

Unknown said...

Nice pics of the horses!

Riding yearlings!!! Poor babies!
I would've maybe been kicked off the place because I don't know that I could keep my opinions to myself.

I think the stud is pretty too!