Tribute to Dear Murray of horse-column fame
California-based cartoonist and graphic designer Jody Livak Werner is an award-winning writer who offers her Thoroughbred’s perspective in her widely read OTTB column, Dear Murray. The humorous essays, which swept onto the Facebook scene and attracted 20,000 fans in a few short months, offers a horse’s perspective on all those silly humans who ride them. Via a clever collaboration with her beloved off-track Thoroughbred Murray, Werner deftly applies humor to get at the nub of life with horses. In the Dear Murray column, frustrated horses “write” to the all-knowing ex-racehorse, whose Jockey Club name was Phantom Writer, asking for advice on topics such […]
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Lenny Hale: Leaping in to lead 900-horse charity
A Maryland horseman, longtime racing industry pillar, and chairman of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) board got his start with horses out behind an old military-style prep school, jumping 10-foot ditches with legendary equestrian Bruce Davidson. Leonard C. “Lenny” Hale, the CEO, president and chairman of the board of the nation’s oldest and largest Thoroughbred charity was in his late teens, out riding his Thoroughbred when the future Olympian happened by, and watched Hale and his mount clear the gash in the earth behind the McDonogh School in Maryland. “I’d just galloped down to the ditch and jumped it. This […]
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60 horses come running when this man whistles
In the one gas station town of Depew, Okla., across from the local mini mart, a spectacular example of horse-human communication blasts off like a rocket. Sending up dust plumes in its wake, and leaving the uninitiated observer shaking his head with wonder, a herd of 60-plus Thoroughbreds, living the good life with the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, spins, wheels and darts before galloping off as though summoned by the Mother Ship. And in seconds they’re gone. Thundering in unison across the 158-acre horsey Shangri-La of Rafter G Ranch, past beautiful ponds, and grassy fields, they meet up with the one […]
