The holidays have come and gone and thank goodness.\u00a0 It takes me a while
\nto re-adjust but don\u2019t get me wrong – I love them\u00a0 – from decorating the
\nhouse to the Christmas baking.\u00a0 Then you get to take it all down and put
\nit away.\u00a0 s after that that I need some down time.\u00a0 At least all my Sim
\nhorses get a break also.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been cold here in central Arizona and we haven\u2019t had any rain
\nsince well before Christmas.\u00a0 I know this because I like to do my
\nChristmas baking when there is no earthly reason to go outside.\u00a0 I got all my
\nbaking done the first few days of December and that was a good thing since
\nthat was the end of the rain.<\/p>\n
I know I talk about the weather all the\u00a0 time but it is probably the single
\nmost important factor when your life revolves around being outside in the
\nelements.\u00a0 For example, it is now very cold at night – in the teens – and
\nthe day time high might be in the low 40s.\u00a0 Not only do we have to break
\nthe ice on the water troughs every day we have to plan when we need to
\nfill the water troughs.\u00a0 I use irrigation water to water the lawns and to
\nfill the horse troughs.\u00a0 My house is on city water but the cost would be
\nprohibitive if I filled those 50 gallon troughs with city water.<\/p>\n
Of course this means that I have to turn on the irrigation well to get water
\nto the horses.\u00a0 I can feel really silly turning on the well when\u00a0 it is pouring<\/p>\n
down rain but that is the way it was set up when I bought it so that’s
\nwhat I do.<\/p>\n
Anyway, I usually have to wait until mid-afternoon before the lines are
\nthawed enough to get water.\u00a0 Luckily there are enough cracks in the lines
\nthat the water mostly drains out before it freezes again.\u00a0 No matter how
\ncareful I am though, I have pipe lines break all the time and that is a
\nreal pain to get fixed.\u00a0 Hopefully if they are going to break they do it
\nafter I have filled the troughs.<\/p>\n
Of course with only two horses it is not such a big deal as when
\nI used to have twenty.\u00a0 Nae Doot continues to enjoy life as the resident in
\ncharge. The other horses come and go but he remains and right now he has
\nBarilla to keep him company.\u00a0 She was glad to leave Phoenix and I was glad to
\nget her home as she doesn’t seem to be\u00a0good enough to run down there
\nand I can’t\u00a0afford to have more than two in training.<\/p>\n
Cash Receipt finally ran a decent race and finished second in his last try
\nat 6 \u00bd\u00a0furlongs\u00a0\u00a0He is\u00a0becoming one of those smart geldings that know they
\nare going to get fed whether they try real hard or not and he has been
\nkind of an a big disappointment.\u00a0 But he got a good ride
\nand the kid kept him in the mix and I thought he ran a
\ngood race.\u00a0 The only bad thing is he lost his one, two, three condition
\nand we will now have to look for time conditions.\u00a0 If I lost you with
\nthat, Arizona runs what the race trackers call feedbag races.\u00a0 These are
\nt finished first, second or third at the meet.\u00a0 They are mostly written
\nto give these poor old race fillers a chance to earn some money
\nfor themselves which makes their owners very happy.<\/p>\n
FD Icy went down to the desert with a nice winter coat apropos for a high
\ncountry winter.\u00a0 My trainer took one look at him and promptly called the guy<\/p>\n
with the clippers to come and give him a trace clip which
\ntakes off the long hair where they sweat the most.\u00a0 Not only
\ndo horses sweat more when they are wearing a long winter coat but they take
\nhours to cool off before they can be safely put away.\u00a0 He\u00a0 has been training
\nwell and had his first work last week.\u00a0 The kid that was riding him was just
\nsupposed to let him stretch his legs because he has been off since last
\nApril.\u00a0 That didn’t happen.\u00a0 The trainer tried to explain that this
\nhorse likes to run off and the more you pull, the faster he goes.\u00a0\u00a0 But the
\nkid t listen and instead of a nice and easy
\nfirst work he gets the bullet for the day going in 33 and change for 3\/8ths.<\/p>\n
Luckily he came out of it in good shape and should work again
\nsoon.<\/p>\n
My broodmare, Crown Secret, did it again.\u00a0 She aborted a perfect
\nbaby at just like last year.\u00a0 We ran a lot of tests on her and
\nthe stallion and everything came back fine but we are leaning towards
\nthe rotavirus shot they give over there to pregnant mares.\u00a0 Both times
\nthat she has gotten the shot she has aborted within a week.\u00a0 That is not to
\nsay that is what caused it but we can’t think or find anything else.<\/p>\n
I may leave her over in New Mexico and try once more.<\/p>\n
Mainly because I paid the stud fee in advance and I don\u2019t have any
\nother mares – well Barilla but she is a midget and I doubt breeding her would
\nbe worth the hassle).\u00a0 Secret is so pretty and I really want a Silver Wagon.
\nOnce she is in foal, I am bringing her home and if she aborts again –
\nthen at least she will be here on the property.<\/p>\n
Matt is convinced that\u00a0 I need some new stock, and he is probably right, as
\nmine are not only slow but getting a little long in the tooth.\u00a0 The
\ns January mixed sale is coming up the end of, well, January and
\nthey have some decent horses going through.\u00a0 Maybe I will try and pick up
\nan in foal broodmare or maybe\u00a0a yearling that could run next year as a two
\nyear old but I don’t have enough money to get a really
\nnice one.\u00a0 Maybe a well bred mare in foal to something mediocre\u00a0 would
\nbe in my price range.\u00a0 Then I could send her to
\nNew Mexico and breed her to Silver Wagon and bring Secret home.<\/p>\n
Last year\u00a0 there were many that went in my price range, but you never know
\nuntil the sale starts.\u00a0 It is a bit early to be buying yearlings, I mean
\nthey are on The Jockey Club’s\u00a0s time line and some may
\nonly be seven or eight months old.\u00a0 Because few people have the room to
\nkeep one and it is expensive to board one out, they may be in a range that
\nI can afford.\u00a0 Not to mention yearlings are like little kids – they look
\nfor ways to get themselves in trouble.\u00a0 The sale is the 27th of this month
\nso if I can get a line of credit at the bank maybe next time I write one
\nof these I will have a new horse.\u00a0 They are like potato chips and one is
\nnever enough.<\/p>\n
My harness horse – McIver – has been the victim of outside posts, New York
\nweather that is too wet\/snowy\/cold to train, or maybe she was just a
\nbad claim, but she has only picked up minor placings since her win whenever
\nit was.\u00a0 They finally sent out a cash call and my part was $160.00.\u00a0 That
\nwas the cheapest training bill I have ever gotten for owning a bit of
\nthe horse since July.\u00a0 So if any of you are thinking about getting a
\nracehorse this could be the way to do it.\u00a0 The only thing I would say is
\nthat since you seldom make money, buy just the bare minimum share as you
\nstill get all the perks and the joys but your percentage of everything will
\ncost a lot less.\u00a0 Just my opinion.<\/p>\n
Things are\u00a0not looking good for our track.\u00a0 I admit that I am surrounded by
\npessimists but the word is the guy t find financing.\u00a0 He
\nhas most of it open, the arena, the car track and the grandstand (for
\nlocal dances) but the barn area and the racetrack itself need a lot of
\nwork.\u00a0 He will need to get a condition book out by next month so people
\ncan make plans about where they are going to go for the summer.\u00a0 I sure
\nhope he gets things together because I would hate to move at my age and
\nthe summer is so boring with out the track.\u00a0 I moved to Prescott 30 some
\nyears ago because the Tucson racetrack, Rillito Park, quit running.\u00a0 Of
\ncourse now, they are running and we are not\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n
Besides, where would I go for summer racing.\u00a0 My horses are cheap so I
\nwould have to go to a cheap track.\u00a0 The family has a cottage in Minnesota
\nbut it is\u00a0not anywhere near the track, besides with the money they are offering
\nthere won’t\u00a0be any cheap horses there.\u00a0 I would have to win a race
\nper horse to pay the hauling back and forth.<\/p>\n
Wyoming got some sort of instant racing and already has a million dollars
\nin the bank for a short 16 day meet.\u00a0 If you offer big money people will
\nt be an easy meet.\u00a0 Boise in Idaho is also offering
\nbetter purses this year.\u00a0 They are both far away but would be a fit for my
\nat least this year.\u00a0 They are both in the middle of nowhere and I don’t
\nknow where the horses are going to come from but high purses will
\nbring them in from some where.<\/p>\n
I love Portland Oregon but you would really need to have a mud loving
\nhorse to run there and they have a weird race schedule – Wednesday and
\nSunday.\u00a0 Washington is feasible and my horses would probably fit on the
\nbottom at Emerald or I could go a bit further north and try Hastings in
\nCanada.\u00a0 Again, though, the hauling would be prohibitive.\u00a0 Arapaho in
\nColorado is nice but they didn’t\u00a0 like the fingerprints I sent them last\u00a0year for<\/p>\n
my license.\u00a0 I told them to use one of the umpteen ones I have on file for
\nArizona racing or with the FBI but they wanted their own.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t
\nthink my fingerprints change year to year.<\/p>\n
Then there is always New Mexico and if I was ever going to move out
\nof Arizona that is probably where I would go.\u00a0 But where, there?<\/p>\n
New Mexico racing has a northern and a southern circuit.\u00a0 In the south
\nthe premier meet is Sunland Park, across the state line from El Paso Texas.
\nThis stems from the days when racing wasn\u2019t allowed in Texas.\u00a0 The
\nweather is mostly nice but a lot of people get murdered around Sunland which
\nI would be afraid of.\u00a0 It is across the border from Juarez, Mexico which
\nI think is the murder capitol of the world.\u00a0 Sunland does have a nice
\nlong meet but I can stay in Arizona for that.<\/p>\n
Zia is located in a town called Hobbs also near the Texas border but
\nfarther north, and is also part of the southern circuit as they run in the
\nfall.\u00a0 Boy, is it a homely place.\u00a0 It can be really cold and is almost
\nalways windy and while I am sure there must be some pretty parts, it would
\ntake some looking.\u00a0 I bet the land is affordable though.<\/p>\n
Summer racing on the New Mexico\u00a0southern circuit is held in
\nRuidoso.\u00a0 It is on top of a mountain, 8000 feet, I believe, and is lovely and
\nthey get enough rain to keep the fire danger down.\u00a0 But there is only one way
\nin or out so during their dry season so it might be scary.\u00a0 My family used to
\nrace in Ruidoso in the \u201950\u2019s when there was only a two lane highway to
\ntake you up the mountain.\u00a0 Now the road has eight lanes.\u00a0 That is a
\ndefinite possibility and I will have to give that some thought for the
\nsummer.<\/p>\n
In the north, the main track is in Albuquerque.\u00a0 It is located in
\nthe old and rundown part of town and I hear people steal everything that
\nisn\u2019t nailed down.\u00a0 You would have to live a long way out to find
\nsome affordable horse property as this is a beautiful and growing part of
\nthe state. They run a split meet in the spring and fall with Sun Ray being
\nin the middle.<\/p>\n
As for Sun Ray, it is nice but there isn\u2019t much there –
\nsort of like Yavapai – way out in the middle of nowhere.\u00a0 It is way up in
\nthe northwestern part of the state surrounded by the Navajo Reservation.<\/p>\n
Unless you own the casino or a grocery store you would need to
\nbe independently wealthy.\u00a0 Sun Ray starts in April and ends in July
\nwhich then gives you a break before moving down the road to Albuquerque which
\nI thinks starts in August.<\/p>\n
Now that I am beginning to sound like a travel agent – I sure hope Yavapai
\nopens because it makes my head hurt just thinking about summer racing.
\nBesides I think it is time to bring this to a close as I am really getting
\naway from the farm.\u00a0 Until next time\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n
xxx<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The holidays have come and gone and thank goodness.\u00a0 It takes me a while to re-adjust but don\u2019t get me<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":364,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/364"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18008"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18039,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18008\/revisions\/18039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}