Farewell Kim!

The Sun has set on Kim down on earth. Yesterday she flew into the great green pastures of heaven.

Poor Kim faded fast the past week. She stopped eating almost completely, only taking in about an eighth of what she had been eating. She quickly lost all the weight she had gained this past year, and more. Her nose bled constantly and she wobbled around her paddock pumping into the walls, too weak to stand, but too adamant to lay down. She became extremely dehydrated. Feverish and sweaty she kept dunking her face into her water trough unable to actually drink. The diarrhea stopped. There was nothing more to come out.
Finally yesterday she lay down. It was time. The vet came to put her to sleep.
Virpi was with her when she flew away.
Farewell Kim!
We'll always remember her and will miss her soft nickers as she always greeted us upon hearing our voices. We know she is in a better place and we know, that she died feeling loved.

This is the very last photo I took of her a week ago. Peacefully snoozing on the grass, in a warm sun. One of her favorite things to do.

Catching Game

I had the most interesting weekend!
A few months ago some guy had purchased himself a horse from an auction. A little sorrel Arabian mare, who came to live at the ranch. She was skin and bones, a scrawny little thing, and had a halter on, that was embedded into her head. (Must have been a cheap buy.) The first time the owner had tried to ride this skittish mare out on the trail she had spooked and bolted. The owner, an inexperienced horse handler and rider, that he was, fell off slamming into a fence post and broke his leg. The mare had later been released into the “skinny” pasture to gain some weight, while the owner was recuperating.
Couple of weeks ago the owner came back, but, as it turned out, he couldn’t catch the mare from the pasture. Apparently realizing his inexperience he had asked one of the ranch hands to help him catch the mare, then train and ride her. So last weekend they had been out there trying to rope the poor little mare, but without any success they had soon thrown their ropes to the ground in frustration and given up.
Hmmm… I was very intrigued.
So one morning I walked out into the “skinny” pasture with carrots in my back pocket, without any ropes, intentions or expectations. There are fife horses total in the “skinny” pasture. Old Blaze, the heard leader came up to me right away trailed by Montana and the Arab mare. After giving Blaze a carrot and lots of good love I began to look very interesting to Montana and the Arab. They both crept closer, took a carrot and I walked away. The next time I went in the trio came to greet me nickering. I gave them all carrots, walked around the pasture as they followed, then left. I had set it up for success.
On two occasions I had gotten closer to the Arab, than the owner and the ranch hand, so they decided to go in with carrots and give it a try.
It didn’t work.
Finally they asked my help to catch her, and of course I was all too excited to do it.

I have to mention at this point, that a few years ago, before I started to study natural horsemanship I considered myself a very experienced horse person. However, after discovering this new dimension and having to rethink and adjust a lot of things I know, that although I have gotten to be rather good at it I’m far from being the excellent horseperson, that I hope to become. After learning the catching game (or call it “join up” if you please) I have NEVER had trouble catching a horse. And it has never taken much longer, than approximately 15 minutes, even out in the great big pasture.
However…
One of Pat Parelli’s favorite quotes is: “I’ve never seen it take longer than two days.”
About two hours into my catching game with the Arab I knew, that this was going to take me two days.

It was still dark when I got to the ranch on Saturday morning. Madeira was surprised to see me. I let her out to nibble on some grass while I finished my tea. Then I put her back in to wait for her breakfast, stuffed my pockets with carrots and walked out to the “skinny” pasture with a halter and a lead rope.
The same trio of horses came to greet me softly nickering, blaze in lead. I gave them all a carrot as I had done the previous times, but as soon as the Arabian saw the lead rope swaying off my shoulder she spun around and fled.
I smiled and went on greeting all the rest of the horses and giving them some long needed TLC. The Arab stood staring at me from the other end of the pasture. As I paid no attention to her she crept closer and closer until she was right back in the herd. I decided to see where she was drawing her lines and walked towards her retreating each time she became unconfident. I quickly discovered, that her personal space, her “bubble” was incredibly large, but she was also very tolerant. I could have walked very close to her without her moving, but I would have offended her. So I proceeded with the catching game and within about 30 minutes she was following me around in the pasture, but never closer than about 2 meters away. Each time I offered my hand for her to sniff, she reached for it with flattened back ears and a crunched up muzzle. I did not want to accept her with that look, so I drove her forehand away figuring, that perhaps I needed to establish some respect.
As I went on I realized, that this horse who had first looked like a right brain extrovert (which would have been a much easier task for me) was very much a left brain introvert, who would come at me with pinned ears and bared teeth, and swing her hind quarters towards me threatening to kick. But she would turn into a right brain extrovert in a split second if she got worried. And she got worried a lot. She seemed to also be extremely sensitive. It took very little to communicate with her and she learned things so fast I was astonished. But she had absolutely no faith in people and she just could not bring herself to trust me.

Pat’s quote ringing in my ears I stood in the middle of the pasture questioning whether I had developed enough savvy at this point to go through with this task. This horse was very smart and obviously had serious trauma from her past. Was I qualified to handle this? But I knew I had to keep trying, because if I didn’t succeed the guys would come back with a whole “vaquero” army to corner, and rope the poor mare, and it would not be pretty.

At 8:30 am the guys came to feed. Fife flakes of alfalfa were thrown in next to the fence. Blaze got the first one. The other three found theirs, and I stood next to the last flake. The Arab tried coming around to her flake. She pinned her ears snaking her head at me. I drove her away. She galloped around the pasture snorting and tossing her head. Every time she came around the food I drove her away. After running around for a few minutes she swung around, stood about ten meters away and stared at me. I quickly turned my back on her and waited. Slowly, slowly she walked over right behind me and sniffed me all over. She sniffed my back, my hair and the lead rope, that hung off my shoulder. Slowly I turned around and offered my hand for her. She looked away. I pulled my hand away. She looked back at me. I offered my hand again. She looked away. I pulled my hand away. She looked back at me. We went back and forth like this for a while until she finally sniffed my hand. I turned around, picked up a handful of alfalfa and offered it to her. She was hungry. I felt bad about keeping her from eating, but I could always feed her later and I saw this as a great opportunity to gain her respect. After receiving a mouthful she wanted more. She pinned her ears and snaked her head at me. I drove her away. This time I kept her running a bit longer. She looked beautiful prancing around the pasture in the early morning sun with her tail flying high behind her.

Three hours had passed. I went on with the catching game. The other four had finished all of the alfalfa, even the fifth flake meant for the Arabian. She hung her head low and submissive as I stood right next to her. Close enough to touch, close enough to put my rope around her neck. But I had no intention of doing either.
I retreated instead. I fetched another flake of alfalfa set it down and she walked right over to eat as I stood next to her shooing away the other four greedy mouths, that all wanted her food and knew they ranked much higher in the herd than the little mare. But now I was building rapport by protecting her while she ate peacefully. It was literally blowing her mind. I stood there for a whole hour so she could eat without being bothered. Then I left.
I was hungry too, and Madeira had been staring at me from her stall for the past two hours.

After spending some time with Madeira, Steal, Kim and baby Leila, checking on Candy who is still lame, and taking care of all their needs, I returned to the “skinny” pasture a few hours later. I caused the Arabian almost immediately to follow me and she stood next to me licking and chewing. Very gently I reached out and stroked her neck close to her withers and although cautiously, she accepted it. What an incredible feeling! She had accepted me. I didn’t even have to put a rope around her neck to prove it. She was as good as caught.
I stroked her on both sides until she licked and chewed, and decided it was enough. I said good night and left.

The guy who had asked my help was disappointed thinking I had failed to catch her. Some of the others sneered maliciously. I tried explaining to them that I had already caught her, but without having to actually brought the horse out no one believed me.
They were getting ready to rope her the next day.
But I got up early again the next morning, walked out into the “skinny” pasture and caught the mare. I walked her into the small arena and left her there with a flake of alfalfa.
All yours, I said. I’m washing my hands from this. But later on I had to help halter her. She is very sensitive around her muzzle. Hey, give her a break, just a few months ago she had a halter growing around her nose.
The guy, who is suppose to train her took my advice to heart though, and did very well haltering her and working with her slowly. The guy has so much potential. And, thank God, he let her back out into the pasture and even took the halter off afterwards.

Autumn thoughts

The autumn is here once more. The early mornings are so cold and dark now, that getting out of bed at 5:30am just seems so overwhelming. Can't wait to turn the clocks back, to sleep an extra hour in the morning. The traffic over the hill to Half Moon Bay seems overwhelming too. Yesterday it took me and hour and a half to do the normal 20minute drive. Everyone is travelling to the pumpkin town for some pre Halloween fun.

While the days have still been beautifully sunny and warm, the horses sure are getting fluffier by the day. Believe it or not, this is the underside of Madeira's belly. Yep, she is pretty furry down there.

Madeira is still lame. the second set of x-rays showed an abscess, that had traveled from the toe, around the coffin bone to the medial side of the hoof. She also has "pedal osteitis," which is defined as demineralization of the solar margin of the distal phalanx as a result of inflammation.

This could have been caused by any kind of trauma to the foot in the past and may not have any relevance to her lameness, however, it's difficult to tell. In the mean time her foot stays wrapped with Epsom salt poultice, and is soaked with Epsom salts four times a week, in hopes of clearing the abscess. For the most part she has been walking well so we have taken walks on the trail. The movement would also help the abscess to move out faster. But every ones in a while she comes up three legged lame and stays in her stall drugged with bute. Poor lady Madeira. She has been such a good sport through all of this, and has definitely learned to put on her most adorable face to receive extra treats.

The vet said it could take weeks for the abscess to clear. I am of course getting impatient and discouraged already. But I have faith, that something good will come of all the hardship we must endure. I have spend hours and hours of "undemanding" time with Madeira. And it is the art of doing nothing, which horses so readily appreciate, that keeps strengthening our relationship. Now, that the flies are so bad I take off her halter while soaking her foot, and use it to shoo flies off her face and legs. She appreciates the help and dozes off until the soak is over. Isn't it great how even the most annoying little flying creatures can be useful helping us bond.
Although I'm trying to spend as much time as I can with Madeira, my horseplaying days are far from standstill because of her condition. There are plenty of horses to play with and ones to ride. Tuff provides a good comfy ride, and Igor's horse "Sad Eyes" has been an interesting new playmate. And then of course there is baby Leila, Kim and Candy who all need their special love and attention.

Candy has been extremely lame the past two weeks. We believe that she has relapsed with laminitis, but the ranch manager believes otherwise. Without a proper vet exam it's hard to tell. She has been laying down in her stall unable to get up.

Kim found a comfortable patch of grass to lay on while wandering out in the sun last weekend. She dozed off for a while and dreamed of places where she could see again. Sadly, after doing so well at gaining weight for nearly a year, she has started to loose it again. Her nose is often bloody and she is not eating well. There is reason to believe, that she may have some kind of a cancer. She is very old, and after such a hard life she has been happy pretending to be our private horse for the past year, which is much longer, than we anticipated, considering the condition we found her in last December.

Steal's mane flowing in the wind

A home of a gopher living on front of our stalls.

The funny bird, who comes to sing to us all the time and makes the funniest sound.

The Pacific ocean sparkling behind the pasture.

"Red sky at night, sailors delight."

Home sweet home

We are back to our familiar, busy routine working hard to support ourselves as horse owners. It is not a cheap habit, especially when things go wrong.

The first day of our return from Finland we rushed to the ranch to see the horses and poor Madeira, obviously happy to see me kept nickering while she dragged herself to greet me hopelessly limping.

My heart dropped. What a "great" home coming.

Since then it has been a big up and down lameness roller coaster for us. The vet has seen her a couple of times and is coming back this week.

I'll elaborate on her lameness later on when we have determined the cause of the problem.

All the other horses were happy to see us back too. Especially Kim and the Baby. Kim let out a loud whinny as she heard our voices and the baby paced around her paddock excitedly. Steal was the only one who was upset. He kept giving Virpi his hind end in his introverted way saying "That's for abandoning me!" He forgave quickly though. The next day he was back to his own angelic self.

So after all that rain in Finland we came back to a sweltering heat wave in California. A perfect surfing weather, however the horses, who certainly aren't accustomed to such heat on the coast, and who already have started growing their winter coats, since the daylight is getting shorter, were sweating just standing still. Labor day weekend was one of the busiest weekends of all summer and for three days the poor ranch horses (as if they didn't work hard enough in an ordinary weekend) slumbered back and forth the trail in a record heat.

We bathe Madeira, Steal, Kim, baby Leila and little Candy. Mama pony also came to be sprayed by the fence and several ranch horses splashed around in their man made waterhole.The ponies, Candy and Leila have been turned out together and they absolutely LOVE each other. Candy is the boss of course. She is the biggest little horse on the ranch. They all are fine in the arena together playing their horsey games. Steal and madeira especially enjoy practicing the seven games on the little ones.

But the ponies think they are totally outsmarting the big horses playing the "you can't catch me" game.On Sunday last week the fog finally rolled in and pleasantly cooled us off, so we decided to saddle up Tuff and Cruiser for a little ride.

Me on Tuff and Beverly on Cruiser.

In "Kim's story" last January I mentioned Nevada, the horse who became Kim's eyes and her protection out in the pasture and then was bought and moved away. Well, he is back! We brought him over to Kim's stall to see how they would react to each other. Kim was upset. It was almost as if she was mad, that he had left her there. Nevada was excited to be back though, and is loving it out in the pasture again. And Kim has a new found life. She is doing fantastic and loves hanging out with us.We also had time to visit Sunrise in his Pacifica home. He was very pleasantly surprised to see us.

Check out Madeira in her brand new Renegade hoof boots! Whenever we are walking out on the trail people passing by point and shout "Hey look the horse is wearing crocks too!"

The Finnish horse

The Finnish horse or "Finnhorse" is the only native horse breed in Finland. It is a lighter coldblooded breed distinguished for it's outstanding constitution, and it is among the fastest and most versatile coldbloods in the world.

The Finnish horse stands between 15-17 hands high. The most common colors are chestnuts and sorrels. They are enduring, hardy, strong muscled horses with good limbs and tough hoofs.

This great horse has as much of inner as outer beauty. They are extremely reliable, honest, willing and very smart. They are most often easily handled, but despite of it's calm disposition the Finnhorse is usually very alert and well spirited. it is the perfect all around horse.

The exact descent of the Finnhorse is unclear. It most likely evolved from some northern European warm and coldblooded breeds. However it's true origin is buried into the midst of the prehistoric unknown.

Some say the breed is over 1000 years old and there is definite evidence, that the Finnish horse existed already back in the middle ages. In 1555 the breed is mentioned in a book about the northern nations, which was written in Latin by a Swedish pope, Olaus Magnus Gothus. The book was published in Rome. The mention of the Finnish horse was: "Equi Finnonici. Bonae qualitatis sunt," which means, that the Finnish horses were of good quality.

The Finnish horse studbook celebrated it's 100 year anniversary last year (2007.) It was started on the 17TH of September 1907 in a small northern Finnish town called Ii. The goal of the pure blooded Finnish horse became a good all around farm horse.

In it's history the Finnhorse's most important job serving man became to defend it's country's freedom and independence at war, and the rebuilding of it's home regions after the declaration of peace. There weren't enough horses for the Finnish army, so the court martial ordered all capable working horses to be collected from farms around Finland for the army's use.

There are heart warming stories of how the survived horses were returned to their owners after the wars were over. They were simply let loose at the appropriate railway stations to find their own way home. And they did!

They returned to farm work until the early 1970's when the machinery slowly took over and the Finnish horses future was threatened. The breed was saved by recreational breeders, who like their fathers found, that their working partner also made an excellent sport horse. And the unbelievably versatile and adaptable breed could take on yet even bigger challenges as harness racing horses as well as all around riding horses.

Today there are about 20,000 Finnish horses in Finland (compare to the 400,000 in 1950) and it's population is slowly increasing with approximately 1000 foals born each year.

About 75% of the Finnish horses are harness racing horses, the rest are used in mounted disciplines such as dressage, show jumping, eventing and endurance racing.

Perhaps because it's rich history and perhaps because of it's great all around qualities, the Finnish horse is very much appreciated and celebrated in Finland.

There are several tributes made for the Finnish horse, books, songs, poems and artwork. The breed has it's own special classes at shows and at harness races.

The Finnish people love this special horse, that gave so much in so many ways for their people and their country.

Horsing around in Finland

During my resent Finland trip I was fortunate to spend a couple of days with a childhood friend of mine, Anu, who competes in show jumping on national level at a "Finnish horse" class. A Finnish horse is a native breed of Finland, and it is so celebrated, that the breed has it's own classes at shows. (Read more about the "Finnhorse" in the previous post.)

The first day, that I visited Anu, she participated in a national competition with her Finnish horse Tahti Tintti "Tiitu" Here they are in action.I was very intrigued to see the competition and I believe a few years back I would have been thrilled about it all together, however now I quickly became shocked of the roughness of some of the riders and quite insensible use of the crop. I could not comprehend that a horse would ever want to go near a jump again after being whipped next to it following a refusal. These are the scenes of the horse world that I grew up around also and sadly it all used to feel normal. Although never have been a very competitive person myself, I still enjoy taking part in shows, but when winning becomes more important, than the relationship between the horse and the rider I cannot appreciate it.

My friend, Anu however did very well breezing through to the second round and taking seventh place (and, by the way, I did not see her whip her horse.) She is an excellent rider and I used to always look up to her. And although we may see things in a bit different light these days, we still had a wonderful time sharing the same passion for horses we both have had since little girls, when we skipped with stick horses through the pines in our backyard. She has taken that passion to the top of show jumping in Finland. As for me, I have turned a new leaf in my horsemanship, that is vast and full of possibilities.

The second day we had a wonderful ride through the forest and galloped up to the top of "Laajavuori" which in winter operates as a ski mountain. The scenery from the top was breathtaking and the ride on the Finnish horse I got to ride, "Hali" was fantastic! The only bummer was, that I wasn't able to carry a camera and take photos, since it poured rain so hard the whole time, that we were soaked through to our underwear when we got back.

Tiitu (on the left) and Hali in their private pasture. Notice the lake on the background. The place was absolutely gorgeous.

On our last week in Finland my friend Kirsi had also organized a trail ride for us in the town of Kuortane (where I was born) at Polestar stable.

Two hours on horseback through the forests and the beautiful Finnish country side with such a great group of people was an unforgettable experience. there were fife of us all together;Virpi and I, my friend Kirsi and another childhood friend of ours, Mia and also our leader, yet another Kirsi, who, as it turned out was an old class mate of Virpi's from grade school. What an interestingly small world.Our leader Kirsi on the very right on her own Finnish horse. Virpi is the second from right on "Fyrry," also a Finnish horse as she had wished. My friend Kirsi in the middle on a very warmblooded "Illi." I'm the second one from the left, on a little German riding pony "myy" who despite all the stable owners warnings behaved like a champ and was in fact quite a pleasurable ride. And My friend Mia on the very right on a Finnish horse "Letti."

We all really had great time and will definitely go back and do it again on our next visit to Finland.Virpi, Mia Kirsi and I.

Independence day!

Last year we had planned to ride in the Half Moon Bay 4TH of July parade, until at the last minute Steal became lame with what turned out to be laminitis.

Well, this year we didn't plan on it at all, until very late the night before the 4TH we suddenly decided to just saddle up in the morning and go for it.

And so we did. Although in the morning when we were "just saddling up" we realized, that these sort of events do need a little bit of preparation ahead of time. My western saddle pad, which I hardly use was totally unsuitable in looks; an old, shabby and faded, and I had to cut shims out of a piece of felt before being able to use it. We also had absolutely no patriotic decor, but oh well... we pulled things together and went anyway. And Voi'la, we took home a second place as a team in the working cowgirl category.

It was a long day for us and the horses. Just standing on the street waiting for the parade to start for a whole two ours... blaah. Thank goodness for those Cavallo hoof boots! They did not slip on the pavement and provided complete protection for our horses feet with better shock absorbing action and all.
But it was such fun to participate and see so many of our friends from other ranches in the parade as well with their beautifully dressed horses and a sparkling spirit of red white and blue.

Steal was like and old pro. He has been in the parade for so many times, that he was completely desensitised for the parade crowd, flying flags, clapping and yelling people, loud music... The whole drill. Madeira in the other hand was extremely nervous. But even so, she behaved incredibly well. She was trying so very hard to stay calm. I would say, that my constant training for her to think under pressure has really paid off. And since she was not allowed to move her feet, which she was very respectful of, (so proud of her) her nervousness came out in various displaced behaviours, such as nodding her head, shaking her body and constant urinating.

Here are a few photos , that Irene took of the parade horses.



















Nicholas on Trampoline, Virpi on Steal, Stefan on Pensacola, and me on Madeira.

Afterwards the horses had certainly earned some grazing time. And although we rubbed them down well with liniment after unsaddling, Madeira's back was sore the next day. I think that four hours of being nervous and tensing up her muscles did it, because her saddle is a well fit.

As for me, I could not wait to kick off those boots!

"In your shoes" by Katie Drake

Katie Drake performing an acoustic version of her song "In your shoes"
Filmed in the Parelli Natural Horsemanship center in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Heaven on earth! Where we all want to be!

It's not about the creek!

The coast is blooming! Everyone is enjoying the beautiful flowers which have all of a sudden sprouted so tall, that the baby nearly drowned in them. She hopped through them like a bunny rabbit and gave us a good laugh. Perhaps they tickled her tummy.
The excitement of summer is in the air in Half Moon Bay with a fresh ocean breeze, and surfers and sunbathers crowding the beaches. It has been very, very long since the last time we rode across the creek. Mainly because of Steal's laminitis and Madeira's suspensory desmitis they both have not been fit for long rides, and for all the time we spent hand walking them, unable to cross the mudhole by foot, the creek seemed like a good turnaround point.
Well couple of weeks ago, unsuspecting any trouble we thought we'd take a longer ride across the creek. It is not usually, that Madeira turns out to be the braver one of the two, but while she had no trouble stepping into the gooey, muddy water, that she sank down to her knees in, it was Steal, who put on the brakes and refused to go any further. Hmmm... How interesting!
Steal is a very introverted horse, who is mostly left brain, but when he goes right brain he has a tendency to freeze. He is not a big, mean, scary horse who would out up a huge fight at all, in fact he would be rather easy to intimidate, and push through just about anything without much predatory effort. However, our goal is to have horses who trust our leadership and are able to THINK their way through problems, going through them from their own will. Had we pushed Steal he would have gone through that creek, but we would have lost all rapport and he would no longer see us as good trustworthy leaders, but recent us for it.
So we took our time with approach and retreat at the edge of the creek, in between the heavy traffic of rental horses and wranglers passing through. Each one of the wranglers stopped to offer us help to whip the horse through the creek. So to make a short story long... How do you explain people, who see horses as robots and slaves, that the issue is not about the creek! And the objective is not only to get the horse to cross the creek, but to go through it confidently.
So when we finally decided to quit and go home after Steal became left brain LOOKING towards the creek, people thought we had miserably failed. We did not bother to explain, that for Steal it was the first step in crossing the creek confidently, that he was able to THINK about it. Far more important to stop there and reward him, than to go on pushing him through. Sometimes taking a step backwards is actually taking a huge step forwards.
Of course one must be skilled in knowing how to READ horses to be able to determine whether he is thinking or not, left brain vs right brain. (You can study about this at www.Parelli.com ) Because if you quit while the horse is still right brain you will only have made matters worse. This is why most people say: "You can never let the horse win" without understanding, that horses are not arguing against people for winning, they are just plain scared and as long as they are scared they cannot think, and as long as they cannot think, they cannot learn anything. Therefore it is more important to get the horse calm and thinking and then quit rewarding that state of mind, whether he crossed the object or not, than to go on pushing him through while he is still scattered. Now do you see how it is not about the creek!
The next weekend we went back and it took less than half of the time for Steal to think his way through and he actually OFFERED to cross the creek.
(I can't really blame him. The creek doesn't look like something I would want to step in either.)
Love is... sharing a carrot with a friend.

The Trail Less Travelled

This video was made by "savvygirl19"

Good news, bad news.

Travieso is home! He was away at the trainer for what seemed like forever. He raced and won! It's really all the same. I'm happy he is back in one piece. And he looks amazing!

Only right after Travieso's race a filly named "Eight Bells" ran her last race at the Kentucky derby. She came in second, not far behind "Big Brown" and a few strides after passing the finish line collapsed with two broken front ankles. A condylar fracture on the left front broke through the skin. Eight Bells was euthanized immediately.

Why, why, why do we keep letting people torture these beautiful animals at their young age, when their bones aren't nearly developed enough to endure such stress they are forced to undergo. Racing horses is NOT a sport! It is an inhumane act of animal cruelty for the benefit of crude, selfish people and their millions of dollars invested in betting.
In the "New York Times" Mr. Jones, the trainer of Eight Bells quoted: "These things are our family" (Things!?? Does he call his children things too?)

From the New York Times by William C. Rhoden: "Why do we refuse to put the brutal game of racing in the realm of mistreatment of animals? At what point do we at least race the question about the efficacy of thousand pound horses racing at full throttle on spindly legs?
Horsemen like to talk about their thoroughbreds and how they were born to run and live to run. The reality is that they are made to run, forced to run for profits they never see. Thoroughbred racing is a brutal sport. Why do we keep giving it a pass?"

I don't have much to add to that, except, that these ongoing tragedies at the race tracks don't seem to face some people. Most who like the racing are more interested in the money and fame, than what's good for the horse. To them horses are but object, that get hurt sometimes. It's as simple as that. No remorse. And it's because of those kind of people, that the so called "sport" continues to put the horses lives at risk. And it's because of that, that Travieso is not staying home for long. Soon he is to go back to the trainer and race again. :(
In memory of Eight Bells.

Body language

PHASE ONE PHASE TWO PHASE THREE PHASE THREE AND A HALF