Saratoga just seems to say "animals are welcome here." Zoe's been given, more or less, free reign to move around as she wishes, except when we're training in the morning; my girl doesn't see or hear so well anymore and generally seems to think that whatever is in her way is responsible for getting out of it. With horses, maybe that's not so good. So, for a few hours every morning, I put her on a leash outside the barn, the leash being connected to a screw-eye set in the barn wall.
She was looking at the horses this morning like "Oh my, my, but that thing is too big to be real and it's moving. Better be careful." And she was.
But, and this is the kind of thing I love about being around animals, we got done training his morning (all the horses were just walked around the shedrow in the barn, giving them a little stretch and getting them used to their surroundings) and Donkey, methinks, fell in love with Zoe. He just couldn't stop checking her out. At one point, as Zoe and I are sitting in front of his stall, he and the hound were nose-to-nose. Zoe, being a good flirt, was aloof. Well, Zoe can actually be aloof alot or, rather, it's more like her MO for life. She'll come see you if she's interested, not if you are. Plus, Donkey was making these sort of sucky, piggy, tongue on the roof of his mouth kind of sounds and who, really, wants to be around that? In any event, both canine and equine are "fixed", so perhaps this is a platonic affair of the heart, at least on Donkey's part.
Well, our first set of 8 horses got in safely. Better than that, they all seemed pretty happy from the start. Donkey and a filly named Seemingly lay right down in their stalls and snoozed, always a good sign of a nice and relaxed horse. Sometimes horses are a little uptight when they've shipped in, and it was nice that our guys weren't. Everybody just settled right in!
The day wasn't quite so relaxed for the people - first we had to unload the gobs of stuff we use to take care of the horses; that was about a three hour hefting job. We also had to carry the groom's stuff off. I was a little sore from all that, and I'm in decent shape at least from having wrestled horses all year.
Then of course, we had to set everything up. Webbings, hay, rakes, tack, feed, herbs, buckets, boxes, you name it, the barn had to be made ready. But, when you have a lot of people and they're all willing to work (and we were), we got it all done. We finished a good bit of the setup this morning. There's sort of a sigh that all this stuff is accomplished. It amazes me sometimes how hard people in the horse business work without complaint. Carlos and Alejandro, two very fine grooms, those guys hadn't had much sleep for over a day and they come and get right to work. I mean, heavy work too. It makes you want to work that much harder yourself - there's this sort of empathy you get, "we're all in this together and we're all busting our butts".
Good thing we're ready, too, because tomorrow is our first day of track training, meaning the 8 will go to the racing surface for their morning gallops. Plus, Ian , Mr. Nafzger's partner and co-trainer, has said tomorrow is an "open house" day at Saratoga meaning, I think, that the public is welcome to come wander around the barns and the grounds. So, maybe big crowds and our first day on the dirt, big day!
Street should get here about noon and I'd imagine there'll be some people here to check him out. They better not disturb his napping, though! Street's one of the biggest nappers I've been around - it's like he conserves all the energy he can. He may be a little wound up tomorrow since, like the other horses, he too has been aboard a truck for more than 24 hours. We'll see. Maybe he'll be like a person who, even after having just driven, just sat in a vehicle for a long time and not exerted his or herself, is nonetheless flat whipped when they get where they're going. I'll raise my hand as having recent and firsthand knowledge of this.
Today I also learned all about feeding. Our horses get to munch on hay almost all day; they also get a bit of alfalfa after their morning work. Twice a day, though, about 10:30 and again at 4:30, they get this fine-smelling mix of barley, oats, sweet feed and various herbs and magical potions. Just kidding on the last, though they do get various all natural dietary supplements designed to help the development and maintenance of all their various parts. I don't know that I'll be feeding every day but, once we're racing, it will be good to know how to do it so I can fill in for someone who's running a horse, or someone who has a day off.
I think things will get extremely busy once the meet opens. Apparently in New York, you have to take your racing horse to a detention barn like 6 hours before the horse runs. I think they do this to monitor the horse and be sure everything is being handled properly. Or, bluntly, they want to make sure nobody's cheating by giving the horses substances to enhance their performance. I'm not 100% sure this is why we have to go over so early, but I'm thinking that's probably the case.
In any event, early it is and that means that you'll be short one person at some point during the day. If you're racing at one, you have to be in the detention barn at 7:00 - that's the heart of the training part of the day, meaning someone will have to fill in for someone at that point.
And that's fine, just part of the deal, but I wanna know how to feed so I can get that part of the job done if needed.
And now we're at the end of our day. The horses have been fed and are settling in to the evening as the sun starts to settled a bit. It's a leisurely feeling here. Though we all certainly put in our share of effort today, we're set up pretty well and that gives a guy a pretty peaceful feeling. Racetracking is often a hectic and stressful enterprise, there's a lot to do in a compressed time. So, when I get a chance to sit back like this outside the stall of Donkey and reflect a bit, I'm reminded of the love affair I have with these animals and this game.
And Street's not even here yet!
She was looking at the horses this morning like "Oh my, my, but that thing is too big to be real and it's moving. Better be careful." And she was.
But, and this is the kind of thing I love about being around animals, we got done training his morning (all the horses were just walked around the shedrow in the barn, giving them a little stretch and getting them used to their surroundings) and Donkey, methinks, fell in love with Zoe. He just couldn't stop checking her out. At one point, as Zoe and I are sitting in front of his stall, he and the hound were nose-to-nose. Zoe, being a good flirt, was aloof. Well, Zoe can actually be aloof alot or, rather, it's more like her MO for life. She'll come see you if she's interested, not if you are. Plus, Donkey was making these sort of sucky, piggy, tongue on the roof of his mouth kind of sounds and who, really, wants to be around that? In any event, both canine and equine are "fixed", so perhaps this is a platonic affair of the heart, at least on Donkey's part.
Well, our first set of 8 horses got in safely. Better than that, they all seemed pretty happy from the start. Donkey and a filly named Seemingly lay right down in their stalls and snoozed, always a good sign of a nice and relaxed horse. Sometimes horses are a little uptight when they've shipped in, and it was nice that our guys weren't. Everybody just settled right in!
The day wasn't quite so relaxed for the people - first we had to unload the gobs of stuff we use to take care of the horses; that was about a three hour hefting job. We also had to carry the groom's stuff off. I was a little sore from all that, and I'm in decent shape at least from having wrestled horses all year.
Then of course, we had to set everything up. Webbings, hay, rakes, tack, feed, herbs, buckets, boxes, you name it, the barn had to be made ready. But, when you have a lot of people and they're all willing to work (and we were), we got it all done. We finished a good bit of the setup this morning. There's sort of a sigh that all this stuff is accomplished. It amazes me sometimes how hard people in the horse business work without complaint. Carlos and Alejandro, two very fine grooms, those guys hadn't had much sleep for over a day and they come and get right to work. I mean, heavy work too. It makes you want to work that much harder yourself - there's this sort of empathy you get, "we're all in this together and we're all busting our butts".
Good thing we're ready, too, because tomorrow is our first day of track training, meaning the 8 will go to the racing surface for their morning gallops. Plus, Ian , Mr. Nafzger's partner and co-trainer, has said tomorrow is an "open house" day at Saratoga meaning, I think, that the public is welcome to come wander around the barns and the grounds. So, maybe big crowds and our first day on the dirt, big day!
Street should get here about noon and I'd imagine there'll be some people here to check him out. They better not disturb his napping, though! Street's one of the biggest nappers I've been around - it's like he conserves all the energy he can. He may be a little wound up tomorrow since, like the other horses, he too has been aboard a truck for more than 24 hours. We'll see. Maybe he'll be like a person who, even after having just driven, just sat in a vehicle for a long time and not exerted his or herself, is nonetheless flat whipped when they get where they're going. I'll raise my hand as having recent and firsthand knowledge of this.
Today I also learned all about feeding. Our horses get to munch on hay almost all day; they also get a bit of alfalfa after their morning work. Twice a day, though, about 10:30 and again at 4:30, they get this fine-smelling mix of barley, oats, sweet feed and various herbs and magical potions. Just kidding on the last, though they do get various all natural dietary supplements designed to help the development and maintenance of all their various parts. I don't know that I'll be feeding every day but, once we're racing, it will be good to know how to do it so I can fill in for someone who's running a horse, or someone who has a day off.
I think things will get extremely busy once the meet opens. Apparently in New York, you have to take your racing horse to a detention barn like 6 hours before the horse runs. I think they do this to monitor the horse and be sure everything is being handled properly. Or, bluntly, they want to make sure nobody's cheating by giving the horses substances to enhance their performance. I'm not 100% sure this is why we have to go over so early, but I'm thinking that's probably the case.
In any event, early it is and that means that you'll be short one person at some point during the day. If you're racing at one, you have to be in the detention barn at 7:00 - that's the heart of the training part of the day, meaning someone will have to fill in for someone at that point.
And that's fine, just part of the deal, but I wanna know how to feed so I can get that part of the job done if needed.
And now we're at the end of our day. The horses have been fed and are settling in to the evening as the sun starts to settled a bit. It's a leisurely feeling here. Though we all certainly put in our share of effort today, we're set up pretty well and that gives a guy a pretty peaceful feeling. Racetracking is often a hectic and stressful enterprise, there's a lot to do in a compressed time. So, when I get a chance to sit back like this outside the stall of Donkey and reflect a bit, I'm reminded of the love affair I have with these animals and this game.
And Street's not even here yet!
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