OTTBs-oh, what to do!

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Bruno and Lauren breezing down the track.

We have had Bruno for almost 18 months now. Time flies. A year ago we were deep in his care wrapping, treating and working on his surgically altered hoof, day after day.

And each day we would marvel at Bruno’s great beauty and strength. He is hands down the most amazing looking horse I have ever owned. I have had some great ones over the years, including a mare by AQHA super horse, Rugged Lark. She was indeed a beauty, but not as startling beautiful as Bru.

From the beginning, we dreamed great things for this horse. I am part of the OTTB Connect group on Facebook and while I can’t speak for everyone, it is doubtful to me that any of us obtained our OTTB without some thought of what our new thoroughbred could do. And many of them progress on to great, new things. But some become more a cherished pet than a show horse. That’s okay, too.

My friend Caroline has rescue horse Joey whom she got up to a safe weight, fixed his hoof issues and turned his dull coat into one that gleams. She tried to find him a new spot where he would work out for another rider but Joey ended up shuttled around Texas until fate intervened, someone happened to read my blog and Joey came home to Caroline once again. But in way worse shape than he started.

We have had HUGE dreams for Bruno. He has the size, the breeding, the look and the conformation to make a top show horse. Joey is a classic looking thoroughbred as well, tall, fast and smart. Both of these boys could have great futures in the eventing or show ring.

Handsome Joey, hanging out waiting for something to do.

Caroline and Lauren are excellent riders who can handle the antics and excitement provided by two, young, race bred horses. Here’s the problem. Both ladies have show horses needing regular, consistent riding. Both of their other horses are further along and currently show great promise in the ring. It is a hard dilemma. Lauren and Caroline have both been intermittently sidelined with back problems. Both ladies have school or jobs which take up their time.

It is sad but true that both of these OTTBs are pretty much on the back burner. Neither Caroline or I want to sell these horses. Too much love and care has gone into them. But it is sad to see them lose yet another year as we cannot find the time or resources to get either of them in a regular training program. I welcome ideas on what to do with the boys to keep their training going, start showing them and continue to develop them as sport horses after the track.

Thanks for riding along with us!

Poo, Bru and other stories

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Finally, the weather has finally broken and south Texas has started to look and feel more spring in the south and less like Chicago in November. We will remember this winter, and not fondly. While we certainly have not had the deep snow and below zero temps of our northern neighbors, never in the last 20 years have I experienced multiple ice/snow days or as many cold temperatures. At least not since I have made my home here.

We got really good at draining the pipes and shutting the water down as a preamble to freezing temperatures. Once you haul two blankets for every horse to the barn, it is not that much trouble to throw the second one on when the temperatures start to dip down. We finished using all 80 bales of hay this week that I had budgeted to last through until March. Sitting in stalls all day with no pasture and trying to stay warm means more hay per horse.

This period has taken a toll on Bruno and his legs. He pulled up lame about three weeks ago in his good front leg ( not the surgery leg). With the bad weather there has been little we can do but wrap it and pray. Ten days ago, he went out for a brief trip to the arena (which was marginally dry) and ripped the shoe from that foot. He immediately started getting better. I am guessing it was an abscess. Gee, we haven’t any abscesses in years and two horses go bad in two months.

Bru going down for a roll on the soft ground while the poo looks on!

Friday dawned clear with a forecast for a warm, sunny day (finally!). By afternoon, the front pasture was sufficiently dry enough to allow Bruno to head out for a romp for the first time in weeks. The good weather coincided with Bruno also being sound once again. The day before Lauren had taken Bruno out the gate to practice trailer loading and the big guy about dragged her to the pasture. We sent Snowboy out with big Bruno and old Kid in hopes Snow would be pushed around and made to run in Kid’s place. Bruno took off from the gate with Kona the poodle and Snow the pony, strung out running behind him.

Look how both Bru and the poo are rocked back on their haunches.

I thought I was videoing the great race of the white pony, black poodle and giant race horse, but apparently failed to hit the record button. Maybe video next time, who knows?

And off they go again!

Feather had her first ride yesterday since returning home from the show two weeks ago. Like any athlete, a horse needs regular exercise and conditioning to stay fit. Just couldn’t happen during the great storms of 2014. Feather went to a lesson today, loaded first time easily, and was very alert and ready to jump. Dev told Lauren her body control was better than usual especially with how high and hard Feather was jumping.

The standards are five foot. I would say Lauren is at least seven feet up in the air.

My favorite quote of the day was when Dev told us that “Feather looked so good, she was jumping her pants off!” It is nice she can be off a couple weeks and come back strong.

Levi is fast friends with the new Hula cat. He calls him “Professor Burmese” because he is so worldly.

Thanks for riding along, I am headed out to see Lauren ride Bruno for the first time in a month. Nothing like rodeo action in your own back yard!

Hula Cat

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Headed home.

In the category of something you probably knew was true but never thought about much, is breeds of cat. How many different breeds do you know? Probably three or four, the ones which are not registered but represent most of the cats in America, are the long-haired and short-haired domestic cat. But you may know the Siamese, the Persian and maybe another.

I did not have cats growing up. I was dreadfully allergic but not any more. I got my first cat as a gift after my horse unexpectedly colicked and died. Never did that make up for losing my horse but my cat become a good companion to me. In college then, this cat rode with me in the car everywhere I went. It was the beginning of a love and appreciation of the breed. I have had a cat since then always, except for when we first moved to Texas. We got a rescue Doberman, Abbie, who promptly killed my two registered cats, one a Burmese and one a Balinese.

We moved to this little ranch without a cat, but one hooked up with us giving us a litter of kittens our first spring. Since then the cats have lived and died here. I am finally to a point where all the cats but one elusive female are neutered. We have the former little cat that we rescued a few months ago who now lives inside the house. Levi is now a big boy. He gets along with the dogs. But I do not want Levi to be outside and decide to wander into the backyard to see his friendly dogs. I am pretty convinced the dogs would go into a lynch mob persona, attack and kill Levi cat.

So, anyway, back to the cat breeds. Lauren and I ended up at a cat show in San Antonio this weekend (bet that was on the must visit for a lot of you). We needed to return her cowboy boots at a store near there. Why not just stop at the cat show? It would be good for Levi to have a young brother to share his inside home. Most people think of cats as one type. You wouldn’t think all dogs are the same. A Doberman has different traits than a Lab. A Lab is different from a Yorkie. But a cat is a cat. No. They are not. I have owned Burmese cats before. They are noted to be the breed of cat most like dogs. My Burmese cats played fetch, retrieved things, would sit on command and stay when asked.

Two beautiful Burmese cats at the show.

Burmese cats from the island of Burma, are similar in size and sleek body style to their cousins the Siamese. The Burmese is the only brown cat in existence. They are a rich chocolate brown with lovely golden eyes. They love children, other pets, affection and being part of a busy household. This is probably more about cats than you ever wanted to know.

Bottom line, just like last February when I decided to get the standard poodle I had always wanted, this year, it was a Burmese cat I desired. I found a breeder with an older male whom they planned to use as a show cat, but like Kona, he just wasn’t quite perfect enough for that. He needed a home and he was certainly perfect enough for me!

Levi is loving his new brother. I am already loving this little man. On the scary ride home, Hula didn’t know me at all. I took him out of his carrier and he cheerfully, confidently, laid against my chest, purring contentedly. Most cats would have scratched, run to hide and demanded loudly to get out of the car.

Welcome home Hula kitty. I am so happy to have you!

Car ride home.

Sighted

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Beam me up, Scotty! Where did they go?

I have plans for my blog, an idea well thought out and ready to explode and be published. Then something catches my eye and engages my brain. This can be a dangerous situation for those riding in the car with me or alongside me on the highway. I see amazing scenes. Maybe everyone does. My slightly eclectic and visual brain spots things, analyzes them, and marvels over them. I want to photograph each thing that surprises me or startles me in my day. I keep my camera with me most of the time and thanks to cell phones and iPads, I usually have some way to record the moment.

Today was an unusual day. Although the threat of ice and snow have been more common than ever this winter in coastal, bordering on sub-tropical south Texas, I have not seen many flakes. I have seen many, many days this winter with freezing, nasty weather but no real snow. Shortly after 6:00 am this morning, as I pulled through the guard gates of my office, suddenly my headlights picked up huge flakes falling rapidly covering my wind shield and the palm trees. It was as if a giant snow globe had broken open and poured on my little car.

Sorry, no photos of that but it was pretty magical and short-lived. No sooner had I done my public service by posting warnings of snow and sleet falling in Houston on my Facebook, did it quit as soon as it started. But I swear it happened. I have names of witnesses that work with me that can verify my story.

My next sighting may have been the most bizarre but I have no way to get anyone to verify it. All I can tell you for sure is that someone is missing a pig, either pot-bellied or a young one. For those of you not familiar with Houston we have a beltway around our city, like many, that connects into the major interstates. If I could have gotten a picture without creating a traffic back up that would tie things up for hours, I would have gotten a picture of this. I was on the beltway southbound just about to hit the merge to 59 south. This is ALL an elevated section of highway with no way for an animal to wander out on the highway. In Wharton, cows, deers, horses, and various other mammals routinely get hit on the highway. Lauren has hit two deer. I have taken out one giant cow and almost totaled my car. Country issues.

But here I am doing my elevated city commute and the cars ahead of me are dramatically veering around a brown object in the road. As it was my turn to pass, I could clearly see a young brown pig with his little snout and cloven feet visible lying dead on the highway. How does this happen? Did this little poor thing drop from the back of a truck? Was he a pet that jumped to his death from the family car? Did pigs finally fly and then crash to earth? I have no reasonable explanation for what I saw. I have not been drinking, at least nothing but a Diet Coke. Arguably the weirdest thing I have ever seen.

Then to keep the trend of my crazy commute going, I pulled into the nursing home to see the scene above blanketing the front entrance. My first thought was God has come to take them all home and they won’t need walkers or wheelchairs in Heaven. Then I wondered if they had all been abducted by aliens. It was like an old folk ghost town. I got into the lobby to discover the folks were out “joy riding” in the center’s bus. They didn’t need their walking appliances so they had been left behind in the drive. Trustworthy people in my little town, for sure. I had really been hoping for a good alien abduction.

Ally and her girls met me at my mom’s room. Mom had no clue who any of them were but laughed with delight over the antics between big sister Jordyn and baby Kendyll. Ally tried to explain who we all were but momma didn’t get it.

Momma had just had her hair done and was happy to pose with Jo.

I swear Jordyn will be bigger than her great grandma soon. It was a pretty great sighting to see momma smile with delight over the girls.

Home now, we trying to keep temps over freezing and my water on tonight. It’s going be a five dog night for me! Horses are blanketed heavily against the cold. Stay safe and warm.

Five dog night in full effect here.

A Little Jumping Around

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Kona in front of the jump at this weekend’s show.

It has been almost a year since I got my poodle Kona. Lauren yelled at me as I made my way home with him that night, but I have certainly won her over. Kona has won me over as well. I have other dogs but because I take him to the shows, the nursing home and even to Dairy Queen I spend more time with him. I think he has won over a few non-Poodle lovers he has encountered as well. Let me know if you have met Kona and enjoyed his poodly oodly self.

Point of this (although this post is called “Jumping Around” and I am going to do so a lot) is that even when I nicely asked Lauren to stand in front of the jump as the course was open for the riders to walk, she refused. She said it was embarrassing to stand in the giant arena and have your mother take your picture by a jump. Okay, I sat Kona down and told him to stay. He not only stayed, sitting pretty at the jump, but I swear he smiled as well. He was not embarrassed either.

Kona does have a little issue with other dogs although I am not clear why that is true. He has been around dogs (although I do not believe he thinks he is one) since birth. I have six other various shapes and sizes of dogs. But when we get out, if a dog is loose and comes toward him, friendly or not, Kona bears a quick retreat backwards, dragging me with him. At the show this week, we rounded a corner and big Corgi (who should have looked a little like Sneaky) came barreling up with two other canine friends in tow. Kona dragged me backwards. I came to two realizations at once. One, I was now standing in the men’s restroom with my poodle and two, the Corgi was Nordic owned by Bruno’s former owner and former husband of Sneaky. I mean it was like running from family, which sometimes is a good idea but not in this case.

The dog phobia thing got a little better as the weekend wore on and I was proud that I didn’t spend any more time in the Men’s room. Other things got better as well. Lauren had a good ride in the 1.05 meter class. Feather was quiet, accommodating and on her best behavior. Over the years, (I looked it up) Mickey placed in the 1.05m twice. So, it was a big day to have Feather make her debut in the event and place sixth out of 23 horses. I was hoping for a chance to see her go in the 1.05 Classic but Dev decided to end the show on a positive note and we all packed up and headed home.

In the totally schizophrenic world of south Texas weather we went from the 70s to the 30s again on Sunday. I have lost count of how many times I have covered and uncovered the plants. I thought it was funny when the weatherman said, “well, if you haven’t brought those plants in yet, they are probably dead so don’t worry about it tonight”. But then I am easily amused.

We had left for the horse show early Sunday morning and left all the horses out in pasture without blankets. I knew it was getting colder but thought we would get home first. We returned to Wharton with Feather to rain and cold temperatures. For once all the horses had been smart enough to come in out of the wet.

We called to set an appointment for rescue kitty Levi and Kona to be neutered tomorrow (told you I would be jumping around). The vet office, verifying they had the right cat, asked if this was the tiny grey male we rescued in October. I answered yes and asked how much he had weighed when he was last in their office. They replied he weighed 15 ounces. That was less than four months ago, and I guess you can say his stomach problems are a thing of the past. He now weighs over 11 pounds. Seriously. The vet reminded me that this was a cat not an Irish Wolfhound puppy. Oh, boy, I guess we will have to watch his weight.

Kona going to be neutered is causing me a lot of angst. I want to ask my supervisor if I can take the day off for a family member having surgery. I feel it would be appropriate. Don’t think she would. GEEZ!

Here is a collage from Lauren and the show. Thanks for riding along on this crazy train. May God bless you and keep you!

Lauren and Flagmount’s Irish Freedom at the Winter Series.

Taking Stock

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Bruno saying (as he nudges him along) be my new friend pleassse!

Oh, Mickey, Mickey, you look so thrilled!

The latest of the icy, cold weather has moved on. With bad weather issues, dominating our thoughts and actions, we haven’t had much time to just take stock of what we have going on.

Lauren and Feather, still a little banged and bruised from the fall last week, headed to Katy Wednesday for the start of our rated horse show. Wednesday afternoon, the pair easily flew over a 4’3″ jump, arguably the highest they had ever jumped together. I missed the competition Thursday but they had two classes and one blue ribbon. Way to start it out.

Yesterday, Kona and I went along to watch. I fully and totally expected them to fly easily over jumps. They pulled a rail at the second jump and Lauren struggled to get back on track. It was a messy round. Feather got in too deep at a big oxer and literally went right thru it. And it got a little worse before she finished the class. We scratched her next entry. Today would offer new choices.

Very early this morning, I told Lauren I had been up all night with the flu. A slight exaggeration, perhaps. I had not gotten much sleep but definitely was not feeling the go to the horse show pull. It was the go back to bed pull. So I chose that and awakened about noon.

I let Bruno out with Mickey for a change. Bruno liked his pal Mickey! What fun to have the disgruntled guy play with you even with Mickey’s ears back and tail swishing.

Bruno headed to the back pasture and Kona went along to be sure he was safe. Then I heard a roar from the pasture. Kona and Bruno were headed straight the barn. He is a fast horse!

Sometimes all a guy needs is a field of clover.

Lauren did better at the show today. Horse and rider in sync. Wonder what effect I will being there tomorrow?. I hope I get to see a glorious ride.

Work Friends

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Exechorseluver

I have made many long-lasting friendships at work over the years. Work gives you many opportunities to be together over the course of the many hours spent in the office. I have also found that on the surface, some friendships are quite odd. As in, not the two people you would necessarily pair together.

At my last job, I had hired a friend to work in my department. We actually stayed friends and our friendship deepened as we shared our long commute each day.

Also, from my last job, I have tried hard to stay abreast of the activities of another one of my friends. We don’t speak often, as we did each day walking to breakfast and eating lunch often, but we talk on Facebook, a lot. We continue to support each other in issues with our mom’s and our kids.

When I started my latest job, almost three years ago I knew one person in the huge organization I had joined. The person I knew was my friend, had been for years, so it was great to drop by her office and be able to talk about horses, kids or anything else that came to mind. Due to political work issues, we did not often get out to lunch or anywhere else.

My other great friendship, rose from the two of us working together on a project, and then on more projects. This friend is the age of my daughter, has two young children, has never been interested in horses, and is several inches taller than I. We make a strange couple, one of us older, greyer, rounder and stouter and one being the opposite .

Over the last couple years, we have become fast friends. We go to breakfast each morning (clearly to be my friend, you must want/need to eat frequently), walk the long corridors for exercise and head out to lunch (food, again!) a couple of times a week. We share stories of our kids or grand kids. I feel my strong pro-breast feeding stance ( driven by my own experiences, that of my Internationally Certified Lactation Consultant daughter and the long-term positive experiences that my other daughter had ) pushed and motivated my friend to breast feed her second baby. I have cheered on her baby feeding success as strongly as she has supported my tiring, but rewarding lifestyle with work and maintaining my little ranch.

We have offset each other in work situations as well. I may have over 30 years work experience, but I came into a brand new industry. My friend has helped me understand the culture, the processes and any new computer thing. I feel I have helped her in successfully working through employee counseling problems, suggested ways to navigate new business waters and been able to give some good management tips.

Now, my two best work friends will be moving on to new jobs, one at a building not too far away, but certainly too far for easy, casual drop-ins to each other’s offices. My young friend is moving up and out, to one of our locations out-of-state. I will be left behind to eat alone, walk alone and quietly look at horse pictures by myself.

It will be a big change and not a welcome one for me. I will make some new friends and continue to IM and email my old friends. I guess this gives me an opportunity reach out past my current comfort zone. I had no desire to work on new friendships. I had great friends. It will be time soon to make new ones.

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Signing off tonight from a very cold and icy south Texas. Lauren heads out for an “A” show with Feather tomorrow. I wish them great rides-especially the most important one-driving the trailer in nasty weather.

Thanks for riding along!

Fate

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Lauren holding Feather’s fourth place award for points in Pre-Green hunter.

Last night Lauren and I returned to the Greater Houston Hunter Jumper Association (GHHJA) banquet after a years absence. The annual banquet celebrates and awards the riders, in each division, as they accumulate points based upon placings at each show. Some divisions are very competitive with hundreds of points being earned by top riders.

Two years ago, Lauren with her horse, Mickey, won the Open Jumper division, the highest height division in GHHJA. It was a time in our life when we were pretty happy with our little bay horse. Although, Lauren was taking regular falls off Mickey as he would randomly decide not to jump jumps, we really hadn’t thought of another plan. Dev had been kind enough not to suggest that Mickey was getting a little unreliable at the higher heights. Problem was, when Mickey was on, he was intoxicating to watch and ride. He powered swiftly and precisely through a course of jumps in a rapid fire succession. And he brought home the blue ribbons- when he didn’t throw Lauren into a jump.

So, we were not looking for a horse to replace Mickey when Dee’s notice to sell her Flagmount’s baby came to our attention. I immediately said, “I will buy her!” Uncharacteristically, acting on a split second decision. I remember talking about her and showing her pictures at the banquet two years ago.

Feather as she looked two years ago. Dev’s dad said “maybe she will grow into that head.”

Honestly, no one was too excited except Lauren, I and our Florida benefactors. But fate is a funny thing, we did not know Mickey would get horribly sick or that a giant black Jump Start colt would come into our lives. We were excited about Feather but have had our rough spells.

But from this season’s start at Pine Hill in February when the mare went reserve champ in the Pre-greens, we knew we had something. Of course, that was the same day I hooked her beautiful ribbon to her bridle, and she freaked out dragging Lauren backwards through the arena at a trot ( I didn’t know horses could even trot backwards!).

We moved on from the hunter ring, when Dev was convinced Lauren would be able to respect the jumper ring and keep letting the mare learn her job. Lauren and Feather moved on through ALL the jumper divisions, earning ribbons in each one.

Sometimes as a parent, you don’t see the progress being made day by day by your own daughter in the ring behind your house. It took a friend to point it out to me, that Lauren and Feather did this on their own. Meaning absolutely no disrespect to trainer Dev, who guided them along their way, but day after day, in the heat or the cold, they worked to get better and more confident together. Some riders have trainers who show the horse in several classes and then the student takes over.

But each time Lauren and Feather entered the ring, to jumps of greater heights, it was Lauren coaxing the grey mare along.

Fate brought this horse to my daughter at the right time. We hadn’t even dreamt of a horse of this caliber especially for the money that Lauren had saved, dollar by dollar, over the years. You know how you remember some moments so vividly? It all rushed back to me when we walked in the banquet last night. A simple twist of fate brought Feather to us at the right time for us to be prepared to meet the challenges she would bring us and reap the rewards she was destined to bestow upon us. Two years have brought us so far.

I am grateful for many things. Thank you for taking this journey with us!

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The Freeze is on!

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Exechorseluver

As I look through my mesh wire fence, I see the intricate web of ice glistening off the wire. Temperatures dropped below freezing last night not long after sundown. We did our new routine, drain the pipes, and shut off the water well. We were not taking any chances on broken pipes.

My frozen trees twinkling in the early morning darkness.

I did a rushed prep of the horses and barn last night. I got out of work a little late, while everyone else in Houston was getting out of the office a little early. The rain was continuing and the temperatures dropping rapidly. Normal commute- a little over an hour, last night’s almost two. I got to my mom’s to find her shivering, asleep in bed. I tried to wake her but she would open her eyes, then fall immediately asleep again. As I tidied up her room, I heard her breathing with difficulty. Then deep coughs from her chest, punctured the quiet of the room.

Sounded like a bad cold, which had already gone to her lungs. Then helper Janet arrived. She would get some soup, juice and crackers and let momma have dinner in her room.

I left her with Janet and headed home to my new responsibilities. Yesterday at Dev’s, Feather had sent Lauren flying through the air when she stopped short on a tall, skinny jump. Lauren hit the ground hard. When she called me it was like a never-ending list of ailments. “Momma, I think I tore my knee (you tore your knee, again, I thought.) ” my ribs are broken. My pelvis and back hurt. My neck feels like it has whiplash!” All of this she bawling over the phone. I got her talked down some. If any of those things were true she would not a just loaded a horse and be in the truck headed for home. At least I hoped not!

By yesterday morning she could barely turn her neck. Off to the doctor she went. She was x-rayed from stem to stern. Doc said the X-rays looked good but she had swelling and soft tissue damage in her neck. Then he asked to see her helmet. Lauren rides in a GPA helmet. A GPA is over $500 but has a neck guard and can be replaced for a fraction of the price if damaged.

Based upon the swollen, traumatized areas of neck, the doctor told her that without the neck guard piece on this helmet it would have been likely Lauren’s neck would have broken! Slipped past a bad one there, eh?

Anyway, point is, I still had to pick up some dinner, get home, feed, water horses and dogs, blanket each horse and try to stay warm as 50 + mph north winds whirled through the barn. Lauren was going to need to sit out the chores if there was any hope of her making the show next week. I was pretty tired and ready to get inside.

We had a winter storm watch on everyone’s lips and I went about unhooking hoses, emptying and clearing the hoses and house water lines. It was COLD!

Electricity went off during the night as the winds pounded the power lines. My early morning feed today was one of the coldest ever endured here in the banana belt of Texas.

Lauren was still peacefully enjoying her drug induced sleep. I was cold. Schools and many businesses were closed today as the ill prepared for winter conditions highway department launched a mostly futile effort at melting the ice.

After noon, we ventured out to see a movie. There were on a handful of people there. We saw the movie, August, Osage County. It was quite good but had a lot of adult behaviors and the ‘F’ word said more times than I have ever heard in an hour and 55 minutes. About a mother with her three daughters. We are all dysfunctional in our families but hopefully we never get this bad. Lauren is asleep again, knocked out by muscle relaxers and pain pills.

I am about to go out and throw hay to the horses as it will be another long, cold winter night, then a quick shower, drain the pipes and off to bed. And then I’ll do it all again tomorrow.

Oh, and momma’s much better today! Thanks for joining me on this cold winter night! Be safe!

Genetics-A Bruno story

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Bruno is the summer, a little lighter than his winter black coat.

Bruno in the summer, a little lighter than his winter black coat.

Jump Start, Bruno’s daddy.

I decided this weekend to search for Bruno’s relatives. I found his sire (daddy) Jump Start still actively producing successful off-spring in Pennsylvania. Jump Start by AP Indy has many race winning progeny on the tracks now. I was not so interested in Bruno’s half brothers or sisters as I was in what Jump Start looked like and the pictures did not disappoint me.

Jump Start is 15 and never had to do much work after five starts on the track, and a fracture that ended his career. We can rule-out that he ever lived in a metal, open-front barn in rural Texas. So, I can give him that he has had superb care to produce his stunning coat and he has been a great breeding stallion.

Jump Start parading past his throngs of visitors.

We have had a lot of people (okay, maybe 12!) come have their picture taken with Bruno. I would be frightened and call the police if I saw this pack of people lined up outside Bruno’s paddock. Once, our neighbors grandkids from Spain came over to give Bruno carrots. Similar lives.

I tried in vain to find out how tall Jump Start is but I couldn’t locate that data. Maybe one of you has more investigative skills than I can find out and can let us know. But unless the man above is a former NBA player turned groom (most of whom tend to be a little small in structure) I think Jump Start is probably just over 16 hands. He clearly does not have the size his son Bruno does at 17.2+ hands, but that happens in families, kids getting taller and stronger than their fathers.

Looking at the two top pictures, Jump Start blessed Bruno with his strong shoulder and nice hip. I have never owned a horse whose coat glistens like Bruno, but it looks like Jump Start sent those genes to Bruno as well. I swear I should get an endorsement deal from Nu Image supplement that we use for Bruno’s hoof and coat because never has a product worked as well as did for Bruno! I know that helps some, but this coat is shared by both horses.

Bruno showing off his gleaming winter coat this weekend.

Personality seems to be apparent in Jump Start and we know that Bruno is the biggest ham, always playing to the camera and wanting to just hang out with any people who come to visit.

Jump Start looking brilliant and attractive for the camera.

Bruno waiting for his littlest fan, Kendyll.

I looked up some of the horses that Jump Start has sired. He has been a busy guy. At stud a little over ten years, he has hundreds of children! Bruno’s Jockey Club name is Fiddler’s Pilgrim, related I am sure to the Fiddler’s Green Stable that owned him and his pilgrim-like markings (black outfit, white socks-come on, you can visualize Bruno as a pilgrim, just give him a musket to hold).

In naming his other brothers and sisters, there were several that retained part of the Jump Start name. Progeny includes Jump Two, Jumped the Harbor, Jump and Go, Jump Back and Jump Aboard. When Lauren finally enters the arena to show Bruno in Jumpers wouldn’t one of these names better suit him? Next in the ring is Jump This ridden by Lauren Davis from Wharton,Texas! It would be great. Or Jump Prize or Jump Quick? Those would be so appropriate. However, my favorite name of one of the Jump Start kids is…wait for it… Start Jumping. I could have really used that name for Bruno. In fact, if I had a couple of expletives in front of it like Golly Gee Start Jumping or perhaps, For God’s Sake Start Jumping, I could have invented a whole line of new names over the last several months. Bruno might have been reluctant to jump but he is doing so now. Still…I would have loved that name.

Jump Start easing around the pasture.

Bruno looking me in the eye.

It is fun to compare the big guy with his prolific father. It is ironic they both ran five races and ended with injuries. I guess I am just lucky they never decided Bruno should be a hot-shot stud like his dad. I am guessing he would have never ended up in my little barn then.

As always, thanks for riding along with us and may God bless you.