Real Galloping

Y has been on the grounds 2.5 weeks now. Judging from what i'm seeing going through the ring at Keenland this week (Keenland November Breeding Stock Sale--11 days-5000 horses-Lexington, KY) Y resembles more an overgrown weanling that a yearling about to turn 2. This is a bit strange as he was born fairly early on 3/28. And, so, Y has some catching up to do. This may be good and bad. For the uniformed those big weanlings selling this week at Keenland in the millions have been specifically fed for fast growth--they look good, but, the veterniarians tells that speeding up growth through diet creates weak spots in the bones, a condition called ostiochondritis dessicans (did i spell it right?), which might lead to injury or catostrophic injury during the racing carreer. A horse such as Y on the other hand, who was probably kept on pasture grass without grain for a good part of his life, should have solid dense normal bone growth--that would be the hope. Actually the little guy has shot up to 15' 2" from slightly over 15 hands on arrival, and so, Y is close to the 15'3" which i consider miminal racing size. Yet he is pot bellied--worm bellied and gives an aura of immaturity. With that intro, today's work:

Sat. 11/11/06: with Y out in the pasture confusing everybody, herding them in to the paddock is just like herding cats, but, we finally got all in and commenced with riderless gallop. To my surprise Y today stuck stricktly to the outside of the paddock as he gallped around, and when the older horses took off, so did Y. I would say this was the first day that the riderless paddock work exceeded mere strenghtening and transitioned to real gallop work. The pace was crisp and fast, Y exhibited a lenghty stride at this point still somewhat awkward and weak. But, as I've seen in the two pasture dashes, this little fellow is hardly slow. To give a measure of comparison, the big guys will do 12 consecutive gallops around the paddock then rest (changing directions every 4 times around). With Y in the mix i let them gallop around twice and then rest. We did this about 8 times at pretty decent speed, and then Y was removed. Still worried about popping a splint by doing too much work, but this worry will last for the next months. The whole exercise was less in volume, BUT faster.

For anyone interested, the yearling auctions are now televised onto the computer. This little mind is still trying to fathom the money being thrown around the Keenland sales this week. Two thousand horses sold at $50,000 average per horse. Where does this $$$ come from?