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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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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.

She's a Bandit racing at the Fairgrounds

She's a Bandit will be #2 in race #2 on March 20 at the Fairgrounds. The Fairground starts later on Friday afternoon and her race will be at about 3:15. Hopefully we hit a Home Run and not only does she win the race, but she is also claimed. Dixie Blaze is training at the Fairgrounds and Judy thinks she will be ready when Evangeline starts racing. It seems she gained a bit to much weight at the Evangeline Training Center. Acadians are just great cooks even for horses.

During the past few weeks I have been posting a blog. The URL is http://horseystories.blogspot.com. cut and paste this URL then stop by to take a peek. You can even sign up for alerts whenever I post a new blog. It is easier to put pictures in the blog and I will archive stories there as well as the text for my speeches to Toastmasters. I'm pretty good at talking to horses, but not so at talking to people about horses.
I'm hoping to do all of my Toastmasters speeches on the topic of thoroughbred horses.

About a week after She's a Bandit ran third, we received a postcard from the Louisiana Breeders association with the amount of the award on the card. Seven weeks later the actual check arrived. Anticipating that this was the routine in their office, I waited and waited and waited for the post card disclosing the amount of the breeders award. After a month I called the office to find out the problem. It seems if there was one bad drug test in any race on the day your horse raced, the racetrack does not send the official results to the Breeders Association. They wait until all appeals have been heard and ajudicated. The post card arrived a week after I complained therefore I probably have wait of seven weeks until the check arrives. Now I have Breeders syndrome. A common complaint among breeders, I'm learning to understand is spending the award check mentally a hundred times before the mailman brings it.

Spreading the News selected High Finance for a sire and she is visiting Pre-K Farm where he stands. The Farm is about 10 miles away along the Bayou Tech which makes it a lovely pastoral setting. She's on the Move and Swamp Scare are still avoiding the gelding we put in their pasture. They jump and play the minute we let them out in the morning, but no sign of going into their cycle.

We finally fixed the broken starter on the tractor then push around a bunch of dirt in the area where we intend to start a garden. We were just about ready to add some sand and some horse fertilizer when it decided to rain. We need the rain, but we should have been faster with the garden. I keep telling Chris that the garden this year is for fun and we will learn a lot from the adventure.

High Finance

Gary, and I share the ownership of Spreading the News and her foals. Chris is in charge of making sure she eats her feed and runs everyday in the pastures.
Gary checked every horse in the Louisiana Stallion Book. He narrowed the list to ten and finally to three. He nicked his selections after discussing the possible choices with Chris. High Finance was the stallion of choice because of his all round statistics and his ability to run on the dirt. However his photo was not in the Stallion book, therefore Chris and I thought it would be an excellent idea to visit him at the farm where he is standing with my new camera.
As we suspected High Finance is very handsome and we are fairly sure Spreading the News will agree. He was a bit tired when we arrived since he had visited two mares, and it is required that stallions do it the old fashioned way, no artificial insemination.