Counter Strike

Counter Strike does not want to wear a halter. We have tried all of the old horseman techniques, but will soon have to go the medicine route. When he was about six months old we think somehow he was hit on the upper part of his forehead. If we try to push back his bangs or pet him around the ears he quickly pulls back. It does not seem to matter who tries to pet him on the forehead. Otherwise he is very friendly. He will let you hug him, pull his mane, pat him on the rump.

Here are some photo's to give you all an idea of how tall he has grown. He was born April 21, 2008 at about 5 am. His Dam is She's on the Move (Jade Hunter) His sire is Counter Punch.

Buzzing Bayou

Buzzing Bayou has joined Judy Behler at the Fairgrounds in New Orleans. It is about a 3 hour ride in the horse trailer from the training farm near Maumou, Louisiana. Evidently he was planning to stay at the farm until Mardi Gras. We think he may have heard about their fabulous down home celebration and horse parade nearby.

Buzz had no trouble leaving our farm via the horse van. He jumped right in the trailer for the 30 minute ride and hopped right out once he arrived. Buzz studied his lessons, learned about saddles and jockeys. He studied every move and his trainers declared him fit and ready for the Fairgrounds. Judy came to fetch him with her trailer. Buzz would have none of it. No more Horse trailers for Buzz. He shied, he bucked, he twirled in circles, he outright refused to step into the trailer. Three hours of stubborn refusals and Judy was reduced to giving him tranquilizers. Head hanging down almost to his knees he finally stepped into the van. The effects of the drugs were just beginning to wear off when they arrived in New Orleans but Judy was able to safely walk him into a backside stall.

Judy was so frustrated with Buzz she nicknamed him Nickel.

One month later:

Buzz galloped around the race track every other day and his muscular conformation improved on schedule. It was time to allow him his first short breeze. The exercise jockey was instructed to just let him run 3/8 of a mile without putting any pressure on him to run any faster than he wanted to run.

Buzz stepped easily into his breeze very relaxed and then he spotted another horse coming up from behind. He flattened out, moved his legs with total precision, and beat the other horse by two lengths.

Judy was totally impressed. She had a competitor, the stubborn little gelding that wasn't worth a plugged nickel had potential. Maybe his Jockey Club name meant what it said.

to be continued.........

Sorry camera broken refuses to turn on

Sorry no pictures. My camera refuses to turn on and therefore I'm unable to upload the pictures. I tried fresh batteries. I plan to have the pictures made into a disk before I start yelling at Kodak since the camera is less than 6 months old and I did buy the warranty.

Dixie Blaze will be #9 in Race 2 at Louisiana Downs in Shreveport. The race is at about 1:00 CDT and it is scheduled to be on the turf for about a mile. The hurricane closing in on south Texas could send wet weather that far north.

Dixie won her race on August 21, 2010. She was all alone at the wire. It was truly exciting and my friend Suze was able to make it to the race and into the picture in the winner's circle. Suze was excited, Chris was excited and Judy was thrilled. I was so excited that six of my shots were blurry and I might be able to post one that is decent. Judy Behler is her owner, but we will have a breeders award in time for Thanksgiving. We will be very thankful. This has been an exceedingly tough 2 years.

Chris has managed to remove Terry and his horses from the barn. Now he will start his clean up campaign.

Terry has managed to pilfer so many items it is incredible. Example: all of the screw eye hooks. What I'm angry about is that somehow the new water pump we bought last year is missing. Chris has a long list of items including a starter, hack saw, water tubs, feed buckets and halters. Chris had one room padlocked, but forgot about the kitties room, the location of the water pump. It has been a long six weeks waiting for the barn to clear. Terry had 9 horses in there and was not paying rent.

Chris has been able to install water lines into the barn and has brought in a temporary electric line that we used when the RV was parked here. There is an electric box with wires so jumbled it would take a master puzzler to find where they lead. Fortunately Chris is good with electricity, and should be ready for the master electrician and the inspector from the electric company before the shorter days of winter.

As you can imagine the front part of the barn is filthy and Chris has determined the best way to handle the problem is one stall at a time. Clean it, spray it with bleach and the put down shavings/rice hulls when every thing is dry. Dry is difficult around here, so shavings might take a while. After that he plans to repaint the interior. When the pastures and the barn are ready he hopes to find a few horses whose owners need a place for them to stay. He has room for a couple of steers so he could go that route as well. I suggested pigs, but he remembers my cousin's noisy pigs and said "no".

Chris has two horses left. The filly has been promised to a friend of Judy's who is looking for a riding horse. She's a Bandit has a great disposition and was trained by a friend of Judy's. She has terrific breeding. Her brother, Counter Strike, is the colt left over. Chris has worked with him for months hoping to slip on a halter. He is making tiny steps of progress. It would be nice to get him ready for training to the saddle, since the alternative is the auction and a possible dinner plate in Mexico.

The movie Secretariat will be playing in a theater near you in a few weeks. It's a Disney movie so you can take the grandchildren. My part as an extra is the restaurant scene where they announce that Secretariat has been proclaimed horse of the year. In the scene Penny is told her father has returned to the hospital and is near death. I'm wearing a pink shirt if I didn't wind up on the cutting room floor. Scroll down on the http://horseystories.blogspot.com/ and you will see my pink shirt. It is a good story even though you all know how it ends. Secretariat's statue is at the horse museum in Lexington Ky. A place I highly recommend and worth a day's outing. Tidbit: Secretariat's fillies have done well at the races and are excellent brood mares. His colts won a few races but were not spectacular.

You can keep up with the other part of my life at www.astrologicalinvesting.com We've been very lucky this summer to have five terrific students, our web site has sold some textbooks and I have done a few readings. My New Moon predictions have been pretty good and I have managed to complete 2 e books for Astrology. They are almost ready to sell.

Kaye

pictures at http://horseystories.blogspot.com/

LUNALOR at Crazy C Ranch

Lunalor with Red up in the round pen.

Lunalor showing off for her groom

Lunalor is learning all about the saddle. She is ready. Daryl is ready. He sent his best crew of four wranglers over to the farm to pick her up in the newer horse trailer. They were prepared. Each had their best shank, strongest rope, leather leads, a call into the vet in case they needed a transquilizer, and a case of beer. They were ready to spend a few hours on the project.

Chris caught her in the pasture using his favorite trick. Sit down and when she comes over to see him grab her halter. He led her over to the wranglers, they were ready for a battle. They led her into the trailer, tied her, shut the door, hopped into the truck and took her to Crazy C Ranch.

No one believed that her wonderful disposition would transfer to a trailer ride. Her first ride in the horse trailer. No problem. She was ready. She stepped gingerly out of the trailer and her new groom led her to her new stall.

It only took her a few days to learn about the wash rack, the walking wheel and how to con her new groom out of extra hay.

Her easy going manner convinced Daryl that she was going to be the perfect horse for saddling up in the round pen first time around.

July 20,2010

Ok Daryl is in great shape and rides every day and he works daily with all of the horses in his care. But he is 57 and way past the prime age for breaking horses. But this little filly was so tempting so gentle so well-mannered. Daryl couldn't resist. One more for the gipper.

He lead her around the round pen a few times, threw on the blanket then the saddle. She was doing great no problem she trotted along so agile, so confident so easy with the whole concept.

Daryl could not resist temptation he hopped in the saddle.

Lunalor took him for a ride around the pen for about 10 minutes. She bucked. Daryl flew up as high as the 12 foot fencing and landed flat on his back in the deep sand of the round pen.

The other wranglers were watching in awe. They ran into the pen sure their boss had taken his last ride into the great spread in the sky. All four were screaming Miss Beth (his wife) Miss Beth, Miss Beth as they took the reins of the filly, picked up Daryl and then realized he wasn’t even bruised or shaken.

When Miss Beth arrived they were dusting him off and laughing.

“ This sand used to be softer” Daryl joked. “ Bring her over here, I have to get back on, she has to know she can’t get away with this.”

Daryl is a born cowboy.

He jumped back into the saddle and continued the training ride.

Later that day he was retelling the story, reinacting the entire tale, and in demonstrating his masterful fall bumped his head on the floor. Nice little swollen bump erupted.

July 21, 2010

Today he let the wranglers take her for a ride in the mud.

Chris is the guest writer for Horsey Stories.

The horse biz is full of ups and downs. Right now we are experiencing a major down.I am so fed up with throwing away money that I am giving all the horses that I own away. So this should be a time of great happiness; not quite my wonderful neighbor whom I have allowed to use my barn in exchange for feeding and letting my horses out ( I pay for the feed and own the land where they are being let out.)

Our neighbor has decided that five years ago because I said he could use a stall in my barn. He has decided that this meant that he can use my barn in perpetuity. And not only one stall any stall I'm not using ( preferably one I have cleaned.) Right now he has 7 horses in my barn.

The other day he came over and tried to bully my mom into signing a document which would say that I only had rights to MY Barn if the other horses that were in the stalls were mine. Now I know what your saying where would someone come off trying to do this? Well Mr. Terry Romero is a thief ( this is not liable he has gone to jail for grand theft: felony) He is not a nice person. He just assumed I would roll over an allow him to steal my land and buildings.

Expect the story will be continued...

Hurricane Rita Horsey story #54

Subject: horsey stories #54

Gehrig won by a nostril. He was very proud of himself. He loved his peppermints.
RIta the hurricane threatened our RV site with flooding therefore we packed up our RV and left. Electricity is essential to the equipment Steve needs to breath comfortably. Our travels around the USA have introduced us to various casinos and their RV parks. We have learned their secret: Generators. They turn them on when traditional electric sources turn off. Therefore we hightailed it to the Indian Casino in Marksville, Louisiana. We road out the storm.
Casino's also have excellent gourmet restaurants with white table cloths. Therefore thusly an opportunity to celebrate September, two wins by our horses and our 45th ANNIVERSARY. Steve had $230 from his winning ticket at the races and insisted after dinner that he had enough energy to play a few slot machines. I said OK but you have to quit when you double your money. I pushed the cash out button on his machine when it hit $500 and Steve reluctantly followed me to the exit. Just as we came to the door, the lights flickered and in unison the players moaned OOOh. Seconds later the generator kicked on and everyone return to their machines. We continued to the hotel area of the casino to pick up our car. No lights there. The bellmen had flashlights and were attempting to rescue people from the elevators. We learned another secret. The Casino generator works instantly, all others require maintenance personnel.
We called Sam after Rita passed. All of the horses were safe and in the stables in Carencro. Last week he hired a driver. Bob is one of our friends who lost his job in New Orleans. Smart move considering how many horses Sam had to shuffle.
Hurricane Rita flooded the small town Vinton on the Texas Louisiana boarder. The Louisiana race track, Delta Downs is there and scheduled to open mid-Oct. We think the damage there will be minimal more later...

Horsey Stories #162

Dixie Blaze will be # 8 in the 1st race at Evangeline Down Thursday May 13 at about 5:30 pm Please cheer as loud as you can. She has a chance. Her jockey loves her and so does everyone else she is a charming horse.

She's a Bandit will be in the 9th race at Evangeline Downs on May 14 at about 9:00. We call her Baby Bandit. She has already won her first race. After claiming her last year her new owners had no luck at all getting her to run. Judy said that the Evangeline track was not very kind to the muscles of the horses. Her owners signed her back over to Chris, and he took her off the track for 6 months He let her stay on the farm and run with the mares for a while to see if he could get her healthy enough to return to the races. Terry has been working with her as well.

Saturday: Royal Snow returned to the races and came in 4th. A tiny sign that farm therapy is helping.

If I haven't sent this to you before, here is the link to the Disney movie trailer for Secretariat. It does not contain the scene where I was an extra. I thought it was interesting that they took the story from Penny Cheney's point of view. The book by William Nack is really the story of the horse and I couldn't figure out how they would make a Disney film from the book. Maybe I've never seen horse racing as a gender biased sport, but then I didn't really pay attention until 1996.