While all of you in the east are still fighting old man winter, we have been basking in spring\/summer weather since January.\u00a0 We usually get a late snow but I am having my doubts about that happening this year.\u00a0 With no rain and hot weather I had to start irrigating. When they haven\u2019t been used for a while, the sprinklers often become home for small bugs which then clog the opening with bug debris and so you have to turn them on set by set and see which ones are working.\u00a0 Those that aren\u2019t, have to be reamed out or replaced.\u00a0 I have seven irrigation sets, one for each pasture, so we started testing and after replacing and reaming they still weren\u2019t working like they should be. \u00a0\u00a0There just wasn\u2019t much pressure.\u00a0 Figuring that I had a leak, Matt and I searched every pasture but couldn\u2019t find any puddles of water.\u00a0 Although it was nice to know that it wasn\u2019t a leak in the underground pipes and we wouldn\u2019t have to be digging, it also meant that it would probably be the pump or one of it\u2019s pipes and therefore was bound to be expensive.<\/p>\n
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So I called the well people and they pulled the pump and found a big hole in one of the vertical pipes.\u00a0 They replaced it and although I now had lots of pressure and the sprinklers were all going round and round perfectly, my wallet was considerably lighter.\u00a0 It is always the unexpected things that set you back and so I really needed the horses to help me out.\u00a0 HA!\u00a0 Anyone who has ever owned a racehorse knows how that goes.<\/p>\n
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Cash Receipt ran a second not too long ago but since then has done absolutely nothing.\u00a0 We decided to enter him down at a small meet in southern Arizona.\u00a0 Tucson runs a few weeks in the late winter\/ early spring and has races for very cheap claiming prices.\u00a0 Our jockey decided not to make the trip from Phoenix but we got lucky and picked up one of the locals at the track who gave the horse a very nice ride and he finished second.\u00a0 That was nice but second place at Rillito only earns $400.00 which barely covered the hauling.\u00a0 Now, I don\u2019t want to hear any snickering from you people that have good horses or run at places that have slot money laugh, because $400 is better than nothing and I was happy with his performance.<\/p>\n
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We then entered him back at Turf Paradise in a ridiculously easy race for the track.\u00a0 Not only was the competition fairly easy, three of the seven horses scratched.\u00a0 Including us!\u00a0 The night before the race Cash must have cast himself in the stall and there he was race day morning, with a fat leg.\u00a0 The injury was not serious, but he couldn\u2019t run and our whole group (except maybe me) was cursing worse than Scott Blaise.\u00a0 They finally wrote another race and even though he was training well he ran terrible.\u00a0 After making the lead, he led until the stretch and stopped like he ran into a wall.<\/p>\n
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Back at the barn we had the vet come and scope him (run a tube down his throat with a camera) and he was full of mucus and yuk.\u00a0 Remember, this is the horse that had a mass in his throat and had to be operated on twice.\u00a0 I may be wrong but the way I understand it is that his feed was catching on the ragged edges of where the mass was removed.\u00a0 So now he is on some antibiotics and will no longer be fed hay on race day.\u00a0 Funny, that was the way we used to do it when I was training – back when the dinosaurs were roaming the earth.\u00a0 No hay on race day.\u00a0 Hopefully, this will help him next time.\u00a0 Ever the optimist, me!<\/p>\n
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FD Icy was training extremely well and had bullet work after bullet work.\u00a0 Bullet means the fastest work of the day at the distance worked.\u00a0 We were looking for the perfect race for a horse that has had almost a year off and the races we liked either didn\u2019t fill or they weren\u2019t used. \u00a0\u00a0For those that don\u2019t know – a racing secretary puts out a condition book with a list of races that he thinks will fit the horses on the grounds.\u00a0 These are of various conditions and distances.\u00a0 He then tries to make a days\u2019 worth of races from those in the book.\u00a0 Since things can change, they also offer \u2018extras\u2019 which are listed on the previous day\u2019s overnite.\u00a0 When nothing came up \u2018perfect\u2019 at least from our point of view, he was entered in a race that he probably wasn\u2019t quite ready for distance wise.\u00a0 He looked really good until he ran out of steam and cantered in.\u00a0 That race hopefully helped his fitness level and he is entered back in a starter allowance.\u00a0 Everything is being done with hopes of getting him ready for Arizona Breed day on April 26th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It looks like Prescott is not going to open again this year and now I have to decide what to do with Icy.\u00a0 The trainer wants to take him on the California fairs and then Del Mar but I don\u2019t believe he is that good a horse and I not only don\u2019t want him or I to be embarrassed but I can\u2019t afford California prices.\u00a0 He also mentioned West Virginia and New Mexico but I don\u2019t think those places fit the rest of his barn as well as California. More than likely I will probably end up bringing him home and see what happens next fall.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***********Update 3\/26**************\u00a0 Icy\u2019s jockey had a horse fall on him the morning of the race and we had to use a pickup rider.\u00a0 The horse is a hard horse to ride and the rider didn\u2019t get along with him so chalk up another one. \u00a0BAH!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n My other racer, McEver, the pacer that I own a few hairs on, continues to be the bright spot in this operation.\u00a0 She has two wins and a second in her last three races.\u00a0 I don\u2019t make any money but I do get a win picture so that is fun.\u00a0 No one has claimed her yet so that makes me happy and they did jump her up in claiming price for her next start so if she does get claimed it will be for a better price.\u00a0 It seems at Yonkers, if you draw outside the five gate you don\u2019t have a prayer.\u00a0 Guess where she drew\u2026.post 8.\u00a0 HA!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ************* Update 3\/27 ********** McEver ran to her post position and beat one.\u00a0 Not a fun week of racing and now I have to wait at least three weeks until any of them run again \u2013 except, maybe McEver.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Barilla and Nae Doot are happy as clams and I think I will pay the neighbor kid to ride them a couple times a week this summer.\u00a0 Make them into saddle horses so they can have something to do as I really think horses are happier if they have a job. \u00a0Cash will be retired at the end of Phoenix and I think I will send him to a jumping horse trainer for a few months to see if a new career could be in the works.\u00a0 He is certainly tall enough and is very pretty.\u00a0 If he doesn\u2019t work for that then I guess he will come back here and join the crowd here on the farm.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Crown Secret is back in foal and after 60 days or about May 1st<\/sup> I can bring her back so that will be nice.\u00a0 This is the last time I will try and breed her but let\u2019s hope third time is the charm.\u00a0 She is one of my most favorite horses and I will be happy to have her home. That will give me a lot to do this summer, just taking care of my own.\u00a0 Of course the more horses, the more broken sprinklers, but what else do I have to do when there is no racing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Not much else is going on around here.\u00a0 I still really want to get a few chickens but I can\u2019t find a chicken coop and we have way too many coyotes to let them loose.\u00a0 All my neighbors have cows but they draw to many flies and my neighbors have enough for all of us.\u00a0 The guy to my east has one that is ready to calve and he dotes on her to such a degree that it is actually pretty funny.\u00a0 He bought her a fancy halter and takes her for walks so she can eat the green grass along the river or road.\u00a0 \u00a0This is all after he butchered her brother.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some of my neighbors do not have good fences and there is an old country saying that good fences make good neighbors.\u00a0 Matt found four weaner calves in one of my pastures not long ago and after several phone calls, I finally found the owners.\u00a0 They were out of town but I said the four were no trouble and could stay as long as needed, however, my fences were not meant to keep cows in.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They must have liked the grass because they all stayed until the next day when two \u201ccowboys\u201d showed up at seven am and tried to wrangle them back up the road.\u00a0 Then it was easy to see how little my fences mattered to four just weaned calves.\u00a0 They scattered every time they got them near a gate and some would go through the fence and some ran backwards and one just took off in the direction no one else went.\u00a0 One of the horses they were riding was just a colt and he promptly ditched his rider so then we had four calves and one horse running around.\u00a0 My dog, Barilla and Nae Doot thought the whole thing was terribly exciting and with the dog barking and Nae Doot and Barilla running up and down, it is a wonder they ever got them headed home.\u00a0 What should have taken a half hour turned into at least a two hour procedure. \u00a0\u00a0It was a most entertaining day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Well that\u2019s about it for March.\u00a0 Things can\u2019t get much worse so I expect April to be better.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While all of you in the east are still fighting old man winter, we have been basking in spring\/summer weather<\/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-20498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20498","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=20498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20499,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20498\/revisions\/20499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}