At a recent LOPE event, a well-dressed rancher approached me. He was a leader in the racing industry for many years and even ran his own breeding farm at one point. Fingering his cowboy hat, he squinted at me and asked, “You’re LOPE, right?” In response to my nod, he said, “You’ve been doing this [...]
Most people think racehorses are difficult and nervous. Back when I rode in the Washington DC area, my barn friends didn’t like the ex-racehorses. They thought all off-track horses were crazy, hyper or pushy. There was little sympathy or understanding of the racehorse’s context, where it came from, what it was used to doing. Probably [...]
There’s a great article about Barbaro in this month’s Vanity Fair – by one of my favorite nonfiction writers, Buzz Bissinger (author of Friday Night Lights). Although Barbaro’s story has a sad ending, I think of him as a bold, confident winner – even during his long rehab at New Bolton, you could his sass [...]
Flavor is our permanent rehab horse babysitter and herd boss. He has many old sports injuries from his long racing career. Because of that, Flavor is retired from riding. But we noticed he was getting sad watching his herd buddies get worked in the round pen. So we brought him up this morning to do some simple ground work. What is so incredibly endearing about Flavor is that he LOVES to be saddled! He feels very important with tack on. So we saddle him at the end of the session - as his reward for well done ground work. Lynn led him around the round pen, as if he was in the saddling paddock at the track again. Then Daelynn took his “win” photo. Flavor strutted back to his pasture like he just won the Derby. #flavor #ottb #warhorse #supercute #muchloved #bigheart #workethic #sweetguy
If you would like to help with Flavor's care and saddle pad budget, pls feel free to donate at the button below.
6 days ago ·
