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.

Terry's Foal

We didn't have a foal this year so I had to take pictures of Terry's

Horsey stories #160

Photo: Spreading the News with Chris

Dixie Blaze is #2 in the 3rd race at Evangeline Downs at about 7:00 on Thursday April 29th.

Chris hopes she has figured out the concept of racing. Terry hopes she enjoys running. Kaye hopes she is in the money and we all hope she wins.

Breeding has its detail challenges.

Spreading the News just started her cycle so Chris and Terry loaded her up and took her to Dr. Barrone for her culture test to be sure she is ready to become a mama. She also had her Cogins test which is required when she goes to visit a handsome stallion. When she came back I made Chris walk her around for the camera. She whinnied her messages to the other mares in the field as loud as she could and the proceeded to gobble up huge bites of grass while Chris brushed her coat and I snapped a dozen photos. This is her second year without a foal so hopefully she is anxious to be a mama and ready for breeding. We will take her to the stallion as soon as her tests are read.

Acadia is alive with Spring festivals. Saturday we went to the Etouffe festival in Arnaudville. Took home our crawfish etouffe box lunch and finished the generous portions late Sunday. Sunday we went to Lafayette to the Festival International in Lafayette and I giggled myself silly at the Circus Punk Marching Band from Chicago. We set up 2 camp chairs under a tree and in perfect alignment with a cool breeze. We took turns on the chairs and enjoyed the music. The Irish band "Lunasa' was fabulous. Chris liked the Zydeco band and my friend Suzanne liked the Salsa band.

Buzzing Bayou

Buzz is 18 months old in this picture

Timely News

Timely News ran today at the Fairgrounds.  Somehow she made a bad step, fell and broke her left leg. She had to be put down.  Her odds were 2/1 so the handicappers felt she had a good chance of winning the race. She ran third in her previous race.

Sam Breaux sounded very broken hearted when I spoke to him on the phone.  Sam and Al and Melody Helms were her owners. I had to turn over my half of her ownership to Sam when Steve passed away because I couldn't afford a training bill.  Chris and I decided to just take care of the mares we had at the farm.  I will tell her little sister and her mama tomorrow.

Horsey stories #158

In the happiest state in the Union On Dec. 20, 2009 at the Fairgrounds in New Orleans She's a Bandit is #2 in race 2 at about 12:45.

I have a friend who goes to the Fairground to eat and to be with friends, but he doesn't care much about gambling.  He takes his $60 and before the races starts he buys a $2 ticket for win, place, and show for horse #1 in race #1 horse #2 in race #2 etc.  I sure hope he wins on She's a Bandit who will be #2 in race #2 on Sunday and pays for his delicious meal.  

Chris and I loved this link. we know you will love it too. 

http://www.livescience.com/culture/091217-happy-state-list.html#comments

Timely News

Timely News (Mymamastillstandin's little sister ) will run at Delta Downs in the 3rd race Saturday Oct 31st at about 7:00 CDT.

Al and Melody Helms and Steve and I are listed as the breeders for this filly.

Timely News survived quite a mess when she was a yearling. She thought it would be fun to swim in one of the ditches near Sam Breau's farm.   She had scratches here and there all over and she was soaked in mud from her trek into the world beyond the pasture.  Sam's grooms patched her up and by the time she was ready to break to the saddle she looked like a potential race horse. 

She was 7th in her last race at Evangeline Downs. Who knows she's had 3 months to stay fit and train she might do fine.  

Cheer for Her

Don't really have the $60 for gas and the round trip to Delta is about 200 miles. I don't really have the energy to drive it either. So if it is on TVG we will watch it.  

Movie career

I'm still pretty tired from my 4 day stint as an extra in the movie Secretariat. Most of my time was as a patron in the diner scene. It is up and down in and out.  When we finished they sent us to play fans in the grand stands.  They dressed us in '70's polyester outfits.  The fabric really absorbs the heat. The temperature was only 80 degrees but all of the extras were using their hats and props as fans. 

Monday there is an infield scene with as many extras as they can find so I'm going if my name is on the list.  I know I will really appreciate the check whenever it arrives. 

I'm on Facebook if any of you are on that web site and I will post this on the horseystories.blogspot.com.

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Extra Extra

Disney Movie Extra Secretariat

Mymamastillstandin is entered to run on October 23, 2009 at DELTA DOWNS. He will be #6 in race #2 at about  6:15  

Cheer for a win!!

Today I had the opportunity to be an extra in the Disney film Secretariat. 

The scene is a restaurant setting which is the backside kitchen at the Evangeline Training center. The interior had a nice paint job and the tables were covered with new oil cloth.  A few horse shoes were scattered as decoration on the walls. No dirt on the floor and a few extra benches placed along the back.

We parked in the Evangeline lot and were taken by bus to a large storage barn that had been cleared of all the track equipment that is usually kept there.  The extras were sent to wardrobe to be dressed in 70's outfits which were pretty outrageous. My friend Claire had quite a time finding a dress.  The wardrobe mistress deemed my plaid shirt appropriate but made me wear matronly shoes not sneakers.  Then I told the hair dresser that in the '70's women my current age wore bee hive hair do's so she fixed one for me.  First time I've ever been paid to get my hair done.  Next we were ferried to the Back side kitchen were they seated my friend Clair and I at a table with jockey Rick Faul.  We had several rehearsals and talked and talked and talked to each other while waitresses who were also extras placed cold food on out table and took it away. 

A few hours later we filmed the scene which is the one where Secretariat is declared Horse of the Year and  everyone cheers then Cheneys secretary comes into the restaurant and tells his daughter that he has just been taken to the hospital.  

The director liked the shoot and sent us to find the food tent.  it decided to rain and rain and rain. At about 2:00 they sent us home. Clair said the film crews will keep extras as long as 12 hours and the pay is $105 but at 14 hours the pay is doubled. 

to be continued

Clair said there will be quite a few more opportunities to play extras this winter.  Here I am in my free hairdo.  More pictures on my facebook page

Next story down is a copy of the speech I gave to Toastmasters that tells the story of Secretariat.

Horsey story

Speech #7 for Toastmasters is  Research

Announcement on KLFY website  "Look at this Chris, Disney is  going to make a movie about Secretariat and they need 5000 extras.

  "Let's sign up we will be great extras and we can meet some folks and chat while standing in line. Should be a good adventure"

"How are they going to make a Disney story out of Secretariat?"  Chris searched and found the book by william Nack the great sports writer for the DRW 

The announcement said to bring a photo 4x6. We went through my digital photos and took the disk to Wal Mart for instant prints. 

Sunday we drove to the Cajun Dome and arrived at about 11:45 put on our best British Cue manners and stood in line.

We met our line neighbors and remarked "How are they going to make a story out of Secretariat?  We had read the book.

After all He was born perfect March 30, 1969. 

Well it did take 11 submission to the Jockey club to arrive at his name.  Kind of a story.

He earned an A as a foal

He earned an A as a weanling No injuries, good disposition

He earned an A+ as a yearling.  Made it to 2 yrs old without an injury.

He was easily trained to the saddle since he was very tame and constantly petted

He had no problems learning to be a race horse. Ran an eighth of a mile in 22 seconds A+++

He ran 4th in his first race.  Bumped twice out of the gate, wouldn't let that happen again.

Won several races after that and was 3rd in the Wood Memorial

Eclipse award for the Two Year old season

Won the Kentucky Derby as the favorite in 1:59 then the Preakness and the Belmont.  The Triple Crown.   1973 and the Horse of the Year 1973 and the Eclipse Award.

The line moved forward as we enumerated the rather eventful but not particularly Disney life style for an animal story.

We were in the Cajun Dome (air conditioned) typical Disney World, line very long.

New line and new line neighbors. We discussed Secretariat.  One girl even had a picture of him downloaded onto her I phone.  

We wondered maybe Disney is going to make a heart warming story about Secretariat's connections.

His owner breeder family, The Cheneys of The Meadows in Virginia.

Christopher Cheney grew up poor middle class in rural Virginia, but his family managed a way to send their sons to college.

He was an engineer who wound up on Wall Street and invested in telephone communications through the depression. Became wealthy enough to afford his hobby.

He rebuilt his family farm and turned it into a first class breeding farm

We filled in our applications and let others borrow our pen and then stood in another line. Met some new line neighbors and continued wondering out loud, "How would Disney make a movie out of this story?"

Maybe it was Penny Cheney Tweedy's story.

She saved the farm from the Inheritance tax collector.

She lived a rather ordinary boarding school, Daddy's little girl who loved horses life.

Served overseas in the Red Cross during WWII

Along with Secretariat she willed her father to live until Jan. 3 1973 thus postponing the bulk of the inheritance taxes till April 1974. 

She sold 32 shares of Secretariat's breeding season for $200,000 each.  20 minute story there.

Two very enthusiastic cheerful young women took our applications stapled the pictures onto the form  We let them choose the ones they liked.  Both were very admirable, talking to us like we were important individuals and handing us the printed form with directions for our next appearance as extras in the Disney movie. 

Dismissed we had been there 4 hours. There was 2 hours of line behind us.  Those poor girls taking the applications for extras. We hightailed it out of there.

Secretariat was #35 on the ESPN list of 20th Century 100 greatest athletes

The only animal in the Kentucky Hall of Fame

He died in 1979 because of the hoof disease Laminitis which Barbaro died from and there is a charity sponsoring the search for a cure in Barbaro's name.

The screenplay is by Mike Rich  directed by Randall Wallace and Staring Diane Lane

See you at the movies we hope we don't wind up on the cutting room floor

It is raining in Acadia

July 7 2009

Woke up at about 3:00 am this morning to the sound of a rain. It appears to be the soaking rain we needed. The mares, foal and yearlings would like to thank all of you folks to the north for sending your surplus moisture this direction.  It looks like the Acadians on the list can put their rain dancing shoes on the shelf for a while. 

In this photo Buzz is being sprayed by Billy with a garden hose.  After Billy sprayed them for about 15 minutes the ground was fairly muddy . They noticed and pawed at the mud splashing each other.  You can imagine they will have fun later this morning when we turn them out. Maybe I'll get a good shot to send along.

I noticed that some of the soybeans were turning a bit yellow. One of our neighbors just bought replacement seed for his rice field. He has a few acres of rice to entertain his crawfish. Hopefully all the soybeans and rice in the area were able to get a nice long drink.  

Drought in Louisiana

Buzz appreciates noon shower courtesy of Billy's garden hose.

I haven't written in months because I have had nothing to report concerning the horses and racing. I haven't heard one good horse story, and the news from Evangeline Downs seems to be a constant concern about how the drought has made it difficult to keep the track surface in excellent condition.  

The good News is the wheel on the tractor's bush hog attachment broke and although the new part will only cost $45, it will be about a week before John Deere can get the part.  We are in the midst of a drought so bush hogging is not required, yet.

Maybe all things work together for the best, however it very discouraging around here. 

Acadia is in the midst of a drought and we were lucky enough to put some new hay in the barn just after the drought started.   The pasture goes down hill and the part that usually drowns after a long rain is still slightly damp.  Morning dew keeps the grass wet and green for the moment.  We feed the mares and yearlings several quarts of feed twice a day and they do have plenty to grass to munch and water to drink, and we are ready with hay in case the drought does not abate.  

The original plan to have four horses that we bred racing no longer exists.  Dixie Blaze is back at the farm. She's a Bandit is at the farm until next week when she will resume training. Timely News works out about once a month and Mymamastillstandin the same.  In other words none are ready to enter races. That means for us there isn't a chance to earn a Breeders Award. 

Chris and I have not been to the races is months.  We need to spend every bit of money on the farm. We did watch the Triple Crown races after the fact on TVG (NBC does not have a local outlet here so we don't get a clear signal, but we can pick up the audio) and cheer for Calvin Borel, but that was it.  

We haven't taken the time to even watch Evangeline races on TVG.  

Chris says it's hard to be a pessimist when you have a two year old in the barn and I remind him that they are yearlings. It is going to be a very long two years before they are able to even consider running in a race.  The other four need to stay healthy and fit and hopefully race once in a while.

Four Leaf Clovers grow in the Wild --For Sure, For Sure

We need all the luck we can get. Found on the way to the barn to feed the critters.

Getting Ready for Jockey Club Foal Pictures

Lunalor loves the curry comb Chris is trying to pull through her mane. The Jockey club requires a DNA sample from each foal. This is obtained by pulling out by the follicles of about 50 hairs from each foals mane.  Lunalor didn't mind but Buzzing Bayou and Counterstrike were not please with the idea of giving up a few hairs from their cherished manes.  

Luna Lor is the filly and her dam is Spreading the News. Buzzing Bayou is a colt whose dam is Swamp Scare and Counterstrike is a colt whose dam is She's on the Move. Those are the names we submitted as first choice on their application to become licenced racehorses.  We had to think of five more names for each one, but the Jockey Club web site has a list of names currently in use and  none of our choices were on the list.  We also had to submit photos of each one, front, right side, left side and rear.  And then write a check for $200.