TB numbers at Rolex hold, need to rise
Some of the best riders who will compete later this month at the legendary Rolex Three Day still rhapsodize about their early days riding OTTBs, says Steuart Pittman, founder of the Retired Racehorse Training Project. But most aren’t riding Thoroughbreds; they are riding horses cross-bred to compete at the highest level of a particular discipline. These mounts are very specifically bred for the movement necessary in their particular discipline, be it show jumping, dressage or cross-country, he says. “Even top riders who love Thoroughbreds, like Boyd Martin, who is one of the biggest Thoroughbred advocates around, isn’t entered on one […]
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Mare who showed 6 weeks after kill-pen thrives
The kill-pen mare who left the Unadilla Auction April 12, 2013 all skin and bones and chewed-off tail, and reemerged six weeks later at a horse show where she won a ribbon, continues to amaze her owner who nearly passed her up. Since the gray mare first bellowed a mournful whinny at Ingrid Messineo, making a plea that broke her heart, the petite animal has not let a day go by when she doesn’t delight and amaze the woman who saved her. “I see her everyday now, because I’ve moved her to my backyard, and the instant she sees me, […]
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A mare slips away, her owner battles onward
Gently sliding the downed animal’s head onto her lap, she looked into the sick mare’s eyes. Where she once saw a spark, she now saw surrender. And what she had feared for so long had finally come. And it was over. After a year battling back from three bouts of impactions so severe they time and again threatened the 6-year-old mare’s life, Lisa Bernard’s horse seemed to plead for mercy. “I felt like she said to me, ‘Let me go.’ ” And just like that, Kalu’s Heart was humanely euthanized on March 17, leaving in her wake an indelible mark […]
