Amart Postscript

Just two out there in the field today when I arrived to train. Got out the saddle pad. It's one size fits all now. We're down to one race horse here, if we may use the term "race horse" for Rolling Rodney, our four year old and highly problematical remaining specimen. It's always the really good one's that something seems happens to. The surreal events on my farm Saturday turned into numbness and a queasy stomach Sunday morning. Neighbor Dennis hoisted Art's body on his big rig over to a far corner of a field where Art will rest in peace on his farm.

And, neighbor Beth called to commiserate and point out how, in retrospect, when Art arrived at her place his behavior was much calmer than on his other escapades. Obviously Art was in trouble immediately and it took we humans a while to recognize the extent of his problem. Possibly the difference in symptoms between impaction or gaseous colic and a twisted intestine lies in that Art never a single time tried to get down or roll.

By today, Monday, I was left only with sobering reality. This rambunctious young horse had occupied a lot of my time and thought the last three years. Me and his two horse buddies are going to miss him for a while.

And, there is the issue of the fence where Art got caught. It nags a little. I'll decline describing the amount of effort and money that has gone into restoring the 1940 era field and barbed wire fence that was in sad shape when I rented this farm 15 years ago. And while the area where Art got caught Sat. had been slated for repair eventually, it was Art himself that delayed that by continually escaping and forcing our fence work on the east 1/2 mile for the last year. A lot of our 3.5 miles of fence is now No Climb, but there are still a lot of areas where a horse might get caught in field fence. But, with horses there are risks around every corner. You try to eliminate the high percentages, and unless you're going to spend 100% of your time and money protecting them, you have to accept the low level risk and hope for the best. Even tonight I did a couple of things that might have resulted in a hurt horse. Happens every day, but that is the nature of the animal, very strong, and very fragile.

I have decided to continue my operation, and also this blog. This is what I do, I guess. We'll see how it goes. Rationally, after all the dramatics, me and the two horses in the field will miss the horse named Amart, and we'll try to honor his memory by keeping on. That's the way horse racing is.

Training:
Rod has done riderless work in terrible ground conditions the last three days. He has also been walked under tack for three days straight.