Derby Week

Which horse has caught the RR eye so far. Some vids here and there are starting to be posted.

#1, and again, Uncle Mo as man among boys. I saw just a little flash of slow gallop and a floating highly efficient stride that may be the nicest I have seen. The horse seems perfect weight, and unknown why they'd try to put on another pound.

Which brings me to the subject of talent. In athletic contests I tend to obsess over the most conditioned athlete. We need take note however that on occasion we get a winner who simply has more ability. If you have any interest take a look at this BB vid, roll it to the end, and watch a player that's always in lesser condition just take over the game in a truly amazing display named Zach Randolph: (much better view here:http://www.nba.com/video/)

To those "subjects" of the last post I did forget an important one: "Talent". It's edited now, and added.

Sitting in a "coaching of basketball" class at MU Columbia in the early 1970s taught by legendary Missouri Coach Norm Stewart, the coach had been in a foul mood in the early semester. Then one day Stewart came into class smiling ear to ear. From the gallery: "coach why are you in a good mood today". It was preseason college basketball time, and I still remember Stewart's answer: "I found a guy that can 'do it'". The reference was to recent transfer and soon to be All-American guard Willie Smith.

Experienced coaches recognize talent immediately. I've always watched Zach Randolph as a perpetually out of shape athlete, but, give him a basketball and he just 'can do it'. Always has.

Similarly possibly we have Uncle Mo, galloping out 7f this morning. I wonder if we'll see a vid of that. Bears watching!

Training:

We're back at it.

4/29: 40 mph winds. Nob declines to get on (see next day), but winds dried things out. Horse was put in the paddock to test his hoof for 10 min. Limping lightly, but it's an exposed laminae limp instead of abscess limp!

4/20: Same paddock experiment, but limp completely gone. He winces once in a while when he hits something. Horses were enthusiastic to be back at it and got in some short speed work. 10 min walk under tack with a little trot at end. On the dismount the horse panics and almost does a 180 in exact spot where Nob was thrown two weeks ago. Had Nob still been on he would have been thrown into our horse trailer. We survive another day with Rollin' Rod.