Mon. Misc.

"...trial by existence could cause us much of our pride."

--Harold Bloom

Txs comment by Bernadette last post! Her use of "trials and tribulations" (of racehorse owneship) reminded me of Harold Bloom's quote above from his late book, at age 71, "Genius", a compilation of Blooms top 100 literary geniuses in the Western Cannon. Shakespeare, Chaucer, Goethe and such. As usual with him, there's difficulty distinguishing Bloom's genius from those he writes about. Absolutely brilliant stuff and a surprise unless some of Bloom's several books are soon themselves considered cannon worthy. An all encompassing intelligence.

I'd say Bernadette summed up race horse ownership pretty well. Nice job of putting this into a few words! There's those that seemingly get lucky and then there's the rest of us. And, with the retirement of your last horse there's that liberation Bernadette noted. You'd actually have to own a horse and have made the effort to understand that one. I understood perfectly.

I am going to continue this blog for now. There are still plans. And also several relevant subjects stemming from retirement of my idiot animal who is quite happy causing havoc with his stallion behavior in his new digs in the 8th week post gelding.

In my liberation I seem to be posting less. There's an explanation for that one too.

Rollin' Rodney's Retirement (Continued)

So, mid Nov. 2011 I find out that Eureka Downs is history, and now the nearest winter breezing track is 350 miles away. The possibility of continuing training at the farm till the February Tulsa meet was considered but considered unlikely due to a late Oct. Accuweather forecast (from which the vid at left was lifted) predicting one of the colder KC winters, i.e. we'd get the typical late Dec. through Jan. freeze spell that was going to prevent training and wipe out any early Dec. accomplishment when the bottled up cold air broke to us down through the Dakotas in Dec.

That likelihood--based on this forecast--of having all the galloping work wiped out by weather once again was close to the final straw on Rodney although I was still wavering on throwing in the towel. It would take a third event that would be the final straw which retired the horse.

What actually precipitated and made final the retirement decision involved the farm. I've rented this farm for 20 years. My landlord was in her sixties at the time and she's now in her 80s. Her kids have recently been snooping around, and I calculated from their sudden presence that something was up. Late Nov. I got the call. They were going "in another direction" re the farm and I'd have to find other accommodations.

At an earlier time this announcement would be shock and disappointment. I'd rented 90 acres of the most beautiful farmland around and close in to the city (12 miles from DT KCMO) for $800/mo. for 10 years and then at same price for another 10 years when the farm was reduced to 40 acres by an adjoining apartment development. I'd had as many as 11 horses at this farm, and through the late 1990s and early 2000s prior to my own serious horse injury prepared 7 young colts for the 2001 Woodlands meet solely at this farm. Trainable weather in those days. The farm had served as a place for my babies and retirees, almost of necessity when your stable has any size to it.

2006 through end of 2010 however the rain started and never left. We were battered by rain constantly and thought re this lovely piece of pasture land became--"if I'm unable to gallop over it, in terms of TB racing, what good is it?" This was a recurring thought.

By mid. Nov. 2011 this question was coalescing for me in very negative terms. I'd been seriously kicked and training interrupted in mid July and my enthusiasm has been much reduced since. The farm had become more burden than pleasure becoming a daily chore of which I was growing weary after 20 years as well as being additional unnecessary expense. The announcement then of our eviction came as almost a relief. Unknown to me whether the kids are taking things over from the old lady or whether she simply got tired of me squatting on her land after 20 years. They never talk, but it hardly matters. I think maybe 20 years in one place is enough, and frankly, I was fairly excited that something had forced a change for me, and the prospects ahead.

This above sealed Rodney's fate as a race horse for the decision was made to geld him so that he could be moved to a farm with mares. This gelding proved very revealing on what we might have expected had the horse been moved to the race track, and I'm happy to report that the retirement decision was the right decision. Explain this next post.

RR Stable As It Is

One week here post to post. Watching politics this week instead of horses. Republicans once again --ritual suicide mode-- SC voting for the ethically challenged hypocrite. Is it conceivable Republicans would put up for president a disgraced/resigned Speaker of the House, Mr. Snapping Turtle, who is without the slightest prayer of becoming president? Wing nut/hate radio crowd. Big problem for the country imho.

On the horse front changes in RR land. Rollin' Rodney retired, and more. I had my Rollin's Rodney retirement post all figured out and then forgot it. Reasons/specific impetus at particular point in time, etc. The only exception was going to be if everything broke perfectly for the February Tulsa meet, something that is becoming more improbable--in terms of good breaks--by the day.

And, ooops, suddenly I recall the specific moment about mid-November that precipitated the final decision. I was ready to begin serious breezing at a race track. I called down to Eureka--are they still open for training, I asked? Nope, came the reply. They closed down sometime in the last year. Why? People paying to keep it open unable to afford the liability insurance any longer.

And so, it loomed for us. Big shock that Eureka finally closed. The little track so fairly close to us that had always been there. And that the closest track for prepatory breeze work with our problematic one horse was 350 miles away in St. Louis or OK City this time of year (Iowa is 210 miles from the farm/Lincoln 175.)

These thoughts were the catalysts that prompted the retirement. Interesting sequence of events, now coming back to me that I'll post on next.

Casey And His Bat

"There is no joy in Mudville--mighty Casey has struck out."

Training posts have been missing for quite a few weeks now, and so, since this blog also serves as the personal RR horse diary, a report on the RR stable and present circumstances as, whoops, we head into the year 2012, and we're already in mid-January.

Rolling Rodney has been retired for a few weeks now. And, of course the minute that was done we have the best winter training weather since my stable last hit the race track in 2003. Had I forseen this weather instead of the horrific Accuweather October forecasts, I'd have kept right on training. However, as will appear in the coming posts, once the retirement decision was made, it was fairly irrevocable.
Lots of thoughts go through your mind when you retire a horse. There's so much invested in each animal, and there's sadness for myself as you both consider what might have been had things gone a little differently, and also the future utter uselessness of the animal being retired.

Nostalgia and feeling sorry for the horse that it's life will change, likely for the worse. Regards Rolling Rodney, a talented animal with a broodmare sire by Arch, mighty Casey struck out. Next posts will describe our situation here in the RR stable and outline where my horse racing ventures are headed. Thereafter, hopefully, back to performance on the racetrack.

Thurs. Misc.

The few final thoughts on getting the horse around the track involved my personal experiences getting the job done before I was either a rider or a trainer. It's quite a trick. A complex series of requirements for keeping your horse healthy and progressing athletically and humans involved--the trainer and rider--who are primarily oblivious and motivated in other directions.

I was unhappy with my attempt to post on this including my personal experience, and think I'll drop it and conclude the subject at this point. Dealing with the humans on the race track and getting them to comply with what needs to be done with the horse is too broad a subject for one post. I had trouble restraining myself from being overly critical. I guess the moral is that as owner instead of rider/trainer you have limited control. How you get done what you want done I'm supposing varies with each of us.

I plan on a few posts next on the state of the RR stable.

Wed. Misc.

Working on some final thoughts on getting the horse around the race track. The post developed into a lengthy account of some personal experiences. Post after some polish up. Thereafter a post of what's happening in RR stable. Iowa Caucuses last night. Repubs trying to defeat Romney. I wish Romney would quit using the phrase "I know" or "I know how to..." with variations. With Romney there's the dog thing, but also the Q whether Romney is one of the most intelligent capable candidates put up by the GOP in my lifetime. He quit in 2008. A caveat. Will be interesting how this proceeds!