Friday, June 24, '05
I can't get the photo function to work so I gave up on it, at least for now. Can't find any 'upload photo' icon. Too bad.
What a morning!
Whenever I have to gallop Hateya, it's my day to really pay attention. Tonite he's running (in about 45 minutes) and I was giving thanks for not having to take him out for a few days. Instead of things being relatively uneventful however, it was one of those nightmare mornings wherein you have no communication with either your equine or else your human partners. The first thing that went wrong was at the gap, as I guided my second mount off the track.
Whenever there's more than one horse coming and going, and often even when there is only one, that being oneself, the horse takes the narrowest point of navigation to exhibit 'airs above the ground'. In this incident, Mini Cow reared up and waved hello with both paws to all the oncoming horses, so high that I stepped off and tried to gain control from the ground. I hit the ground awkwardly and fell flat. The left rein snapped, right in the middle of the rubber grip. The leather inside of it was dry rotted. If it hadn't been for a quick and risky recovery by Jimmy the maintenance hand, the loose horse could have been seriously injured while racing blindly back toward the barn area.
I have always preferred nylon tack. I don't mind leather, and of all outfits, the Bruja's cleans the tack after every use, so it gets inspected for weaknesses regularly. Nonetheless, the leather broke. I have never seen nylon break. Its condition is too obvious to miss when it becomes dangerous; but leather can look and feel fine and still be rotten inside. Anyway, I made it through that fiasco without a scrape on either me or Mini- Cow.
I managed to get the rest of the pre- breaktime horses out without any serious incidents, only a squirrely Tippy Toes bucking through her turn around the oval. That's a horse that needs another year to mature; I think Hardhead is of about the same mind as me on that. She never gets bored but never gets over her childish shenanigans either.
Third horse after the break was a pick- up for a shipper. Nice woman- I know the family. Very high class horses. New saddle. Stirrup comes out of safety catch at three- eighths- pole. Rider (me) literally loses footing and crashed to the ground underfoot. It took fifteen minutes to catch the horse, who, unfamiliar with the layout, couldn't find its way to the exit (where the crew actually has a way of coralling it on three sides and catching it.)
The horse an bound for an eighth- mile "blowout" to sharpen it up for a short (5 furlong) race after having last run around two turns. Neither of us were injured, AGAIN, thankfully, but the horse failed to get the lick that it needed for its race on Sunday. Because of that deal the horse is lacking an edge. Also, I missed my last horse of the morning.and was in such a hurry trying to catch up that I never got paid for that one (I get paid to throw a leg over, regardless of whether I make it all the way or not. And it's not my fault when the tack breaks.)
At least it gave me something to write about.
I had planned to say a lot more but between other committments today and because of my serious overdoing it on Wednesday, I'm really not up to --- WOO! I gotta watch Hateya run. Be right back!
Hateya finished third. This was a mile dash. He had been running short (5- 1/2 - 6 Furlongs). I missed the race but heard Patterson, the TV H'capper for Mountaineer refer to him in his analysis of the next race on the card. Third is no better positionwise than he has been, but I would guess he got more of an education out of that race than the short ones. I get four days of peace and then he goes back to the track.
Anyway, I'm pooped, it's 8:45, time for me to hit the sack, and I'm going to sleep very well thank you! God Bless!
What a morning!
Whenever I have to gallop Hateya, it's my day to really pay attention. Tonite he's running (in about 45 minutes) and I was giving thanks for not having to take him out for a few days. Instead of things being relatively uneventful however, it was one of those nightmare mornings wherein you have no communication with either your equine or else your human partners. The first thing that went wrong was at the gap, as I guided my second mount off the track.
Whenever there's more than one horse coming and going, and often even when there is only one, that being oneself, the horse takes the narrowest point of navigation to exhibit 'airs above the ground'. In this incident, Mini Cow reared up and waved hello with both paws to all the oncoming horses, so high that I stepped off and tried to gain control from the ground. I hit the ground awkwardly and fell flat. The left rein snapped, right in the middle of the rubber grip. The leather inside of it was dry rotted. If it hadn't been for a quick and risky recovery by Jimmy the maintenance hand, the loose horse could have been seriously injured while racing blindly back toward the barn area.
I have always preferred nylon tack. I don't mind leather, and of all outfits, the Bruja's cleans the tack after every use, so it gets inspected for weaknesses regularly. Nonetheless, the leather broke. I have never seen nylon break. Its condition is too obvious to miss when it becomes dangerous; but leather can look and feel fine and still be rotten inside. Anyway, I made it through that fiasco without a scrape on either me or Mini- Cow.
I managed to get the rest of the pre- breaktime horses out without any serious incidents, only a squirrely Tippy Toes bucking through her turn around the oval. That's a horse that needs another year to mature; I think Hardhead is of about the same mind as me on that. She never gets bored but never gets over her childish shenanigans either.
Third horse after the break was a pick- up for a shipper. Nice woman- I know the family. Very high class horses. New saddle. Stirrup comes out of safety catch at three- eighths- pole. Rider (me) literally loses footing and crashed to the ground underfoot. It took fifteen minutes to catch the horse, who, unfamiliar with the layout, couldn't find its way to the exit (where the crew actually has a way of coralling it on three sides and catching it.)
The horse an bound for an eighth- mile "blowout" to sharpen it up for a short (5 furlong) race after having last run around two turns. Neither of us were injured, AGAIN, thankfully, but the horse failed to get the lick that it needed for its race on Sunday. Because of that deal the horse is lacking an edge. Also, I missed my last horse of the morning.and was in such a hurry trying to catch up that I never got paid for that one (I get paid to throw a leg over, regardless of whether I make it all the way or not. And it's not my fault when the tack breaks.)
At least it gave me something to write about.
I had planned to say a lot more but between other committments today and because of my serious overdoing it on Wednesday, I'm really not up to --- WOO! I gotta watch Hateya run. Be right back!
Hateya finished third. This was a mile dash. He had been running short (5- 1/2 - 6 Furlongs). I missed the race but heard Patterson, the TV H'capper for Mountaineer refer to him in his analysis of the next race on the card. Third is no better positionwise than he has been, but I would guess he got more of an education out of that race than the short ones. I get four days of peace and then he goes back to the track.
Anyway, I'm pooped, it's 8:45, time for me to hit the sack, and I'm going to sleep very well thank you! God Bless!
posted by hoofstep at
7:45 PM
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